If At First You Don’t Succeed at Guitar…
Jan 25, 2010 Guitar Articles
The first time you pick up a guitar and try to play it, you will probably not get very far beyond strumming the strings a couple of times and getting a noise that is on the very far outside wing of what is considered “music”. It’s the same for most guitarists first time around, no matter how brilliant they go on to be. The tricky part can be keeping your patience while you try to relate the things you do with your hands to the noises you are trying to achieve. It won’t happen overnight, but if you can keep your mind on the job you will get there – and that’s when the fun really starts.
The truth is that no instrument can be learned overnight to the level of quality that you routinely hear on records made by signed bands. The drums may seem simple to those who look at a drum kit, but the moment you stop concentrating on what you are doing and let actual thoughts enter your head, it can be really off-putting. It takes all sorts of co-ordination to get a usable drum sound, believe it or not. The bass, the violin, the accordion, the bagpipes – yes, even the bagpipes! – take some perseverance and talent to learn.
In a way, the music that you end up making is a reward for and a reflection of the effort and the perseverance that it took to get you to that stage. It is a great deal of effort but the truth is that it is better when you work for what you achieve.
Check out Blues Guitar Lesson Dvds & Beginner Guitar Lessons.
Tags: don't succeed at guitar, how to succeed at guitar, pick up a guitar, succeed at guitar
Get the best from guitar playing lessons
Jan 22, 2010 Guitar Articles
Gone are the times when someone who wanted to learn the guitar had to adjust their schedule and travel to a class. Today the internet has taken over as the most reliable source of learning guitar from the comforts of one’s home. The lessons start with the basics of playing guitar and one can gradually start at their own pace with these lessons. The basic lessons include a step by step guide on different chords, holding the guitar, strings, etc. The lessons then gradually continue with the advanced techniques of playing the guitar in all levels and styles.
One can learn to play either an acoustic guitar or electric guitar or both techniques of playing either style is slightly different. Lernguitar.net can help one master both the techniques. In a space of just two weeks one can start playing the guitar confidently in front of a small family gathering or even a party. One can even imitate the style of their favorite guitar players by learning from the internets top instructors such as Sonya Perricone, Rick Napolitano and Don Lappin. The site contains hundreds of compositions from the world’s best guitar artists.
All the lessons are placed in a continuous flow so that you don’t get lost in the mix. The site is unlike any other free guitar lessons site where guitar lessons are just posted without caring about the order. The site also shares the secrets of the Pro’s which have made them what they are today. One can follow in their footsteps and become a professional guitar playing artist himself by learning through learnguitar.
Next on the list of imparting lessons is learning the tricks of mastering the different scales on the guitar. Mastering scales requires a lot of practice but Learnguitar makes it easy and enjoyable. The best part of the site is that it encourages the learner to try out the different styles with a lot of confidence. One can master more than one style and be good at both of them. Apart from mastering scales, the site also teaches you how to become perfect at playing chords and rhythm. The best part of playing any musical instrument is that if one plays it in the correct manner one gets a lot of confidence and motivation to continue the learning process and this is the sole purpose of Learnguitar.
Apart from techniques one can also concentrate on a particular style of playing the guitar like Jazz, Metal, Country, Funk, Blues and Rock. All the lessons are in the form of easy to read printouts and videos. Learnguitar guarantees that even a beginner who does not know the ABC’s of guitar playing will become a pro if they seriously spend time with the video guitar lessons and practices playing the guitar regularly.
Check out Learn Blues Guitar & Learn Jazz Guitar
Tags: best guitar playing lessons, free guitar lessons, Get the best from guitar playing lessons, guitar lessons, guitar playing, how to play guitar, learn guitar, Online Guitar Lessons
Learning Guitar Scales
Jan 14, 2010 Guitar Articles
We’ve finally arrived at the fun part! You’re going to get a quick crash course in some basic music theory, and enough examples to get you playing as soon as possible. Let’s go ahead and get started with scales.
Scales: The Building Blocks of Music
A scale is a series of notes which typically spans from the root note to its unison (one octave higher). For example, the following series of notes creates the chromatic scale from A (root) to A (unison):
A-B-C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G-G#-A
This scale doesn’t sound very ‘musical’, though, does it?
That’s because we need to leave out some notes in order to create the kind of scale our ears are accustomed to from listening to ‘western’ music — and by ‘western’, I’m referring to the music created in Europe and the United States.
The kind of music we’re used to listening to (classical, rock, country, folk, blues,etc) relies primarily on the major and minor scales. These scales follow a formula from which they can be constructed for any key. In order to keep things simplified, we’re going to stick to the major
scale for now.
Formula for Creating a Major Scale
Whole Step
Whole Step
Half Step
Whole Step
Whole Step
Whole Step
Half Step
So, what do all these whole steps and half steps mean? Take a look at your fretboard again.
Each individual fret represents a half step. In other words, if you were to place your finger on any note, then move it up (or down) just one fret, you’ve moved a half step in terms of “distance” between notes.
Now, if you place your finger on a fret, then move up or down by skipping the fret in between, you’ve moved position by a whole step.
So, let’s say that we want to create the G Major scale. Based on our formula, the pattern of notes is as follows: G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G. The first whole step is the interval from G to A, just to be clear.
Also, there is one thing you need to know before going any further:
The distance from B to C and E F is ALWAYS a HALF STEP!
There is no such thing as a ‘B sharp’ or ‘E sharp’. All of the ‘natural’ (not sharp, not flat) notes have an interval of a whole step between them except for the intervals of B to C and E to F.
Keep this fact in mind when you are using the formula to construct scales in other keys, as it will help you determine which notes are raised (sharpened) or lowered (flattened) within that key.
Named Scale Degrees
In order to learn music theory, you need to memorize some terminology pertaining to the function of each note within the key defined by the scale.
Scale degrees describe how each note ’sounds’ relative to the key.
An ‘E’ in the key of G Major, for example, suggests a minor interval because its position within the scale is submediant (also known as the ‘relative minor’). However, if you are IN the key of E Major, then your ears will hear that E as a ‘resolution’ back to the key.
The Named Scale Degrees
·1st – Tonic or ‘key’ note
·2nd – Supertonic
·3rd – Mediant
·4th – Subdominant
·5th – Dominant
·6th – Submediant
·7th – Leading Tone
·8thth – Tonic or ‘Unison’
Each of these degrees has either a ‘major’ or ‘minor’ sounding quality to it depending on whether the key you’re in is major or minor. This is because the intervals (distance between two notes) are defined differently for the major and minor scales.
For this report, we’re focused solely on major scales, so let’s look at the quality of the intervals between scale degrees in a major scale:
·1st – Tonic
·2nd – Minor 2ndnd
·3rd – Minor 3rdrd
·4th – Perfect 4thth
·5th – Perfect 5thth
·6th – Minor 6h
·7th – Major 7thth
·8th – Tonic
This may not make much sense right now, but the value of this information will become clear as we move on to discuss chords.
Music theory will help greatly in learning to play guitar. Stay tuned for more guitar lessons and how to play guitar courses.
Tags: guitar scales, learn scales on guitar, Learning Guitar Scales, scale of guitar, what is a guitar scale
