Not Playing Guitar

Blues Guitar Solos – 5 Tips on Phrasing

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Blues guitar phrasing is something I have to work on all the time. If I don’t pay attention then it’s too easy to get into bad habits, so it’s always useful to have a checklist of things to do… or not do… to keep your phrasing in good shape and avoid problems.

Here’s a nice video that offers 5 useful tips to get your phrasing into shape and keep it there (you might need to click here to see it on the blog if you’re reading this in a feed reader).

Here’s a short summary of the tips from this video.

1. Repeat ideas

Repetition is one of the fundamental elements of music. Build your solos out of blocks of only a few notes, and repeat them to draw in the listener. Use only a few notes and work them hard to create the most you can out of them.

2. Open up space

Use rests to create space in your music. It gives you time to come up with something new and heightens tension in the music.

3. Sing the notes you play

As Marty put it, singing the notes you play “connects with that inner music inside of you, that is a really good thing.” Singing also forces you to breath and introduces natural pauses that will help you open up space.

4. Dynamics – loud or soft

You can break up monotony in your playing through use of dynamics – how loud or soft you play. Mix things up and don’t just play everything at full blast.

5. Know when to get out

Finally, just like you have to end your phrases to leave space around them, you also need to end your solos to keep something in reserve for the next song.

If you enjoyed these tips then click here to visit Marty’s site for many more great guitar lessons. You can try out lessons free for three days. Note that I partner with GuitarJamz because I enjoy the quality guitar lessons it provides, if you decide to subscribe after following this link I may receive a small commission. You can learn more about Marty’s lessons site by reading my GuitarJamz review.

Oh, and by the way, to get the free jam-track Marty mentioned in the video click this link.

Guitar Chords – Learn to Finger Major 6th Chord

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Last week I posted a lesson on 6th chords. I got a question from a reader struggling with the major 6th chord form with its root on the sixth string, which is admittedly quite hard to play. I struggled for a long time to learn how to play this chord accurately, I think the difficulty comes with the way all four fingers are spread out.

I especially had problems with my third (ring) and fourth (little/pinky) fingers, they would end up on the wrong strings – third finger on the third string and fourth finger on the second string – which sounds terrible.

So here’s a step by step approach that I found really helpful to master this shape.

Grabbing Chords in the Air

I used the “chord grabbing” technique to learn this shape. If you’re not familiar with this technique, then click here to read a post and see a video that demonstrates it. I’ve found it’s a really useful technique for mastering many chords and helps to avoid the problem of having to slowly place fingers one by one.

However, at first I couldn’t get all four fingers into the right shape to grab this chord, so I approached it gradually.

First, I practiced grabbing the two-note shape shown below with just the 2nd and 3rd fingers. After a while my 3rd finger got into the habit of falling on the second string and not the third; my hand “memorized” this spacing.

Then I worked on the three-note shape below, adding my first finger to the previous two. This step proved quite easy.

Finally I was ready to work on the complete four-note shape, below. I’d still start by grabbing just the two notes with the second and third fingers to warm up, then move on to three fingers and finally all four.

It took me a while, but this approach eventually got me to the point where I can play this chord shape quite fast without my third and fourth fingers getting on the wrong strings to make a horrible dissonant sound. If you’re finding this chord tough to master then I hope this approach might help you too.

What About You?

Do you have any chord playing problems you’d like help with? I’d love to hear from you, click the comment link below to leave a comment with your question…

Guitar Exercises – Horizontal Fretboard Movement Part 3, Skipping Positions

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

This post in the series on horizontal fretboard movement with scales shows some exercises that skip over positions to train your fingers to make larger jumps up and down the guitar neck. This kind of movement will give you a new dimension to develop solos and improvisations.

So far in this series we’ve seen exercises that use use four-note groups from the major and minor pentatonic scales to play licks that move horizontally up and down the strings. Part 1 showed some exercises on minor pentatonic scales. Part 2 worked through some major pentatonic positions. In this part we’re going to work on some exercises that get us making larger jumps up and down the fretboard.

Exercise 1 – E Minor Pentatonic

This exercise walks up and down the E minor pentatonic on the fourth and fifth strings. We start with a four-note box with two open notes, then skip over a position to play a four-note box at the 5th and 7th frets. Then you drop down to fill in the position you skipped over between the 2nd and 5th frets.

This pattern of skipping over a position and then going back to it is repeated throughout the exercise. Focus on transitioning smoothly and accurately into the new position ready to play its four-notes. Use alternate picking throughout.

Exercise 2 – C Major Pentatonic

This exercise on a C major pentatonic scale follows the same principle as the first one. Each time you move up the fretboard (or down, on the descending part) you skip over a position. Once you get the hang of these large jumps you can quickly move up and down the fretboard to play licks in new registers.

When you have completed these two exercises you can go further by extending them to other pairs of strings and to other keys. You can also skip over two or more positions as you ascend or descend the guitar neck.

We’ll wrap up this series with a final part that integrates the skills you learn in these exercises into a complete piece. Don’t forget to subscribe to the feed (it’s free) using the link below if you’d like to be notified of the next part.

Guitar Chords – 6th Chords

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

This guitar chord lesson for intermediate players introduces sixth chords, shows you some fingerings to play them with and gives you an example progression to practice.

What is a Sixth Chord?

A 6th chord, also known as add6, is a chord built from a basic major or minor chord with a sixth scale degree added. The note formula is root, major or minor 3rd, 5th, 6th.

Sixth Chord Fingerings

The two chord diagrams below show a moveable fingering for the major and minor sixth chords. The root note for both is on the sixth string.

Both use four fingers and can be quite tricky, especially the major shape, so stick with it if it doesn’t come to you easily at first. Practice fingering both shapes up and down the fretboard using the fingers shown by the numbers on the diagrams.

