*Editor's note* This article is for those with no background in guitar, thanks!
Hello, my name is Teoita and I have been playing guitar for nine years now, ever since I was in junior high school. I learned through a couple of private teachers and eventually on my own. I was part of several small time high school and college bands as well as my high school's guitar ensemble, and currently I am playing lead guitar in two bands with a few friends. I have also a few private lessons for beginners, but nothing too serious. Music's always been a part of my life, as one of the first memories I have is listening to Led Zeppelin with my parents when I was a little kid, so getting to play those songs is a dream come true for me. To me, playing guitar is pure passion. It helps me when I am going trough tough times, and it's also a great way to spend my free time when I need to relax. The relationship many musicians have with their music and instruments is quite hard to describe to anyone that doesn't play, but hopefully these articles will help you start doing what I love doing so much, and maybe share that passion with other people.
When I read about TL KnowHow I immediately thought "playing guitar definitely fits, I can finally do something for the TL community!" So here it is. In these articles I will try to cover as much as I can of learning guitar from the very basics, with a bit of music theory to a few simple exercises; songs and licks you can do on your way to becoming the next Jimmy Page. I will focus mostly on electric guitar because that's what I play, but the basics are the same regardless of style. Eventually, the techniques you use are a bit different; I will go over them in a future article.
Keep in mind: learning any kind of music is very, very much about practice more than anything else. I learned what I know by playing at least one hour almost every day for nine years straight: going through scales, exercises, riffs, and chords. There are lots of fantastic resources out there to learn music, but if you don't have time to practice you will not learn how to play. To use a StarCraft metaphor, you need to get your mechanics in place first, and that can take a lot of time. If you have 30 apm you will never be able to beat anyone on iCCup and to get up to a decent level; all you can do is just play a lot of games.
Buying your first guitar
Before you start playing guitar, you have to buy one of course. The most important question is whether you want an electric, classical, or acoustic guitar. The main difference between acoustic and classical is simply that the former has metal strings like an electric, and the latter has nylon strings. All of them are fine to start with, so it really comes down to what you want to play. I personally first started with a classical guitar, and then moved on to acoustic and electric. In general, nylon strings are a bit softer to play, so they are a bit easier for beginners, but a low end electric or acoustic will also do nicely. [e/n: I started with a Yamaha Pacifica 112V, it's very good]
What I did when I got my first guitars was simply go to a guitar shop and talk to the shop assistants. They will be more than happy to suggest a good beginner instrument. A decent price for a beginner is, I would say, around 150-200 euros for a classical, and around 250 for an electrical. If you pay anything less you are probably buying a really, really bad guitar, so please don't take one of those 100 dollars for everything deals in supermarkets, they are really really terrible in my experience. [e/n: and my experience as well] Even then with that amount of money, you aren't going to get anything absolutely amazing, but for now you don't need it. If you can't hit the notes nicely, the fact that you have amazing sustain because you are playing a super expensive Gibson Custom is really irrelevant. I have seen people spend a couple thousand euros on amazing guitars when they first started, only to lose interest a very short while later, which is just a huge waste. If you are in the US, I recommend finding the closest Guitar Center to buy a guitar. They usually have a huge selection, and you can try however many guitars you want to before deciding; the prices are also quite a bit lower than in many other places since they have deals with brands such as Gibson and Epiphone; I saved about 300 euros by buying my latest guitar over there. In general though, since you aren't looking for any amazing or specific instrument, most shops will have something nice for you. A good criteria to use when picking your first is simply to go by looks, since the sound will not be that amazing anyway.
[e/n: for electrics you need an amp; $80 for a basic amp is fine]
Music Basics and The Fretboard
A guitar's neck (where you press the strings down with your left hand) is divided in frets, each corresponding to a different note. "Western" music is based on 12 different notes. Each fret going closer to a guitar's bridge (where your right hand is) is one note or semitone higher. After 12 notes, you get the same note again, only at a higher pitch; the technical term is one octave higher. The notes are: A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb , E, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab. Standard musical notation applies: # is sharp and b is flat. [e/n: you may also note there is no E#/Fb, but you can safely ignore that for now]
Each of the six strings of a guitar corresponds to a different note. Starting from the largest to the smallest, these notes are normally E, A, D, G, B, E. A good way to represent notes played on a guitar is through the tablature notation. I personally think tablature notation is better for guitar than standard notation (which is what is used for basically every other instrument) because it's far more intuitive, especially for a beginner. Honestly I can hardly read standard notation, but I have never felt the need to get better at it in nine years of playing guitar. This is what tab notation looks like:
|--------------------------------------------| e |--------------------------------------------| B |--------------------------------------------| G |--------------------------------------------| D |--------------------------------------------| A |--------------------------------------------| E
Each of the horizontal lines represents a string; the bottom E is the largest string (and the closest to you when you are holding a guitar), with the lowest sound, while the top e is the smallest string, with the highest sound. A note is represented by the fret you are supposed to put your finger on to play it. For example, if I wanted to just play all the strings together, without any fingers on the fretboard, in tab notation I would write this:
Note that by low string I mean the string with the lowest sound, which is always the highest (closest to you) on the neck. Because of how the notes of the open strings are, you can get the same exact note with different strings. The low E on the 5th fret is an A, the A on the 5th fret is a D, which in turn on the 5th fret is a G. Playing the G string on the 4th fret is a B, which on the 5th fret is again an E note. This is how instruments are tuned: you make sure one of your strings (generally the A) sounds exactly like someone else's guitar/violin/piano, or even use a diapason. Once you have done that, you make sure that all the other strings are in tune with each other by following the rules above. At the start it can be really hard to catch the subtle differences by year, but it's worth learning. Nowadays electronic tuners that tell you how much higher or lower from it's supposed sound a string is when you play it, but you won't always have one so developing a good ear is a very useful talent toi have.
|---------------------------0------------------| e |---------------------0----5-------------------| B |---------------0----4-------------------------| G |---------0----5-------------------------------| D |---0----5-------------------------------------| A |---5------------------------------------------| E
These notes are all the same.
This is what a guitar riff looks like in a tab:
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|| e |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|| B |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|| G |---7--5-------5-------------------7--5-----------5-------------------5~~~--|| D |----------6-7----------5h7p5----------------6-7---------5h7p5--------------|| A |-0--0--0--------0-6-7--------7-0-0---0--0-------0-6-7--------7-------------|| E
A Simple Exercise: The Chromatic Scale
The very first exercise every guitar player learns, and the first everyone uses to warm up your hands before playing, is the chromatic scale. As the name suggests, it consists of simply playing every single note on the fretboard without any rule, or close to it. Musically it mostly sounds like crap, but it's a very good exercise and it is a good start to get comfortable on the fretboard.
Here is what you do: sit down in a comfortable position, staying straight up. Keep your guitar on your right thigh (assuming you are right handed). Your left hand should go on the fretboard; your index on the first fret, your middle finger on the second fret, and so on. Your thumb should be right in front of your middle finger, behind the second fret. In your right hand, you should have a guitar pick. Try playing this pattern:
Remember that you should be using your finger on the first fret, your middle finger on the second fret, etc. Ideally your wrist should not be moving much if at all. At first it will feel quite hard as it's tough to reach far away notes, especially with your pinky, but that will come with exercise.
TossGirl once said in an interview that she can easily reach Shift+9 on a keyboard with her left hand without any trouble because she plays the piano, and playing the guitar requires similar dexterity. As I said before, it comes down to exercise. A really, really important thing to note is that your pick should be going downwards on the first note, upwards on the second note you play, and so on. This technique is known as alternate picking, and it's really all about playing as efficiently as possible. If you only move your pick downwards to pick the strings, you will have to move your right hand twice as fast as you would if you were using alternate picking. Once you have done it a few times, play the same thing with a metronome at a slow speed, say 60 beats per minute (or bpm), which means one note per second. Try to stay on time with the metronome, and keep going up and down with the pick. When you can nail the scale at 60 bpm, try to go up to 65 or 70. Gradually, your fingers will get stronger and faster.
When playing notes on a guitar, your fingers should be slightly bent, so that when they touch a string they are almost perpendicular to the neck of the guitar. You want to hit the string with the tip of your finger, a few millimiters below your nail. At first it will hurt as hell, especially if you play a lot, because your skin is really soft and sensitive in that spot, but with practice the skin will harden and eventually you won't feel any pain. [e/n: trim your fingernails on your fretting hand, it will make your life easier]
When you are comfortable playing on the E string add more strings and use the whole fretboard, like this:
You can also do stuff like move up one fret with every finger after you have done that scale, going 2-3-4-5, or change in which order you play the notes, say doing 3-2-4-1 instead. There's a lot of possibilities, and each will help in building strength and agility in your fingers. It's important that you try to play in time with a metronome and that try to be as precise as possible. Don't bother with speed as that will come with time and practice, be patient, and play as precisely as possible. Only set the metronome to a faster speed if you can absolutely nail a scale.
The chromatic scale is boring as hell and it sounds really bad, but it's a very useful and important exercise. Whenever I have to warm up for a concert, I play it along with a couple of other scales for half an hour straight, because it's that good of a tool for a musician at every level.
Chords
When playing guitar (or other instruments like piano), rather than individual notes it's really common to play chords, which is essentially groups of notes that sound good together. Each chord has the name of its main note, plus some additional information that may be insanely complex or extremely simple. Overall, however, there are four kinds of chords: major, minor, augmented, and diminished. Major chords only have the name of their main note (ex, F means F major), minor chords have an m next to the main note (Am for example), augmented and diminished chords are written with aug or dim after the main note (Gaug, Edim). I will explain exactly how chords are created in a future article about music theory, but for now I am going to just list a few easy and common chord shapes. It's really important to know all these shapes, and to be able to switch from one to the other quickl. This also one of the things beginners have the most trouble with because it takes a good amount of dexterity and practice to get it right, and to do it at a good speed.
A Am B Bm C Cm D Dm E Em F Fm G Gm |--------0----2----2----0----3----2----1----0----0----1----1----3----3---|| e |---2----1----4----3----1----4----3----3----0----0----1----1----0----3---|| B |---2----2----4----4----0----5----2----2----1----0----2----1----0----3---|| G |---2----2----4----4----2----5----0----0----2----2----3----3----0----5---|| D |---0----0--------------3--------------0----2----2--------------2--------|| A |-------------------------------------------0----0--------------3--------|| E
Notice how the shape of the A chord is extremely similar to the B chord, only a B has every single note moved two frets higher. That is the beauty of a guitar: there are very few basic shapes that are needed, and then any other scale or chord can be obtained just by moving the notes up or down.
When it comes to chords, this does come at a price. The A and E chords are extremely easy to play as you only need three fingers on the fretboard, but when you move up to play an F or B how do you press all the six strings at the same time? The answer is that you have to press all the six strings, at the same time, with just your index finger.
What you do is place your index finger parallel to the fretboard, so that you can cover all six strings at the same time with the full surface of the finger, while playing the remaining notes with your remaining three fingers. This is very, very hard at the start as your index finger will probably not be strong enough. I remember holding the edge of my desk in high school between my index and thumb to build up as much strength on them as I could. This type of chord is known as a barre chord.
A nice way to avoid having to do barre chords is just playing part of the notes of the chord, skipping a few strings. For example, when I couldn't do a full barre I would play an F chord in these two ways (the second one isn't quite correct of course but whatever it sounds decent):
|-------------0----------------|| e |-------------1----------------|| B |----2--------2----------------|| G |----3--------3----------------|| D |----3-------------------------|| A |----1-------------------------|| E
[e/n: but you really should practice whole chords]
A good exercise to start is to have a metronome going at a reasonably slow speed, say 60 bpm, and to try and switch between different chord shapes while trying to stay in time with it. For example, you could strum the G chord twice, switch to a D chord for 2 more strums, going into a C chord for 4 strums. If you can do that, you can play Knocking on Heaven's Door, congratulations!
A very common shape that's used mostly when playing with an electric guitar with some distortion is known as a power chord. Power chords look like these three shapes:
C G F |------------------------------|| e |-------------5----------------|| B |----5--------4----------------|| G |----5---5----3----------------|| D |----3---5---------------------|| A |--------3---------------------|| E
Note that only three notes are played. The reason is, when you play with distortion (especially heavy distortion), if you play all the strings together it will sound bad, like the notes are all over the place, while only playing 2-3 strings each time has a more "compact" sound. Sometimes power chords are played with just two notes (the two lowest strings that make the chord shapes above) and it sounds just as good.
The beauty of power chords is that they are a very, very easy shape to learn, and once you know the shape you can move it all over the neck and produce one chord for each of the twelve notes. Of course since you are only playing 2 or 3 notes, the variety of sounds you can get is quite limited, but often times it's ok. Rock, metal, and to a lesser extent blues, rely heavily on power chords; if you can get those three shapes down well enough, you can play almost any punk rock song ever written.
When you first start playing chords, you should take it really, really slow with your right hand. Don't try to be fancy and do crazy rythms, because as soon as your left hand has to change chord it will be too slow and it won't be able to follow. Instead, just strum downwards a few times, at the exact same slow speed of the metronome, then change chord shape. What is really important is that you learn to switch the shape fast enough that you have more freedom with your right hand; after that you can try going faster, trying to follow a song you are listening, stuff like that.
The Major Scale
The first actual music scale one learns after the chromatic scale is known as the Major scale. It is built this way: take your first note, as a C. The remaining notes in the scale are obtained by moving up a full tone after the C, then another full tone, then moving up half a tone once, then a full tone three more times, then a half step will take you back to a C note. For C this is how it works: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Remember that a half step or half tone is a fret on a guitar, so a full tone corresponds to two frets. In short, the major scale consists of root-full-full-half-full-full-full-half. This is what a C scale might look like on a tab:
Playing through this simple pattern is another nice starter exercise. As with the chromatic scale, go up and down that pattern until you are comfortable at a certain speed, then set the metronome a bit higher, and start over. You can also play a complete pattern for the scale you are using, going up and down all six strings. The different patterns for the C major scale are as follows: + Show Spoiler +
These patterns are harder to do because you have to reach far away with your pinky. What I usually do, if, for example I'm going to go 8-10-12 on a string, is hit 8 with my index and 10 with my middle finger instead of my ring finger. This kind of pushes my pinky forward, so I have an easier time reaching the 12th fret with it.
As with everything on a guitar fret, these patterns can be easily moved up and down the fretboard. If you wanted to play an A scale for example, you would just move every note down three frets. With most intruments, every time you play a different scale you have to remember how every note changes. With guitar you just learn simple patterns and move them up and down the neck as necessary.
Songs to Start With
Scales and random chords are boring as hell after a while, and it's nice to actually be able to play music. When you first start there aren't a whole lot of songs you will be able to play, but here is list of what is a good beginner song with easy chords. No soloing for now of course.
Generally, any punk rock song is extremely easy to play. From the Ramones and Sex Pistols to Green Day to (to a lesser extent) the Offspring, all you have to do be able to do is switch between power chords to play these bands' music. The first songs from these bands I learned when I was a kid are:
Blitzkrieg Bop – The Ramones Anarchy in the UK – Sex Pistols London Calling – The Clash Poprocks and Coke – Green Day
Other songs that are reasonably easy and that I started with are: Knocking on Heaven's Door – Bob Dylan (or Guns and Roses I guess) Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana Pennyroyal Tea – Nirvana It's a Long Way to the Top – AC/DC [e/n: I like to use Wonderwall to practice chords] I will update with more songs if anyone has any suggestions, right now I can't think of many more.
Resources
I have always learned through private lessons so I never used a book, I am afraid I don't have any suggestions on this. If anyone does, I will update the article. The best website by far for guitar-related resources is Ultimate-Guitar.com. Here you will find anything from guitar tabs to lessons to reviews to interviews of musicians. It's really amazing.
It might be useful to have a program that allows you to view tabs in a nice and organized way; the two most popular are Guitar Pro (http://www.guitar-pro.com) and Power Tab (http://www.power-tab.net/). I have Guitar Pro and it's really really useful, especially because it shows tablatures in a really clear way, and it can play through a tab so you can hear what the song sounds like. I would even buy the full version if you are serious about playing guitar; 50 euros after spending 200 or 300 on a guitar still is reasonable considering.
Hi, great thread, I was just reading it and I noticed that you accidentally got acoustic and classical guitars mixed up. It's acoustic guitars that have steel strings, whilst classical guitars have (some) nylon strings. It seems like you already know this, you just messed up a sentence .
Classical guitars also usually have their strings spread further apart from one-another and have a comparitively very-high action. There are other difference but the string spacing, string type and action (for others this is the distance between the strings and the fret board, as a rule the closer they are the easier to play, but also you need to be cleaner to produce unwanted noise) are the main things a new guitarist needs to know, IMO .
