This is a huge point. Not necessarily from my direct personal experience but from my son. We watched him go from a self-taught decent pianist to an amazing talent once he met his piano soul mate. Even she didn’t know how to handle him until he broke into a Journey medley, one day, when she walked away. She threw away the book and focused on breaking him of bad hand placement habits (my fault. I’m not an accomplished pianist plus, he didn’t listen to me anyway) and letting him run. It was a sad day when she moved out of the state. That one year set him for life.
I have a friend who has a bunch of guitars...
- Thread starter Casi1
- Start date
I get it completely.
My teacher was from Poland, where she’d been trained as a concert pianist. She was a fabulous player, but also a dedicated teacher.
I started out an already decent player, but soon learned I was quite limited. She completely broke down my technique, and would do detailed things like placing a finger on my wrist, telling me if it was too tight, or changing my finger angles, the way I struck the keys, etc. Instead of merely banging away on the keys, I learned to play musically. Hell, she even had me playing scales like musical phrases, instead of lines of notes.
These are the kinds of things that can’t be done by remote control, they can’t be taught in a book, or online. It’s one thing to play the correct note, but it’s quite another to play the correct note and have it flow into the next one and sound like music you’d want to listen to.
I learned to phrase better, to make a composer’s work sound like the composer intended stylistically, etc. It was a long time ago, but what I learned helped with every instrument I play.
There is also another idea that made my transitions to the next box very smooth. First learn the boxes as shown above, and then you might recognize that at any point in the progression up or down the notes in a box, the next box is only a fret or two away. Rather than finish all the notes in the box, just slide to the closest note in the next box and keep going. Box 1 for example. Start on the low E and work your way up to the second note on the G. Then instead of finishing the 4 notes on the B and E, just slide up two frets on the G and finish the notes that would have been on the B and E going up box 2. This adds two notes to the run and, to me at least, it sounds much more complete. The next to the last note in box 1 is the Tonic and then you play one more note after that. Sounds incomplete. If you slide up and play the ending of box 1 in box 2, and add the other two notes, it sounds more complete.
You can do that at many places along the neck and, all of a sudden, you don't have 5 boxes anymore, you have a complete neck to play on. You can play the same notes as in the boxes but you can start at box 1 and run 4 octaves up the neck without a break. You can change the location where you transition to another box to make things easier to play. I haven't gotten all of the neck learned yet. this is where I am at in my learning at the moment.
This shows a bit of the idea...
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danktat
Award winning tattoo artist ... Amateur guitarist
Yeah man....there are so many different exercises out there that are really good for getting a couple of things accomplished at once. I just posted that because it, for a lot of people, is the fastest, easiest way to sound like "blues" from the very first day of attempting it. Of course that will need to be expanded upon and developed......but it will certainly sound like blues.
MMMMMMM....Adrenaline....man I miss that stuff...nothin like channeling your inner Evel Knievel until you wake up in the ICU...again.
I haven't had a good adreanal dump in ages...hmmm, wait I got it...I'll tell the redhead her her butt is getting big, and that I'm gonna sell all of her shoes to fund a DGT. Yep, that'll do it.
Yeah right, poking the cubs of rabid momma grizzly with a stick would be less painful.
Rusty Chops
Geezer
I knew a gal who fended off a charging grizzly with a .25 auto pistol.
She just knee capped her husband and walked calmly away....
Alnus Rubra
Loving nature’s wonders
Way to add some spark to your practice regime!
BigdaddyRN
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2013
- Messages
- 36
try BluesGuitarUnleashed.com, buy BGU2.2
dmatthews
Dave's not here
Well that would certainly increase my electricity bill...
Well that would certainly kill me...
dmatthews
Dave's not here
Well that would... WTF...
Bwahahahahaha!!!
eclecticsynergy
PRS user since '87
Haven't read through the whole thread so this probably all has been said. But here's my advice:
LISTEN to lots of classic blues. The blues greats didn't take lessons. They learned by experimentation and & practice & playing with others, and playing along with records or the radio. Most of all they learned FEEL. When you feel at home with the instrument and the music, you channel emotion.