Alternative fingerings for the major and minor 6th chords are shown by the diagrams below. Both these fingerings can be moved up and down the guitar neck - the root note occurs on both the first and fourth strings.

6th Chord Example

Here's an example progression from a rock song that uses major and minor 6th chords to create a nice walk down on the fourth string. The example is in Em and the chords are Am6 - G6 - F#m6 – Em. The progression can be transposed to any key using the chord formula: iv6 - bIII6 - ii6 – i.

Blues Guitar Licks – Adding Major 3rds to the Blues Scale

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

The other week I wrote a lesson that showed you how to use the major 3rd note with the minor pentatonic scale in your blues guitar licks. I came across this video lesson on that topic that I thought you might enjoy to see the ideas in that lesson in action.

In this video you’ll see some of the same positions for the major third note in and around the minor pentatonic blues scale and get ideas for using it in blues licks.

For more information…

Click here to visit GuitarJamz for more blues guitar tips and lessons (affiliate link).
Read my review of GuitarJamz membership.
Read my lesson on Blues Guitar Licks With Major Thirds.

Guitar Exercises - More Scale Position Shifts

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Here’s a follow up to last week’s post of exercises to build skill moving horizontally along the guitar neck between pentatonic scale box positions. The previous post contained exercises to shift between minor pentatonic positions, this set of exercises will add some major pentatonic scales for you to work on.

The major pentatonic scale uses the 1st, 2nd, major 3rd, 5th and 6th degrees of the major scale and is frequently used in blues and rock styles. Let’s get started with a C major pentatonic scale on the 1st and 2nd strings.

C Major Pentatonic on 1st and 2nd Strings

Use alternate picking for this one and watch out for the change of strings to begin the descent of the scale. Play each series of four eighth notes in the same position. Shift your hand up to play the first note of the next series with the index finger on the 2nd string.

A Major Pentatonic on 2nd and 3rd Strings

For this exercise on the 2nd and 3rd strings we’ll work through A major pentatonic. The pattern on this pair of strings is different from the others so pay attention.

Remember to practise each lesson slowly and focus on clean and precise shifts from one position to the next. If you are familiar with your pentatonic scales then you can try taking these patterns and applying them on other pairs of strings and in other keys.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the feed (it’s free) using the link below if you’d like to be informed of more exercises in this series.

Guitar Exercises – Pentatonic Position Shifts

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Here are some exercises that will help build your proficiency shifting up and down the neck between scale positions. When you learn to move easily up and down the guitar’s neck you give yourself a new dimension to develop solos and improvisations.

E Minor Pentatonic Scale on 1st and 2nd Strings

In this first exercise you’re going to walk up the neck and back down again on the first and second strings using four-note groups from the E minor pentatonic scale. Use your third or fourth finger for the notes on the second string and each time the note on that string changes slide it up to the new position. Going down, use the same finger and slide down. Use alternate picking for this exercise, you can start on either a down or an up stroke (or even do both).

D Minor Pentatonic Scale on 3rd and 4th Strings

Here’s another variant, this time using D minor pentatonic. This time we’re going to explore a different fingering to shift up the neck. Each time you complete one four-note box with a note on the 3rd string shift your hand up and play the next note on the 4th string with your first finger. Again, use alternate picking throughout.

A Minor Pentatonic Scale on 2nd and 3rd Strings

Notice in this exercise on the 2nd and 3rd strings that the four-note boxes have different shapes because the guitar is tuned to a major third between these strings instead of a fourth elsewhere. You can use either of the previous techniques – or both – to shift up or down between positions.

When you learn to move horizontally along the neck you will free yourself from the slavery of single position licks, and you can play intervals and lines that are impossible or inconvenient in a single position.

Work through all these exercises slowly and focus on clean and precise shifts from one position to the next. It’s also a good idea to call out the note names or scale degrees as you play each note; this will help you keep track of where you are in the scale. Try to visualize, too, each of the five pentatonic minor scale positions as you pass through them.

I’ll be developing these exercises further in the coming weeks. Don’t forget to subscribe to the feed (it’s free) using the link below if you’d like to follow along.

Riffstation - Say Goodbye to Tab Searching?

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Do you often spend time searching the Internet for chords or tab of the songs you want to play on your guitar?
Do you get frustrated when you find incomplete or inaccurate tabs, or when you don’t find any tabs at all?
Of course, you can buy official tabs, but again this can be time consuming and it’s not always easy to find a good arrangement. For example, unless the artist is very well known then there is little chance of finding a published tab book. Other times, you can find a tab book, but have to buy a whole book when you want only one song.
Wouldn’t it be great if you had a friendly assistant who you could just ask for those chords whenever you have a piece of music you’d like to learn to play on your guitar? You might be lucky enough to know someone willing to do this for you. But if you don’t, then maybe Riffstation, a new software program for your PC, could be what you’re looking for.

Introducing Riffstation

Riffstation is a program for guitar players that offers features to transcribe a song’s chords, extract or suppress solo parts to learn them or jam along with the rest of the track, and help you assemble recorded riffs to build new ones.

I recently gave its chord finding features a try using the free 30 day trial version available from the Riffstation.com web site.

Riffstation Chord Finder

One of the most interesting features of Riffstation is that it proposes to identify the chords in an audio file. Using the software to find a song’s chords is very easy. There a just a few simple steps: browse to open the audio file you want to analyse, Riffstation imports the audio, draws a waveform, and finally analyses the audio to identify the chords which it displays as “bubbles” below the waveform (see the screenshot to the right).
You can play along with the song and see the chord changes in real time in the Chord Viewer in the middle area of the screen below the waveforms. While the song is playing this view shows you the current chord’s name and a fretboard diagram. It also shows you the next chord in the song with a countdown timer to the chord change. Finally, you can alter the key or tempo of the song as it is played to help you practice.

