Practicing & Theory

?ing my education

OK, got some questions for you pro players out there. I am sure that this topic has been beat to death but I am going to throw it out there anyways.

I have been playing or lack thereof for about 3 years now. I have never had lessons and have basically taught myself the basic chords, mainly the open chords and barre chords. I don't get to practice as much as I would like, with work and all.

I have tried to learn how to play songs by looking at tabs and all of that good stuff but I sometimes struggle with it. I seem to do better when I just fuck around and do what ever feels best or sounds best to my own ear, my wife may have a different opinion, LOL.

I really want to become a better player and understand the guitar and how chords and things go together. But when I look at "theory" material on the internet, I get easily confused and a lot of times the material is conflicting. Basically, I have a hard time understanding it. You know, progressions, scales, chromatics, modes, etc.

I always read interviews with guitarist and it seems like they always say the same things, you know like "I didn't learn theory and all of that, etc. blah, blah, blah"

What is your take on this? Should I just get lessons and try and learn that way, should I not worry about trying to learn all of that stuff?

How did you go about learning this stuff or did you?


And by the way, yes I know it takes many years of practice to become good. I am not trying to be the next McCready overnight, I just have been looking for some good advice on where to really start to get more in depth with learning the guitar.


All comments and advice are welcome.

Thanks.

riotact114

hey man wish i could help out buy im in the same boat... can anyone help us out here?

casper leblanc

That's three in that boat, hope we don't sink...

?ing my education

I figured I wasn't the only one!

Come on I know a few of you out there have some advice! Where are you at Pac79 or exhausted? I always look foward to your words of wisdom.

Help us brothers out!

nailz100

My bass player is a schooled musician who knows all that theory, in fact he has his Masters in music. Me...I had a few lessons when I was first starting out and took it from there. Him and I have been playing together for about the last 6 years, and when I step on stage with him I definately do not feel the least bit intimidated by the fact that he knows his theory....bottom line we still rock out....in fact I rock out harder and make less mistakes. I think it depends on what path you want to take. Some of the best musicians in the world never went to school for music and never took theory. I chose to learn from stage experience and by throwing myself to the wolves. Sure, If I had the time I would pick up some theory, but the fact is....I don't. I guess the bottom line is that its all up to you....and which direction you want to take. I'd rather play from my heart than from my head.

MissYouAllDay

"I'd rather play from my heart than from my head"

What a great line!!!

Tottally agree.

nailz100

Thanks...

All I can say is that its about the passion....not about something written on a piece of paper..

triple c

im in the same boat......i have been playing for about 2 years and get frustrated to shit about struggling to improve. my friend who i jam w/ has been playing a year or so longer and knows some theory. seems to help him with writing, but honestly i write songs too and they sound as good as his in my opinion. they may not be in any key for all i know but hey.......

i never think im improving but my lil brother just picked it up and he makes me feel like a seasoned vet

justam

Honestly, I think you've tried the "I don't know nothin' " route for a while. What could it hurt to go out and try to learn something new?

Go take some lessons.

LarryGossard

My first guitar teacher gave me a pretty good bit of advice. He plays just about every instrument, and played french horn in an orchestra for a few years. He said the conductor once said:

"Play with your heart on fire and your brain on ice."

?ing my education

Thanks to all who responded.

Even though I have only been playing for a few years, I tend to just jam around and play whatever feels right to me.

I know that learning the theory behind it all is not the most important thing but I just wanted to get some feedback on how some of you got good on the guitar.

Thanks again for the responses, great inspiration!

HYLA

Well if you ever want to solo and/or write songs that go beyond the basic chord progressions then you'll want to know scales and keys. I'm personally doing this now, first step you have to take is memorize the notes on the fretboard.

MONKEYNUTS

hYla IS RIte. If U HAV roTE A SOnG AND It soUNDS GUD WIDOUT kNOWIN It MOST of de coRDS u PLAyEd wilL fall into ATLEAST 1 keY. DIS ISNT REALLy IMpORTANt as de soNG SOunds gUD ANyway BuT IF U WANNA put a geetar leaD Over It U WILl need to Know woT key It is in



U DONT rEALlY NEED TO LERN the nOtes of de geetar ALL OVER TEH FRET BOrD if u WANNA Play LEAd. MONKEYNUTS JUST lerNED THE BlUES SCAle [iT HAS 7 NoTES HE FINks??] and mEmorISED the posistIoN AND SHApes of de nOtes he cud pLAY RATHER THAN memorisiN DE NAMES OF DE noTES HE CUD OR CUDNt plaY in dat PARtIKULAr scaLE

jjimbeam

Take some time and learn the diffrent scales.

I would say to start with the major and pentatonic.

the pentatonic scale is the relative minor of whatever key you are playing in so you can always use it to write good leads.

Learn the pattern not the notes because they change.

If you play in G the rm would be E so you could play it on the 12 fret or open

If you play in A the rm F# Thats all the advice I got

nailz100

Yeah, learning the Penatonic scales is important and It helps. Just try not to get swept up in the mountainous world of theory and scales....remember music is about passion (for me anyways) and if you are constantly thinking about what notes you are playing...you are never really letting go and just feeling the music.

jjimbeam

thats why I said not to learn the notes, learn a couple of paterns and you have the free for all on the notes, they will all be in key so you play what sounds good to you, make it up as you go. I've probably never played a solo the same way twice.

nailz100

Yeah...people who play the EXACT same solo EVERY time need to learn something called improvisation. Look at Mcready...I've never seen the guy play the same solo every time.