Even though learning a a handful of basic licks can enable anybody to imitate a blues player, it's not about licks. Get familiar with your guitar, and play along with blues recordings and backing tracks, every chance you get.
Coupla lessons from a good teacher wouldn't hurt, of course. But feel comes from inside. Sure, you can express it better when you're a fluent player. Even so, it isn't something you add on. It's something you let out. Some of the greatest blues players of all time have (by today's standards) no chops to speak of. But they can play their asses off. Listen and learn.
LISTEN to lots of classic blues. The blues greats didn't take lessons. They learned by experimentation and & practice & playing with others, and playing along with records or the radio. Most of all they learned FEEL. When you feel at home with the instrument and the music, you channel emotion.
Even though learning a a handful of basic licks can enable anybody to imitate a blues player, it's not about licks. Get familiar with your guitar, and play along with blues recordings and backing tracks, every chance you get.
Coupla lessons from a good teacher wouldn't hurt, of course. But feel comes from inside. Sure, you can express it better when you're a fluent player. Even so, it isn't something you add on. It's something you let out. Some of the greatest blues players of all time have (by today's standards) no chops to speak of. But they can play their asses off. Listen and learn.
Don’t be afraid of melodic playing. It’s nice to learn a few “automatic” licks to throw in here and there, just to stay in style, but coming up with a melody, or even reprising the melody of the song, is a great starting place.
I remember Clapton saying he played the melody of “Blue Moon” to start the solo in “Sunshine of Your Love.” Two different songs, and yet it worked really well, and was a great starting point for one of Rock’s most iconic solos.
“How do you know this, Les?”
“Clapton told me.”
“When was that?”
“At one point Cream wanted to have a keyboard player, and they asked me to join the band. Clapton and I talked about that solo. But in the end, I decided to stay in high school, and didn’t join the band.”
“Liar.”
“Yes. So?”
I remember Clapton saying he played the melody of “Blue Moon” to start the solo in “Sunshine of Your Love.” Two different songs, and yet it worked really well, and was a great starting point for one of Rock’s most iconic solos.
“How do you know this, Les?”
“Clapton told me.”
“When was that?”
“At one point Cream wanted to have a keyboard player, and they asked me to join the band. Clapton and I talked about that solo. But in the end, I decided to stay in high school, and didn’t join the band.”
“Liar.”
“Yes. So?”
dogrocketp
I drank the PRS kool aid, and it was tasty!
You’re being held back, largely by fear. Do you know what kind of music you want to play? Do you know a non-judgmental teacher you could bond with? You shouldn’t expect yourself to play perfectly. If you live in a city, there will be open mikes for whatever style you like. Go listen to one, make note of the songs, and, go home and learn them. You’ll get up and Suck for a while, but there’s no magic, so you have to keep going. At some point you’ll get the complements you deserve, and really enjoy it. It took me 2 years to play the blues, but I could more than hold my own with anybody. And they didn’t say anything the first few times about the wet stains when I got off stage.I may need to answer this same question for myself. I have a good amount of pretty cool gear. Enough that I could set up 3 or 4 bands, with different gear, and all be gigable (though maybe not all with as high end a stuff as PRS). I play "a little". But I really am not very good. Finding a way to structure when, how and what to practice has been my achellies heel for a good decade and a half. I even have friends that are music teachers, with Berklee degrees, that I could get hooked up on instruction from, but I don't use them. It is kind of like I know them too well so it is difficult to take that relationship from friendship to "teacher/student" if that makes any since. I have books out the @$$ but, somehow, it all gets jumbled up without much guidance as to how to use those books properly. I actually HAVE a subscription to some on line stuff. But again....it is the structure that keeps me falling short.
It was mentioned earlier about starting or joining a band. And THAT I think would help me trememdously. However, this is where I am with that. I am in my 40's. Being as though I am not that good, it would be tough for me to find other people, in a similar age bracket, that is at a similar skill set as me. They are often not looking to bump and fumble around with an someone who doesn't "really" know what they are doing in that setting. By my age, people can typically play [well] or they can't. If I am looking for my level of skill, the people I find will probably be late teens to early 20s, where they are just now experimenting with playing with other people. So, socially, it would be awkward to join in a group where I could be the rest of the band's father.