I found it a little unfortunate that the playback cursor doesn’t move through the chord “bubbles” in time. There is an offset caused by the zoom controls at the left end of the chord line. I think this would be more intuitive than following the countdown in the middle area.

Update: Dan Barry, one of Riffstation's developers got in touch with some information on this, "We're going to implement some of the suggestions you had such as highlighting the current chord to play in the chord strip. We will also be fixing some bugs which are still present in the trial version before paid release."
There’s no cursor in the the chord line during playback.

Is Riffstation Good at Transcribing Song Chords?

So far I’ve tested Riffstation in its default automatic mode with a number of songs that I already have the chords for. The input files were 320kbps MP3 files that were either downloaded from Amazon or ripped from CD.

The documentation states that automatic mode only finds major, minor and 7th chords. Riffstation did a pretty good job of identifying the basic major and minor chords for simple songs. It even performed quite well on more complex songs with extended or altered chords such as sus or 6 chords, recognizing the base chord name nearly all the time.

For all of the three or four chord pop/rock songs I fed it Riffstation got the chords right. For songs with more complex chords it was a little less accurate but it still gives you a good starting point. There are some tools that allow you to tune the chord analysis and manually correct chords too. The semi-automatic analysis supports major and minor 7, sus2 and sus4 chords in addition to major, minor and 7th chords.

Summary

Overall the software performed very well and could be a very useful tool if you want to learn to play pop and rock songs. For more complex songs it will give you a very good starting point but you’ll still have some work to do to transcribe the details and chord types the software doesn’t support.

At €39.99 for the full version Riffstation has plenty of interesting features for guitar players. You can learn more and download the free trial version for yourself at the Riffstation web site. I’ll be reviewing more of its features in future posts, be sure to subscribe to the feed using the link below so you don’t miss them.

Blues Guitar Licks With Major Thirds

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Here are some example blues guitar licks that will show you how to incorporate the major third of the current chord into the first position of the minor pentatonic scale.

When you use the major third of each chord in the blues progression you really make that chord stand out. You'll get lots of points at the jam session as someone who really knows where they're at. Provided you use the thirds in the right places, of course...

In the example licks we're going to work in the key of G major, so our I, IV and V chords will be G7, C7 and D7 respectively. Each lick is going to target the major third of the current chord. This note is not part of the minor pentatonic scale, but is easily found within the position.

Major Third Target Notes

The major third target notes of each chord around the first minor pentatonic position are shown in the fretboard diagram below.

On the I chord - G7 - target the major thirds shown by green dots: fifth string 2nd fret, third string 4th fret, first string 7th fret.
On the IV chord - C7 - target the major thirds shown by blue dots: fourth string 2nd fret, second string 5th fret.
On the V chord - D7 - target the major thirds shown by orange dots: fourth string 4th fret, second string 7th fret.

The extra notes for the I and IV chord are the major 3rd and the 6th of the I chord. They are part of a scale called the myxolidian scale, but you don't have to worry about that fancy name. I find it's much simpler to simply think of them as extra notes added around the minor pentatonic position.

Licks on the I Chord

Here’s an example lick on the I chord that plays around the 3rd at the fourth fret of the 3rd string. An easy way to identify this note is to think of the G7 bar chord at the third fret.

This next lick uses the 3rd at the second fret of the fifth string. The current chord is also played as part of the lick to further underline it.

Licks on the IV Chord

Here is a lick using the major third of the C7 chord at the fifth fret of the second string.

The second C7 chord lick incorporates some chord hits in the second measure. These are followed by a short series of notes that leads back into the I chord, ending on its root note.

Licks on the V Chord

The following two examples on the V chord make use of some playing effects with the major 3rd notes. In the first example below, the b7 of the scale box is bent up a half step to the D7 chord’s major third. You can slide up to the 7th fret of the third string with your third (ring) finger and perform the bend on the string below with your second finger.

In this final lick the major third of the D7 chord is played as a trill – a rapid alternation between the two notes using hammer-ons and pull-offs.

These licks show some examples of how to use the major third of the current chord in licks based on the first minor pentatonic box. The major 3rd really makes the sound of the chord stand out in your playing. When you practice with it you will learn to listen and follow the progression better because if you hit these notes on the wrong chord they will sound odd.

Have fun practicing these licks and making up more of your own with the major third.

Did You Practice Guitar Today?

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:34:00 +0000

Yesterday was New Year's Day, the first day of 2012. Did you practice or play your guitar? I did. I hope you did too.

Almost half the responses so far to the question What Will You Do to Play Better Guitar in 2012 are "Really take time for that practice session every day." But how many actually practiced on the 1st of January?

But I only missed one day…

"How does a project get to be a year late? ... One day at a time." -- Fred Brooks

In his book The Mythical Man Month, Fred Brooks told about his experience managing the IBM OS/360 project. Fred Brooks' observed that a very large delay in a project arises from a number of small and seemingly insignificant slippages that occur every day.

This same observation applies to your guitar projects. It might not seem like a big deal to miss those twenty minutes of practice today. But each day you skip those seemingly insignificant minutes adds to the delay that could prevent you from reaching your guitar goals for the year.

So, if you didn't practice on the 1st January, be sure to put that right today. If you keep your attention on that little task of practicing today, every day throughout this year, you can be sure you'll have made significant progress in your guitar projects by next December.

How will you practice on more days?

What do you need to change in your daily routine to make that practice session happen, without fail, every day?

The thing that has worked best for me is to fix a regular time when I'm sure I can practice, undisturbed by other events. Pick a time that suits you and let everybody know about it. Making your commitment public boosts your motivation to stick to it.