IMO it is also probably worth mentioning that although classical guitars are easier on your fingers if you are a newbie, but are otherwise more difficult to play. Many people still recommend them as a first guitar as they are supposed to force you to play correctly, although I have no opinion there (I started with a classical guitar because it was the cheapest one I could find at the time, though ).
EDIT: Also a great site for learning songs in videos is http://JustinGuitar.com. It has lots of stuff to help budding guitarists including heaps of helpful videos. I've used it when I couldn't be bothered figuring out a tricky bit of a song before !
As a guitar player of 25 years and a guitar tutor, I would slap my students around the head for doing some of the things you are suggesting.
A good guide, don't get me wrong but you are advocating bad habits. I won't go in to great detail because from experience I know that text guides are a horrible way to express how to play an instrument and no matter how hard you or I try, it will never be perfect ;p
Couple of notes: your C scale is wrong. Its 3,5,2,3,5,2,4,5. Easy mistake to make when tabbing things out ;p your G chord is wrong, again teaching bad habits. When teaching you should be teaching the full G chord which uses all 4 fingers from high to low 3,3,0,0,2,3. It sounds nicer too. Same thing for the C chord, full C chord uses 4 fingers and sounds sexy.
I do hate to be that guy but when writing as an "expert" which is what TL knowhow is for, you shouldn't be advocating bad practice. I would also suggest that you edit in some videos because a lot of learning guitar is about knowing the correct tecnique and seeing someone doing it right (i.e thumb behind the fretboard, not hanging over the top) helps the process and helps correct any bad habits one might have picked up.
To anyone learning, don't try to go too fast. One of the key steps to learning to play guitar was missed out in this guide, learning transitions. Its almost impossible to explain without showing someone but I'll take a crack at it ;p
Learning how to transition from one chord to another:
Before you can play a song, you need to be able to move from one chord to any other chord quickly enough to keep the beat. This is pretty difficult for a beginner especially if you can't play barre chords yet. Transitioning changes based on a lot of things such as whether the chord change comes before or after an up/down stroke. If you change chords after an upstroke and the next is a down stroke you want to release the higher notes first and then place your fingers back down on the lower notes first, reverse is true if you are coming from a down stroke and in to an upstroke. Basically you always want the notes you play first to be the first stings you hit when transitioning, it takes a lot of practice to get this in to your muscle memory.
So here are some exercises to do:
1) Starting on C using only down strokes. Play the Major scale in chords. C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C. Do it over and over and over. until you can play in time to an 80bpm metronome without blunting any strings or playing duff notes. You can the same exercise with upstrokes to learn the transitions the other way.
2) Long changes: These are for chords that are very different such as Am and G. Some changes are easy and quick such as Am to C, you just move your ring finger from the G to A sting. Am,A,D,Dm etc to G is a long change, you have to move all your fingers. Practicing these changes is easy, Simply pick two chords and rock from one to the other. Just as a note, in general all chords (with exceptions for chords that use only 2 fretted strings) should be played with 3 or 4 fingers, A for example should not be played using 1 finger to hold all 3 strings down, it should be played with index to ring fingers on one string each. The only time you should use one finger to hold down more than 1 string is when playing barre chords, both the barre (index across the whole fret board) and the fretted notes can be done with 1 finger each (in the case of A Major shaped barres) though if you can you should use all 4 fingers. Minor barres and Barres using the E shape should always be played with all 4 fingers.
3) Random changes. I have been playing guitar since I was 4, I am now 29 and do it for a living. I still to this day pick up my guitar once a day and practice chord changes for about 5-10 minutes. I do this using random changes, playing chords at random changing as fast as I can. When you are a beginner, don't go as fast as you can, just practice changing chords, picking them randomly so that you get a feel for every possible chord change.
Once you can change chords well, then you are ready to start playing songs. The reason you wait until you can chord change properly? Because learning to play guitar isn't about learning to play songs. If you learn how to play knocking on heavens door, you will learn how to play G,D and Am (at least in the key I play it in lol) but you won't have learned about how to change chords properly. It won't help you to learn the next song you want to play unless that song uses the same chords.
I'm not saying don't learn any songs until you can chord change perfectly either. Once you are competent at the first exercise you can start learning songs, but you should focus more on learning proper technique before you worry about being able to serenade someone.
Sorry for the wall of text, but music and especially guitar is my passion in life and one of three things in which I can call myself an expert (I am a Singer/Vocal coach and Guitarist/Guitar tutor and a songwriter)
Whoooops my bad i fucked up the scale. I corrected it now. I'm not really used to writing tabs.
The G and C chord do sound better, but i think when you first start it's easier to use 3 fingers rather than 4, especially when you have to learn how to switch between chords.
Also, i covered changing chords and strumming exercises in a later part that isn't published yet.
Thanks for the feedback though, it was the first time i wrote a guitar playing guide. If you want, i can email you the other 2 articles and you can tell me where to improve them before they are published.
Regarding songs vs pure exercise, what you are saying is true but i feel like starting to play really basic music is a nice motivation boost. Learning how to play properly is a big commitment and, let's face it, starting is boring as hell. If you do nothing but exercises i think you can be less motivated to put in the time and patience, compared to playing some really basic stuff.
edit: also, i have thought about adding videos but i can't record myself because i don't have any half decent camera.
On September 15 2012 20:55 Teoita wrote: Whoooops my bad i fucked up the scale. I corrected it now. I'm not really used to writing tabs.
The G and C chord do sound better, but i think when you first start it's easier to use 3 fingers rather than 4, especially when you have to learn how to switch between chords.
Also, i covered changing chords and strumming exercises in a later part that isn't published yet.
Thanks for the feedback though, it was the first time i wrote a guitar playing guide. If you want, i can email you the other 2 articles and you can tell me where to improve them before they are published.
Regarding songs vs pure exercise, what you are saying is true but i feel like starting to play really basic music is a nice motivation boost. Learning how to play properly is a big commitment and, let's face it, starting is boring as hell. If you do nothing but exercises i think you can be less motivated to put in the time and patience, compared to playing some really basic stuff.
I don't disagree about it being boring but I'm coming at this from a tutors point of view, I completely understand why you would advocate learning simple songs but then people like me have to work with students who have terrible habits and teach them the correct way.... grrrrr.
when teaching I always discourage learning pop songs, If you want to learn songs as a beginner you should be learning classical music or be playing pop songs arpeggiated (strings plucked seperately in a pattern) so that you are both getting the motivation and practicing technique ;p
Personally, and most guitar tutors would agree, the use of a plectrum should also be heavily discouraged during the learning process, at least at the very start and until you can play scales and arpeggios with the correct fingers without thinking about it too much. Learning to play finger style is a massive part of learning guitar, if you play for more than about a year with a pick from the start and then try to learn to play with your fingers it makes it 20 times harder. This comes from experience, unfortunately there is a guitar tutor where I live who teaches from the start with a pick, I've had a few of his students come to me after learning with him for over a year and I have to go right back to the start and help them unlearn the bad habits they've picked up.
I would be happy to look over your guides and suggest edits but please don't feel like I'm trying to be an ass or put you down or that you should in any way feel compelled to use my suggestions. I know how much work goes in to one of these guides ( http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=165836 ) and you've done an excellent job, it's just that I have nightmares about all the guitar players out there in the world who can't even play a simple arpeggio without a pick cause they never learned how ;p
Btw, if you want to see a good example of how a video should look for teaching guitar, I have a couple on youtube. They are very advanced techniques but I've been working on my teaching techniques for years and the formula I use works no matter how easy or hard the song or exercise is. Break it down in to small parts, focus on one at a time. Then begin to combine. This particular one is in 3 parts starting there, really should update that video with HD quality lol
Alright, pm me your email so i can send you the files. Thanks for the help and feedback!
Why would you start fingerpicking first? When you first start it's hard to focus on two hands at the same time, and mostly you have to focus on changing chords in time. Adding arpeggios on top of that seems to just add more advanced stuff that a beginner isn't ready for. Also i really don't know nearly enough about classical guitar to recommend anything, i just thought of a few simple songs i used to enjoy when i first started in Junior High.
I think the dialogue here is uber great, as this is where a lot of the knowhow should come out, - with the participation in the discussion and the initiative taken by Teoita. ^^ So much talent in TL.
On September 15 2012 21:24 Teoita wrote: Alright, pm me your email so i can send you the files. Thanks for the help and feedback!
Why would you start fingerpicking first? When you first start it's hard to focus on two hands at the same time, and mostly you have to focus on changing chords in time. Adding arpeggios on top of that seems to just add more advanced stuff that a beginner isn't ready for. Also i really don't know nearly enough about classical guitar to recommend anything, i just thought of a few simple songs i used to enjoy when i first started in Junior High.
Actually finger picking and strumming is easier to learn than using a pick and it makes you a better guitarist in the long run. It also helps you develop "feel" for where strings are, many people who start with a pick struggle for a long time to be able to play without looking at their right hand as they have no feel for which string they are picking. When playing with your fingers, after the initial awkward period of about 1 month (max two months in my experience based on 30 mins to 1 hour per day practice) you no longer need to look at your right hand to know where you are and only look periodically when learning new patterns etc.
Same with arpeggios, they are actually easier to learn than strumming patterns. I didn't ever use a pick until I had been playing for 5 years or so, even now I only use one when playing an electric guitar or for songs that sound better using one. Once you've learned to play, fingers or pick is a stylistic choice but while learning, the focus should be on proper technique.
I understand why you would think its harder to learn but in reality if you start without a pick and never use one, its actually easier. Its only more difficult when you either start with a pick or switch between them while learning the basics. As guitar is all about coordinating both hands, the best way to learn is to be using your actual hands, so you can feel the strings beneath them.
The classical music thing is just me being an old fart (29 is old now apparently lol). Pop songs tend to make people focus more on the song than the learning process, they get hooked on learning new songs and stop trying to improve, improvement happens still but at a much slower rate.
I'll PM you my e-mail, propbably not the best place to debate these things lol, all the newbies will be getting confused.
edit: seems the mods are encouraging the debate lol... best keep it goin!
Actually finger picking and strumming is easier to learn than using a pick and it makes you a better guitarist in the long run. It also helps you develop "feel" for where strings are, many people who start with a pick struggle for a long time to be able to play without looking at their right hand as they have no feel for which string they are picking. When playing with your fingers, after the initial awkward period of about 1 month (max two months in my experience based on 30 mins to 1 hour per day practice) you no longer need to look at your right hand to know where you are and only look periodically when learning new patterns etc.
Same with arpeggios, they are actually easier to learn than strumming patterns. I didn't ever use a pick until I had been playing for 5 years or so, even now I only use one when playing an electric guitar or for songs that sound better using one. Once you've learned to play, fingers or pick is a stylistic choice but while learning, the focus should be on proper technique.
Interesting, i have never done many arpeggios and i can sort of handle them decently, but mostly i have played electric, and since i'm not Mark Knopfler i use a pick 99% of the time. The only song i have ever played live without a pick is Stairway.
The classical music thing is just me being an old fart (29 is old now apparently lol). Pop songs tend to make people focus more on the song than the learning process, they get hooked on learning new songs and stop trying to improve, improvement happens still but at a much slower rate.
Been there done that actually, haha. But then again when i was a newbie all i played was silly pop punk songs so not much room to do things better there.
Actually finger picking and strumming is easier to learn than using a pick and it makes you a better guitarist in the long run. It also helps you develop "feel" for where strings are, many people who start with a pick struggle for a long time to be able to play without looking at their right hand as they have no feel for which string they are picking. When playing with your fingers, after the initial awkward period of about 1 month (max two months in my experience based on 30 mins to 1 hour per day practice) you no longer need to look at your right hand to know where you are and only look periodically when learning new patterns etc.
Same with arpeggios, they are actually easier to learn than strumming patterns. I didn't ever use a pick until I had been playing for 5 years or so, even now I only use one when playing an electric guitar or for songs that sound better using one. Once you've learned to play, fingers or pick is a stylistic choice but while learning, the focus should be on proper technique.
Interesting, i have never done many arpeggios and i can sort of handle them decently, but mostly i have played electric, and since i'm not Mark Knopfler i use a pick 99% of the time. The only song i have ever played live without a pick is Stairway.
The classical music thing is just me being an old fart (29 is old now apparently lol). Pop songs tend to make people focus more on the song than the learning process, they get hooked on learning new songs and stop trying to improve, improvement happens still but at a much slower rate.
Been there done that actually, haha. But then again when i was a newbie all i played was silly pop punk songs so not much room to do things better there.
There are times when I do advocate using pop/rocks songs but its for mostly more advanced techniques. For instance when learning to do bends i use Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton as its main solo motif uses bends to great effect so they both learn to play the solo and learn technique at the same time. For hammer ons and pull offs I use the main riff from Teardrop, without all the complicated other stuff in that video lol
Makes sense. Having mostly played rock stuff, i thought of songs to practice power chords since those are really important there, and when you get the hang of those you can play a loooot of stuff, and/or with simple open chord progressions.
For more advanced techniques, i'd add the intro to Sweet Home Chicago for sliding.
I actually know how to play guitar, but I was hoping that this guide would have some stuff on sight reading and actually reading and interpreting sheet music. I can read sheet music for the cello, but since the cello is a bit more linear (for lack of a better word?) when you interpret music, it doesn't transfer so well to guitar (it doesn't help that they're in different clefs).
Overall a good guide though. If you could add anything about reading sheet music that would be awesome ^^
On September 15 2012 22:53 MtlGuitarist97 wrote: I actually know how to play guitar, but I was hoping that this guide would have some stuff on sight reading and actually reading and interpreting sheet music. I can read sheet music for the cello, but since the cello is a bit more linear (for lack of a better word?) when you interpret music, it doesn't transfer so well to guitar (it doesn't help that they're in different clefs).
Overall a good guide though. If you could add anything about reading sheet music that would be awesome ^^
Sight reading for guitar mostly comes down to how well you know the fretboard. If you can read music, you can read music. Guitar notation has some extra symbols for slides and hammer on / pull off but its basically the same as reading for piano, most of the time when you get guitar notation its actually expressed as if being played on piano.
Learn the note each fret corresponds to on standard notation, drill it in to your mind and you are good to go. A good way of doing this is to buy notation that has both the standard stave and guitar tab right below it. That way you can read the tab and then see how it looks on the standard notation to help the conversion process. It really is all about practice. You learn how chord shapes look in standard notation which is always a nice touch because then you can switch from playing lead to rhythm without needing to have the chords written along the top lol.
One of the best things about guitar is that you don't really need to be able to read music that well because tablature is a far better medium for writing guitar notation, it is easier to read and write after all and is often a more accurate reflection of how you should play it as you can play most notes on a guitar in at least 3 places. So when you read that you need to play middle E followed by F# you might want to play that two different ways on guitar depending on the surrounding notes, the sound you want to achieve and whether or not you need to bend the note etc. Bending is generally easier out in the middle of the fretboard and on the middle strings.
As an addendum to that, Guitar Pro (and Power Tab i think) has both standard and tab notation that you can display simoultaneously or separately, and tabs on it always have correct time notation (as opposed to the stuff you would find on 911tabs for example), so it's a good way to exercise.
On September 15 2012 23:11 Teoita wrote: As an addendum to that, Guitar Pro (and Power Tab i think) has both standard and tab notation that you can display simoultaneously or separately, and tabs on it always have correct time notation (as opposed to the stuff you would find on 911tabs for example), so it's a good way to exercise.
yeah I spend half my time on ultimate-guitar trying to figure out who the hell thinks that there are 5 beats in a 4/4 song because they can't express the timing properly ;p
I do hate to be that guy but when writing as an "expert" which is what TL knowhow is for, you shouldn't be advocating bad practice. I would also suggest that you edit in some videos because a lot of learning guitar is about knowing the correct tecnique and seeing someone doing it right (i.e thumb behind the fretboard, not hanging over the top) helps the process and helps correct any bad habits one might have picked up.
The advice is sound, but you ought to work on your own thumb judging from those tutorial videos. That hanging thumb is a serious offender =).
Even someone like Fruiscante will bring his thumb down to attain proper reach when necessary. As opposed to the droves of non classically trained guitarists who have a hard time reaching 4 frets while letting their thumbs hang indefinitely -- Fruiscante/Hendrix etc used the thumb for a purpose: base notes in riffs.
I would also like to add that the classical stance is to rest the guitar on your left thigh, with your left leg being slightly elevated.
I will leave you all with a couple of inspiring classical pieces:
La Catedral -- Augustin Barrios. (Listen to the whole thing)
A very common shape that's used mostly when playing with an electric guitar with some distortion is known as a power chord. Power chords look like these three shapes:
C G F |------------------------------|| e |-------------5----------------|| B |----5--------4----------------|| G |----5---5----3----------------|| D |----3---5---------------------|| A |--------3---------------------|| E
should be:
C G F |------------------------------|| e |-------------6----------------|| B |----5--------5----------------|| G |----5---5----3----------------|| D |----3---5---------------------|| A |--------3---------------------|| E
I do hate to be that guy but when writing as an "expert" which is what TL knowhow is for, you shouldn't be advocating bad practice. I would also suggest that you edit in some videos because a lot of learning guitar is about knowing the correct tecnique and seeing someone doing it right (i.e thumb behind the fretboard, not hanging over the top) helps the process and helps correct any bad habits one might have picked up.