As a result, I just sort of muddle around with the gear that I have. Play some things that people can recognize [at least in part], and noodle around with minor pentatonic blues boxes as if I knew what I was doing. It gets me by, but it is not as satisfying as I would like it to be sometimes.
If you figure out your answer, let me know.....maybe I could benefit from it too.
11top
Cousin Eddie's cousin
Now, I’ll never listen to the start of that solo w/o thinking of “Blue Moon.”
Well, that’s what Clapton was thinking, why not you?
11top
Cousin Eddie's cousin
Cause now I have to skat.
Ding da ding ding da dang da da dang it’s getting near dawn.
CVS
Not so new member
I don't know where exactly you are in terms of proficiency, but assuming you know basic bar chord shapes (major, minor, dominant 7th's)and the 5 positions of the pentatonic scale, then here is what I recommend;
Go down a parallel path - Learn how to really play blues rhythms & start working on improving your solo's. I would go 50-50 on booth topics as far as time allotment. Maybe start improving solos by mixing the major and minor pentatonic scales over a dominant 7th 12 bar blues. Your call, there a number of ways to move the ball forward with respect to soloing. Other examples, work on bends, right hand dynamics, targeting chord tones, arpeggios etc.
I have seen way too many guitar players who can do some nice blues solos, but have no idea how to play rhythm and consequently will never be in a band or really be able to jam with anyone else who knows how to play for very long.
Once you can see chord / triad shapes as well as scales when you are soloing on the fly, your solos will really improve big time. In order to see chords and triads on the fly, you have to play them a lot. Your sense of timing will improve when you play a lot of rhythm and this will in turn improve your phrasing when you are soloing.
Oh - And as have many others said, listen to a lot of the old blues masters and the guys who stole a lot of their licks (Clapton, Page, etc...) both with and without the guitar in your hands. You have to feel the blues to really be able to play it. Try to figure out some songs on your own, it will help develop your ear, which is an important part of becoming a proficient guitar player.
Good luck on your journey (which will never end)
PS - If you have not already done so, I would check out some of the guitar lesson web sites where you actually have to pay for lessons re: Blues Rhythm and Blues Solos. These lessons are much more structured than just looking at "random" free Youtube videos, of which some are OK if you just want to learn a specific song (or the hard parts to a specific song)
Go down a parallel path - Learn how to really play blues rhythms & start working on improving your solo's. I would go 50-50 on booth topics as far as time allotment. Maybe start improving solos by mixing the major and minor pentatonic scales over a dominant 7th 12 bar blues. Your call, there a number of ways to move the ball forward with respect to soloing. Other examples, work on bends, right hand dynamics, targeting chord tones, arpeggios etc.
I have seen way too many guitar players who can do some nice blues solos, but have no idea how to play rhythm and consequently will never be in a band or really be able to jam with anyone else who knows how to play for very long.
Once you can see chord / triad shapes as well as scales when you are soloing on the fly, your solos will really improve big time. In order to see chords and triads on the fly, you have to play them a lot. Your sense of timing will improve when you play a lot of rhythm and this will in turn improve your phrasing when you are soloing.
Oh - And as have many others said, listen to a lot of the old blues masters and the guys who stole a lot of their licks (Clapton, Page, etc...) both with and without the guitar in your hands. You have to feel the blues to really be able to play it. Try to figure out some songs on your own, it will help develop your ear, which is an important part of becoming a proficient guitar player.
Good luck on your journey (which will never end
)PS - If you have not already done so, I would check out some of the guitar lesson web sites where you actually have to pay for lessons re: Blues Rhythm and Blues Solos. These lessons are much more structured than just looking at "random" free Youtube videos, of which some are OK if you just want to learn a specific song (or the hard parts to a specific song)
You should have had heart arrhythmia issues just typing those damned words! I’ve got 2nd hand anxiety from reading that!
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