Not Playing Guitar

Line 6 BackTrack: Record Your Guitar Practice

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:59:00 +0000

A short while back I wrote about 8 Reasons Why You Should Record Your Guitar Practice which showed the benefits of recording your practice sessions. I recently came across the Line 6 BackTrack portable recorder which is an ideal tool for this. The BackTrack makes it easy to record your entire session and mark important points to review and keep at the touch of a button.

"Inspiration is spontaneous, and BackTrack(tm) is your guitar’s instant replay button. Easy to use, BackTrack captures everything you play without ever hitting record.

Always on, BackTrack begins recording as soon as it detects a signal through the sensitive mic or the quiet 1/4-inch input. Just set it and forget it for total inspiration control.

Pressing the “Mark” button designates what you just played as special and separates it for easy review. The Forward and Reverse buttons provide instant recall of marked and non-marked ideas."

The BackTrack includes 2GB flash memory that offers up to 24 hours recording time and 8 hours battery life. This should be plenty for most practice sessions, and the unit includes a USB interface so you can easily transfer the audio to your computer for storage or editing.

The Line 6 BackTrack comes in two versions with 1/4" jack only at $88.00 (£58.05) or with both the jack and a built-in microphone for acoustic recording at $149.99 (£98.00).

Mark your good parts to keep a record of the new things you've learned. Mark your weak points to help you work on them and improve. The Line 6 BackTrack is an ideal practice companion that should help you to easily record and store your guitar progress.

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Ear Training - GuitEarIt Review

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:28:00 +0000

This article reviews, GuitEarIt, a computer game that trains you to recognize guitar chords by ear. I got this game as a free bonus with the Jamorama Acoustic guitar course and I have found it a fun and effective way to build my ear skills. Read the review to learn how GuitEarIt can help you improve your ability to recognize guitar chords by ear.

Learning to recognize chords by ear is an important part of learning to play guitar. It will help you to identify the chords in your favourite songs so you can learn to play them. You will also be able to join in with a jam session or play along with a band more easily when you can recognize chords and chord changes by ear.

What Is GuitEarIt?

GuitEarIt makes training your ears fun by turning it into an easy to play game. It's a software program for PC or Mac computers that will give you practice recognizing chords on the guitar by ear. GuitEarIt can be bought on its own or you can get it as a free bonus when you buy the Jamorama Acoustic guitar course.

How Do You Play and Learn?

GuitEarIt plays you a series of chords strummed on a guitar and proposes four multiple choice options for the sequence of chords that was played. You have up to four guesses to identify the correct sequence of chords and you score points according to the number of guesses you take to identify the chords - the fewer guesses the more points you get.

Your objective is to score enough points to move on to the next level where you'll be trained for more guitar chords played in more complex progressions. As the games get progressively harder you get better and better at recognizing more varied chords.

Who's It For?

GuitEarIt is very easy to install and play and can be used by any guitar player wishing to improve chord recognition skills. The game requires no guitar playing skill so it is suitable for complete beginners as well as more advanced players. It is very easy for children to use too.

You'll get most benefit from GuitEarIt if you use it regularly - a little session every day being ideal. It takes only five minutes to play a game so this shouldn't be too hard even for time pressed guitarists.

Conclusion

GuitEarIt is a simple yet very well designed game that really works. Regular practice has brought me noticable improvement in my chord recognition skills. At only US$29.95 it's a good investment in your guitar playing and musical skills. It's worth knowing that you can also get it as part of the Jamorama and Jamorama Acoustic guitar learning courses, for only a few dollars more than the price of GuitEarIt you get a whole multi-media guitar learning course too.

Learn more about GuitEarIt.
Learn more about Jamorama or Jamorama Acoustic.

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Guitar Soloing Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:04:00 +0000

Today I'm sharing a great post I came across that shows you how to make an amazing improvement to your guitar solos. In his article and video demonstration, brought to us by Guitar Noise, Tom Hess explains how to improve your phrasing and melody to make better guitar solos. In Hess' words...

"There are lots of ways to make guitar solos. Most guitarists focus on ‘what to play’ versus ‘how to play things’. Fact is, the nuances of phrasing (’how’ the notes are played) often matter MORE than the notes we actually play."