The advice is sound, but you ought to work on your own thumb judging from those tutorial videos. That hanging thumb is a serious offender =).
Even someone like Fruiscante will bring his thumb down to attain proper reach when necessary. As opposed to the droves of non classically trained guitarists who have a hard time reaching 4 frets while letting their thumbs hang indefinitely -- Fruiscante/Hendrix etc used the thumb for a purpose: base notes in riffs.
I would also like to add that the classical stance is to rest the guitar on your left thigh, with your left leg being slightly elevated.
I will leave you all with a couple of inspiring classical pieces:
Oh when i'm not teaching beginners or am playing a gig I am awful for it lol.
I've been playing for 25 years, where my thumb is makes little difference to how I play, I even play without it touching the fretboard at times.
The people that tutorial is designed for aren't beginners and don't need to be lectured about technique, they either are lazy or not ;p
Every guitarist does it when being lazy including the classically trained Eric Clapton, Gary Draper (my old guitar teacher who sessions for everyone from Clapton to Jose Feliciano and is without doubt the best guitarist i've ever met in real life) and Mark Knopfler just to name a few ;p
when teaching properly (i.e in a room with a student) and especially when teaching beginners, I always play with correct technique because you must do as you preach but much like Hendrix I use my thumb to play a lot of the time when I'm playing songs, its very useful to use for blunting, bass notes and barre chords (actually even use it playing an open D chord to play the F# on the E string) even if it is bad technique. It really depends on what i'm playing, when playing scales my thumb automatically moves down because of muscle memory and because you can reach further.
Once you can play properly the use of the thumb as a counter pressure point isn't very important but it is important to learn correctly. I am a massive offender but I also went past the point at which I needed my thumb in the correct place most of the time many many years ago.
love the songs btw
p.s are you a guitarist in addition to being an awesome sc2 player? or just a fan of the art?
On September 15 2012 23:11 Teoita wrote: As an addendum to that, Guitar Pro (and Power Tab i think) has both standard and tab notation that you can display simoultaneously or separately, and tabs on it always have correct time notation (as opposed to the stuff you would find on 911tabs for example), so it's a good way to exercise.
yeah I spend half my time on ultimate-guitar trying to figure out who the hell thinks that there are 5 beats in a 4/4 song because they can't express the timing properly ;p
Yeah. Every time I download a powertab tab it seems like the person who tabbed it has no idea what they're doing :p If you've been brought up to read proper notation unlike the majority of guitarists, it's really painful to look at.
TuxGuitar maybe should get a mention somewhere. It can open GuitarPro files and it's available for free. The interface is not as nice as GP6 though.
Question. If there's a sudden drop d in a piece of music, but only for a small part, how do I play it. Do I just have to tune down the E string for the whole song?
Okay, so I hate to be that guy, but I think somebody needs to be. I have a lot of problems with this article, most of which I could overlook except for the fact that TL is presenting this article as expert advice from an expert.
For what it's worth, I am a 30 year old professional musician. I have been playing drums for 25 years and guitar for 22. I teach both guitar and drums as my full-time job.
Factual Errors
A lot of what I'm going to say in the sections below is pure opinion, and since I am neither the author, nor the editor, not a TL mod, you can take or leave all of that. There are a few factual errors in the article, however.
First, a chromatic scale is not simply the fingerboard exercise presented in the article. A chromatic scale is a 12 tone scale in which each note is a semitone above the previous note. A chromatic scale starting on A, for example, would be fingered in this manner:
e---------------------------------------1234(5) B-------------------------------2345 G------------------------2345 D-----------------3456 A --------4567-- E -5678-
Though the exercise presented in the article does indeed "musically sound like crap," the chromatic scale has a variety of musical uses and can sound quite lovely when played in the right context.
Second, the author says that "Overall, however, there are four kinds of chords: major, minor, augmented, and diminished." False. There are many, many kinds of chords in addition to the ones listed here, including dominant 7 chords, major 7 chords, half-diminished chords, etc. Even if you assume that the author was going for the most basic groups of chords, he is still wrong. At the most basic level, there are 3 types of chords: major, minor, and dominant 7. Augmented chords fall under the "dominant 7" umbrella, and diminished chords under the "minor" umbrella. Nevermind that all of this information is completely irrelevant to someone who is just getting started with guitar.
Differences of Opinion
You should not go to Guitar Center to buy your first guitar. Every GC I've been to has been staffed with high school kids who know absolutely nothing about guitars. Most of their employees work solely on commission, and so their goal is to sell you as much as possible. If you have the chance, you should go to a professional guitar shop staffed by professional guitar players (or at the very least professional salespeople). You will get much better service and probably a much better guitar. If you are worried about price, you can always search for the guitar you are about to buy online. Most retailers will match any reasonable internet price.
After you purchase your guitar, I would advise against learning a bunch of scales and exercises (like the ones presented here). I have started some students (at their insistence) with this method, and they always quit practicing within a month. To get started, just learn a few easy chords (G, C, A, E, Em, D, and maybe power chords) and start playing songs you enjoy. The students of mine who progress the fastest are the ones who have the most fun playing. Since they enjoy playing so much, they spend more time with the guitar in their hands, and that leads to increased skill. There's no need to "willpower through" something that's supposed to be fun and enjoyable, especially at the beginning.
Formatting Choices
Again, more opinion: This article needs some images. Every beginning guitar method book includes pictures of how to sit, how to fret a note, how to hold the pic, etc. This article covers all of those topics, but fails to include any visuals whatsoever. If you're going to spend the time writing an in-depth article (and I assume this article took a significant amount of time to write, research, and format), spend the extra 20 minutes creating or stealing some images to go along with it.
Definition of an Expert
It worries me that TL presents Teoita as an expert in guitar, or even more specifically as an expert in teaching guitar. If you want to present somebody as "guitar expert," show me their music degree, their current teaching post, the band they're touring with, the record label they're on, or even their youtube channel where they post teaching/performance videos. I don't need all of those things, but any one of them would be nice. By his own admission, Teoita plays only an hour a day (when mastery is now generally defined as 10,000 hours - or 3 hours a day for 10 years), can't read music, has never studied out of a method book, and has only taught a handful of lessons. Teoita seems enthusiastic and well-intentioned, but he does not seem like an expert.
That's my two cents. I'm not even sure what the point is, however, because as several other people have pointed out you should just go to Justin Guitar if you want to learn guitar on the internet.
This is a good thread about learning guitar, but I think it would be better off placed in blogs rather than knowhow. I guess I would hope for either a professional musician, or a highly qualified and experienced teacher. Mighty Atom's first series of blogs set the standard quite high, but that's a good thing- I know there's so much talent on TL.
@Dittert, I think with TL Knowhow, we had to start at a certain point and that point was those who were willing to take initiative with this project. I mean, at the end of the day, even myself, while I'm very well versed at an international CEO level for strategy/marketing, I don't have all the knowhow, especially when it comes to 'start-ups' where I'm still relatively inexperienced in compared to guys in silicon valley who have funded or run several such start-ups (not to say I'm a light weight, but there are guys out there who know it better than me).
But I think this post has been great in getting some awesome contributions and in the future, can we can revise it further and TL knowhow is a work in progress as well. Even though I've played guitar, I didn't know about some of these resources either, but even having this thread get out two great musicians to make corrections and give their knowhow, I think overall it has still done it's intended job.
That being said, you're points about level of expertise, is correct, we were thinking of rating system which thedeadhaji also set out, cause he got pissed off at one submission which clearly wasn't up to par, but had just put up as a draft simply to see if there was anything worth salvaging. But yes, intentions aren't enough, but I think as this section starts to take off, we'll, even if the post simply gets others to share their knowhow, well I'm happy to start there. And while it seems like a cope out, well, this section will be a work in progress a while longer. But sincerely, your post is also very well received, and of course my thanks goes out to Teoita for contributing and at least putting us in a position to start some real discussion as well.
@Dittert I agree on your definition of an expert. I am a guitar tutor and vocal coach (started playing at 4,started teaching at 16, have been a full time musician since then), though I work mostly as a gigging singer/guitarist these days. I chimed in on this for the same reason you did, I felt there were areas where this guide was lacking but that the intention was good.
I have offered to make some videos for Teoita to go with the tutorials (including the OP of this thread). I have already seen the next parts and suggested some edits and additions and leave it up to him if he and TL wish to use them. there are fantastic resources for learning guitar on the internet but I think there is a place for this on TL to get people started and lead them on to those resources. No one is going to learn guitar from reading a couple of 10 minute reads on TL but they can get a good overview of the basics and how to get started in the learning process
We definitely have a different opinion on the learning process, my experience differs greatly from yours but that is likely due to the setting in which we teach. My students come to me mainly based on recommendation and are usually fairly young, pre the age where being able to play their favorite songs to impress their friends is important to them and often I take on older students who have come from other tutors with glaring gaps in their knowledge or bad technique whom I have to go right back to the basics with because they never learned them. I get the impression that the students you take on are generally older and more in to learning to play songs than be a guitarist and so you have to entice them in to our world, I may be wrong on that but its just the feel I get from what you said.
I teach the basic scales first always because it helps people become familiar with the guitar and what it feels like to play, once they become competent with a couple of simple scales (such as C major and the blues scale) I then start working on chords in conjunction with more complex finger exercises. I don't stop my students from independently learning songs and often have a student come to a lesson wanting to show me the latest song they learned and am proud and pleased to see them enjoying the learning experience but when I'm trying to teach someone, I see greater improvement faster when they work hard on scales and the basic groundings of music theory and think of playing songs as a by-product of the process rather than the goal.
As you said, this is all very subjective because both philosophy and teaching techniques are a huge part of why we do things a certain way. I have fun with my students, I make learning the boring stuff seem more exciting, I offer them deals like "learn to play this perfectly before next lesson and I will teach you to play something you want to learn", again building on the by-product theme from above. I know tutors who have better results with your method than mine but for me, I consistently see better results with those whom are grounded properly in technique from the start.
On September 16 2012 10:05 neobowman wrote: Question. If there's a sudden drop d in a piece of music, but only for a small part, how do I play it. Do I just have to tune down the E string for the whole song?
A sudden drop D? I've never come across that personally. I would assume that one of the following is happening:
1) You are using tabs/music that is incorrect 2) You have learned to play the song without the drop D but the song needs it i.e you aren't playing it the way it was written
for instance, you can play all of Goo Goo Dolls "Iris" without drop D tuning simply by not playing the E strings ever, it sounds weird but can be done, I've seen tabs that don't even have the drop D in them and simply show only playing the middle 4 strings but there is one part of the song where not having the drop D makes it sound horrible. Another instance would be Everlong by Foo Fighters. I can play it without the drop D but it requires a 4 fret spread for a lot of it and missing the low E string out of 1 of the chord shapes and the mid-section
Could you please give a particular instance of a sudden drop D in a song and if possible a link to the tab, that would help figuring out what is going on ;p
edit: thought of an instance of a sudden drop D but its an unlikely scenario for most songs that use drop D. Newton faulkner plays a couple of songs where he re-tunes the E string mid song but its part of his style and show more than anything and you really won't find many other people doing it.
On September 16 2012 10:05 neobowman wrote: Question. If there's a sudden drop d in a piece of music, but only for a small part, how do I play it. Do I just have to tune down the E string for the whole song?
A sudden drop D? I've never come across that personally. I would assume that one of the following is happening:
1) You are using tabs/music that is incorrect 2) You have learned to play the song without the drop D but the song needs it i.e you aren't playing it the way it was written
for instance, you can play all of Goo Goo Dolls "Iris" without drop D tuning simply by not playing the E strings ever, it sounds weird but can be done, I've seen tabs that don't even have the drop D in them and simply show only playing the middle 4 strings but there is one part of the song where not having the drop D makes it sound horrible. Another instance would be Everlong by Foo Fighters. I can play it without the drop D but it requires a 4 fret spread for a lot of it and missing the low E string out of 1 of the chord shapes and the mid-section
Could you please give a particular instance of a sudden drop D in a song and if possible a link to the tab, that would help figuring out what is going on ;p
edit: thought of an instance of a sudden drop D but its an unlikely scenario for most songs that use drop D. Newton faulkner plays a couple of songs where he re-tunes the E string mid song but its part of his style and show more than anything and you really won't find many other people doing it.
On September 16 2012 10:05 neobowman wrote: Question. If there's a sudden drop d in a piece of music, but only for a small part, how do I play it. Do I just have to tune down the E string for the whole song?
A sudden drop D? I've never come across that personally. I would assume that one of the following is happening:
1) You are using tabs/music that is incorrect 2) You have learned to play the song without the drop D but the song needs it i.e you aren't playing it the way it was written
for instance, you can play all of Goo Goo Dolls "Iris" without drop D tuning simply by not playing the E strings ever, it sounds weird but can be done, I've seen tabs that don't even have the drop D in them and simply show only playing the middle 4 strings but there is one part of the song where not having the drop D makes it sound horrible. Another instance would be Everlong by Foo Fighters. I can play it without the drop D but it requires a 4 fret spread for a lot of it and missing the low E string out of 1 of the chord shapes and the mid-section
Could you please give a particular instance of a sudden drop D in a song and if possible a link to the tab, that would help figuring out what is going on ;p
edit: thought of an instance of a sudden drop D but its an unlikely scenario for most songs that use drop D. Newton faulkner plays a couple of songs where he re-tunes the E string mid song but its part of his style and show more than anything and you really won't find many other people doing it.
It's in a few of the guitar parts as well as the bass a bit past halfway into the song.
I must be tired cause I'm not seeing where it changes in the tab pro version, its all in standard tuning. Maybe its different than the one you are using, it would be quite unusual to change to drop D for a section, usually you would have two guitars, one tuned to drop D play that plays without the E string until the drop D section but again thats quite rare lol. I'll look more in to it when I've slept and get back to you
hmmph I've asked so many students/friends what scales are for and nobody ever gives me a good answer because no one ever teaches them what scales are used for, especially classically trained people and even one guy who plays in orchestras omg.
This is an explaination that I have:
Scales are more than a practice tool. Songs are made up, intentionally or not, by scales. It defines the mood and feel of the song itself. Like if I play something using only notes present in a harmonic minor scale/phyrigian it'll sound Middle eastern. Or if I play around in a Major Pentatonic scale it'll sound Chinese.
*Video of me playing the guitar 404*
It may sound obvious but a lot of people are oblivious to the power of scales, which is a fundamental component in improvising and composing, whether they are thinking about it consiously or subconsiously.
emythrel, I'd like to think of teaching theory/techniques (the important components of music) through songs. Yes songs will be a byproduct but the student should have fun learning the songs but the purpose is to actually learn techniques.
I can go on forever but it's kinda frustrating to only be able type it out.
I feel lazy scrutinising every detail of emythrel's and Dittert but I prefer their advice much more in general.
I do hate to be that guy but when writing as an "expert" which is what TL knowhow is for, you shouldn't be advocating bad practice. I would also suggest that you edit in some videos because a lot of learning guitar is about knowing the correct tecnique and seeing someone doing it right (i.e thumb behind the fretboard, not hanging over the top) helps the process and helps correct any bad habits one might have picked up.
The advice is sound, but you ought to work on your own thumb judging from those tutorial videos. That hanging thumb is a serious offender =).
Even someone like Fruiscante will bring his thumb down to attain proper reach when necessary. As opposed to the droves of non classically trained guitarists who have a hard time reaching 4 frets while letting their thumbs hang indefinitely -- Fruiscante/Hendrix etc used the thumb for a purpose: base notes in riffs.
I would also like to add that the classical stance is to rest the guitar on your left thigh, with your left leg being slightly elevated.
After years of learning music classically and starting to learn flamenco, another really rigid genre, I really hate the mindset of advocating one method of playing the guitar. (Or anything for that matter) It should be find as long as it sounds good, doesn't hurt, and is effective.
@MIghtyAtom: a user above pointed out a mistake in one of the tabs, could you please correct it?
@Dittert: 1) Chromatic scale: you are right, i worded it poorly. Still the exercise i show is really useful for a beginner. The actual chromatic scale would obvously be tougher as they would have to move their wrist. 2) Buying a guitar: honestly if you are going to buy an entry level guitar, you don't need amazing expert advice. Honestly, a squire/epiphone/yamaha/cheap ibanez will do. From what i remember from when i was in the US, prices at GC are honest. 3) Scales/exercises vs Songs: i more or less agree with emythrel on this one. Some songs at the start are nice, but your focus should be on getting used to playing, developing strength in your fingers etc, and that's done more easily through exercises 4): Being an expert: i am more then welcome to get help better musicians than me. I do think i know enough to help absolutely entry-level players though.
