1- The more you teach yourself, the faster you will progress. If you just memorize what the teacher tells you, without asking yourself  ”does this make sense” or “how would I explain this to a beginner”, you will miss a lot. Don’t assume the teacher is always right or that he knows the simplest way to explain things.

Private Lessons or self-taught, the players that get good, fast, are the ones that put the time and effort into it. You can’t stop for a few days and expect to keep up your momentum. Remember, you can practice mapping your fingerboard or running scales(in your head) while you are waiting in a checkout line, or anytime you’re bored. It all counts towards how much time you put into it.

2- If you learn everything (chords, scales, chord progressions) on one string first, it will make much more sense on the grid of the fingerboard. Starting with the key of A makes more sense than E. If the first key you learn is C, you are learning to play the Piano(Piano method, converted to Guitar)

3- All Scales are easier to remember, with their corresponding Chord. You can group this information together. eg. 5th position A Maj scale, is related to a 5th position A Maj chord. You should be able to visualize the Root, Third and Fifth degrees of the scale as a Chord.

4- Learning problem solving, visualization, self-assesment and communication are the most important skills you will gain from playing Guitar. Being fun at parties is just a bonus.

5- The spaces between the notes(numbered intervals I-VII) are more important than the notes themselves. You will be able to transpose and write charts more easily with numbers. Lettered notes have no quantity, unless you already understand music theory, it’s hard to see how an E relates to an A. Most professional/studio musicians use a system call “Nashville Numbering” which is based on Intervals.

Trying to visualize the difference between a Maj and min scale/chord or seeing the relationships that are presented to you in the circle of Fourths and Fifths becomes much easier using numbers.

6- Guitar technique and Musical theory are two separate subjects. Don’t let one, slow down your progress on the other.

7- Learning simple triad chords before the CAGED chords, (and the formula to build them) makes more sense.

8- You can learn just as much from a Drummer or Bassist, as from another Guitarist. Even if they play a completely different style of music than you. A Drummer will have a different approach to playing Music, they will count bars and measures automatically. I find that good Bass players have to understand Harmony.

9- Learning to play the Guitar is not like a pyramid, where you take lessons, pay your dues(bottom level), graduate to being a pro(middle) and eventually are the best(top/pinnacle). The learning pyramid actually upside down, the longer you play and the better you become, the more you are capable of learning. It is impossible to be the best at every style and discipline of Guitar playing. There are a few that come close but for the majority of us, there will ALWAYS be something new to learn! There is always someone that can (technically) play better than you. It’s not a competition, the “BEST” Guitarist is the one that plays the “most like the most like themselves”. Develop your own style.

10- Practicing without the Guitar, being able to visualize notes, scales and chords without any kind of reference is as important as physically playing the Guitar. When you close your eyes, your brain doesn’t know whether the Guitar you are playing is real or imaginary. You don’t need the Guitar to practice!

Edit; Here’s some more points I should really mention. -always be in the habit of tapping your foot and counting.

-Try humming or singing scales, melodies and chord progressions. hearing the sound IN your head is different than hearing your Guitars sound through your ears.

-Warming up(and down) makes a big difference. Guitarists put an incredible strain on their hands. Warming up will keep your hands from cramping, when you have to practice or perform for several hours straight. Learn where your pressure points are, for your hands,arms and shoulders. Here’s a hand reflexology chart . Drink plenty of water.

-This sounds dumb but, breathe. Beginners will hold their breath when concentrating on a particularly challenging piece. I’ve seen lots of people drool on their fingerboards, it happens. You have to be relaxed to perform, trying really hard has an negative effect.

-It’s natural to look down at the fingerboard when you are learning a new piece. If you are playing a song you already know, you should not be able to see the front of the fingerboard when you are playing. This is what I see when I look down at my neck.

As you can see, I can only see one string, the other 5 are hidden behind it.  If you can see the front of the fingerboard, your head and neck are too far forward and the position of your hand is compromised! Don’t tilt the Guitar towards you so you can see the fingerboard.