My favourite time for this kind of activity that I really want to happen every day is first thing in the morning. It's quite easy to get up half an hour earlier and get to work while I'm still fresh and the day's events won't interfere.

What about you?

What techniques work best at helping you ensure you get in daily guitar practice? I'd love to hear about them, so please use the comment link below to share them with us.

Photo by Rob Ellis.

What Will You Do to Play Better Guitar in 2012?

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Merry Christmas readers. I'd like to take the opportunity of this special end of year occasion to thank everyone who reads Not Playing Guitar. I enjoy writing what I hope are useful and enjoyable lessons and posts and I plan to write lots more next year.

As the year draws to an end you might be thinking about your guitar plans for the next year. What new skills and songs do you want to learn? What do you want to improve on? How will you do it? To get you thinking about ways you can improve your guitar playing next year I've put together a reader poll.

Taking small steps is the best way to progress and advance. So instead of a list of 264 guitar projects you could do next year to move closer to your dreams I'm asking you to choose just one. What is the one most important thing you need to do to improve your guitar playing in 2012? Choose from the ideas proposed below, or add your own, it's up to you.

In the meantime enjoy the holidays and don't forget to make some time to play guitar.

Whatever you plan to do in 2012 to play better guitar, one thing will definitely help you… click here to subscribe to Not Playing Guitar.

How teaching guitar can improve your own guitar skills and knowledge

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Today’s post is by Aaron Matthies of Live & Teach Guitar…

At some point in your development as a guitarist you may consider teaching guitar. While there are obvious benefits in teaching guitar (mainly making money), there is one major benefit most people overlook: teaching guitar improves your own playing skills and knowledge.

Have you ever explained to somebody how to properly play a bend, use sweep picking or explain the theory behind the Pentatonic Scale? If you have, you will know that you really need to know your stuff to explain it properly. On the other hand, if you have never done this before do you know those techniques and theory well enough that you could explain it to somebody effectively? Teaching guitar forces you to really think about what you know and by explaining all these concepts to somebody else you actually strengthen your understanding.

When you have to demonstrate to a student how to properly bend a note (or any other technique), you really need to focus and make sure you play the note perfectly so the student doesn’t pick up on poor technique or bad habits. This focus on your own playing will force you to really analyze what you’re doing and if you’re actually using proper technique. So by merely teaching guitar you can really give your own playing a boost and correct any bad habits or poor technique you may have now.

What about increasing your knowledge? Similar to technique, when you have to explain theory to a student it really forces you to make sure you really understand what you’re talking about. If you don’t know how to explain all the different intervals in a scale for example maybe it’s a sign that you don’t fully understand them yourself. Having to explain theory and concepts to a student will open your eyes to your own understanding.

Do you need to be an expert to teach?

Not at all. The truth is you can become an expert by teaching guitar; you don’t have to be an expert first. Even if you only consider yourself an average player, you can still teach beginners and do a fantastic job. Don’t ever think you aren’t good enough to teach because if you wait until you’re an ‘expert’ first, you may have to wait quite a long time.

Steps to get started

Even if you start off with a single student, you can dramatically increase your own skills and knowledge. It won’t take long before you get the hang of teaching and can start to attract more students. If you feel like you’re not improving on your own, then teaching guitar is an effective way to get ahead.

If you have never taught before, your first step is to find an absolute beginner who you will feel comfortable teaching. This could be a friend or family member. You could even teach your first student for free while you build your teaching skills. Once you have your first student you will get the feel for teaching and decide if you want to teach more students and earn money. The great thing about teaching guitar is you can take it as far as you want to go. You can build up your student base until you teach full time or you can stick to a couple students - it's entirely up to you.

About
The website www.liveteachguitar.com can provide you with in-depth guides, lesson materials ready to print and give to your students as well as articles to help you be a guitar tutor. The site gives you everything you need to teach so you don't have to worry about preparing anything for lessons.

Easy Blues Guitar Chords in Key of G

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Here's a beginner lesson that shows you how to play blues in the key of G with easy guitar chords.

The blues in G uses the three chords G7, C7 and D7. The chord diagrams below show easy open chord shapes you can use to play them.

If you find this G7 shape too hard to play then you can simplify it and play only the top four strings. Then you have only one note to finger - the first fret of the first string. The second, third and fourth strings are played open.

The C7 chord shape is just like a normal open C chord with your little finger added at the third fret of the third string. You can simplify this chord and play only the three notes that form a little triangle on the third, fourth and fifth strings. Finger it in the same way as the D7 chord:

First finger on the fourth string, second fret
Second finger on the fifth string, third fret
Third finger on the third string, third fret

Learn each of these chord shapes and practice changing from one to another until you get comfortable with them. When you feel ready you can start to practice the blues in G using the chord grid shown below.

Blues in G

The chord grid below shows the chords for each bar of the 12 bar blues progression in G major. To learn it you can break down the grid into three sections of four bars each. Practice each section separately until you master it, then put them together to play the whole 12 bar blues.

That’s all for this lesson, I hope you’ll enjoy learning and playing the blues in G with the easy open chord positions it’s shown you. If you have questions about playing blues guitar please use the comments link below to ask.

Guitar Techniques - Mute With Your Fretting Hand

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Here's a post in the playing silence series that describes techniques for muting the guitar strings with the fretting hand. If you're a beginner to intermediate player these techniques will help you to improve your guitar sound.

We're going to learn about the following three techniques used to mute guitar strings with the fretting hand.

1. Fingers rest on one or more strings with just enough pressure to mute them.
2. A fingertip frets a string while the side of the finger mutes a higher string.
3. A finger pad frets a string while the tip mutes a lower string.

Now let's look at each of the techniques in a little more detail.