This article was only meant to be an introduction to beginning how to play, which is really, really entry level. I did what i could with the article, and it did receive decent feedback. Of course it can always be improved, and if you guys have more suggestions/material to add it might be nice to turn the series into "begiiner guitar by Teoita, Emythrel and Ditter" or whatever.
Been thinking about buying some old guitar to try and learn to play since i have alot of freetime lately and i need to occupy myself with something other than working out/partying/sc2
On September 16 2012 16:04 JieXian wrote: hmmph I've asked so many students/friends what scales are for and nobody ever gives me a good answer because no one ever teaches them what scales are used for, especially classically trained people and even one guy who plays in orchestras omg.
This is an explaination that I have:
Scales are more than a practice tool. Songs are made up, intentionally or not, by scales. It defines the mood and feel of the song itself. Like if I play something using only notes present in a harmonic minor scale/phyrigian it'll sound Middle eastern. Or if I play around in a Major Pentatonic scale it'll sound Chinese.
*Video of me playing the guitar 404*
It may sound obvious but a lot of people are oblivious to the power of scales, which is a fundamental component in improvising and composing, whether they are thinking about it consiously or subconsiously.
emythrel, I'd like to think of teaching theory/techniques (the important components of music) through songs. Yes songs will be a byproduct but the student should have fun learning the songs but the purpose is to actually learn techniques.
I can go on forever but it's kinda frustrating to only be able type it out.
I feel lazy scrutinising every detail of emythrel's and Dittert but I prefer their advice much more in general.
I do hate to be that guy but when writing as an "expert" which is what TL knowhow is for, you shouldn't be advocating bad practice. I would also suggest that you edit in some videos because a lot of learning guitar is about knowing the correct tecnique and seeing someone doing it right (i.e thumb behind the fretboard, not hanging over the top) helps the process and helps correct any bad habits one might have picked up.
The advice is sound, but you ought to work on your own thumb judging from those tutorial videos. That hanging thumb is a serious offender =).
Even someone like Fruiscante will bring his thumb down to attain proper reach when necessary. As opposed to the droves of non classically trained guitarists who have a hard time reaching 4 frets while letting their thumbs hang indefinitely -- Fruiscante/Hendrix etc used the thumb for a purpose: base notes in riffs.
I would also like to add that the classical stance is to rest the guitar on your left thigh, with your left leg being slightly elevated.
After years of learning music classically and starting to learn flamenco, another really rigid genre, I really hate the mindset of advocating one method of playing the guitar. (Or anything for that matter) It should be find as long as it sounds good, doesn't hurt, and is effective.
I started with flamenco/spanish classical as a child, i actually change how i play completely when going back to it now but don't even really think about it. I agree that so long as it sounds good, thats what matters but only when talking about an accomplished guitarist. For learners, using correct technique is very important, which leg your guitar is on makes little difference in reality, i generally tell students to go with what feels right. Flamenco guitarists hold their guitar off the leg in their arms, classic use left leg generally and rock/pop use right leg. Old school rockers have their guitar on a strap up at their chest, younger rockers have it slung low by their crotch. Personally I move my guitar based on what i'm playing, when playing classical or flamenco sat down, left leg.... when playing electric or acoustic standing I have my guitar hung across my abdomen and when sat down over my right leg.
I too have used songs to teach technique, but with more advanced techniques. For the basics I steer well clear of it. Again, its a matter of my experience pushing me towards doing things a certain way. I'm not opposed to other teaching styles and definitely think as a teacher you need to experiment to find what works. You actually hit on something which I think is why I have success with my teaching style, I show them why knowing all these scales and techniques is important, how knowing them means you can play anything, learn anything, compose your own works, improvise etc.
If you want to be a lead guitarist, you have to know all these scales and how they relate to each other. They are the basis of every riff and solo you will ever write or play. Improvised solos are one of the hardest things to do well imo, I suck at it because I never wanted to be a lead guitarist so never really practiced to be one but put some music in front of me and I can play it or give me a while to work and I can write an excellent solo or riff because I can go back to that early training. I honestly don't know how guitarists without that training can play such excellent solo's, their "feel" for music must be better than mine lol.
Really loved it, cant wait for more! I've been playing guitar for 7 years or so now, but i cant afford classes so I'm really have a really bad ear and a hard time jamming in some keys
For the first article, it covers everything I would have talked about too, so really good job on that. I would add a bit on the first guitar stuff. For the first one, I would REALLY recomend a second hand guitar. I find begginers guitars will always be replaced, even if you just play like 3 days a week, you will get to a point in which that guitar isnt enough. So to spend like 200€ on a brand new guitar that is shit anyways, you can get for the same budget a 350-400€ guitar, just not new, which isnt really a good deal as long as its not like in really bad state.
Also, on the election of electric,classic,acoustic, i would have really talked about that a bit. I started playing electric guitar, i really loved rock,metal, and all that kind of stuff. Playing lightspeed solos was cool and stuff, but eventually I discovered classical guitar, fingerstyle, and a lot more stuff that made me regret about buying an electrical guitar on the first place, so i would have expanded a bit more onto that.
Everything else is really really nice, really good job and hope you keep with this How-to guides, waiting for it
Extra: a bit of fingerstyle/classic guitar on spoilers, to hopefuly helping someone to discover it fingerstyle + Show Spoiler +
Looks like we're getting a lot of good feedback and discussion going in this thread, which I find very refreshing for the internet (though I know TL standards are a little above par on that front anyway).
Regarding starting with songs versus scales/exercises, I think we just have two different schools of thought on the issue. In defense of my approach, allow me to make a Starcraft analogy.
Let's say your friend just bought SC2 and wants you to help him get started with the game. What are you going to do? Odds are, you're going to suggest that he actually play the game - start the campaign, play some 1v1 ladder, or maybe a custom game. You probably wouldn't immediately start teaching him how to kite Zealots with Marauders or suggest that he work with the Starcraft Master mod. If he's not familiar with the races, the units, and the basic idea of the game, those exercises won't mean anything to him. When he comes to you in a few days/weeks/months and says "Why did I lose all my Marauders to Zealots in this replay," THEN you start showing him the finer points of micro.
I think it works the same way with music. Scales and exercises are tools; they only truly matter in context. For example, I had one guitar student bring a Phish song he wanted to play this past Saturday. He had a live version, and asked about the long guitar solo in the middle. "Why does this solo sound different than the one on the record, and how does he know what to play for so long?" At that point, we started talking about improvising and using scales. We had talked about scales before, but this was the first time I really saw it click for the student. He started putting "theoretical" things in context, and that helped him retain (and use) the information much more effectively.
For reference, I teach at a private music store (rather than a school), and most of my students are older (middle school and up). Almost none of them desire to be professional guitarists. Most just want to play songs they like or perform in church or play in a band with their friends.
For this post, I'd love to see a version 2.0 of it. My vision of "The Definitive TL Guide to Getting Started on Guitar" would look something like this (very rough outline):
Intro Buying Your First Guitar (types of guitars, brands, things to look for in a guitar, buying in a store vs. buying online) Deciding on Your Guitar Goals (why do you want to play the guitar, what do you hope to accomplish; also included would be a list of possibilities - playing songs by yourself, playing in a band, writing songs, being a "professional," etc. - plus the pros and cons of each goal) A List of Internet Resources (links to other sites/articles/youtube channels with a note about each one... "want to learn basic chords? click here," "these sites will help you learn about scales," etc.) Eventually, you could link to additional TLKnowHow articles in addition to other internet resources. A List of Guitar Terminology with Images (parts of the guitar, picks, strings, tabs, sheet music, strap... maybe even simple technique things like bends, hammer-ons, trills, etc.) Tab and Demonstration of a Few Basic Chords A List of Easy to Play Songs In Several Genres Tab and Demonstration of a Few Basic Scales and Exercises
I could even take or leave those last few parts, as the first post could simply serve as a portal to other pages/articles.
I'd be happy to help with the guitar post in almost any way. If you want me to take a look at some things, write some things, suggest some different ideas, or whatever else, just let me know (PM me, maybe?)
Also @MightyAtom - It might be a good idea to have a thread of TLKnowHow's "Works in Progress." When TLKH when live, I thought "that's interesting," but I didn't think to contribute because I didn't think I was necessarily qualified. Also, the first posts on business-y type things made me think posts would be more in that vein. If I saw that there were posts about guitar or drumming being worked on, I might have contributed earlier. I'm not sure exactly how it would work, but maybe you could make a list of TLKH posts being worked on and then include "Know something about these topics? PM MightAtom with your qualifications to get involved!" Then you could connect the interested parties together and we could pass ideas/drafts back and forth over PM. I think this would enhance the quality of original posts on TLKN and reduce the need for future edits/revisions. Just an idea...
Yeah that's a good idea. I talked to MightyAtom about creating a team of people for TL Knowhow in general, he said he'd take a couple days to try and organize something specifically for this thread and the next guitar articles, so we will see. The more contributors the better after all, and having the articles written by/with professional musicians would make the whole thing so much better.
Regarding how you start, and with the comparisions to sc2, i would use the same argument, but in a completely different way. When you first start sc2, it's all about mechanics. Before you worry about strategy, build orders and cool tactical moves (like kiting zealots with marauders), you have to learn "mechanics" for a LONG time, or how to use your keyboard and mouse efficiently, how to constantly make workers and so on. Many times, in sc2 strategy (i post there a ton) the advice to diamond and lower people is along the lines of "well this is how you beat infestor/broodlord in theory, but in your replay you need to get your third up faster/get more workers/get more production/better upgrades etc before you worry about that. The same goes with playing guitar, the exercises are there to make you more confortable to the fretboard, and then you can go more in depth. Of course, you will show a newbie a really simple opening build order and ideal army composition, and you might add a few songs when you first start playing guitar, but mechanics are a key aspect in both hobbies.
Also it's really freaking funny how i used the same analogy when discussing sc2 mechanics and why they should be taught first to lower league players, saying you don't just take someone who has bought a guitar half an hour ago and tell him to play Arpeggios from Hell.
On September 16 2012 10:05 neobowman wrote: Question. If there's a sudden drop d in a piece of music, but only for a small part, how do I play it. Do I just have to tune down the E string for the whole song?
A sudden drop D? I've never come across that personally. I would assume that one of the following is happening:
1) You are using tabs/music that is incorrect 2) You have learned to play the song without the drop D but the song needs it i.e you aren't playing it the way it was written
for instance, you can play all of Goo Goo Dolls "Iris" without drop D tuning simply by not playing the E strings ever, it sounds weird but can be done, I've seen tabs that don't even have the drop D in them and simply show only playing the middle 4 strings but there is one part of the song where not having the drop D makes it sound horrible. Another instance would be Everlong by Foo Fighters. I can play it without the drop D but it requires a 4 fret spread for a lot of it and missing the low E string out of 1 of the chord shapes and the mid-section
Could you please give a particular instance of a sudden drop D in a song and if possible a link to the tab, that would help figuring out what is going on ;p
edit: thought of an instance of a sudden drop D but its an unlikely scenario for most songs that use drop D. Newton faulkner plays a couple of songs where he re-tunes the E string mid song but its part of his style and show more than anything and you really won't find many other people doing it.
It's in a few of the guitar parts as well as the bass a bit past halfway into the song.
I must be tired cause I'm not seeing where it changes in the tab pro version, its all in standard tuning. Maybe its different than the one you are using, it would be quite unusual to change to drop D for a section, usually you would have two guitars, one tuned to drop D play that plays without the E string until the drop D section but again thats quite rare lol. I'll look more in to it when I've slept and get back to you
The Tab Pro thing is silly and shows a different song >_<. It's in the Guitar Pro File.
edit: aaah now i see it. Honestly it looks like whoever tabbed that is wrong and you should just play the whole thing in Drop D, it looks definitely doable. No way you can retune in the middle of the song.
In my effort of holding myself back from spamming 100 videos, I'll post this one link to show that the music you play should never be should never limited by the type of guitar/instrument you are playing. The only thing stopping you is the adherece to the "rules"
Their story is fascinating. They were metalheads who broke up from their bands and went busking. Naturally, an acoustic one made more sense to them over lugging amps around -- and the result was magical : an acoustic rock + metal + latin american music fusion.
emy you seem to be a "stick to the rules" kind of guy with that first paragraph about posture haha not that I have serious a problem with that and would be happy to have had you my as teacher. But I agree more with Dittert.
I won't introduce SC to my friends by starting with the mechanics. It's just like learning languages too. Technique and grammar are important but at the same time, dry. Delivery is important. I for one plowed my way through my first years with relatively little inspiration and I practiced mostly to not embarass myself in front of my teacher and to show him respect.
Now I spent so much time thinking about music I even had to cut my dreams short quite a few times to record my ideas down because I was composing while dreaming haha
On September 17 2012 02:20 Teoita wrote: edit: aaah now i see it. Honestly it looks like whoever tabbed that is wrong and you should just play the whole thing in Drop D, it looks definitely doable. No way you can retune in the middle of the song.
@Teoita - Ah, I see where we disagree now, at least with respect to our SC2 analogies. We both agree that scales and exercises are the "mechanics" of SC2. I think we disagree over what the songs are in the analogy. In my analogy, the songs are the actual games of SC2. You only need better mechanics as you want to play better games and/or more difficult opponents. To go back to guitar, you dive in with songs (the games) and only incorporate various scales/exercises (mechanics) when they become "necessary" to play your songs better (or to play harder songs).
I am not 100% sure what "songs" equate to in your SC analogy. Could you explain?
Sorry for not posting too clearly, my analogy is this: in sc2 you might learn a few build orders/unit compositions/counters, but mostly when you start you are generally told to focus on one build, and make sure you execute it as well as possible (clean up your mechanics) without worrying too much about the strategy of the game. You don't tell someone to go to lategame pvz and hallucinate 3 warp prisms while getting 2 real ones, storm dropping two bases at the same time while attacking a third one like Hero. With guitar, you play really simple songs at the start (the very generic sc2 build order), but getting to play solos or using more complex techniques (soloing, lead parts, complex riffs, shredding etc) is secondary to just getting used to using your fretboard well, knowing your scales and music theory and being confortable with them (the mechanics of playing guitar). You don't tell someone to play Arpeggios from Hell as his first song.
Just like a bronze player's macro will go to shit if he tries to harass like Hero does and he will lose focus of what it takes to truly improve at the game, one might, maaaaybe, start by playing pretty hard licks, but it's really likely you will develop bad habits, know a few riffs but really sloppily. Instead if you focus on getting your mechanics down before trying the cool stuff, you will have a solid basis to build on, so it's important to get it done as fast as possible in both sc2 and music.
Cool thread guys. I've got 15 years of guitar experience and I'm currently hitting that baby about 2 hours a day. I've got about 24 years experience with the Piano where I focus primarily on "classical" works. Someday I'll integrate a more robust amount of jazz and modern stuff into my Piano regiment, I just have such a love for Chopin and Mozart that there is always another song I'm looking to add to my repertoire.
Something that really stuck out to me here was the notion of "bad habits" and shortcuts, such as playing the G chord without using all four fingers. Truth be told guys, when starting out I see absolutely no reason to get hung up on such things. Just because you start out playing the G chord the "wrong" way (which I technically did) doesn't mean you always will. That sort of thing is rather easy to correct once you develop the required hand-eye coordination. As we all know, this simply takes time.
Developing hand-eye coordination is fundamentally more important for true noobies than playing according to particular standards. To get the most out of developing hand-eye coordination, one has to enjoy what they are playing. If that means cheating on playing your G chord, then so be it.
The beautiful thing about music is that whatever sounds good, is good. That means a G chord played with 3 fingers isn't "wrong" per se, just different and perhaps not "standard". That doesn't mean its bad. Although he didn't wield the guitar with the most amazing amount of skill, Kurt Cobain used to do the cheater version of the G chord. He was who I learned it from. The way he plays the chord got the job done, regardless of its unique nature. I think few people would've stopped Kurt in the middle of a song to point out he wasn't playing a G chord the "correct" way.
Such is the way with music. I'd prefer someone develop their own way to get things done as opposed to robotically reproducing the works of past masters and adhering to elitist standards that frown upon anything that deviates from their decidedly iconoclastic preferences. There are countless examples of world-class musicians who develop their own methods and techniques for writing and playing their own music.
Here are my recommendations for what I think complete and total noobies should focus on. These are somewhat general in the sense that people learn the guitar for different reasons and to achieve different things. I assume in these recommendations that you are learning with the intention of writing your own music. Even more so than simply playing an instrument, creating your own works is INCREDIBLY REWARDING. I can't put into words that kind of spiritual bliss I've gleaned from recording songs basically just for myself and wife to listen to. Even if they were just for me there is much to be learned from composing music. Additionally, even if you don't want to write your own music these recommendations aren't bad and will definitely help true noobs. Wall 'o' Text incoming...