-A reader reminded me, practice new riffs, scales and chord progressions slowly and build up speed. You will actually be able to play the piece at full speed, sooner if you start slowly. Playing Guitar is a physical performance like dancing or martial arts. The point of practicing slowly is to eventually be able to make perfect, consistent movements, automatically. This is sometimes called “Muscle memory”. Could you tie your shoe the first time you tried? Probably not. Now you do it without thinking.

There are generally 2 types of players, overly studious players that only play what’s on the sheet music, in front of them and self taught players that improvise everything. Try to balance the “book smarts” with “playing by feel”. Being a “Guitar Player” and being a “Musician” are not the same thing, you can be both.

A great tip for Rockabilly players, most Blues, Country Rockabilly players know Maj and min Pentatonic scales but don’t know how to tie them together. A very fun exercise, try it!

The Alchemical Guitarist is by far, the best Method I’ve come across. He explains everything logically, using simple math and patterns.

Here’s more R Lloyd vids

1- Learn scales, chords(arpeggios) on one string.Learn the distances between the notes(numbered Intervals) as well as the notes themselves. Use the Nashville Numbering System. No matter what style of music you play, you must understand the basic’s of Chording, Melody and Harmony. Being able to visualize an octave and the relationship of notes, laid out in a straight line (like on a piano) will help you make sense of the different positions.

2- Learn scales and chords in as many positions as possible,(at least 3). Learn how to build them.What are the similarities, differences? How does the G-B hump effect them? Look at the Gootar color system.

3- Don’t try to play new material at full speed. Break riffs into smaller pieces and cycle them. When counting slowly, subdivide; 1 (+ 2 and), 2 (+ 2 and), 3 (+ 2 and), 4 (+2 and). Always tap your foot, do it without thinking. This internalizes the beat.

4- Practice in your head without your Guitar. Being able to visualize a chord or riff, is the first step to executing it consistently or altering it. Humming scales and melodies is a great way to internalize the intervals.

5- If you are having trouble learning new material or techniques, sleep on it. The 1/2 hour before you fall asleep at night, is the best time to practice visualizing the fingerboard, chords, scales and patterns. Don’t count sheep, count frets!

6- Pay attention to how different chords, phrasings, intervals and tonal colors make you feel, (Maj-rising, min-falling).Even non-musicians understand Tonal Gravity.

7- Learn the cycle of Fourths and Fifths. They are called “Perfect” for a reason. You should always know where the IV and V are, in relation to the Root note. J Hendrix’s mastery of Fourths and Fifths is obvious (“Hey Joe” chord progression is a good eg) Interactive circle of IVths and Vths

8- Teach yourself, even if you are studying with a teacher. Try to solve problems with math, logic and just plain screwing around(Abstract Reasoning). Learning what you shouldn’t do, is part of learning what you should. Don’t be afraid to “Noodle” because you might hit an off note. Everybody learns differently. You have to develop your own sense of what works and what doesn’t. Link;http://gorehound1313.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/the-importance-of-being-a-self-taught-musician/

9- When you accomplish something, give yourself credit for it. Building confidence in your playing is important. Having someone tell you that you are good is nice, believing it yourself, is crucial.

10- Practice pressing down on the string with just enough pressure to get a clear note, no buzz or trail offs. Avoid squeezing the neck, it slows you down and makes it hard to move to the next position.

“Shredding, to me, is akin to having a incredibly overblown vocabulary at your disposal and saying very, very little”   “Well, it appears to be tasteless and aesthetically pretty corny, I think.”

Johnny Marr

here’s a link to the article

Couldn’t have said it better myself, I hereby declare Gorehound’s Roots Guitar Tips a NO SHREDDING ZONE!

Anyone using fuzz, wah-wahs or a long delay while they are learning to play is just fooling themselves. Of course everything sounds good with fuzz, you also lose all your dynamics. You can’t hear the notes clearly and most importantly, you will sound like almost every other electric Guitarist on the planet.

If you like to sound like you are playing  a 100 watt kazoo as fast as you can, go ahead. An experienced player doesn’t need to rush.