1. Fingers resting on one or more strings

This technique is used mostly for rhythm guitar. You rest one or more fingers across the guitar strings to silence them. It can be done between strums to play a rest or to create a short staccato feel. Other times the strings are strummed while muted to create a percussive scratching sound.

There are two different ways to perform the technique depending on the type of chords played. When playing bar chords you simply lift your fingers a little. The strings leave contact with the frets but your fingers keep enough contact with the strings to stop them vibrating. When playing other types of chords you reach with one or more fingers to rest them across the strings. You might have to briefly release the chord if you don't have a spare finger.

2. Side of the finger mutes a string

Sometimes you need to mute just one string to eliminate a note that might accidentally sound if you strike the string. You can use this technique when playing single notes, chords, and often when playing intervals such as sixths (XXX:link) or octaves - there is a string to mute in between the two strings that form the interval.

You can use this technique when the string to mute is below a fretted note - i.e. a higher string. Simply lean the finger fretting the note towards the bottom of the neck so that the side of the finger touches the next string. The part of the finger that mutes the string is either the fleshy pad below the finger tip or the side of the finger. It depends on the position of your hand when making a chord.

You might have learned that you should keep your finger tip straight, perpendicular to the neck to fret a note correctly. This is one case where you have to break this rule so the side of the finger can mute the adjacent string. You usually don't have to lean the finger too far and the tip should still remain securely in place on the string it is fretting.

3. A finger tip mutes a string

When the string you want to mute is on a lower string, above the fretted note it is not very convenient to learn a finger towards the top of the guitar neck. So what do you do if you want to mute a string that is above the one you're playing? The answer is to reach over with your finger tip.

To perform this technique you have to adjust the way you finger a fretted note. Instead of pressing the fretted note with the tip of the finger you use the fleshy pad just below the tip to hold the note. The finger tip extends up just enough to touch the string above and mute it.

This technique can be used when playing bar chords with their root on the fifth string. The tip of the index fingers extends upwards to mute the sixth string. The technique is also often used when playing bended notes to prevent noise from adjacent strings as you release the bend.

Conclusion

The techniques presented in this lesson might break the rules you have learned about good technique - fretting with only the finger tip, keeping the finger perpendicular to the fretboard. They are used in many guitar styles though, so it's worth mastering them. I hope you'll have fun learning and playing with them.

Photo by jsome1.

Rhythm Guitar - Latin Funk

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I love to play funky rhythm guitar. Here’s a video I came across that demonstrates some nice ideas for playing funky rhythms with a Latin feel. I hope you enjoy it.

Hand-wound Guitar Pickup Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Here's news of an opportunity for electric guitar players to win a hand-wound custom shop pickup.

I received news of this offer from Rice Custom Guitars, a family business that "crafts the finest quality custom made guitars". They have some nice looking guitars to drool over on their web site. Hey, it's free to look...

The guitars might be beyond your budget, but from now until 31st December, Rich and Chris Rice offer you the chance to win a set of their hand-made Stratocaster style single-coil pickups worth US$250... absolutely free.
Rich Rice describes the pick-ups like this,

"These pickups are my personal favorites for S-Style guitars. Their clarity, string-to-string balance, and versatility are sure to impress you. I’m excited to be in a position to give this set away to a deserving musician, and sincerely hope you will enjoy their benefits.

MR-S pickups come standard with flat polepieces and parchment or black covers. These pickups are Quick-Dip™ potted to eliminate squeal while maintaining desirable microphonics.

Featuring AlNiCo III magnets and vintage style hand winding, MR-S pickups are very touch sensitive and responsive to playing dynamics. Wind options include magnet type, magnet size, magnet stagger, wire gauge, and strength of wind."

To enter the prize draw simply visit the competition page by clicking here – you’ll simply have to leave your name and email address. If you're lucky enough to win they'll ship you the pickups anywhere in the world.

Good luck!

Gary

Disclaimer: I am not in any way associated with Rice Custom Guitars. Just thought you could be interested in the giveaway opportunity.

Guitar Practice Tips - Learn Licks Easier and Faster

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Here’s a guitar practice tip that will help you to learn licks and solos easier and faster.

Learning new licks or solos on the guitar can be a frustrating experience. Some licks or solos are just so hard to master that you think you'll never be able to learn and play them all the way through to the end.

Each time you practice the lick you get so far, but some tricky passage trips you up and you've lost the timing, the fingering, or the pick direction. You mess up. You go back to the beginning and start again... Each time this happens the pressure inside you builds up making it harder and harder to get through that barrier.

You seem to be stuck in a loop where you play the first part of the lick over and over but keep messing up somewhere in the middle. You need a change of process to get through the barrier…

Work Backwards

A process that I’ve found works well in these situations is to practice the lick or solo from the end. Instead of working from the first note to the last, I work backwards from the last to the first note.

It might sound strange but this process makes it easier to learn the lick. It takes away the pressure created by the barrier and somehow is more motivating because what I play always gets to the end of the lick.

Here’s how I do it. Take the last notes of the lick, start with just two or three notes, and learn to play them - right from the beginning you're through to the end of the lick. Try it and see how good that feels.

Once you've got those last notes down add a new note or two to before them and work through to the end again. Notice how this process puts you in control - it's you that chooses the notes you work on, not your fingers crashing somewhere in the middle of the lick. I think this is another reason why the process feels good.

Repeat this process – add a note or two at a time, play through to the end - until you get to the beginning and you've mastered the whole lick.

Conclusion

If you're struggling to get to the end of a lick without messing up, give this technique a try. You'll find it's very powerful. I find it works well for other things too - solos, chord progressions, songs and scales.

Intermediate Guitar Chord Lesson - Movable Major 7th Shapes

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

This lesson for intermediate guitar players shows you some positions to play major 7th chords that can be moved around the fretboard.