* Before you even learn how to play a single song, LEARN HOW TO TUNE YOUR INSTRUMENT. I cannot tell you how important this is. There are a couple methods you can utilize to tune your guitar. The first one I suggest you use is the buy-a-friggin-electronic-tuner-and-use-it method. Seriously, its pretty easy. You'll find that crappy guitars have crappy tuning machines. Such is the way of things, deal with it! When you get good enough maybe Santa will bring you a guitar with decent tuners. Make sure you tune before every single practice session, and even during the longer ones. After you learn how to tune, learn how to change the strings. This is also super important. People keep the same strings on for 6 months and take ZERO time in maintaining their instrument. I played for years and was guilty of this terrible sin. Its truly terrible because you are literally handicapping yourself to an enormous degree. You will find that playing an out of tune guitar that has such shitty strings it cannot even be tuned (this happens) doesn't go over well with friends. It shouldn't go over well with you either. In short, LEARN TO HATE THE SOUND OF AN OUT OF TUNE INSTRUMENT and learn basic string-life preserving measures that you can take such as washing your hands before playing to minimize the transfer of dirt and skin. Before playing apply some Fast Fret and wipe the strings down. Check out other things you can do online.
*Upon purchasing your first guitar, take it to your local guitar shop and have a professional tune and check the intonation of your guitar. Have them tune to standard unless you intend to learn and focus exclusively on a group like System of a Down, in which case, depending on the album, Drop C will be your tuning and you will need thicker than average strings. Do some background research on the bands and music you like so you know how to have your instrument tuned, assuming you implement the practice method I prescribe below, which essentially involves learning to play the music you love.
* Consistency in practice is very important. In the beginning you should have difficulty playing for extended periods of time both because of your physical limitations as well as your more musical ones. As such, don't get sad if you can't hammer out 4 hours a day when starting out. More important than a practice sessions duration is repeating it every, single day. Or perhaps every other day but outside of that you start losing the benefit of making the guitar a part of your day. Its not like weight lifting. You don't risk much by playing everyday and in the end, the frequency will help you establish the physical and musical foundation you need to continue climbing the skill ladder. So, if its only 15-20 minutes every day to start out with, this is much better than grinding for 2 hours once a week.
* As much as it is possible, listen to music that you love and intend to learn. For myself, this meant learning every song off every Nirvana album. In terms of learning how to write music, doing this helps you make someone else's style a part of your own. This also helps you enjoy what you play, which is crucial to repeating what you play, which is crucial to continue raising the skill level of what you play. When you play the music of someone else to the extent that you start to free jam and write riffs that sound like that style, you have begun establishing your stylistic foundation and should begin (if you haven't already, which you should have) learning new and ideally, more challenging works. I personally started with Nirvana, Green Day, RATM, Smashing Pumpkins, and Alice in Chains because I grew up mostly in the 90's :-) This practice can have negative results if you don't identify and create your OWN sound because you end up just sounding like a regurgitation of your musical influences. If you didn't realize already, people who have done this are ALL around the music industry. Don't be a musical clone! Whoever you choose, be sure to be realistic with your learning expectations. You aren't going to learn how to play "Far beyond the Sun" by Yngwie J Malmsteen as your first song no matter how bad you love the music.
*Slow and steady wins the race! Having trouble with a section of a song? Slow it way the F down. Better to play it slower than a snail and correctly than play it fast and incorrectly. Still having trouble? Repetition is your friend! Learn to enjoy the sounds coming from your tuned and intonated guitar. Focus in on the exact lick you're having problems with and repeat it again and again and again. They say practice makes perfect but thats only half true. Only perfect practice makes perfect as my Wing Chun Sifu used to say.
*Get yourself a guitar role-model. Someone who inspires you will usually do the trick. When this person also happens to be your instructor or teacher you derive almost twice the usual benefit if not more. Sometimes though, for whatever reason, our teachers don't fuel the proverbial fire in our bellies and we must look to the stars for someone to motivate us. As I mentioned, Kurt Cobain was my first guitar hero. As I moved up skill wise, Tom Morello became my hero. He's still way up there but currently, my number one favorite is Yngwie Malmsteen followed at a close second by Tosin Abasi. I use my heros and their work as a benchmark to gauge my progress and set goals for myself to accomplish. As my goals change, so will my role-models.
*Enjoy yourself!!
The focal points above are interrelated with one another. In order to get better, one must play consistently. In order to play consistently, one must enjoy what they are playing. In order to enjoy what you are playing, one must tune and maintain their instrument etc. This is just my own personal take on starting out with an instrument and is by no means objectively correct and the only way to accomplish your goals. Just as there are different styles in playing, there are also different methods of learning.
Newbie Question #2. I'm learning how to play some songs but I want to learn how to play improv riffs. Think they're called scales. How does one go about figuring this out? Just playing a lot and learning from experience?
On September 17 2012 11:17 neobowman wrote: Newbie Question #2. I'm learning how to play some songs but I want to learn how to play improv riffs. Think they're called scales. How does one go about figuring this out? Just playing a lot and learning from experience?
Improvisational riffs might consist of scales, or they may not. An improvisational riff is just any musical "motive" or "riff" or "lick" that you generate on the spot. In some cases, people take parts of scales to create these riffs. However, they do not require strict adherence to scales to be regarded as improvisational.
An "improv riff" as you called it, could consist of 3 particular power chords. It could involve anything! It could be even less than 3 power chords. You could drop a guitar and have it generate an "improv riff"!
I'm not sure if perhaps you're thinking of something else, but in terms of an "improv riff" one need only look at the definition of the two words to understand what an improv riff is.
On September 17 2012 11:17 neobowman wrote: Newbie Question #2. I'm learning how to play some songs but I want to learn how to play improv riffs. Think they're called scales. How does one go about figuring this out? Just playing a lot and learning from experience?
They aren't called scales. Emy and I had a discussion about it on page 2.
Listen a lot and play a lot (songs, scales, progressions, riffs, anything) and keep funbling around and you'll eventually have ideas. A bit like how you'll need a certain level of language profiency before you can do improv stand up comedy. Of course it can also be a one liner joke if you know what I mean.
Scientists found that conversations and improvs use the same part of the brain.
Also on the scales vs songs thing, while we have our preferences, we can all agree that there's no hard rule and we have to to vary the teaching styles from student to student.
On September 17 2012 07:40 Teoita wrote: Sorry for not posting too clearly, my analogy is this: in sc2 you might learn a few build orders/unit compositions/counters, but mostly when you start you are generally told to focus on one build, and make sure you execute it as well as possible (clean up your mechanics) without worrying too much about the strategy of the game. You don't tell someone to go to lategame pvz and hallucinate 3 warp prisms while getting 2 real ones, storm dropping two bases at the same time while attacking a third one like Hero. With guitar, you play really simple songs at the start (the very generic sc2 build order), but getting to play solos or using more complex techniques (soloing, lead parts, complex riffs, shredding etc) is secondary to just getting used to using your fretboard well, knowing your scales and music theory and being confortable with them (the mechanics of playing guitar). You don't tell someone to play Arpeggios from Hell as his first song.
Just like a bronze player's macro will go to shit if he tries to harass like Hero does and he will lose focus of what it takes to truly improve at the game, one might, maaaaybe, start by playing pretty hard licks, but it's really likely you will develop bad habits, know a few riffs but really sloppily. Instead if you focus on getting your mechanics down before trying the cool stuff, you will have a solid basis to build on, so it's important to get it done as fast as possible in both sc2 and music.
I hope that made sense.
Teolita you're misunderstanding him. He's not stupid lol. He's taking about progressive learning of songs and techniques
I think this is a great guide if you want to learn some casual guitar.
If you can get past this step and you want to move on to jazz or classical guitar, though, you'll wish you had learned correctly. I'm having to re-condition myself to think and play as a musician instead of a guitar player after 15 years now that I'm getting heavy into jazz theory.
On September 17 2012 18:22 ZERG_RUSSIAN wrote: I think this is a great guide if you want to learn some casual guitar.
If you can get past this step and you want to move on to jazz or classical guitar, though, you'll wish you had learned correctly. I'm having to re-condition myself to think and play as a musician instead of a guitar player after 15 years now that I'm getting heavy into jazz theory.
Teoita, nice guide, well done. It's a guitar thread, and as such it's gonna have a lot of comments from people who think they can do it better... Take it easy!
Developing bad habits should be avoided, but are not a big deal by any means. When Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big, Racer X, solo artist) started playing, he would only use his thumb on his strumming hand. If your technique is bad, you'll notice eventually, and then it would be a good idea to figure out what others are doing.
I would disagree with the "learn Classical/Flamenco/Jazz first" approach. When someone's just starting out, they should enjoy the process so that they would not get discouraged. Playing guitar is difficult in the first couple of months and one should not be forced into playing something he doesn't enjoy just because it's more musically rich or whatever. If you end up playing rock anyway, there's actually no reason to divert from that. It's a preference thing.
Also, this is a guitar guide and not a music guide, and should be treated that way.
Again, well done. If you need my help I'm willing to contribute as well. *insert qualifying statement here*
Would be nice if know-hows were similar to wiki format that all the feedback, documents, and videos could be edited into the main text and newcomers could read it as one comprehensive source.
Before you start playing guitar, you have to buy one of course. The most important question is whether you want an electric, classical, or acoustic guitar. The main difference between acoustic and classical is simply that the former has metal strings like an electric, and the latter has nylon strings. All of them are fine to start with, so it really comes down to what you want to play. I personally first started with a classical guitar, and then moved on to acoustic and electric. In general, nylon strings are a bit softer to play, so they are a bit easier for beginners, but a low end electric or acoustic will also do nicely.
You didn't mention that on a classical guitar the neck is much bigger/thicker and the strings are further away from the fretboard, which makes quite a big difference in terms of comfort depending what you want to learn. So yes, nylon strings are a bit softer, but having a thinner neck is also a good thing for a beginner, especially if they have small hands.
In the end my reccomendation would be: -If you want to lean finger picking/classical pieces go for a classical guitar, because nylon strings are indeed softer so it will be more comfortable for finger picking. -If you just want to learn how to strum chords with a pick go for an acoustic/folk guitar, because even if steel strings will hurt a bit more your left hand at first (if you practice regularly it'll go away fast) the thinner neck will make things a lot easier for you. The strings being near the fretboard will especially help a lot when learning barre chords.
I saw so many friends strugle to play barre chords on a classical guitar with a big fat neck and then when trying an acoustic one being like "omfg it's so easy"
On September 15 2012 20:55 Teoita wrote: Whoooops my bad i fucked up the scale. I corrected it now. I'm not really used to writing tabs.
The G and C chord do sound better, but i think when you first start it's easier to use 3 fingers rather than 4, especially when you have to learn how to switch between chords.
Also, i covered changing chords and strumming exercises in a later part that isn't published yet.
Thanks for the feedback though, it was the first time i wrote a guitar playing guide. If you want, i can email you the other 2 articles and you can tell me where to improve them before they are published.
Regarding songs vs pure exercise, what you are saying is true but i feel like starting to play really basic music is a nice motivation boost. Learning how to play properly is a big commitment and, let's face it, starting is boring as hell. If you do nothing but exercises i think you can be less motivated to put in the time and patience, compared to playing some really basic stuff.
I don't disagree about it being boring but I'm coming at this from a tutors point of view, I completely understand why you would advocate learning simple songs but then people like me have to work with students who have terrible habits and teach them the correct way.... grrrrr.
when teaching I always discourage learning pop songs, If you want to learn songs as a beginner you should be learning classical music or be playing pop songs arpeggiated (strings plucked seperately in a pattern) so that you are both getting the motivation and practicing technique ;p
Personally, and most guitar tutors would agree, the use of a plectrum should also be heavily discouraged during the learning process, at least at the very start and until you can play scales and arpeggios with the correct fingers without thinking about it too much. Learning to play finger style is a massive part of learning guitar, if you play for more than about a year with a pick from the start and then try to learn to play with your fingers it makes it 20 times harder. This comes from experience, unfortunately there is a guitar tutor where I live who teaches from the start with a pick, I've had a few of his students come to me after learning with him for over a year and I have to go right back to the start and help them unlearn the bad habits they've picked up.
I would be happy to look over your guides and suggest edits but please don't feel like I'm trying to be an ass or put you down or that you should in any way feel compelled to use my suggestions. I know how much work goes in to one of these guides ( http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=165836 ) and you've done an excellent job, it's just that I have nightmares about all the guitar players out there in the world who can't even play a simple arpeggio without a pick cause they never learned how ;p
Btw, if you want to see a good example of how a video should look for teaching guitar, I have a couple on youtube. They are very advanced techniques but I've been working on my teaching techniques for years and the formula I use works no matter how easy or hard the song or exercise is. Break it down in to small parts, focus on one at a time. Then begin to combine. This particular one is in 3 parts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3adbMlDubUI starting there, really should update that video with HD quality lol
Approaches to learning guitar vary greatly with the different learning types and different goals. I am self-taught--I took a few lessons in about 9th grade, but didn't take anything away from them. I have now been teaching myself guitar (and other instruments) for over 16 years.
I don't think learning with a pick first hurts your ability to learn to play fingerstyle. I started out learning only electric rock for about five years or so. As my tastes changed I shifted to playing more acoustic. Then I started playing fingerstyle. Of course I was garbage at first, but, in my experience, as long as you are trying to learn to play the music that moves you, you never notice the long hours of practice--you just play. Playing with a pick didn't slow me down any in learning fingerstyle--I was just a beginner again, which always means slowing down and sounding bad for a while.
To me the most important skill that beginners overlook is to listen to yourself. I try to get beginners to just strum a chord in rhythm, with their eyes closed and focus on making that sound as good as possible. Too many people get focused on moving their fingers around as fast as they can and never internalize the basics enough to just play unconsciously.
If you focus on making what you play sound good over everything else, your technique will develop naturally. If you focus on technique over everything else (and you don't burn out on guitar and quit) you might find yourself in the position of being able to play anything in the world, but no joy in playing simply and sounding good. You will be able to impress people, but not move them.
On September 15 2012 22:53 MtlGuitarist97 wrote: I actually know how to play guitar, but I was hoping that this guide would have some stuff on sight reading and actually reading and interpreting sheet music. I can read sheet music for the cello, but since the cello is a bit more linear (for lack of a better word?) when you interpret music, it doesn't transfer so well to guitar (it doesn't help that they're in different clefs).
Overall a good guide though. If you could add anything about reading sheet music that would be awesome ^^
I'm a classical guitar player, if you want to practice sight reading you should know the proper positioning, start with very simple student pieces that are only on the first position and work your way from there. Best advice for someone who wants to play the guitar, find a very good teacher it will save you years of your life, plus somethings you would never find out on your own.
i think the absolutely most important thing for people who start playing guitar is for them to enjoy themselves because playing guitar is hard and tedious work. there's a lot of muscle memory and finger/hand dexterity and a lot of "feel" to it. the time it takes to learn where to put your fingers to play a chord is infinitemisal compared to the time it takes to learn to actually get your fingers there in time.
so if you're starting to play guitar then pick it up whenever you can and just play along with your favorite tune of the moment. don't care so much if you're using the right fingers or if it's sounding perfect because those things will come with practice and they will pretty much come automatically.
also mental training is pretty good, when you're in school and your mind is just doing nothing because some guy is trying to teach you something then try to imagine you have a gutiar in your hands and how you need to put your fingers to play this and that and whatever. that mental training is way more efficient than i think most people realize.
On September 15 2012 20:55 Teoita wrote: Whoooops my bad i fucked up the scale. I corrected it now. I'm not really used to writing tabs.
The G and C chord do sound better, but i think when you first start it's easier to use 3 fingers rather than 4, especially when you have to learn how to switch between chords.
Also, i covered changing chords and strumming exercises in a later part that isn't published yet.
Thanks for the feedback though, it was the first time i wrote a guitar playing guide. If you want, i can email you the other 2 articles and you can tell me where to improve them before they are published.
Regarding songs vs pure exercise, what you are saying is true but i feel like starting to play really basic music is a nice motivation boost. Learning how to play properly is a big commitment and, let's face it, starting is boring as hell. If you do nothing but exercises i think you can be less motivated to put in the time and patience, compared to playing some really basic stuff.
I don't disagree about it being boring but I'm coming at this from a tutors point of view, I completely understand why you would advocate learning simple songs but then people like me have to work with students who have terrible habits and teach them the correct way.... grrrrr.
when teaching I always discourage learning pop songs, If you want to learn songs as a beginner you should be learning classical music or be playing pop songs arpeggiated (strings plucked seperately in a pattern) so that you are both getting the motivation and practicing technique ;p
Personally, and most guitar tutors would agree, the use of a plectrum should also be heavily discouraged during the learning process, at least at the very start and until you can play scales and arpeggios with the correct fingers without thinking about it too much. Learning to play finger style is a massive part of learning guitar, if you play for more than about a year with a pick from the start and then try to learn to play with your fingers it makes it 20 times harder. This comes from experience, unfortunately there is a guitar tutor where I live who teaches from the start with a pick, I've had a few of his students come to me after learning with him for over a year and I have to go right back to the start and help them unlearn the bad habits they've picked up.
