[ask] I'm a Guitar Teacher - Page 2

The most obvious answer is the truss rod. However, if it's a guitar you like I wouldn't reccomend learning how to adjust it. The neck may be bowed in a way that won't be remedied by bridge tweaking. Don't switch radically between string gauges, as obviously the heavier ones will need a different set up than the lighter ones.

A: truss rod

You will need to clean up your question a bit for me >_< , I'm not really sure what you are not getting. The finger movement? Where to put your fingers? The hand position?

I couldn't find any great right hand shots, but this is pretty good.

oh here too



That tutorial is an alright starting point, but know that both fingers and thumbs can go anywhere, their home position is like he says, but they don't live out their whole lives at home.

Do this - (no left hand ) Play the low E string with your thumb (the big string) , then, with your index, play the G string, the with your middle, the B string . There, you just fingerpicked with at least some sort of fluency. Did your hand move alot? Then, let's try and fix it this time. Pick again, try just from the fingers, the hand needn't move much at all. Relax , relax, try again.

Feel free to ask more questions on this subject...

Hey Bro-chro..

The most obvious way - arpeggiate the chord he is playing, sprinkles on the cupcake. Learn different voicings for each chord so you can twinkle on the high notes or add depth in a lower position.

After that, you are right about the scales thing. This is your next stop and what I would say is this. Begin to learn the notes on your neck, say the first 3 strings (the skinny ones ) up to the 3rd fret each. Then, with each chord change, simply play the root of each chord, no more. There, you are soloing and improvising and all that.

Only after you could feel comfortable with any chord change , try adding one other note per bar. Never worry about making the "wrong note" . There never is a wrong note, just a sound you aren't used to , or didn't expect. Slowly add more notes between chord changes, try for 3, always trying to land on the root of the next chord when he changes.

Other than that, I usually think texturally, in that most often when you are in key, it doesn't really matter what you play, but how much you play. Is it dense, or sparse? This is important to take note of as it has a lot of power to drive a song.

I like questions on improvising...

Hah, well we all have our coping mechanisms..... Maybe we can all trade some.

Great job for taking the next step. I absolutely and totally encourage you do pursue this. It will take some work, but it will be an absolute delight.

Right now, you are musically illiterate. You can speak the language (though I will say with a limited vocabulary) but can't communicate anything beyond common ideas.

Go up to my post for "chromyne" for a good starting point. Remember this : Theory is not a rule book, it's a timesaver for us to access sounds we like, and remember how we got there. So if in the future we want a similar sound that we had, we _know_ where it comes from. Better yet, if you want to know how to NOT get the same sound, you know where to break new ground.

10 minutes a day on this and in a year you will be miles ahead of your alternate reality self that didn't take the 10 minutes. Don't stress about it, it's a beautiful side of music that will help you grow.

do it, and ask more quesitons if you have any about it.

MY FRIEND

ITS NEVER TOO LATE

START TODAY! BORROW A GUITAR GO GET ONE!!

Listen, we get out what we put in. Many people have been playing for decades and aren't much farther ahead of where they started. No hatin, just sayin, you get what you put in.

Promise yourself you will try for 15 minutes a day, no more no less for a month. From there ask yourself again. By the time you finish university you could be much more abled than pretty much any of your rock heros in terms of technical skill (not to diminish them). That's just a few years, not counting how fun it is to nail riffs you've loved for so long, coming out of your hands.

Thanks for the help , it is great advice.

I always say "plan your routes" in the starting phases. Take a second and see how each finger is going to get to where it is going.

Now Sexy Lexy, you are at the part in guitar playing , what I call the *first* wall. People tend to think that making a chord change on time is only for the select few, or rhythmically gifted or something. No, here's the problem....

Chord changing is made of two things , the chord, and the change - duh. The problem is most people only ever work on the chord, the clarity and accuracy. This is great! But that doesn't help the change.

So practise the change! Play the D, then count very slowly to 4, and by the time you get to 1 (1 comes after 4, hah) strum the C.

The catch - you have to strum NO MATTER WHAT YOUR LEFT HAND IS DOING. Don't worry if you get some chunky or crackly notes. We aren't practicing the accuracy right now, but the rhythm, so it's a success if you strum at the right time. Do this very slow. What we are doing is this.

Most people pause the right hand so the left hand can get where it wants to go. When we do this we train our brain to think that the left hand gets to have all the time we need. It's not our intention, but it's the reality.

So, with the rhythm practise we say "listen, we are going to make it to the party on time, so wether or not you want to get your make up in time or look like shit isn't my problem!" . Right hand is boss.

So, practice BOTH PARTS of _chord_ _changes_ and you will make it out alive as the two will slowly combine to make a smooth chord change.



Fewf, a workout !!

Kissy kiss to you. Especially on the guitar where patterns have a way to rule supreme. When I speak to someone I assume they can read the language we are speaking. Yes there are cases when this isn't true, that should be the exception. Take your musical journey and learn all you can!

I talk a bit about intonation closer to the top, answered for archaic

Though I will say not every guitar is intoned as well as the next.Sometimes it WILL be impossible.

Ahh I love talking about this stuff, my fingers are taking a shit kicking through this post though haha. ok.....


