I was just wondering, I've been playing for about 6 months now, and i have a good grasp of what it takes to get better. I can play about 15 different chords now and can go between them with relative ease. I have a few small songs under my belt and im still practicing as much as I can. My question here is, what are some tips, or exercises that i can be doing to increase my dexterity and also are their any recommended resources I should above all else check out? I don't mind spending money for these resources of course, i'm really loving this new hobby and I get a lot of enjoyment out of it. I'm basically looking for either online resources, or books, or even some software that lets me maybe play along? Anyway any amount of tips or pointers will be greatly appreciated. I'd consider myself still a beginner but i'm able to play songs like good riddance from green day, a couple variations of free falling by tom petty, and i've just started playing wait for me by theory of a deadman. Pretty easy songs if you catch my drift. My picking is still pretty slow, and also I don't know if it's just me or when i try to sing along I find it very hard to concentrate on the strumming pattern while I sing! Does this improve as well, or are some people like myself only capable of doing one thing at once lol! I've been only using ultimate-guitar for tabs and also youtube for tougher songs like dust in the wind(still mute/buzz a few strings on this but you can at least tell what i'm trying to play ) Anyway let's talk about guitars and such! I'm playing on a cheap, but actually nice and crisp sounding yamaha f310 accoustic. I've got my eye on a nice seagull at the local music shop for around 499. Anyway let's just talk about GUITARS!!!!!!!!!
http://www.myguitarsolo.com/ If you didnt find this already. I havent been seriously playing for long (about 3 months really) but thats where I mainly go for guitar tips
For tabs and such to get a grasp on a song I usually browse ultimate guitar. (google it cause im not sure) But Ive been playing for a year or so. Samakar is our rockstar though.
finger dexerity for me, i practiced by playing thru differnt scales, dont know if you learn scales yet so here an example A Minor pent scale E 5-8 B 5-8 G 5-7 D 5-7 A 5-7 E 5-8 i play thru them each time and each time increase speed , guitar pro is good software , there are sites were you can download tabs made for Gpro load them in and play along , for singing and playing coudlnt do it till playing was like second nature practice practice !!!
Yeah, I was watching a video where the guy was talking about using i think it was a g scale. He would pick all through the scale then just increase speed, seemed really awesome once you get the speed up even though it's not even a song haha!
Once i get situated in my new living spot after my bmq ill be sure to post some videos of how im doing. I'm not great, but honestly i dont mind people telling me what im doing wrong or what i can improve on, im sure most people here would help me out! Im checking out gpro now
It's a little late right now, but I'll post up my big: "Here's what to do to rock the fuck out in 6 months" post. I've got a wealth of info for you heppa and I'll be happy to share it with you when I'm not falling asleep lol.
Hrmmm... I'm probably not a good person to get advice from. I never learned a lick from lessons or scales and can BARELY read sheet music. I just learned any and every song I could get my hands on and examined why they used certain phrasing at certain times, etc. Here's some guitar eye candy for you. Just a small batch of guitars I've had through the years. I'll start up a thread and let you all check out some of the toons I've recorded over the years when I get some free time, I don't want to thread hijack. 4 pages worth here: http://www.xtremedfw.com/palbum/thumbnails.php?album=61
I bet I know what kind of music you like to play lol I think I'm gonna save up for a PRS. They are so pretty and I hear they are amazing. But seriously, Sam probably has the most knowledge of the technical parts of playing. The only thing I can tell you is that you only get back what you put in when playing an instrument. So if you don't practice, you go nowhere and if you play all day, who knows, you may be the next Frusciante - I say that because Hendrix is too common to use in such a phrase. I never really looked into the technical aspect of guitar. I do want to one day when I can make that a priority of mine, but I'm not seeking the rock star life.