I would be happy to look over your guides and suggest edits but please don't feel like I'm trying to be an ass or put you down or that you should in any way feel compelled to use my suggestions. I know how much work goes in to one of these guides ( http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=165836 ) and you've done an excellent job, it's just that I have nightmares about all the guitar players out there in the world who can't even play a simple arpeggio without a pick cause they never learned how ;p
Btw, if you want to see a good example of how a video should look for teaching guitar, I have a couple on youtube. They are very advanced techniques but I've been working on my teaching techniques for years and the formula I use works no matter how easy or hard the song or exercise is. Break it down in to small parts, focus on one at a time. Then begin to combine. This particular one is in 3 parts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3adbMlDubUI starting there, really should update that video with HD quality lol
Approaches to learning guitar vary greatly with the different learning types and different goals. I am self-taught--I took a few lessons in about 9th grade, but didn't take anything away from them. I have now been teaching myself guitar (and other instruments) for over 16 years.
I don't think learning with a pick first hurts your ability to learn to play fingerstyle. I started out learning only electric rock for about five years or so. As my tastes changed I shifted to playing more acoustic. Then I started playing fingerstyle. Of course I was garbage at first, but, in my experience, as long as you are trying to learn to play the music that moves you, you never notice the long hours of practice--you just play. Playing with a pick didn't slow me down any in learning fingerstyle--I was just a beginner again, which always means slowing down and sounding bad for a while.
To me the most important skill that beginners overlook is to listen to yourself. I try to get beginners to just strum a chord in rhythm, with their eyes closed and focus on making that sound as good as possible. Too many people get focused on moving their fingers around as fast as they can and never internalize the basics enough to just play unconsciously.
If you focus on making what you play sound good over everything else, your technique will develop naturally. If you focus on technique over everything else (and you don't burn out on guitar and quit) you might find yourself in the position of being able to play anything in the world, but no joy in playing simply and sounding good. You will be able to impress people, but not move them.
That's my two bits anyway.
I agree completely about the most important skill. As an an addenum to it, they should not play with distortion on (if playing electric) as that makes it even worse than just playing fast (since it's even harder to hear your mistakes)
Nice guide. If you're looking for more easy songs people can practice with, I recommend Irish Folk (Fields of Athenry, Bright Blue Rose, Last House in our Street, Whiskey in the Jar...). Not recommended for people with a bad taste in music, though.
I hardly play bass myself, but you can do some of the stuff in the articles, specifically scales. The first four strings on a guitar and bass are (most of the time) in identical tunings.
I'm a guitar player for now 10 years. I started when i was 13 and didn't take any lesson because i felt like it was boring to start by learning any music theory. I had some regrets about that later on but i'm very glad i did what did. That's why i would like to add some of my own tips for those who would like to put on the efforts to make it works without a teacher.
First, it's very important to note that you won't be able to play any music without some basic things so you need at least a book to get you started as was stated in the OP. While i agree with what you and emythrel wrote about how to begin, i think you go way to fast from one point to another or at least you should emphasize on how much time will be needed to get from point A to B. Because as a beginner i always rushed toward the next difficulty, honestly, if i wasn't a quick learner, i'ld certainly have given up.
The guitar is one of the hardest instrument to learn out there because of the simple fact that you don't see what you're doing. So you need to take every step slowly making very very sure you are not rushing. The first thing you'll notice is hard is being accurate from both the right and left hand while they are not doing the same thing, left is having the hardest time finding every notes and right is smashing the strings. That's why i always advice to start with an electric guitar but that's the expensive choice because of the amps you need (even though you can play without, you won't be able to hear a lot). The strings are at midrange between being too soft to develop any strengh in your fingers and so hard that you are bleeding after the first hour of play plus those guitars are thiner so you have a better angle to see what you're doing. Downside is the strings are very close from each other so you might have issues picking up the right string at the beginning. That's mostly a personnal thing though, you'll find many reasons not to start with an electric guitar and vice versa. To begin with, you should start one hand at a time for everything you do while you apprehend some basic stuffs. First do the exercice with the right hand, making sure picking the strings up is natural and you don't feel any problem doing so, then stop your right hand and push the right fret with your left hand until you've nailed everything correctly without mixing it up. When you feel natural doing it with your both hands not at the same time you can start doing it with both. Do one or two round with the right hand and then add your left hand. It's very normal to screw up at the beginning, you're not expected to be successful on the first try. Start again, check right hands and when you feel ready add your left hand. You'll eventually start improving. When you can do at least first two exercices in the OP with both hands at the same time, you'll be able to play 50% of the songs out there by just learning how to place your fingers and block every strings with your index. That'll be your second problem.
What i did was buying a "capo" (see wikipedia) and looking how it was able to block the strings. First i thought i would be able to skip learning how to do a bare chord but a lot of the songs you might wanna play will have you move your bare chord from one fret to another, sometimes very far away from the previous one. So, i looked how it was blocking the strings and tried to do the same. You can also watch videos on youtube because i don't see how you can learn how to do that without having a visual reference. When you'll be able to do a bare chord, you'll be able to play almost 90% of the songs. A lot of them are very basic chords but almost all songs have bare chords in them.
At last, you should not play with a plectrum at first because it's very hard to get it right. You need to learn much more things than if you played with your fingers.
One last thing, imo, the most important point was having fun while learning. I played for 8 hours a day for two years because i was enjoying how i was learning, there is nothing better than just practice to learn how to play an instrument and practice comes with enjoying your improvement so take some minutes off after every hour doing something with your guitar like playing an easy song you like or just screwing around.
Edit: Everything i wrote is from my point of view and what got me started. That's not THE METHOD, it's mine and i wanted to share how i learned things but it's up to the person who play to do whatever feels the best. Otherwise, it's a very good guide and i approve it as a very good starting point i'll read the next part when it comes out!
I have to disagree with the people who are saying not to start out with a pick. If you're into music that uses fingerpicking, yeah, learnit, but if you want to play metal or hard rock or something, there's almost no point and you're just delaying your own progress. I've been playing for ten years and I know like... maybe ten songs that involve fingerpicking out of hundreds, it's a pretty useless skill for me.
It's not about fingerpicking, it's about not having to learn to use a pick.
LATE EDIT: What i meant was when you start playing, you already have enough to care about for you to add another thing. At first, everything you wanna do can be done as easily with your naked hand as with a pick. Also, you'll be more accurate and learn to use a pick better/faster when the time'll come that you need it.
On September 17 2012 18:22 ZERG_RUSSIAN wrote: I think this is a great guide if you want to learn some casual guitar.
If you can get past this step and you want to move on to jazz or classical guitar, though, you'll wish you had learned correctly. I'm having to re-condition myself to think and play as a musician instead of a guitar player after 15 years now that I'm getting heavy into jazz theory.
Do you mind elaborating on that please?
Sure. Learning guitar from tabs is great but you will NOT learn anything about scales and chord theory from looking at a bunch of numbers. I'm close to 15 years in and I'm still struggling with off the top of my head answers to stuff like "what is the fifth of ii" when my jazz teacher asks stuff like that and that's actually really basic chord theory. Learning guitar is completely different from learning piano or many other instruments in that you don't have to know any music theory at all to be able to play competently at a casual level. When you want to make the jump from casual to professional or even just into jazz/classical it becomes a lot harder when you find out you don't know the difference between a dominant seventh and a major seventh (not saying you can't learn that from tabs) or you can't read a chord chart out of a fake book.
If all you want to do is play some songs you hear on the radio, this is great for starters, but if I could do it all over again I'd definitely study more of the basics in terms of even stuff like technique and basic music theory. I can play any song I hear on the radio by ear but when it comes to jazz it's like I'm starting from zero all over again.
On September 17 2012 18:22 ZERG_RUSSIAN wrote: I think this is a great guide if you want to learn some casual guitar.
If you can get past this step and you want to move on to jazz or classical guitar, though, you'll wish you had learned correctly. I'm having to re-condition myself to think and play as a musician instead of a guitar player after 15 years now that I'm getting heavy into jazz theory.
Do you mind elaborating on that please?
Sure. Learning guitar from tabs is great but you will NOT learn anything about scales and chord theory from looking at a bunch of numbers. I'm close to 15 years in and I'm still struggling with off the top of my head answers to stuff like "what is the fifth of ii" when my jazz teacher asks stuff like that and that's actually really basic chord theory. Learning guitar is completely different from learning piano or many other instruments in that you don't have to know any music theory at all to be able to play competently at a casual level. When you want to make the jump from casual to professional or even just into jazz/classical it becomes a lot harder when you find out you don't know the difference between a dominant seventh and a major seventh (not saying you can't learn that from tabs) or you can't read a chord chart out of a fake book.
If all you want to do is play some songs you hear on the radio, this is great for starters, but if I could do it all over again I'd definitely study more of the basics in terms of even stuff like technique and basic music theory. I can play any song I hear on the radio by ear but when it comes to jazz it's like I'm starting from zero all over again.
ah lack of theory you mean? I'd not mention any of those to scare beginners away so quickly haha
imo they should be taught the theory but maybe after they have learnt the progression it self from a song they like that features it. Learning that kind of theory right at the beginning seems a little dry to me. Of course it will differ from student to student though.
I myself am terrible at that but I certainly can chord-sight-read a fakebook decently because I've memorised the chord shapes after playing for some time haha. I wish my theory was better of course and it would take me hours to slowly count the steps to decipher and figure out the fingering to play some crazy bossa nova songs. (Desafinado chords).
For the most part it just involves counting steps and moving it one step higher or lower if needed.
To explain to everyone else what I mean
eg for a possibly scary chord I'm inventing like Am6/b9 = Aminor plus a 6th and a flattened 9th i.e
Referring to the A minor scale :
1A 2B 3C (flattended because it's a minor chord) 4D 5E 6F <-- include the 6th 7G 8A 9B <-- include the 9th but flatten it
Meaning it's A C E F Bb. One way to play it is
0 E 1 C 3 Bb 3 F 0 A x
OR
1 F 1 C 3 Bb 2 E 0 A x
f course there less straighforward terms like dim, aug etc I just memorised them after playing for so long. Playing the piano would be hard for me because I'll need to count the notes slowly because I'm too used to memorising shapes
Reading chords is not sight reading, sight reading is reading notes and playing them in time with the music and it takes a lot of practice, also I hate tabs as well such an ungainly way to read music just because people don't want to take the time to learn to actually read music, which unlike sight reading is quite easy to learn. However as the majority of guitar music online is in tab form i suppose teaching how to read tabs is a useful topic so good post. 2 5 1 anyone? Long story short this guide is fine if you want to play guitar and just learn by listening but anyone who really wants to learn music should learn basic music theory before messing your head up with tabs. FACE EGBDF spaces and lines very simple that's sheet music.
eg for a possibly scary chord I'm inventing like Am6/b9
ok you aren't inventing a chord not trying to be a dick but don't take credit for something that already exists and has notation for it... Seriously if you want to learn any instrument you will be so much better off if you take the time to learn beginners music theory.
On October 02 2012 03:42 MrF wrote: However as the majority of guitar music online is in tab form i suppose teaching how to read tabs is a useful topic so good post.
Just wanted to mention that since Guitar Pro is so popular, there's a sheet music version of most reasonably popular songs out there... in my experience, it's actually easier to find Pro files, probably since it's so much easier to make the tabs with it.
Tabs are a great way to get you started. Learning how to read a music sheet is almost as hard as learning a new alphabet. It's full of nuances and technical stuff. After a while, sure, why not...but you have to be either really commited to music or a particular mind because it's always easier to start actually playing and doing things practilly than having to learn how to read things you can't even play afterward.
I don't know how to read anything other than tabs. I'm not a professional musician because it's not what i want but i played in front of 300 peoples (yeah well that's not THAT MUCH but still...) some gypsy jazz of my own several times. I'm not a very good musician but i know what i'm doing and i'm not an exception, i don't have a good ear or mind, i'm just feeling the music and i know for a fact a lot of people can do the same and some never learn music. After all, Django himself didn't know how to read music, in fact, most gypsies don't.
That doesn't mean that it's a bad thing to do, if you want to commit as a musician or learn how to play several instruments, you've got to learn the basic theory at the minimum but that's not as important for a beginner as it would be to learn the piano for example.
On September 17 2012 18:22 ZERG_RUSSIAN wrote: I think this is a great guide if you want to learn some casual guitar.
If you can get past this step and you want to move on to jazz or classical guitar, though, you'll wish you had learned correctly. I'm having to re-condition myself to think and play as a musician instead of a guitar player after 15 years now that I'm getting heavy into jazz theory.
Do you mind elaborating on that please?
Sure. Learning guitar from tabs is great but you will NOT learn anything about scales and chord theory from looking at a bunch of numbers. I'm close to 15 years in and I'm still struggling with off the top of my head answers to stuff like "what is the fifth of ii" when my jazz teacher asks stuff like that and that's actually really basic chord theory. Learning guitar is completely different from learning piano or many other instruments in that you don't have to know any music theory at all to be able to play competently at a casual level. When you want to make the jump from casual to professional or even just into jazz/classical it becomes a lot harder when you find out you don't know the difference between a dominant seventh and a major seventh (not saying you can't learn that from tabs) or you can't read a chord chart out of a fake book.
If all you want to do is play some songs you hear on the radio, this is great for starters, but if I could do it all over again I'd definitely study more of the basics in terms of even stuff like technique and basic music theory. I can play any song I hear on the radio by ear but when it comes to jazz it's like I'm starting from zero all over again.
ah lack of theory you mean? I'd not mention any of those to scare beginners away so quickly haha
imo they should be taught the theory but maybe after they have learnt the progression it self from a song they like that features it. Learning that kind of theory right at the beginning seems a little dry to me. Of course it will differ from student to student though.
I myself am terrible at that but I certainly can chord-sight-read a fakebook decently because I've memorised the chord shapes after playing for some time haha. I wish my theory was better of course and it would take me hours to slowly count the steps to decipher and figure out the fingering to play some crazy bossa nova songs. (Desafinado chords).
For the most part it just involves counting steps and moving it one step higher or lower if needed.
eg for a possibly scary chord I'm inventing like Am6/b9 = Aminor plus a 6th and a flattened 9th i.e
Referring to the A minor scale :
1A 2B 3C (flattended because it's a minor chord) 4D 5E 6F <-- include the 6th 7G 8A 9B <-- include the 9th but flatten it
Meaning it's A C E F Bb. One way to play it is
0 E 1 C 3 Bb 3 F 0 A x
OR
1 F 1 C 3 Bb 2 E 0 A x
f course there less straighforward terms like dim, aug etc I just memorised them after playing for so long. Playing the piano would be hard for me because I'll need to count the notes slowly because I'm too used to memorising shapes
That's basically what I'm saying, to play jazz you need to think like a musician, not a casual guitar player, and if you don't start doing that from the start you're going to have to start all over anyway. Of course, 90% of "guitar players" won't ever get to this level because they're totally content looking at tabs to figure out a Jack Johnson song that's got four chords in it and they'll never want to play a song that has anything to do with a jazz fingering.
As you said, there's learning guitar, and there's learning jazz/music.
If 90% of people aren't into jazz, there's actually no reason to teach it right from the get go. If you get into jazz eventually, then you'll have to learn from scratch, yeah. But I don't see a reason you should be regretful for not learning these things earlier - you probably weren't as passionate about jazz as you are now. I thought modes are useless theory when I was 16.
Actually had all the chord names so I don't think 90% can't read chords. If you're talking about jazz then I don't find it surprising that many can't read hard chords because they aren't interested in the first place.
Anyways in my opinion learning to improvise is the most important thing to do after you've got past the beginner stage, and I did it the hard way without knowing about scales and I really enjoy the benefits of it (pure joy!!!) so I really encourage everyone to learn it and it doesn't need to be jazz. Improvise in a major scale for all I care.
The way I learnt was I played songs on the computer and tried to play along it and keep trying. Eventually my hearing started to improve and I find patterns (scales) all the time.
Something more familiar to everyone that's jazz and really good too
On September 15 2012 20:55 Teoita wrote: Whoooops my bad i fucked up the scale. I corrected it now. I'm not really used to writing tabs.
The G and C chord do sound better, but i think when you first start it's easier to use 3 fingers rather than 4, especially when you have to learn how to switch between chords.
Also, i covered changing chords and strumming exercises in a later part that isn't published yet.
Thanks for the feedback though, it was the first time i wrote a guitar playing guide. If you want, i can email you the other 2 articles and you can tell me where to improve them before they are published.
