I have played Acoustic Guitar for 25 years. But I never got too serious about it. I basically just sat and played stuff I made up after learning a few chords. I never played with a pick either. I learned Travist D style fingerpicking, and I just strum with my fingernails. Every time I tried to play with a pick it was hard for me to do dead/muted strums, so I kinda gave up on the pick.
Now I have been playing Electric Guitar for a couple years or so. And I am finally using a pick. But I haven’t practiced as much as I should. And I haven’t really picked up any good practice routines. I started taking lessons a year and a half ago and was making pretty good progress. But after a few months I moved and had to stop taking lessons from that guy. Now I am working near that guitar shop so I think I am going to start lessons again really soon.
So those of you that have been playing awhile, how do you practice? And what do you practice? I like playing all kinds of music and I know I need to learn scales and stuff. You can listen to a few songs I have learned in my Dropbox. Just don’t laugh because I am terrible. But maybe it will give people some thoughts about what I should be practicing?
Take a look at http://get.yousician.com/ for lessons. Not sure if it is still free but worth a peek. Also http://www.songsterr.com/ You can look up favorite artists/songs and jam along. I practice with my band 3 to 4 times a week so not so much anymore at home.
I have a Gibson SG 60’s Tribute and my amp is just a Fender G-Dec 30. I like it because I don’t need a bunch of pedals, but generally I just turn it on and play on the first effect setting. I have a buddy that deals in audio gear and is on the hunt for a Marshall or other tube amp for me. He had a kickass JCM 2000 that was like brand new he was going to sell me for $500 but he sold it before I could come up with the cash.
Hey, hey, this is right up my alley … This may sound crazy coming from me, but I recommend not paying for or taking guitar lessons.
Instead of focusing on learning musical theory, learn songs that you like. Analyze the chord progressions that make up the different parts and focus on the transitions to make different parts (verse, chorus, bridge) seamless.
After you breakdown and analyze the structure of the song, learn a different song (one at a time) and repeat this process. You will eventually notice that chord progressions are very similar/relative depending on the intervals between the chords. For example 3 chord theory (typically used in blues and rock) you use what’s called a 1-4-5 progression. This is the 1(root) 4 (sub dominant) 5 (dominant) … This 1,4,5 progression is derived using the 1st, 4th and 5th intervals in the major scale and can be applied in any key. Example: key of A ( A -D - E) - key of B (B - E - F#) - key of C (C -F - G) and so on … Hope this helps but if you would like me to further elaborate, please let me know.
@LordVapor If you don’t practice pentatonic exercises I would like to suggest that you do.
Also check out GuitarZoom.com or the same thing on facebook. There are always new exercises
and also some great players. A great community for questions and answers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UImqWeLwqVc
I agree 100% that’s why I started learning piano to learn the circle of chords. What chord goes into the next chord and so on. Still don’t understand how the circle of chords work maybe you can help Thanks
What you described is basically what my guitar instructor was teaching me. We wasn’t going into anything really technical. He was teaching me Joe Walsh’s Funk 49, Kansas - Carry on my Wayward Son, and Hot 'Lanta by the Allman Brothers Band. He also taught me a few riffs and stuff trying to get me moving around the neck a bit. I could see what he was doing because even though I told him I didn’t really want to play lead, he was pushing me in that direction. He is a really great teacher, and a really great guitar player.
I will take a look at that! Thanks for the advice guys.
Pentatonic is a 5 note scale opposed to traditional 7 note scales like the major scale.
I actually recommend learning moveable Barre chords using the E shape with the root note on your low E string before learning the pentatonic minor scale shape. Thetefore, you will know how and when to apply it appropriately.
I can play barre chords somewhat. But transitioning to them is still a little clunky. But when I play one, it takes me a bit of figuring to see what chord it is. I can’t just look at the neck and say that is a C5, or what have you.
Yeah you really need to learn the major and minor pentatonic scale’s first. That’s 10 different pattern’s if you learn one pattern every couple day’s . Playing it forwards and backwards then move on to the next pattern. After a while you will know them by heart There are all kinds of charts on the net for the 10 individual patterns
What you are referring to is called the Circle of Fifths. Understanding it is very useful when playing music written on paper so you can associate the key signature to the key the music is being written in. Regardless of the key it is written, understanding the circle of fifths allows you to easily transpose the music to a different key.
Here is a link that shows the circle and provides more detailed info on it.
If you do not already know the open E major and E minor chords, learn them first.
Play the open E major, move the chord up one fret and barre all of the strings on the 1st fret and that open E major becomes an F major barre chord. Move that same shape up another fret to the 2nd fret and that becomes an F# major barre chord. If you move up to the 3rd fret it is now a G major barre chord and so on.
Once you learn to move the same chord shape around, You can use the same approach using the open E minor chord shape to make minor barre chords. It is actually very simple once you do it.
I heard a piano teacher on the net calling it the circle of chords. My bad can’t seem to find that video again. But it was very informative for songwriting
There are all kinds of charts on the net for the 10 individual patterns 