Ok, well, I've got a little time here to share my thoughts on what you need to be doing: First of all, I'll advertise a few things from school, buy books by Dan Gilbert, Tommy Tedesco and David Oakes! These guys are amazing musicians and have been teaching me a whole lot since I've been here. MI books are relatively cheap (I think somewhere around the $30-$40 price range, not sure, we have different course material at school) but look them up, they have some of the best info to offer. I'm not getting paid to say this, I'm just speaking from experience. Next, a lot of what you need to get better depends on what direction you want to go with your music and what direction as a guitar player you want to go. If you want to be a great hired gun, focus on getting your rhythm guitar down to a T. Once you can do 16th. note syncopated rhythms and be able to look at a chart and go "yep, let's do it!" then you're in the clear! If you want to be an original (like me), focus hard on both lead and rhythm guitar, it's gonna suck, it's gonna hurt, you're gonna whine, you're gonna bitch, but after a few years, you'll finally smile and go "yea, that was totally worth it!" If you want to be a great studio musician and make a living in music, this is very fucking important: LEARN HOW TO FUCKING READ MUSIC!!!!! This is essential, even if you're just going to be a hired gun or an original, learning to read music WILL SAVE YOUR ASS!! Trust me, it's gotten me payed just recently, and I'm still not very good at it, but I was able to blindly thrust myself through a melody and got to keep the gig and got a call back, it's all about practice and repitition. Also, get your ear training down to a T, I suggest this website: http://www.good-ear.com/ When you can identify intervals really fast, identify melodies and rhythmic subdivisions, you'll be all set as well. Also, start studying theory, understanding your key signatures and how chord progressions work is essential to song writing and not looking like an idiot on a stand in gig when you hear someone go "key of B flat, 1, 4, 2, 6, 5, 1 with a 2, 6, 3, 4, 1 bridge, go!" and go "bwah?", here's a great website for music theory stuffs: http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/theory/theory.htm have fun with the Circle of 5ths. Anyways, onto the technical stuff, the first and foremost way that you develop your lead style is by studying scales, lots and lots of scales, learning both the major and relative minor of each scale. There's minor pentatonic patterns 1-5, along with their natural minor scale brothers, patterns 1-5, which can also turn into both major pentatonic patterns 1-5 along with their natural major scale patterns 1-5, these are good things to study and look up. Next is phrasing, thinking of all of the great solo's in the world, it doesn't take much to woo a crowd, a man who can skillfully play 6 notes and wow an audience, is a much better musician than Yngay Malmshpleen getting up on stage and blasting off 4,000 notes and only hitting one or two good ones that make you go "yea, that was nice" and instead it's a bunch of boring sweeps. (Sorry I have a big problem with him, he makes me sick, besides the fact that he's a total snob in person.) So study the Blues to start, everyone starts with the Blues, it's how you understand playing a solo and it makes you a better improviser so later when you're sitting there on a gig having to play Sin City by AC/DC you can totally shred it up because you understand the concept of melodic phrasing, bending properly, vibrato's, chord tones, ect. Look here for virtually every scale and chord in existance: http://www.blackbeltguitar.com/ChordScaleGenerator.php I couldn't find a place with good chord inversions or triads, but that might have some hidden in there if you look. Now, every lead guitar player has to play to something, or else he looks like he's just wanking off randomly. So, I present you with BACKING TRACKS!: www.guitarbt.com www.guitarbackingtrack.com These are the two best by far that I've used for a very long time, also, if you're trying to learn a song, using www.playlist.com to find the songs or youtube.com is also very helpful. I have found googling for tabs rather than sticking to one site has helped me out a lot when there are no charts and I have a last minute gig coming up in an hour, and Fretplay has been the best one so far that I've found for tabs when I search in Google, if Fretplay appears, I normally go to them for tabs. Other then that, here are a few more resources for you to use, then I'm outy for school: Metrenome:http://www.metronomeonline.com/ Online Tuner:http://www.gieson.com/Library/projects/utilities/tuner/ The minute I can write some notation for some rhtyhmic motifs, I'll send it to you, I'll probably have to scan my sheet and send you the PDF. Anywys, anymore questions I'll try and help you the best I can, now off before I'm late for my Theory class!