Regarding songs vs pure exercise, what you are saying is true but i feel like starting to play really basic music is a nice motivation boost. Learning how to play properly is a big commitment and, let's face it, starting is boring as hell. If you do nothing but exercises i think you can be less motivated to put in the time and patience, compared to playing some really basic stuff.
I don't disagree about it being boring but I'm coming at this from a tutors point of view, I completely understand why you would advocate learning simple songs but then people like me have to work with students who have terrible habits and teach them the correct way.... grrrrr.
when teaching I always discourage learning pop songs, If you want to learn songs as a beginner you should be learning classical music or be playing pop songs arpeggiated (strings plucked seperately in a pattern) so that you are both getting the motivation and practicing technique ;p
Personally, and most guitar tutors would agree, the use of a plectrum should also be heavily discouraged during the learning process, at least at the very start and until you can play scales and arpeggios with the correct fingers without thinking about it too much. Learning to play finger style is a massive part of learning guitar, if you play for more than about a year with a pick from the start and then try to learn to play with your fingers it makes it 20 times harder. This comes from experience, unfortunately there is a guitar tutor where I live who teaches from the start with a pick, I've had a few of his students come to me after learning with him for over a year and I have to go right back to the start and help them unlearn the bad habits they've picked up.
I would be happy to look over your guides and suggest edits but please don't feel like I'm trying to be an ass or put you down or that you should in any way feel compelled to use my suggestions. I know how much work goes in to one of these guides ( http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=165836 ) and you've done an excellent job, it's just that I have nightmares about all the guitar players out there in the world who can't even play a simple arpeggio without a pick cause they never learned how ;p
Btw, if you want to see a good example of how a video should look for teaching guitar, I have a couple on youtube. They are very advanced techniques but I've been working on my teaching techniques for years and the formula I use works no matter how easy or hard the song or exercise is. Break it down in to small parts, focus on one at a time. Then begin to combine. This particular one is in 3 parts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3adbMlDubUI starting there, really should update that video with HD quality lol
Approaches to learning guitar vary greatly with the different learning types and different goals. I am self-taught--I took a few lessons in about 9th grade, but didn't take anything away from them. I have now been teaching myself guitar (and other instruments) for over 16 years.
I don't think learning with a pick first hurts your ability to learn to play fingerstyle. I started out learning only electric rock for about five years or so. As my tastes changed I shifted to playing more acoustic. Then I started playing fingerstyle. Of course I was garbage at first, but, in my experience, as long as you are trying to learn to play the music that moves you, you never notice the long hours of practice--you just play. Playing with a pick didn't slow me down any in learning fingerstyle--I was just a beginner again, which always means slowing down and sounding bad for a while.
To me the most important skill that beginners overlook is to listen to yourself. I try to get beginners to just strum a chord in rhythm, with their eyes closed and focus on making that sound as good as possible. Too many people get focused on moving their fingers around as fast as they can and never internalize the basics enough to just play unconsciously.
If you focus on making what you play sound good over everything else, your technique will develop naturally. If you focus on technique over everything else (and you don't burn out on guitar and quit) you might find yourself in the position of being able to play anything in the world, but no joy in playing simply and sounding good. You will be able to impress people, but not move them.
That's my two bits anyway.
I agree completely about the most important skill. As an an addenum to it, they should not play with distortion on (if playing electric) as that makes it even worse than just playing fast (since it's even harder to hear your mistakes)
ya since everyone has a phone now recording yourself and listening to how you actually sound like can be really ... humbling lol
On October 03 2012 02:19 JieXian wrote: Actually had all the chord names so I don't think 90% can't read chords. If you're talking about jazz then I don't find it surprising that many can't read hard chords because they aren't interested in the first place.
There's a HUGE difference between a dominant 7th played like a guitar player and a dominant 7th played like a jazz player. Knowing the chords is one thing but you really have to know why you're playing certain notes in a chord and why you're omitting certain ones. This is especially important when you get to polychords which can be different chords based on what you define as your root, and your root can be higher than your bass note if you're playing an inversion so it really, really matters. I'm pretty sure you're at that stage where you think you're doing a lot more on the guitar than you actually are.
Anyways in my opinion learning to improvise is the most important thing to do after you've got past the beginner stage, and I did it the hard way without knowing about scales
That's actually the easy way =/.
The way I learnt was I played songs on the computer and tried to play along it and keep trying. Eventually my hearing started to improve and I find patterns (scales) all the time.
Ehhhh... I get the feeling you're finding the same "pattern" or "scale". Once you know the fretboard up and down you can always solo in major/minor, but can you do it with a dorian? When? It's not something that's intuitive that you can just do by ear because I 100% guarantee that if you're listening to a rock song you're not ever going to "improvise" a dorian mode, and rock has little to no key changes, which makes it retardedly easy to find a root note and go into a minor pentatonic and color it with some scales from the aeolian. Jazz is different in that the jazz scale is chromatic and anything you can play technically works, but the bebop scale is a rhythmic innovation, not a tonal one.
I guess you can say I'm being an elitist but seriously I've been playing for 15 years and I remember when I thought I was hot shit for the reasons you think you're good, and then I played with some musicians and felt really fucking stupid when I couldn't follow them for two songs. If you think you're good at improvising now, get together with some people who play jazz for a living. One, you'll get better at improvising. Two, you'll realize how bad your understanding of music is.
Haha but seriously though. Different people learn in different ways, I think the way information is presented in this blog is great for some people. It could use a bit more (ie images/videos) but for the most part it's pretty good. I think it's great the conversations that are happening, but some of you do kind of sound like elitist dicks :D I like jazz as much as the next guy, but it's not how I determine a guitar player's skill. Just because you don't play jazz you aren't any less of a guitar player.
ZERG_RUSSIAN, slow down with the jazz facts. No one said learning jazz is bad. Jazz is cool.
It's just that not everyone feels like jazz is a necessity for all guitarists out there.
I'll give you a Starcraft analogy: If you're a bronzie who plays 4v4 once a month with his buddies, you don't HAVE to watch day9 and pro replays and practice a ton of 1v1 ladder. Some people just wanna socialize and have a fun time. That's what most guitar players end up doing anyway.
Someone like you and me might wanna look into learning the theory behind what we're doing, for practical reasons, but it's impractical to force these studies on beginners.
Also I think when you're referring to rock, you're actually thinking about radio oriented songs; Otherwise you're just plain wrong. Saying rock doesn't have a certain scale is an uninformed statement, mostly because a ton of genres (including jazz) have already been mixed with rock in the past few decades. If that's not what you meant I apologize.
On October 03 2012 02:19 JieXian wrote: Actually had all the chord names so I don't think 90% can't read chords. If you're talking about jazz then I don't find it surprising that many can't read hard chords because they aren't interested in the first place.
There's a HUGE difference between a dominant 7th played like a guitar player and a dominant 7th played like a jazz player. Knowing the chords is one thing but you really have to know why you're playing certain notes in a chord and why you're omitting certain ones. This is especially important when you get to polychords which can be different chords based on what you define as your root, and your root can be higher than your bass note if you're playing an inversion so it really, really matters. I'm pretty sure you're at that stage where you think you're doing a lot more on the guitar than you actually are.
Anyways in my opinion learning to improvise is the most important thing to do after you've got past the beginner stage, and I did it the hard way without knowing about scales
The way I learnt was I played songs on the computer and tried to play along it and keep trying. Eventually my hearing started to improve and I find patterns (scales) all the time.
Ehhhh... I get the feeling you're finding the same "pattern" or "scale". Once you know the fretboard up and down you can always solo in major/minor, but can you do it with a dorian? When? It's not something that's intuitive that you can just do by ear because I 100% guarantee that if you're listening to a rock song you're not ever going to "improvise" a dorian mode, and rock has little to no key changes, which makes it retardedly easy to find a root note and go into a minor pentatonic and color it with some scales from the aeolian. Jazz is different in that the jazz scale is chromatic and anything you can play technically works, but the bebop scale is a rhythmic innovation, not a tonal one.
I guess you can say I'm being an elitist but seriously I've been playing for 15 years and I remember when I thought I was hot shit for the reasons you think you're good, and then I played with some musicians and felt really fucking stupid when I couldn't follow them for two songs. If you think you're good at improvising now, get together with some people who play jazz for a living. One, you'll get better at improvising. Two, you'll realize how bad your understanding of music is.
hold on I got a feeling you're clouded by elitist perceptions:
Jazz is fucking difficult and I don't feel like seriously studying it anytime soon. I've tried watching one of theose Joe Pass videos on Youtube before and reading up theory. It felt like Joe Pass was speaking German. I've at least 10 gb of jazz, mostly less than 320 kbps mp3s, mostly from bebop / swing era from Monk to Mingus to Django because that's what I like the most and I know what it is.
I consider jazz to be highest rung in the musical ladder.
And yes I think I'm better than many casual players but knowing very well what I can't do I know that I'm terrible and have a lot more to learn.
Now with that aside, I totally disagree with your point. Firstly, I'm encouraging people to improvise because I feel joy doing it, and it doesn't need to be anything technical. Improvising in a major scale is hard enough and everyone will feel the joy once they have achieved that ability.
To draw an analogy with talking it's like being able to speak your mind or come up with jokes instead of reciting quotes or speeches that you've read or memorising someone elses jokes.
Improvising in scale "x" is absolutely something I can do with my ear when I'm listening to the song that uses that particular scale. Technically, your point is correct but I think it's you're coming from a more theoretical perspective, much like classical musicians in a way.
For example, tell me how can I not learn "advanced scale x" by playing along with this:
I'm very bad at theory but i've got a feeling that's a dorian, if it is then it'll be fucking great to prove my point even more.
I'm someone who spends time "coming up" with all kinds scales on the fretboard because I hear a lot of folk music. Most of the time I'll look it up in wolfram later on to discover it's formal name later and find out what other stuff I can do with it.
I was writing to beginners because that's what this thread is for. I think your style isn't suitable for beginners and you need to bring yourself down when teaching someone new and not scare him away.
Edit: I understand where you're coming from because learning jazz is so hard that I can only dream of being able to master it unless I quit my degree and study music. I got a feeling we have different definitions for the word "improv". Improvisation to me is playing on the fly much, like converstation. There also isn't a need for bombastic vocabulary to have a decent one.
I hope you don't mind the comparison with classical musicans too much but that's what you sounded like to me : somewhat close minded or rigid.
I learned how to read music at age 8, but 16 years later I still prefer reading tabs when playing guitar, which has since become my main instrument. I find it easier, because I playin a lot of dropped tunings, and literally NEVER play in standard. Drop C (CGCFAD) is my standard, followed by drop B, drop D,and drop C#. This kinda makes reading standard music notation a pain in the ass, as the fretboard is different for every song I play.
On October 03 2012 02:19 JieXian wrote: Actually had all the chord names so I don't think 90% can't read chords. If you're talking about jazz then I don't find it surprising that many can't read hard chords because they aren't interested in the first place.
There's a HUGE difference between a dominant 7th played like a guitar player and a dominant 7th played like a jazz player. Knowing the chords is one thing but you really have to know why you're playing certain notes in a chord and why you're omitting certain ones. This is especially important when you get to polychords which can be different chords based on what you define as your root, and your root can be higher than your bass note if you're playing an inversion so it really, really matters. I'm pretty sure you're at that stage where you think you're doing a lot more on the guitar than you actually are.
Anyways in my opinion learning to improvise is the most important thing to do after you've got past the beginner stage, and I did it the hard way without knowing about scales
That's actually the easy way =/.
The way I learnt was I played songs on the computer and tried to play along it and keep trying. Eventually my hearing started to improve and I find patterns (scales) all the time.
Ehhhh... I get the feeling you're finding the same "pattern" or "scale". Once you know the fretboard up and down you can always solo in major/minor, but can you do it with a dorian? When? It's not something that's intuitive that you can just do by ear because I 100% guarantee that if you're listening to a rock song you're not ever going to "improvise" a dorian mode, and rock has little to no key changes, which makes it retardedly easy to find a root note and go into a minor pentatonic and color it with some scales from the aeolian. Jazz is different in that the jazz scale is chromatic and anything you can play technically works, but the bebop scale is a rhythmic innovation, not a tonal one.
I guess you can say I'm being an elitist but seriously I've been playing for 15 years and I remember when I thought I was hot shit for the reasons you think you're good, and then I played with some musicians and felt really fucking stupid when I couldn't follow them for two songs. If you think you're good at improvising now, get together with some people who play jazz for a living. One, you'll get better at improvising. Two, you'll realize how bad your understanding of music is.
hold on I got a feeling you're clouded by elitist perceptions:
Jazz is fucking difficult and I don't feel like seriously studying it anytime soon. I've tried watching one of theose Joe Pass videos on Youtube before and reading up theory. It felt like Joe Pass was speaking German. I've at least 10 gb of jazz, mostly less than 320 kbps mp3s, mostly from bebop / swing era from Monk to Mingus to Django because that's what I like the most and I know what it is.
I consider jazz to be highest rung in the musical ladder.
And yes I think I'm better than many casual players but knowing very well what I can't do I know that I'm terrible and have a lot more to learn.
Now with that aside, I totally disagree with your point. Firstly, I'm encouraging people to improvise because I feel joy doing it, and it doesn't need to be anything technical. Improvising in a major scale is hard enough and everyone will feel the joy once they have achieved that ability.
To draw an analogy with talking it's like being able to speak your mind or come up with jokes instead of reciting quotes or speeches that you've read or memorising someone elses jokes.
Improvising in scale "x" is absolutely something I can do with my ear when I'm listening to the song that uses that particular scale. Technically, your point is correct but I think it's you're coming from a more theoretical perspective, much like classical musicians in a way.
I'm someone who spends time "coming up" with all kinds scales on the fretboard because I hear a lot of folk music. Most of the time I'll look it up in wolfram later on to discover it's formal name later and find out what other stuff I can do with it.
I was writing to beginners because that's what this thread is for. I think your style isn't suitable for beginners and you need to bring yourself down when teaching someone new and not scare him away.
Edit: I understand where you're coming from because learning jazz is so hard that I can only dream of being able to master it unless I quit my degree and study music. I got a feeling we have different definitions for the word "improv". Improvisation to me is playing on the fly much, like converstation. There also isn't a need for bombastic vocabulary to have a decent one.
I hope you don't mind the comparison with classical musicans too much but that's what you sounded like to me : somewhat close minded or rigid.
I'll drop the discussion here because I don't want to scare people off from learning guitar in the first place but all I'm saying is that I came from the point of view you have right now and I've learned through experience that it's like learning to cook using hamburger helper. Yes, you can make a meal. Yes, it's edible and can even be tasty. If someone gave you some ingredients and told you to make it from scratch, would you be able to do it? No.
On October 03 2012 02:19 JieXian wrote: Actually had all the chord names so I don't think 90% can't read chords. If you're talking about jazz then I don't find it surprising that many can't read hard chords because they aren't interested in the first place.
There's a HUGE difference between a dominant 7th played like a guitar player and a dominant 7th played like a jazz player. Knowing the chords is one thing but you really have to know why you're playing certain notes in a chord and why you're omitting certain ones. This is especially important when you get to polychords which can be different chords based on what you define as your root, and your root can be higher than your bass note if you're playing an inversion so it really, really matters. I'm pretty sure you're at that stage where you think you're doing a lot more on the guitar than you actually are.
Anyways in my opinion learning to improvise is the most important thing to do after you've got past the beginner stage, and I did it the hard way without knowing about scales
That's actually the easy way =/.
The way I learnt was I played songs on the computer and tried to play along it and keep trying. Eventually my hearing started to improve and I find patterns (scales) all the time.
Ehhhh... I get the feeling you're finding the same "pattern" or "scale". Once you know the fretboard up and down you can always solo in major/minor, but can you do it with a dorian? When? It's not something that's intuitive that you can just do by ear because I 100% guarantee that if you're listening to a rock song you're not ever going to "improvise" a dorian mode, and rock has little to no key changes, which makes it retardedly easy to find a root note and go into a minor pentatonic and color it with some scales from the aeolian. Jazz is different in that the jazz scale is chromatic and anything you can play technically works, but the bebop scale is a rhythmic innovation, not a tonal one.
I guess you can say I'm being an elitist but seriously I've been playing for 15 years and I remember when I thought I was hot shit for the reasons you think you're good, and then I played with some musicians and felt really fucking stupid when I couldn't follow them for two songs. If you think you're good at improvising now, get together with some people who play jazz for a living. One, you'll get better at improvising. Two, you'll realize how bad your understanding of music is.
hold on I got a feeling you're clouded by elitist perceptions:
Jazz is fucking difficult and I don't feel like seriously studying it anytime soon. I've tried watching one of theose Joe Pass videos on Youtube before and reading up theory. It felt like Joe Pass was speaking German. I've at least 10 gb of jazz, mostly less than 320 kbps mp3s, mostly from bebop / swing era from Monk to Mingus to Django because that's what I like the most and I know what it is.