In major keys the major 7th chord occurs on the I or IV chord of the key. It can also be used on the VI chord in a minor key. We're going to learn three moveable shapes based on the moveable A, F and D chord shapes.

A - Chord Shape

The first position shown below is based on the moveable A chord shape. The root is on the 5th string.

You can think of the little triangle on the second, third and fourth strings as an open D7 chord shape. Play this triangle with your little, middle and ring fingers on the second, third and fourth strings respectively. Add your index to play the root on the fifth string.

In a band situation where another instrument such as the bass plays the root note you can simply play the three-note triangle - the maj 3rd, 5th and 7th of the chord.

You can optionally play this chord by barring with your index finger to play the notes on the fifth and first strings - the root and 5th of the chord respectively.

F - Chord Shape

The position shown below is based on the moveable F bar chord shape.

You can finger this chord on the guitar as follows:

First finger on the sixth string - the root of the chord
Second finger on the second string - the 5th of the chord
Third finger on the fourth string - the 7th of the chord
Fourth finger on the third string - the maj 3rd of the chord

Alternatively, you can bar all six strings with your index and play the other notes as follows:

Second finger on the third string - the major 3rd of the chord
Third finger on the fourth string - the 7th
Fourth finger on the fifth string - the 5th

Avoid the fifth string when you play this form – it’s best suited to fingerstyle playing.

D - Chord Shape

The D chord shape gives you an easy to play position shown below. The note on the second string is the major 7th. You might be more used to seeing this note one fret higher where it is the root of the chord in the familiar D chord triangle shape.

You can play the root note with your first finger and then use your ring or little finger to bar the top three strings two frets higher. You can also play the easier root-less form, barring only the top three strings.

This lesson has shown you several positions to play major 7th chords all over the guitar neck based on moveable A, F and D chords. All of these chords will give your fingers a good work out. Some of the positions are harder to master than others so you'll need to spend some practice time on them.

GuitarJamz Membership Review

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:33:00 +0000

You know Marty Schwartz right? He's that funny guy with a hat that does great guitar lessons on YouTube. What you might not know is that Marty also has his own GuitarJamz web site that you can join to get access to a growing collection of over 800 guitar lessons.

I've been a member of GuitarJamz for a few months now and in this post I'm sharing a few thoughts and bits of information on my experience. I hope it will help you learn more to decide if GuitarJamz membership is right for you.

If you already know Marty's YouTube lessons then you already know that there are lots of great free lessons from Marty on YouTube. So why pay for membership of his GuitarJamz site? Good question, glad you asked...

Why Pay for Membership?

There are a number of reasons why I choose to pay for access to the site. Here in no particular order are the main ones.

1. You get access to lessons that you can't find on YouTube.

2. Lessons are organized into categories with lists of lessons that follow each other. This saves me time otherwise wasted searching in YouTube. It makes it much easier to line up a series of lessons on a topic I want to learn about instead of following random lessons as I happen across them on YouTube.

3. The site includes tools that help you to track your progress. It's easy to see what lessons you've completed and what remains to be done.

4. Given all the great lessons that Marty has worked hard to create I don't mind paying a little in return. After all, it helps ensure that there will be more lessons for the future.

5. It's really great value. Membership costs as little as 40 US cents a day - that's less than the price of a coffee - a small price to pay for quality guitar lessons.

6. I like the convenience of the on-line format of a membership site:

- There are lots of different lessons to choose from

- No travel time to go to lessons

- Lessons are available whenever and wherever I want

- I can work on a lesson as many times and for as long as I like

So What's in the Site?

I'm not going to spend many words here describing the site's content. As I started to write about my experience I ended up with too much information to cover in an article like this. So I decided to put all the information into a short report that you can download for free.

The report gives an overview of the site features and the lessons content and shows you some of the tools for finding lessons and tracking progress.

I also included a tips section that tells you how I use some simple (and free) tools to get more out of the site, like keeping track of my recent lessons, and remembering cool lessons I'd like to come back to work on later (did I mention that with all those great lessons I sometimes just spend a while watching stuff when I should really be practicing...)

If you'd like to learn more, then click here to download my free report.

If you'd like to just get started with a free 3-day trial membership then you can click here (that's an affiliate link - I may receive a commission if you decide to subscribe after your trial).

Beginner's Guide to Guitar Jamming

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0000

I've had a few questions from readers asking how to get started in guitar jamming. Jamming to your favourite tunes on your guitar is a lot of fun, but what exactly is jamming, and how do you get started? In this post I'm sharing a few tips to answer these questions.

What is guitar jamming?

What is guitar jamming? Wikipedia offers us a helpful explanation. "Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one participant, or may be wholly improvisational."

You can see that a jam can take a lot of forms from a structured practice session to free improvisation. There is a place for everyone in that range - jamming is not reserved only for elite improvisers. Now that you know that jamming can be easier than you might think, let's have a look at some tips to help you get started.

1. Don't expect too much

If you don't have experience then jamming won't be easy. Depending on your skills you will most likely discover lots of weaknesses in your playing and musical knowledge. It can be quite discouraging.

But don't worry and tell yourself you're no good. Instead, think of it as an opportunity to learn more and discover your weaknesses so you can work to improve on them.

2. Find a sympathetic partner

It's much easier to play all the inevitable mistakes if you practice with a sympathetic partner. Don't start out at the local jam session where you'll have to play in front of many people.

Ideally, find a regular partner who's interested in working on their jamming skills and enjoys similar music styles. And remember to be a sympathetic partner for your partner too!

3. Agree what you'll play beforehand

If you are a beginner guitarist or new to jamming then don't try to improvise everything. Agree with your partner what you'll play beforehand. Ideally, decide what you'll play before your jam session so you can practice the progressions in advance.