The article and its accompanying video show you three specific techniques you can apply today to pack more emotion and nuance into your playing. You'll also learn a valuable practice approach to develop your phrasing and feeling further.

Enjoy the tips... And why not come back and leave a comment to let us know how you got on with them... How to Make a Great Guitar Solo.

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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Learning and Memorizing Songs

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:47:00 +0000

A month or so ago Street Musician posted some useful tips on learning the words to songs by heart. Street Musician's intense approach involves saturating your brain with the song for a short period so that the words and their structure are burned into your brain for ever.

The other day I came across an unusual way of looking at song structure and words. It uses a flow chart, more commonly associated with process descriptions in business and engineering. Joey Devilla posted a Hey Jude flowchart for the words to the famous Beatles song.

Who knows, maybe this way of looking at things could be just the thing to help songs stick in your brain... What do you think, could flow charts be the next big thing in song learning? Or maybe you have an alternative method that helps you memorize songs easily? Please leave a comment to share your experience...

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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I-IV-V Chord Progression Guitar Lesson

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:11:00 +0000

The I-IV-V chord progression is probably the most common in popular music. It is the basis of the blues progression and is also used in many rock, pop, folk and country songs. In this lesson we'll take a look at some example I-IV-V chord progressions that use easy open guitar chords.

The I, IV and V chords in the major key are all major chords. In the following examples you'll become familiar with the sound of these major chords in D major, G major, A major and C major keys. You'll also get the opportunity to practice the chord changes using beginner guitar open chord positions.

The examples use a slash to denote each strum and use only a simple four strum rhythm pattern so you can focus on the chord changes of each progression.

Examples in Key of D Major


   D         G         D         A
||: / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / :||


   A         G         D         D
||: / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / :||

Examples in Key of G Major


   G         C         D         G
||: / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / :||


   G         D         C         G
||: / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / :||

Examples in Key of A Major


   A         E         D         A
||: / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / :||


   A         D         A   E     A
||: / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / :||

Examples in Key of C Major


   C         F         G         F
||: / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / :||


   C         G         F         G
||: / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / :||

Conclusion

Knowledge of widely used I-IV-V chord patterns helps you to learn to play songs on your guitar. When you know how to play and recognize progressions based on these chords you will be able to easily play many songs and develop your ability to recognize them by ear.

This lesson has shown you eight examples of I-IV-V chord progressions to practice. When you've mastered these progressions have some fun as you make up some more of your own. Remember that you can play with the rhythm patterns and timing as well as the order of the chords.

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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Favourite Guitar Styles Results

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:09:00 +0000

The favourite guitar styles poll has closed with 113 voters. Thanks to all who participated, it's always enjoyable to learn more about you.

Here are the results of the poll.

As you can see, blues and rock are the most popular styles, closely followed by heavy rock and metal. Acoustic guitar also has a healthy number of fans amongst you and I'm happy to see plenty of interest for jazz guitar too.

What's rather nice about the result is that it matches my own favourite styles quite closely - apart from the heavy metal, which is not really my cup of tea (sorry metal fans). Well, maybe that's not much of a surprise, I mostly write about those styles which could easily explain their popularity with you.

On the blues guitar front, I'm pleased to announce that I'll shortly be launching a new site dedicated to blues guitar.

I have plenty of ideas and tips to share on learning and playing blues guitar, but there's just not enough room here to post it all. I don't want Not Playing Guitar to be one of those sites that fills up your feed reader with posts you don't get time to read. So instead of increasing posting frequency here I'm creating the new site dedicated to blues guitar. Then you can pick your content more easily with a separate feed and its own posting schedule.

There'll be more news here on the blues guitar site next week. Be sure to sign up to the RSS feed so you don't miss it. The feed is also available via email here.

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original guitar content for your web sites. Discover guitar writing services for guitar web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

5 Essential Guitar Learning Accessories

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:11:00 +0000

What are the essential accessories you wouldn't be without to learn to play guitar? Of course, you need your guitar, but there are many other useful accessories that can help make learning easier or more effective. Here are the five essential accessories I have found most useful to learn guitar.