Jazz, Metal and Classical players rarely look like they are having fun. They usually look like those people in the movie “Scanners”, right before their heads explode. Just because music involves math, doesn’t mean it should be “mathematical”

While shredding may be technically impressive, it’s  playing scales with tons of distortion. It’s about as un-musical as you can get! But if you’re one of those long-haired sheep, wank-on! The world needs it’s low common-denominator stereotypes

“ Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity. -Plato

2 of my bands got disc’s reviewed in the local Vancouver Entertainment rag, today. Good stuff! Here’s the skinny

The Deadcats’ rockabilly aesthetic still rules on Look Like Hell

By John Lucas

The Deadcats
Look Like Hell (Flying Saucer)

Let’s get one thing straight: these aren’t the same Deadcats who prowled Vancouver in the mid ’80s. Nor, for that matter, are these the same four guys who revived the name in the mid ’90s. The band’s turnover rate over the years has been such that there are currently no original members from either incarnation playing under the Deadcats banner. Or maybe there are—it’s hard to keep track when everyone uses pseudonyms.

It doesn’t really matter who’s doing what, though, since the basic formula hasn’t changed a lick. Rockabilly is the ruling aesthetic, with occasional detours into surf and country. The Deadcats like to throw the word psychobilly around, but that implies a certain degree of wildness and switchblade-edge danger that Look Like Hell doesn’t really display. The 12-bar–blues progressions and twangy, reverbed guitars are all pretty standard stuff, and the Deadcats’ approach is so resolutely laid-back that, well, the Cramps they ain’t.

Still, there are plenty of nice things happening here. Guest six-stringer Paul Pigat contributes some sweet, straight-outta-Sun-Studio lead guitar to “Hank’s Cadillac”, and the band’s own Gorehound adds some great lap-steel flavour to “Goin’ to Memphis” and “Rocket to the Moon”.

The Deadcats show off their surf-rock chops with a lounge-y version of “Apache” that might be the slowest take ever on the iconic instrumental. But that’s okay. It would probably go down really well after a few beers on a Saturday night at the Railway Club, and I can’t help but think that’s how everything the Deadcats do is meant to be heard anyway.

AND

Big Joe Burke packs in the Nashville clichés on QuiverBy Mike UsingerBig Joe Burke
Quiver (YVR)Although often overlooked today, the genre known as alt-country actually existed long before Uncle Tupelo dragged it into the mainstream. Back in olden times (aka the ’80s), a generation of reformed punk rockers—Rank and File, Blood on the Saddle, Tex and the Horseheads—suddenly decided that you didn’t need god-given talent to make it to the stage of your local honky-tonk, just a whole lot of DIY attitude.Big Joe Burke would have fit right in with that crew, which isn’t necessarily a compliment. Accenting the positives for a second, the imposing-looking singer (think black cowboy hat, town-marshall mustache, and shit-kicking cowboy boots) has produced a sophomore album on which the playing is completely pro without being slick. Burke and his co-guitarist Gord Smithers are tasteful and innovative enough to suggest they’re fans of Pete Anderson, and hired guns add an air of authenticity with sweeping steel guitar, shimmering organ, and old-timey trombone.The downside is that Burke’s vocals are flatter than the pancakes in Montana. When he’s not draining every bit of life out of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown”, he’s giving the Big Bopper reason to roll over in his grave with the ’50s-flavoured “The Tide”.While Burke’s probably being totally sincere, “Home Sweet Home” is as bad as Springsteen. Sorry, dude, but the idea of a laid-off factory grunt with a knocked-up wife living in a motor home in a parking lot across the street from his new day job at Wal-Mart isn’t tear-jerking, it’s a Saturday Night Live skit. Give Burke a round of applause, though, for packing enough Nashville clichés into a single song to remind you what gave rise to alt-country in the first place.