To truly uncover the sound of a mode, you don't just rip solos in the mode. You need to see the farther reaching consequences...

Take lydian for example, it is a major scale with a #4

Ok, so what?

Go through every chord in the scale and add that note and take note of what happens.

In standard C major, I can't have an F# in my tonic chord, but in C lydian , it's a defining trait. A very beautiful chord too, if you add in a B as well..

-0
-0
-0
-4
-3
-

What about the second chord, D minor ? Well, now it's a D major! Ok, so in C major we would have CM then Dm, but in C lydian we have C M then DM , That's unique.

Keep going. Ahh, E minor can become an Emin9! very pretty chord...

Now our IV chord has become wonked! I love it. instead of F major as our IV, we have F# half dim. INTERESTING.

Also G7 becomes GM7. A minor6 now has a major 6, which I think is a great great chord.

finally, Bdim becomes B- !! That's a fairly big deal , even if it doesn't sound like much.


So, we've uncovered the harmony so far. Go explore this yourself and find ways to play these chords. Do you see how much one note has changed our tonality so far? Go play these chords and get them in your ear, hear the lydianess of different progressions as opposed to just C major. Do this, come back when you need me.

Emon, like that soul pop singer with the single from the 90s? "fuck it" ? I'm going to go listen to it while I talk with you...

I think I need a slightly better idea of the music you like and your current skill level. So you just want to play chords as good as you possibly can?

Sorry for making fun of your name for longer than your answer. I just need a bit more info ; )

Aww, don't think like this!

When I started playing I would often get angry at myself for not progressing fast.

My attitude changed when I realized I don't _deserve_ guitar skill, I have to work for it. After some hard work, I realized it doesn't have to be hard work!

No matter what your level, while your larger goals should seem very difficult, you should always break them down into managable bites. I mean, Learning a whole solo or whatever in one go / day , is like trying to eat your hamburger in one bite. Just.. WHY?!

Listen, though I have been playing for many years longer than you, there is no single note that I can play that you cant. Cool eh? We are equals, I just have more experience.

So, find that riff or whatever you want to learn. Say it's 4 bars, or 30 notes or something all together. Say "today, I will learn the first 4 notes" . THATS IT! EASY! Can you not play 4 notes?! of course you can, you are Prozen and came out of your daddy's love for muckin pretty ladies.

After that, if you think you can handle more , take another 4 notes! Then after that, practice stringing them together. Keep doing this, 4 + 4 = 8, then string the 8s together. Soon you are riffin way too hard to handle !

Now, sometimes when we try to play something it actually seems like our fingers just CAN NOT do what's required, or the speed is so insane, or the right hand has to jump everywhere in ways we have never seen.

If this is the case, it is an issue of raw technical ability. Your left hand may be too sloppy to do the required motions, it might be wasting energy, inefficient. Your right hand might not be alternate picking, or maybe it is , but only sometimes. Slop! Trim the fat. The guitar journey is a sculpture we chip away to unveil the truth. Take the excess away.

If it a technical ability thing, you need to stop with the riff and pursue some very easy exercises so you can focus on the economy of motion.

You are doing great! I have a post about chord switching up above that will defnitely help you for Lexpar.

Other than that, try alternate picking very slow on your low string, then after a while, switch stringer, repeat. Then, I would say start to learn just one scale, C major most likely. Observe proper left hand fingering, go VERY VERY slowly, and alternate pick. It will seem like ALOT to handle at first, but take it in say, a group of 3 notes, and try and nail those first 3 notes, then the next 3. Keep a nice relaxed left hand and alternating right hand.

Just throw that into your practice, say for 5 minutes, and the pay outs will be tremendous down the road. Other than that you are well are your way and doing everything right !

Let me know how it goes. You're welcome!

Oh fun!

The real answer to this is probably the longest in the thread, because I am sometimes vain and like to explain my ideas fully.

But the short of it is that I have to be able to play every style with competency. Nowadays though, the money makers outside of teaching are jazz solo guitar or in small groups, or classical guitar at weddings and stuff. My practise usually focus on those two styles as well as technically and musically, they are among the most developed styles and have incredible depth. (not to diminish any other style, but these have been around for a very long time)

When I play for myself, it's usually exploratory with no wrong notes, and just a journey. Often I come up with ideas and flesh them out for many months until I feel they are in my trick bag. Right now I'm working on putting two, three, and four time signatures over each other, this is not common on guitar.

Just like a mention in other threads, at this point I realize I play for reasons I didn't think I would. It's for knowledge of self, to learn how far I can go, how I can focus my mind, to stretch my mental and physical, to learn what I really like, to learn patience, etc etc.

I don't typically play music made by other people unless to gain more skill, if it's extremely beautiful, or for money!

No problem Yoon-bro

Let me know if it needs a follow up . All this typing is jellifying my hands hahaha.

Well, there are loads, but really just keen your ear to what makes the blues sound bluesy. Any tuning works as well as another. Use the blues scale with proper inflections and your pretty much there. Since blues isn't a sound that needs to have droning strings, you don't really need an open tuning for blues except for ease of use , which is exemplified by Johnson switching all the time. You could look to the pedal steel players for tunings though..