Been playing for 4 to 5 years if you need some tips on famous tunes to progress through, and what to work on. Not good to go too in depth in your first couple of years, just really work hard on finger movement and wrist/forearm strength; though what people have told you so far is helpful. tylerfelix@gmail.com if you need to reach me. Your best bet is to download Guitar Pro. I would give you a link, but it would be a demo, you know what to do about that... nerd. EDIT: Didn't notice Sins already suggested this, sorry. Then hit up www.ultimate-guitar.com and start downloading the guitar pro tabs if they're available for the songs you like. This will give you melodies, time signatures, sheet music, and tablature. Basically the core of your learning should come from this.
Yeah, Sam thanks a bunch man, im getting serious into this, I don't want to make money from it, but I would love to be able to get up one day and just read off a sheet and play along with a band for fun. I've been teaching myself as I said, im thinking about going for lessons once im done my course, anyway, love those links sam, im going to really practice the scales and read up on the theory a lot.
That's the whole thing: Fun That's the one thing that most guitar players forget when they start getting really good: this is FUN damnit, this is our lifestyle and it's what we love doing. But yea, practice your scales, learn your blues pentatonic, adding a flat 5th. and a flat 7th. to the scale. When you start understanding your music theory, that will make sense. (you see what I did there? I gave you carrot of information, now you'll WANT to study your theory so you know what I'm talking about XD). And one more question actually, do you know the neck? All of the notes I mean? It's massively important for finding the key of a song when improvising a solo over it.
Like I said, i've been totally just winging it man! haha, i've been busy with work so i really havn't read too much yet, not too sure what you mean, i mean i know what the neck of the guitar is lol, and not even sure if the notes are a-g are they? I hate sounding so dumb, but well, i don't plan on dieing any time soon so i've got some years left to learn this stuff lol.
Well, when you tune your guitar, here are your strings from the thickest to thinnest: E, A, D, G, B, e (using that guitar tuner I gave you) These are the notes for your open strings. In the musicians alphabet we have 7 letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G And then we have their sharp and flat brothers and sisters. A sharp is a half step higher than the tonic note, and a flat is a half step lower than the tonic note. There are naturally occuring half steps in music, these are notes that naturally go up by only a half step, and these are B and C, and E and F. There are such things as E#, Fb, B#, Cb, so on in theory in music, but on guitar for the sake of knowing your guitar, just keep your naturally occuring half steps. e:1F-2F#/Gb-3G-4G#/Ab-5A-6A#/Bb-7B-8C-9C#/Db-10D-11D#/Eb-12e B:1C-2C#/Db-3D-4D#/Eb-5E-6F-7F#/Gb-8G-9G#/Ab-10A-11A#/Bb-12B G:1G#/Ab-2A-3A#/Bb-4B-5C-6C#/Db-7D-8D#/Eb-9E-10F-11F#/Gb-12G D:1D#/Eb-2E-3F-4F#/Gb-5G-6G#/Ab-7A-8A#/Bb-9B-10C-11C#/Db-12D A:1A#/Bb-2B-3C-4C#/Db-5D-6D#/Eb-7E-8F-9F#/Gb-10G-11G#/Ab-12A E:1F-2F#/Gb-3G-4G#/Ab-5A-6A#/Bb-7B-8C-9C#/Db-10D-11D#/Eb-12e And there you have it, your full neck, each string with its corresponding fret and letter name. #=Sharp b=Flat Go and learn your neck, your shit and talk to me again in 5 months and let me hear how you've progressed. Mods, can you sticky this thread or something so that I can just have one giant mega thread to give Guitar Players in XoO advice in so I don't keep rewriting this stuff out? Thanx! ^_^
As a former school music teacher, I'll weigh in one bit. Rule #1: Don't learn tab. Learn to read music. Rule #2: If you have the funds and time, go take some lessons at Berklee. (www.berklee.edu). They run an amazing week long summer guitar sesson for players of all abilities in all genres, and you will learn more in one week there than in an entire semester at any other music school I've seen (for guitar, that is). rule #2a: If you cannot afford the trip to Boston, Berklee Press makes some great method books. Get the standard practice series, black and green cover to start with. It's not as good as learning in person, but its written by the same guys.
It's hard to be an indie musician and read music because there aren't resources for it, but I agree with learning to read over learning tab. Berklee is great, but I don't think that the more Jazz oriented program would be right for him. We do our own programs at MI which I think would be much more up his alley as far what he might want to do.