Recommend

Both from the Georgia Straight Nov 12, 2009

http://www.straight.com/article-270287/vancouver/deadcats

http://www.straight.com/node/270291

Here’s Big Joe Burke/Maybelline

Pat Darcus/Bass, Sandy Bone/Drums, Gorehound/Gtr

mmmm…..pancakes

And check out Paul Pigats wicked Guitar solo “straight outta Sun studio” on “Hank’s Cadillac” by the Deadcats

Update-And this from Stuart Derdeyn in the Province

THE DEADCATS

Look Like Hell (Flying Saucers Records)

Is it really album #7 from these tattooed psychobilly bruisers? The tongue in cheek goofball songs —“Mummified Baby” opens the album and it’s hilarious — go with the tight, simple musical delivery. Good old horror punk fun. B

— S.D

 

As a Guitar player the most important skill you can develop, is problem solving. I’m  working with 4 or 5 bands right now so I get to see different levels of problem solving ability in action. Abstract Reasoning is generally something musicians are good at. A high percentage of computer programmers and doctors, majored in Music. The basic example of Abstract reasoning is being able to represent a concrete object with a number or symbol. Children with learning disabilities may have trouble  visualizing a V or number 5 as representing 5 blocks, for instance.

The secret is, getting in the habit of solving small problems. Then the large ones won’t seem as intimidating. As a Guitarist you should know  several ways to play every scale. The way to do this is by grouping information. What do all the (eg.) A Major scale positions have in common? 1) -They will always coincide with one of the CAGED Chords. 2) -They are all made up of numbered degrees or Intervals. 3) -they fall between 2 Root notes(not incl Modes).

What is different about them? 1) Position, fingering. 2) Octave(there is usually at least 2 different positions to play each Octave). 3) One of the Root notes will change.

Of coarse you have to start out learning just one A Maj scale. Practice using the Interval number (I,II,II,IV ect.) AND the the letter name (A, A#,B…) esp. the Root note. If you only think of the scale as a shape on a Chord chart or string/fret combination, it will be harder to visualize somewhere else on the neck. Print some fingerboard diagrams and practice drawing the scale shapes from memory.

Once you know particular scale , riff or chord, play it Blind. Especially changing positions.  The only info you need, is fret#  (markers).

One of the really cool things about the Guitar is that each fingering can be moved up or down the neck to a different key. When you learn where the Root notes are in each of the CAGED chords, it becomes much easier to build a scale around them.

Each of the positions lends itself to different phrasing. Having open strings, whether an Octave covers 2,3 or 4 strings, and frets being closer together, higher up the neck, all effect how you play a particular piece. Jazz players avoid using open strings, Country and Rockabilly players use them a lot.

If you approach Scales and Chords as simple problems that you can solve (and understand) as opposed  to being a large body of information that must be memorized, you will progress much faster. The Numbering system can take weeks, months, even years to master. The distance between notes is more useful to know, than their letter names. The only letter name you need to know is the Root note. Numbers give you information about the relationship if note, letters should be used for mapping/finding a starting point.

If you can understand and visualize a Major scale in one key, you are halfway to understanding all the scales(Maj, min, Pentatonics, Aug, dim, modes ect.) in every key! All scales and modes are variations of the Major and Chord/Scale shapes are the same from key to key.

Here’s an Abstract Reasoning test you can take. http://www.kaptest.co.uk/courses/uk-university/ukcat/practice/abstract-reasoning.aspx

and some blank Chord box and Fingerboard diagrams

As human beings it’s almost impossible to have absolute perfect timing. If we did, we would play like robots. The lag between musicians timing is part of what makes every band sound different. For example, most bands follow the drummer, the Stones drummer Charlie Watts, says he actually follows the Rhythm Guitar. This makes the Stones Rhythm section sound unique.

If you are starting out playing with bands, don’t depend on the drummer for time. Be responsible for keeping yourself steady. When you are playing Rhythm Guitar it’s fairly easy to lock in with the Bass and drums. But playing lead forces you to slip back and forth between following the beat and accenting your melody. Most “lead”players don’t exclusively play single notes, you revert to playing Rhythm when not playing lead. So there’s a tricky transition point, when you switch from Rhythm to lead, my favorite example is Chuck Berry’s Johnny B Goode. There is a seamless switch from playing the Boogie Rhythm pattern on the low strings, to the solo on the hi strings, then back again. No drop out.