1. Guitar Tuner

An electronic guitar tuner makes it easy to keep the guitar in tune at all times. A well tuned guitar not only sounds better as you play it is also important to teaching your ears to recognize music.

2. Metronome

Once in tune, the next most important tool for me is my metronome. I use it to keep the beat as I practice or play. Playing in time not only makes your guitar playing sound better, it's an essential skill to have if you want to play in a band with other musicians.

3. Recorder

Listening to the sound of the guitar as you play is a difficult task. I use a small digital recorder to record practice so I can listen back and check how well, or not, I'm doing. The recording makes it easy to check how well I kept time, the sound I get out of the guitar, and to hear how cleanly I play.

You don't have to spend a fortune on expensive equipment for this. For practice a small dictaphone will do the job, or I record myself on a computer with a microphone or by plugging my guitar jack into the line or mic entry.

4. Notebook and pen

Many things can happen from one practice session to the next and I don't always remember what I did or what I planned to work on next. A small notebook and a pen or pencil is an easy and effective solution to keep track of progress. They fit easily into the guitar case and are always ready whenever I take out my guitar. A couple of notes jotted in the notebook help to get started quickly and save wasted time wondering what to do next.

5. Guitar Pro

I've recently started to make more and more use of Guitar Pro, a software program that is a great personal guitar tutor and coach. I download music or create exercises and music in Guitar Pro tab format.

I then use Guitar Pro to play along with the music while it highlights the notes and neck positions on screen, like a karaoke machine for guitar music. Guitar Pro makes practice more fun and I don't know what I'd do without it's built in tools for working on speed and individual passages.

These are my essential guitar learning accessories, they make learning more effective and easier without much expense. What about you, what is your favourite guitar practice accessory?

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original guitar content for your web sites. Discover guitar writing services for guitar web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

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Learn Guitar From Another Instrument

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:46:00 +0000

I bought a ukulele for my son a little over a year ago. I figured rightly that its small neck and four strings would be easier for his seven year old hands to play. But I hadn't realized just how much I would come to like it myself.

The ukulele is a great portable practice tool for guitar players. Find out why in my article Learn Another Instrument over on the Jemsite blog.

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original guitar content for your web sites. Discover guitar writing services for guitar web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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Learn Guitar: What's Your Plan B?

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:58:00 +0000

Have you ever come up against a roadblock as you learn guitar? They happen to me all the time. Sometimes it's a technique or an exercise in a book that turns out to be way too difficult. Or maybe it's a busy period that stops me putting in the practice time I planned. Other times I simply don't find a book or tab to work on a style or artist I like.

These kinds of roadblocks occur frequently on my learning path, and on the path of every other guitar learner.

Roadblocks like these can get you stuck down and bring your progress to a halt if you let them. It's easy when you don't find a solution to think you are no good at guitar. You conclude that you can't get any better than you are now, or that a certain skill or kind of playing is not for you. You might even decide to give up altogether.

But every guitarist comes across these roadblocks, so why is it that some guitar players progress beyond them and move on to better playing? Maybe it's because they have a plan B.

Plan B

Plan B is your backup plan. It's what you do when you hit a roadblock and get stuck. Instead of getting frustrated and cursing the universe because you have small fingers, don't have enough finger strength, can't practice more hours, or don't have such and such a guitar, you simply switch to plan B and keep on moving.

Your plan B might not take you in exactly the direction you planned on, but as long as it keeps you moving forward it doesn't really matter. There are so many different ways to learn to play guitar that you don't need to get hung up simply because one particular path you chose doesn't work out.

Create Your Plan B

How do you create a plan B? Easily, just ask yourself the question "What else could I do instead?"

If you're the kind of guitar learner that has a detailed step by step plan all worked out in advance, set aside a few minutes to review the steps and answer the question for each of them. Write down your answers in your learning plan.

If you are the kind of guitar learner that just picks the next thing as you go along, then ask yourself the question any time you get really stuck. Pick a new direction and keep going.

In either case, the question "What else could I do instead?" will help you to keep moving forward and avoid the only roadblock that can really halt your guitar learning progress - giving up practicing and playing.

Just like skinning cats there are as many ways to learn guitar, so you don't need to get hung up on any particular one true path. If the path you planned on taking turns out to be too steep and difficult for you, well then just pick another and keep on walking.