You could choose a chord progression or a song chart of a song you both know. Try to start jamming with pieces that are fairly easy for you to play - you'll probably be tense so you'll play worse than usual. If you try something you struggle to play you'll most likely get even more stressed, make more mistakes and not enjoy yourself.

4. One of you is responsible for the rhythm at all times

One of you should be responsible for keeping the rhythm going at all times. Again, choose pieces within your abilities so you can easily keep a steady rhythm going for your jam partner. You can use a backing track or a rhythm machine to help and give a fuller backing.

5. Share roles fairly

It's easy to get carried away in the fun and excitement of jamming and improvising. But don't forget that everyone would like a go. So don't monopolize the solo role and do your fair share of rhythm playing for others.

6. What to play?

There isn’t room in this post for a whole course on guitar improvisation. But to get you started here are a few ideas of what you could play when it's your turn to jam...

1. Play the song’s melody - figure it out by ear or learn it from sheet music.

2. Play around with the major scale of the song or progression's key

3. Play an arpeggio of each chord

4. Prepare a few licks in advance and try to place them over the chords. You can use a licks dictionary to help you.

5. Use some 3-note chord shapes to play licks or arpeggios over the chords

All of these techniques take some practice to get the hang of, so be prepared to make plenty of mistakes at first.

Have Fun Guitar Jamming

Jamming with other musicians is a lot of fun. Your first experiences are likely to be scary and disappointing - there's a lot going on and your mind and fingers will have trouble keeping up, and there’s a lot to learn to become a competent improviser. But if you stick with it and participate regularly you'll improve.

Guitar Song Lesson - Can't Stop by The Red Hot Chili Peppers

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0000

My band recently decided to play The Red Hot Chili Peppers hit Can't Stop. I found these nice lesson videos that show a couple of different fingerings to play the guitar parts.

There are a few tricky passages that you'll probably find hard if you're a beginner. But there are interesting challenges for intermediate to advanced guitarists: the strumming patterns, string skipping, string muting, and a two-step bend in the solo. It's a great way to hone your rhythm guitar skills.

Hope you enjoy the videos, and have a happy Thanksgiving weekend if you're reading this in the USA :-)

Visit Marty's GuitarJamz site (affiliate link).

Visit Justin's Justin Guitar site.

If you enjoyed this post sign-up for more free guitar tips from Not Playing Guitar delivered by email or to your RSS reader.

Guitar Strum Techniques - How to Palm Mute

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Here’s an introduction to the guitar strum technique of palm muting. It’s part of my series on picking and rhythm techniques you can use to spice up your rhythm guitar playing. This time we’re going to look at a picking or strumming hand technique you can use to silence or muffle the guitar strings.

About Palm Muting

Palm muting is a technique used to muffle some or all of the guitar strings with the hand that strums or picks. The technique is sometimes used to mute strings after striking them to make the note short and percussive. Sometimes the notes are muted or partly muffled while struck to control the guitar’s sound.

Another use for palm muting is to prevent some strings from ringing while playing notes on other strings. For example, strings can be palm muted during the release of a bend so the release is not heard.

How to Palm Mute

So now you know what palm muting can be used for, but how do you do it?

The basic idea is that you touch or press the strings close to the bridge with the fleshy side of your hand. The picture below shows an example hand position. We’ll look at some of the details of the technique through the following questions.

What part of the hand do I use?

In fact palm muting doesn’t always use the palm. In pop, rock and blues styles it is done with the area near the side of the hand – you can think of it as karate chop muting.

How do I place my hand relative to the bridge?

This depends on the sound you want to obtain. To mute the strings completely press them at least a couple of centimetres or so from the bridge. For a muffled sound you need to place your hand closer to the bridge, even right on it. Experiment to find what works best for you and to discover the different sounds you can create.

How do I mute only some of the strings?

You can play with the angle your karate chop compared to the guitar’s top so that only some of the strings are pressed. It takes some practice to do it so don’t despair if you don’t get it at first. It’s easiest to mute the bass strings while the treble strings remain open so start by working on this technique.

When you have figured out how to modify the angle of your palm to mute only a few strings at a time you can adjust the position of your hand to select which strings are muted – higher to mute bass strings, middle to mute middle strings and lower to mute the top strings.

Conclusion

Palm muting is an essential guitar technique that allows you to create different sounds and more interesting rhythms. It takes a little time and patience to learn how to do it but it’s really not so hard – it doesn’t require astonishing speed or finger stretching.

If you have any questions about palm muting, or other rhythm techniques, please click the comment link below and leave your question.

Marty Schwartz’s Guitar Coaching Club 50% Off Special

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Here’s a short post for today to bring you news of a very special offer to get Marty Schwartz’s “The Guitar Coaching Club” at a special sale price of 50% off from now until ~~27th November 2011~~. Update: The sale offer has been extended to the 4th December 2011 - you still have a couple more days to get in if you click here.

The Guitar Coaching Club includes a ton of guitar tuition:

Lifetime membership of Marty’s GuitarJamz site,
60 guitar lesson DVD's,
Lifetime delivery of all of Marty’s future guitar DVD's,
Bonus jam track CD's,
6 bonus guitar ebooks,
Plus member's only access to Marty’s exclusive guitar forum.

If you enjoy Marty’s YouTube videos or DVDs already then you’ll know his guitar lessons are fun and packed with useful instruction. This offer is the chance to get a whole lot of Marty’s teaching – enough to keep you busy for years – for an unbeatable price.

Click here to get full details of the content of The Guitar Coaching Club and this special offer from Marty’s web site.

Please note that I may receive a commission if you choose to purchase from Marty’s site after following this link.