?ing my education

Thanks for the added suggestions guys.

So if I learn a few "patterns" then I can basically play those patterns any where on the neck of the guitar right? I have a few of the minor pentatonic scales down already I am trying to learn the others.

The place I got the scales from show them being played on certain certain frets but the way you guys make it sound you can move them all around, right?


Thanks again for the suggestions!

jjimbeam

exactly, you just need to know the key your playing in, and then play the pattern in the correct spot or key

?ing my education

Originally posted by jjimbeam
exactly, you just need to know the key your playing in, and then play the pattern in the correct spot or key

Can you provide an example? I think I know what you mean but I am not sure. Sorry but sometimes this stuff gets confusing for me.

Thanks!

HYLA

I think he's oversimplifying things a bit. What do you mean by "pattern"?

nailz100

Yeah, you can move them up and down the neck of the guitar...to solo in whatever key you are in. An example would be for a penatonic scale in the key of "A". From low E to High E would go (if you know how to read Tab) 5,8 5,7 5,7 5,7 5,8 5,8. If you want to solo in the key of "B" for example you would need to move to the root of B on the Low E string which falls on the 7th fret. Playing the exact same formation..the tab would be 7,10 7,9 7,9 7,9 7,10 7,10.

For me the key to finding the "right key" is the root note....so as long as you know that "A" is on the 5th fret on the Low "E"....and "B" is on the 7th fret on the low "E" you can get started...

jjimbeam

exactly

somone knows exactly what I'm talking about.

HYLA

But it's more complicated than that. Say you are playing in C# and you are using that pattern. So from low E to high E you'd be playing 9-13 9-12 9-12 9-12 9-13 9-13. But if you wanted to move down the fretboard, you simply can't continue in that pattern. You'd have to move to the D on the 5th string 5th fret and would play 5-8 5-7 5-7 (finishing on 3rd string). Or if you wanted to play it from the 7th fret, you'd play 7-10 8-10 8-10 starting on the 3rd string.

MONKEYNUTS

0||--|--|O|--|O|--|--|O|--|O|--|O|--|
||O|--|O|--|O|--|--|O|--|O|--|--|O|
0||--|O|--|--|O|--|O|--|O|--|--|O|--|
0||--|O|--|--|O|--|O|--|--|O|--|O|--|
0||--|--|O|--|O|--|O|--|--|O|--|O|--|
0||--|--|O|--|O|--|--|O|--|O|--|O|--|

ABOVE IS a DIAgram OF THE GEETAr. the toP STRING IS THE hIgH E [TREBbL STrinG] AND THE BoTtOM strinG IS THe lOW E [BASSEy STRINg]

de diaGram is oF de c majOR PENTAToNik. iT is also Of de A mInOR PENATonIk as de majOR AND MiNOR PENTAToNiks hav THe SAME 'ShaPE'

wir U SEE A 'O' DAT means U CAN PLAY that nOTE IF U WIR PLAYiN IN C MajOR OR A MiNOR. tHE '--' MEANS u CANt PLAY that Note

de '0' AT thE verY LEFt of thE DIAGraM R Open strinG NOTEs

BASICALLY THE NoTES FROM the open STRINg to thE 10TH freT R ALl THe nOTES U CAN pLAy. after the 10th freT IN DIS PARtICULAr examPLE DE PAttern REPEATS itself [so u can c daT ON DE 12TH FREt de paTTERN starts agaIN]

now this is FOR C MAJor so IF U WANNA plaY IN c# whICH IS the next Note uP DEN JUST Move the whOLE 'SHAPE' Up ONE FRET. IF U WANNA plaY IN D WHich is 2 nOtes uP FROM C u just mOve the whOLE 'SHApe/patterN' uP 2 FREts, etc. HE FInks thatS HOW It works

dis iS HOW MONKEYNUTS LERNED To do leaD. HE JUST memorised that PATTERn and played abOuT wid iT

MONKEYNUTS

SORRY ABoUt the secOND STRInG BEIN wonKy. MONKEYNUTS HAS TRIED To ediT IT bUt he canT

iT WUD PROLLY B BEST if u jusT RIte out that diagram URSELF AND RIte the fret nUmBERS On it to help u asweLl

HYLA

I think this is what the last guy meant to post?

||--|--|X|--|R|--|--|X|
||--|--|X|--|X|--|--|X|
||--|R|--|--|X|--|X|--|
||--|X|--|--|X|--|R|--|
||--|--|X|--|X|--|X|--|
||--|--|X|--|R|--|--|X|

R= root notes

MONKEYNUTS

dats riTE HyLA. bUt THATS OnlY HAlf of THE penTAToNiK PAtTERN U CAN play In anY GIVEN KEy


FANks 4 pUTTIn In the rooT NoTES DOh. MONKEYNUTS 4GoT ABout that

HYLA

Why do you type like that so hard to read.

MONKEYNUTS

2 reasoNS

1. b COS he caN

2. b cos HES FIk

Your saviour

musictheory.net can help in some basic areas, but not guitar specific, try some of the forums at mxtabs.net, if anyones got any better sites i'd love to know too!