This means you have to have both patterns straight in your head. First you must be able to play the Rhythm pattern in your sleep. Next Play the Rhythm part and hum the lead melody you want to play over it. Then do the opposite, play your lead part, while humming the rhythm changes. If you have to concentrate on one, you lose the other, so keep it simple to start.

Guitarist’s by nature(esp. self-taught), tend to concentrate on Notes (pitch) over Tempo. it takes a while to realize that pitch and tempo are equally important. A Rhythmically aware player can turn simple melodies/Chord progressions into interesting/tasteful pieces. Most of my favorite Guitarists are excellent Rhythm players. Kieth Richards, Scotty Moore, Steve Cropper, Pete Townsend. Playing Rhythm doesn’t just mean playing chords, it means playing rhythmically! Try approaching you strumming, as if you were playing a drum.

So if you’re not locking in, with the Bass and Drums,(or the Bass/Drums aren’t getting together), it’s time to communicate and solve a few problems together. Newbies tend to blast through songs, as if the whole point is getting to the end. Don’t be afraid to stop and say ” something feels wrong, let’s figure it out”. Also, it’s important to stop right when you hear a problem, not 7 or 8 bars later. Quiet or acoustic practices are best for doing this. If you don’t use charts, you should still be prepared to chart out problem sections, counting beats and bars, and where the chord changes occur.

I’m posting this on Reddit , I’d like to hear from any Drummers out there on; aside from overall steadiness,

what rudiments do Guitarist need to work on?

What are the basic beats we should all know?

What are the basic rhythm terms we need to know? We end up using terms like “train beat” ,  ”Jungle drums” or “Scooby Doo, falling down stairs”

Are there any books/resources (for short attention spans) available?

Any assistance in this matter are greatly appreciated, Cheers!

Update- I posted the questions on Drum Reddit. You can check out the answers I got here; http://www.reddit.com/r/drums/comments/a1gw9/drummers_what_constructive_advice_do_you_have_for/

Thanks to everyone that took the time to respond.

Update- Deadcats Drummer, Kermit Von Munster’s Drum blog cover’s covers many of these points

and I found a good article here at the Guitar Alliance  http://guitaralliance.com/index.php/guitar-theory/155-advanced-rhythm/986-video-lesson-of-time-signatures

The King lays down a beat

Imagine just 100 years ago, if you wanted to learn to play an instrument, you had to find someone that is already accomplished on that instrument, and convince them to show you what they knew. In a sense, everyone was self-taught. And once you became competent, up and coming players would hit you up for tips. If you were lucky, a good player might let you do an “apprenticeship” with them.

I’m not saying that there were no how-to books available, but they were very basic, they were based on piano methods and they generally didn’t show you anything past the first position. Anyways, my point is  that if you wanted to learn the Guitar, you were forced to do some organized research, find the information and work with it experiment, see for yourself  what works and what doesn’t.

As a student of the Guitar, you will get much more from private lessons if you take charge of how you learn. Get other opinions, don’t allow yourself to be spoon-fed information from just one source. There’s nothing wrong with learning to play by imitation but try to balance it with an understanding of what you are doing. Do the math. Look at the distance between notes, learn how to build chords and scales, not just play them by imitation. Don’t be afraid to tell a teacher that you don’t understand what he/she is trying to explain. A good teacher has several ways around every problem.

Being self -taught forces you to understand the basics. Playing Music is simple math. It requires problem solving, abstract reasoning, visualization, spatial reasoning, multi-tasking and most importantly, it is a communication skill. You are the only one that can decide, what direction you take, how long to practice, who to approach for help, when am I ready to play with other musicians? You can push yourself or play it safe.

Luck can be described as recognizing an opportunity and being ready for it. You are the only one that can make sure you are ready.

Be aware that  understanding Musical theory  and playing an instrument(technique) are 2 separate areas of study. Learning to balance them will help you become a Musician, not just a Guitar player.

This vid is from D’Addarios “the Stage” Musicians hub. Some good points about getting started improvising