I consider jazz to be highest rung in the musical ladder.
And yes I think I'm better than many casual players but knowing very well what I can't do I know that I'm terrible and have a lot more to learn.
Now with that aside, I totally disagree with your point. Firstly, I'm encouraging people to improvise because I feel joy doing it, and it doesn't need to be anything technical. Improvising in a major scale is hard enough and everyone will feel the joy once they have achieved that ability.
To draw an analogy with talking it's like being able to speak your mind or come up with jokes instead of reciting quotes or speeches that you've read or memorising someone elses jokes.
Improvising in scale "x" is absolutely something I can do with my ear when I'm listening to the song that uses that particular scale. Technically, your point is correct but I think it's you're coming from a more theoretical perspective, much like classical musicians in a way.
I'm someone who spends time "coming up" with all kinds scales on the fretboard because I hear a lot of folk music. Most of the time I'll look it up in wolfram later on to discover it's formal name later and find out what other stuff I can do with it.
I was writing to beginners because that's what this thread is for. I think your style isn't suitable for beginners and you need to bring yourself down when teaching someone new and not scare him away.
Edit: I understand where you're coming from because learning jazz is so hard that I can only dream of being able to master it unless I quit my degree and study music. I got a feeling we have different definitions for the word "improv". Improvisation to me is playing on the fly much, like converstation. There also isn't a need for bombastic vocabulary to have a decent one.
I hope you don't mind the comparison with classical musicans too much but that's what you sounded like to me : somewhat close minded or rigid.
I'll drop the discussion here because I don't want to scare people off from learning guitar in the first place but all I'm saying is that I came from the point of view you have right now and I've learned through experience that it's like learning to cook using hamburger helper. Yes, you can make a meal. Yes, it's edible and can even be tasty. If someone gave you some ingredients and told you to make it from scratch, would you be able to do it? No.
Actually the way I see it it's more like this: (no idea about how to make hamburgers because I'm from the other side of the world)
I can make simple Chinese meals or learn it decently quickly without following recepies and instructions. My mother doesn't. And I'm notorious in my family for doing crazy things with food which they deem ridiculous.
But I can't make Ferran Adria's stuff anytime soon using that method.
I'm sure we can agree that both are delicious when done well.
However to me learning proper theory and having a proper foundation is akin to learning recepies and knowing exactly what you're putting in and exactly what it'll do. So I disagree with your analogy. Moreover since people have always been making good food and music without any theory, I don't see why the it suddenly loses all credibility since it still works well. Of course I do believe it isn't the right approach in making haute cuisine or jazz.
I'm not disagreeing too much with you because I still want to learn jazz, and have always been at a very slow pace, someday I'll commit more time to it. I'm only disagreeing on your apparent dismissal of other ways of playing music.
Anyways out of curiosity, was that turkish song in dorian or was it something else?
I'm not sure which raga, but you can solo over it in D minor, and no, I don't think that's a dorian scale. This is:
It's really not about the scale itself though, you should be paying attention to what the tones do to the chords:
The only difference between the Dorian and Aeolian scales is whether or not the 6th is major (in the Aeolian it is minor, in the Dorian it is major). The I, IV, and V triads of the Dorian mode are minor, major, and minor, respectively (i-IV-v), instead of all minor (i-iv-v) as in Aeolian. In both the Dorian and Aeolian, strictly applied, the dominant triad is minor, in contrast to the tonal minor scale, where it is normally major (see harmonic minor). It is also worth noting that the sixth scale degree is often raised in minor music, just as it is often lowered in the Dorian mode (see melodic minor). The major subdominant chord gives the Dorian mode a brighter tonality than natural minor; the raised sixth is a tritone away from the minor third of the tonic. The subdominant also has a mixolydian ("dominant") quality. Overall, it is commonly used in funk because of its sound. The Dorian mode is also the basis of the ascending melodic minor scale, which is also known as the jazz minor scale.
Because like I said earlier, if you know any scale pattern up and down the neck you already know all the modes, you just have to know when taking the 2nd-7th notes in the scale as your root is going to do what to your progression. It really does become all about theory here.
Also, I don't think you quite understood my analogy:
On September 17 2012 09:24 ins(out)side wrote: * As much as it is possible, listen to music that you love and intend to learn. For myself, this meant learning every song off every Nirvana album. In terms of learning how to write music, doing this helps you make someone else's style a part of your own. This also helps you enjoy what you play, which is crucial to repeating what you play, which is crucial to continue raising the skill level of what you play. When you play the music of someone else to the extent that you start to free jam and write riffs that sound like that style, you have begun establishing your stylistic foundation....
noobie git-fiddler here, starting out just to try something different (have played drums on/off for about 8 years) and the only thing that truly resonates to me in this discussion is this point.
If you are going to do something that requires a large investment of time and effort it is imperative that you keep yourself interested in what you are doing.
You MUST enjoy learning to play your instrument, or you probably won't get very far in any amount of time at all. I've never had a lesson in my life (don't think that i dont regret that either) but the reason I stuck with it long enough to get good, start teaching myself new things, write my own music and am able to break down stuff I've literally never heard before all goes back to days I was just rocking out to some of my favorite music in the ol' drum shed, trying to play along with Danny Carey or Mike Wengren with one of their CDs going through my headphones. It was after all of this that I started getting serious and began seeking out information in the form of rudimentary sticking exercises, practice patterns, theory and etc. I would have never made it this far if I didn't WANT to make it here.
Specifically, just playing songs to learn is not necessarily a good or bad thing, but it can be the all important source of motivation that a new student, whether being taught or figuring it out for themselves, needs to build all of these important techniques and habits.
Really appreciate this! Been playing guitar for a year or two with absolutely no basics, just picking and strumming songs >_>. Maybe this will help get my basics :D
the only advice I can give to you after playing the guitar for about 10 years is; don't be obsessed with music theory, it almost always sucks the fun out of it and besides there's no possible way of writing down the solo from Machinegun (Hendrix) yet it is still one of the most soulful personal things recorded on guitar ever.
Enjoy the sound of the guitar, play as to how you feel, it's not a race, you're trying to convey something on the guitar, talk to people with it, share your feelings etc.
I'm really sad when I see all these new guitarists everywhere making a sport out of this (ie faster is better, more complicated = more sophisticated, more = better; all false approaches).
Try to create a special kind of playing that noone has ever done before, write songs even if you know 2 chords, be creative...
Tommy Emmanuel (look him up!) once said in an interview that his life is way, way too short for him to be reading tabs, learn to listen and not just follow orders from tabs. That way you will train your ear!
Also never forget that the sound of your guitar is important too, don't be obsessed with effects and special butique gear, Robben Ford has one of the most sought after sounds ever, yet even when he plays on a shitty amp it sounds like him, noone can duplicate him and you shouldn't.
Create your own style and have fun with it!
TL;DR: Take the I don't give a fuck about any rules approach and be creative.
Oh man this is like perfect. My brother has had his guitar left at my place for months now and I've been considering trying to pick it up and play as someone who has never had any real interest in music up until recently. I'm not home till next week, so I'll save most of this reading for when that comes closer, but I'm really glad to have found something like this. Thank you very much
From what I've read so far, great write up! My only suggestion would be regarding the "what should your first guitar be?" area.
My STRONG opinion for new guitarists is to NOT buy an electric right away. I've only fiddled around with a classical here and there but IMO an acoustic is the best place to start. Why? Finger strength! Helps build a great foundation!
On October 29 2012 14:28 RedMorning wrote: From what I've read so far, great write up! My only suggestion would be regarding the "what should your first guitar be?" area.
My STRONG opinion for new guitarists is to NOT buy an electric right away. I've only fiddled around with a classical here and there but IMO an acoustic is the best place to start. Why? Finger strength! Helps build a great foundation!
Shred on my fellow guitarists!
I completely understand where you´re coming from and the point about finger strength is correct. Still I disagree: When I wanted to start learning to play the guitar, my parents exactly proposed your way, to learn the accoustic guitar first. If I stick with it, I eventually get an electric guitar. I wanted to learn to play the music I listened to, but learned fingerpicking only (+no chords, no scales...) and this kind of music didn´t motivate me. I had lessons for about 4-5 month and then I quit. It just wasn`t what I wanted. About two or three years later a friend of mine startet playing electric guitar, which motivated me to start over again. This time however I got my parents to buy me a (cheap) e-guitar. The motivational difference was enormous, now I could learn the songs I liked and I put the neccessary hours into the instrument.
In conclusion, I would advise parents to first buy a cheap electric guitar* with an acceptable amplifier. If the kid sticks to the guitar, get him a good one after around 1-2 years and the amp still does it. If he/she puts the guitar down, not too much is lost with the guitar and most amps can be easily sold.
*Get it from an actual guitar store!! I got a used one for 135€ that sounds decent for its price, because the seller was a guitar teacher who cared enough to not sell crap.
As professional teachers and players have mentioned in this thread, there isn't a single method that works for everyone. Some people are fine just grinding out exercises, others need to play stuff they like to find the motivation to keep on practicing.
Good thread. One thing I've found is that the way I learn changes really easily, so it's good to have lots of options (songs to practice, scales to grind, theory lessons, personal projects..).
For anyone who has been playing a few years: how often do you find yourself revisiting your fundamentals?
Recently I've been learning a lot of 1980s King Crimson (like this). I'm ditching all my effects and processing and just practising these crazy complicated parts. Starting slow (using BPMinus) and speeding up.. It's made me realize how inconsistent a lot of my playing is: picking (attack->volume), fretting (in the middle!), holding my thumb on the back of the neck, holding the pick and so on. For me, the key to learning songs like Discipline and Three of A Perfect Pair is improving the most basic things about my playing, as if I just started playing. Playing clean (no distortion/drive etc to mess with the dynamic range) really reveals how 'tight' your playing is, too. I have a feeling I'll be a lot more expressive when I go back to using effects as a crutch again at some point!
Turning your entire guitar-playing perspective around for a few weeks can be really enlightening.
I recently picked up the guitar again, but ran into a technique-question : What's the better way to playing multiple notes on the same string? Keep the lowest note pressed down, so you are pressing down 2 frets for the duration or "hop" and let go of the previous fret? (Or is there no general best way of doing this?) Example: When playing fret 3 then 5 then 3 then 5 on the e string
Yeah I'm probably going no where with gaming, I mean it's fun and all but how great is it to pick up a guitar and show off a few songs. I've spent wayy too much time on video games, when I can spend it mostly on other hobbies.
I am definitely gonna go shopping for an acoustic guitar this week. When I find one, I'll post it on this blog to see what my veteran TL guitar players think :D price/durability.
On November 19 2012 05:35 Split. wrote: I recently picked up the guitar again, but ran into a technique-question : What's the better way to playing multiple notes on the same string? Keep the lowest note pressed down, so you are pressing down 2 frets for the duration or "hop" and let go of the previous fret? (Or is there no general best way of doing this?) Example: When playing fret 3 then 5 then 3 then 5 on the e string
I hope somebody on TL can help me out
At OP: Great initiative writing this, I like it
a bit late on responding, but here's my answer:
you can't dogmatically say "always hold down the lowest-fretted note while playing the others" it's more about the context of what you're playing - you should hold down previous notes for one of these reasons:
1) you're keeping your fretting hand in the same 'position' (group of ~4 frets) 2) you want to make a really controlled bend/vibrato by using multiple fingers (paul gilbert has some lessons about this)
for your example (3-5-3-5-3-5-3-5) it's best to keep one finger docked on the third fret and use the other one to change to the fifth fret when you play that one ...unless you want to take your hand off the string completely to deaden whatever your last note was
here's an example tab to think about: --------------- --------------- --------------- ---------3-6-- -----3-5------ -3-5----------
This can all be played in one position with your first finger on the 3rd fret
This (for me at least) requires moving the whole hand in order to play it smoothly/relaxed. I slide to the 5th position (third finger moves from 5 to 7, first finger ends up on 5 for the 5th string).
Some things to think about: 1) Rush - YYZ : at the end of the guitar solo, there's a descending legato lick that covers half the neck. You have to change positions frequently to play this, but within each position you will be hammering-on and pulling-off a couple of notes (watch his hand closely) 2) Led Zeppelin - Black Dog : in the main riff, there are 3 ascending notes and you may as well keep your fingers on the string as you play them (to be able to add little bends/vibratos here and there as you choose), and it will keep those fingers lined up for moving to the other notes in the riff 3) Take whatever you're playing now, and play it a couple frets higher. Now go back and play it lower (where it started). Repeat back and forth to get used to moving between positions. Add some more notes to get more of your fingers involved on the same string. Then start moving that higher/lower..etc
It's still a work in progress haha. Both me and Emythel have been super busy, plus Wolfwood was going to write something somewhat similar to what i had in mind, so we are still sorting that out
ah well no worries....btw I'm learning glycerine and you have to put your pinky (or ring finger i guess) on both the third fret of E and D (then slide that power chord around) but I'm having trouble with pressing those down while muting the other strings with my index finger...plus when you slide down you have to mute low e with your middle finger (so 3-a, 5-d, and 5-g are held down) which wants to pull away from the fret board for some reason when I do that power chord haha. Any tips? :p
E and D? Shouldn't it be E and A if you are playing a power chord? I looked up "glyerine" and i found a Bush song; assuming that's what you are talking about it looks like fairly straightforward power chord stuff.
In general when using power chords (which is a looot of the time for me) i only strum the strings im supposed to (for the most part), so i don't need to use my fingers to mute anything (except the E with the middle finger as you say), especially the strings below (E-B and sometimes G).
It sounds like you are pushing to hard with your other fingers on the fretboard, so the middle finger naturally tries to "rise" and it goes away from the fretboard.
I hope that made any sense, it's actually really tough to explain this stuff on a forum haha.
ya but I know what you mean...I think my strings are kinda thick or just old haha I haven't changed them since I first got the guitar 0_o here's the video I'm learning from...I think it's called a super power chord? since it's 3 strings instead of 2...
There's really no reason to play power chords like that, it just makes it harder than it really is. You should use your index finger for the E/A string, ring finger for A/D, and pinky for D/G.
Also, that's a normal power chord; using only the first two notes means you are rather playing a bicord.
Okay so if your starting to play here is a couple of simple and fun tunes:
Intro to Redemption song: By Robert Nesta Marey aka Bob (single strings)
The beat of the song is 4/4. One - between the numbers means 1/8, two -- means 1/4 , four ----means play the note for 2/4 etc. the ^ means to play the note for 1/8 of time and another 1/8 you mute the note for 1/8 and then play the nxt one. If its too confusing just play the notes, when theres more space let more time pass and when less space play them more quickly. Altrenativly, when you play the last G, aka -3- on the E Chord at the end, you can replace it with a G chord as the song goes like thiw after: G Em C Am
|-----------------3--------0--------0--------0-----------------------------------------------| e |-----------------0--------0--------1--------1--------------------------------------| B |-----------------0--------0--------0--------2--------------------------------------| G |-----------------0--------2--------2--------2--------------------------------------| D |-----------------2--------2--------3--------0--------------------------------------| A |-----------------3--------0--------x--------x--------------------------------------| E
Sometimes he will mute the Am, meaning he plays is and then like the single chord in the intro he mutes it when he goes into the chorus instead of playing the D chord in the next diagram.
When he goes into the Chorus just replace the last Am with a D Chord:
|-----------------3--------0--------0--------2-----------------------------------------------| e |-----------------0--------0--------1--------3--------------------------------------| B |-----------------0--------0--------0--------2--------------------------------------| G |-----------------0--------2--------2--------0--------------------------------------| D |-----------------2--------2--------3--------x--------------------------------------| A |-----------------3--------0--------x--------x--------------------------------------| E
The actual Chorus:
|----------------0----2----3----------------------------------| e |----------------1----3----0----------------------------------| B |----------------0----2----0----------------------------------| G |----------------2----0----0----------------------------------| D play twice |----------------3----x----2----------------------------------| A |----------------x----x----3----------------------------------| E
Cause all i ever had
|----------------0----2----0----------------------------------| e |----------------1----3----0----------------------------------| B |----------------0----2----0----------------------------------| G |----------------2----0----2----------------------------------| D play once |----------------3----x----2----------------------------------| A |----------------x----x----0----------------------------------| E
|----------------0----2----3----------------------------------| e |----------------1----3----0----------------------------------| B |----------------0----2----0----------------------------------| G |----------------2----0----0----------------------------------| D replay this and go back into main part |----------------3----x----2----------------------------------| A |----------------x----x----3----------------------------------| E
Breathe in the air by pink Floyd Em A intro
|-------0-------0------------------------------| e |-------0-------2------------------------------| B |-------0-------2------------------------------| G |-------2-------2------------------------------| D |-------2-------0------------------------------| A |-------0-------x------------------------------| E