Fender G-Dec 3 Thirty Amp Review

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Last week I excitedly took delivery of my new Fender G-Dec 3 Thirty guitar amp. In this post I'm going to write up a review of my experiences with it in its first week.

I chose this amp for home practice and for playing with other musicians in rehearsals and small concerts. The main features that made my decision are the sound quality and versatility coupled with reasonable power and the built-in backing tracks that I think will make practice with a backing band simple.

Introduction to the G-Dec 3

Just in case you don't already know the Fender G-Dec 3 Thirty amplifier is here's a quick rundown of the main features:

30W modelling amplifier with effects – 100 editable presets
Plays mp3 or wav backing tracks – 100 high-quality built-in tracks – pitch and tempo shifter controls
Phrase sampler and looper with overdub
You can download more presets and backing tracks from Fender’s G-Dec web site

The best place to get more information is the Fender product web site you can find here. There are also some good video demos on YouTube, one of my favourites is here.

OK, now you know what I'm talking about here's my review so far.

General

Setting up, plugging in and switching on out of the box was really easy. There are lots of features but you don't need to read a manual or fiddle with endless dials to start playing.

The sound quality of the amp is really very good. Purists would say it's not a proper tube amp, but it costs less, is much lighter and smaller, and has many more features that are really useful for practice at home and elsewhere.

The amp is over-powered for home-only use, no need to push the volume much higher than 2, but I knew this and wanted the extra head-room for use in band situations. There’s a 15W model that would be plenty if you’ll use it at home only.

I’ve used the amp at one band practice this week with drums and found that it’s plenty loud enough. I didn’t need to turn up the volume higher than 5.

Finally, the built-in chromatic tuner is really useful and easy to use.

Play Mode

In play mode a dial on the front of the amp lets you select any of the 100 built-in presets and backing track pairs and jam away to your heart's content. Couldn’t be simpler.

The included presets and tracks offer a lot of choice in different styles – I found it quite bewildering at first. I keep a little sheet of paper and a pencil handy to note down favourite presets and backing tracks I discover.

Among the 100 presets there are a number of styles and sounds that I wouldn't normally attempt to play. I know I can replace these with tracks and sounds to suit my tastes so it doesn't bother me; it's even quite fun to experiment with them.

Quick Access Mode

Once I had found my way around some of the presets in play mode I found that I can use the quick access mode to play the backing tracks with a different guitar preset than the one proposed in play mode. This is useful as you can select your favourite guitar sound and then use it to play along with any backing track.

Acoustic Presets

One thing that pleasantly surprised me is the quality of the acoustic models. They sound good with an electric guitar and also make for a great acoustic amp when plugging in an acoustic. There are some very nice acoustic backing tracks to play with too.

Conclusions

This amp is a huge amount of fun, once I start to play I just don't notice time pass. It has lots of great features that are all very easy to use on the amp. I'm looking forward to many happy hours of playing and to trying out more sounds and backing tracks that I will download using the included Fender software.

Strong points of this amp:

Great sound and range of power
Features - everything you need is at your fingertips in one box
Easy to use
Fun

Weak points or disappointments:

None so far

3 Steps to creating better guitar licks

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Do you struggle to come up with guitar licks that sound good? I used to, until I developed this system for creating them effectively.

Doodling on the guitar would sometimes lead to some good licks. But it also wasted a lot of time as I ran up and down scales without a clear purpose or structure. Too often I'd finish a practice session with no good licks to show for the time spent.

The easy three step process I'm describing here has helped me to create better sounding licks more regularly. With a little practice, and of course knowledge of your guitar scales, you can use it to come up with great sounding licks that serve their purpose every time.

The three steps of the process are:

1. Plan what you want your lick to do.

2. Make up a first version of your lick.

3. Revise and refine your lick.

Now let me share the things I do as part of each step.

1. Plan your lick

In this step you decide what the purpose of your lick is and lay out the initial frame for your lick. An easy way to do this is to answer the questions below.

What is the main scale you plan to use?
How many beats or bars does it last?
What chords is it played over?

What is the mood of this lick: angry, aggressive, soft, joyful, melancholy...?
Is it fast, slow, or a bit of both?
What two notes on the fretboard do you want to start and end the lick on?

2. Make up a first version of your lick

Now it's time to turn your plan into a series of notes on your guitar.

I find the best results come by working out a rhythm pattern first. Make up a pattern for your lick by singing or clapping it out loud. Don't worry about getting the pitch of the notes right, the aim is to figure out a pattern of long and short notes and spaces.

When you're happy with your rhythm you can start to add notes to it.

Look at your lick's first and last notes. With the count of notes in your rhythm pattern and the main scale you intend to use in mind, choose a series of notes to get from the start note to the end note. Play these notes as you go to see how they sound.

Remember, the route from start to end doesn't have to be a straight line. Be creative and experiment at this stage, you can change things later if anything proves unplayable or just plain weird (unless that's just what you wanted, of course).

3. Revise and refine your lick

By this stage you have a lick worked out with just the series of notes you want. If you're happy with the lick already then you can stop here. But you might want to continue to enhance your lick a little.

You can refine your lick by experimenting with some little alterations to the notes or timing. The little alterations you come up with are also a great way to create more licks that work with the first.

Finally, you can add expressive effects to complete your lick. Bends, slides, vibrato, hammer-ons, pull-offs, chromatic step-ins, and picking effects can all give your lick more life and punch. You don't have to go overboard with the effects, they will sound best when used with subtlety and restraint.

If you follow this three step process you will find that it becomes easier to create great sounding licks that fit the songs you wish to play.

One final piece of advice is to write down the licks you come up with. It's so easy to forget them and it would be a shame to lose all that hard work, right?

I like to use tab notation software to save the licks I create. Click here to read about 3 easy to use and inexpensive tools for PC or Mac users.