Without a backup plan you might get all worked up and frustrated because you can't progress the way you expected. Set aside a few minutes this week to prepare your guitar learning back up plan.

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original guitar content for your web sites. Discover guitar writing services for guitar web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

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Photo by Bruce Berrien.

What Are Your Favourite Guitar Styles

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:24:00 +0000

It's poll season here on Not Playing Guitar. After the recent Practice Time Survey here's another chance to express your guitar playing preferences with the favourite guitar styles poll.

Choose one or more of your favourite guitar styles from the poll widget in the left sidebar (You'll have to visit the blog to see it if you're viewing this in a feed reader). The poll is running for a week and you can sign up for the RSS feed by email or in your RSS reader to be notified of the results.

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original guitar content for your web sites. Discover guitar writing services for guitar web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

Funk R&B Partial Chords Lesson

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:10:00 +0000

It's been a busy busy week so not much blogging and not much guitar practice :-( I just got back to some guitar and had fun with this lesson on funk and R&B guitar using partial chords. It's full of great info, be sure to check out the other two parts of the series.

Thanks to Guitar World Blips for pointing out the lesson.

Do you like funk guitar? Check out my list of free funk guitar video lessons.

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original guitar content for your web sites. Discover guitar writing services for guitar web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

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Guitar Practice Time Poll Result

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:50:00 +0000

After a week of voting the practice time poll has now closed. It's time to share the results with you all.

As the graphic below shows 30 to 60 minutes a day is the most popular amount of practice time. That's pretty respectable so congratulations to all of you.

A surprising (for me) number of voters spend over an hour, and even over two hours on practice each day. But that's the great thing about polls, I get to discover surprises like this and learn more about you, reader.

A few of us (I put my hand up here) admit to 20 minutes or less a day. Of course more time would probably benefit our playing, but for most of us playing is not the only thing in our lives. Still, I'm happy knowing that even only this much practice each day brings improvement.

I still have one question, though. Whatever our daily practice time is, how many of us are satisfied with the amount of time we spend? Maybe you can answer in a comment...

Gary

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original guitar content for your web sites. Discover guitar writing services for guitar web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

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Guitar Lessons From Picasso

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:22:00 +0000

"Good artists copy, great artists steal." - Picasso

As you follow your guitar lessons this advice from Picasso can help you to become a better guitar player.

From the outset you learn to play guitar by copying. Copying exercises and songs from a teacher, scales, melodies, licks and solos from music books... you copy all of these to progressively learn and master new skills.

But if all you do is copy you miss out on a vital part of the learning process. You skip understanding, and understanding is what you need to grow as a guitar player and musician.

Understanding deals with the why's of the material you copy. Why does it work? Why is it the way it is? Ask yourself these questions every time you copy a new piece of music. Dig beneath the surface to discover the hidden layers that support the end result. Steal each piece of music and make it your own.

There's always a reason why something is the way it is. Discover these reasons and you will develop a fuller understanding that will make you a better guitar player.

Gary

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original guitar content for your web sites. Discover guitar writing services for guitar web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

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Guitar Practice Pitfalls: Staring at the Neck

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:19:00 +0000

Do you stare at your guitar neck when you practice? It's easy to fall into this bad habit as you learn to play guitar. Why is it a problem? Well, if you spend all your time staring at the neck as you play you'll have a hard time communicating with an audience or with other band members. And if you can't communicate then you'll limit your performance skills and ultimately end up playing less well.

But how do you break this habit? How can you learn to play guitar without staring at the neck to see where you put your fingers all the time? Simple, you practice.

If you want to play guitar without staring at the neck then you have to practice that way. Here are three exercises that will help you break the habit of staring at the guitar neck while you practice.

Switch on the TV

Practice some chord progressions or scales while watching a favourite program on the TV. Not only does it help stop you staring at the neck it can also earn you extra practice time.

If the guitar's noise bothers you then you can simply practice moving your fretting hand around without picking. You won't hear problems this way though, so remember to check your fingers are going in the right place from time to time.

Practice in the Dark

Have you ever tried to practice in the dark? It will surely be a revealing experience if you're a neck watcher. In the dark you can't rely on your eyes to guide you to the right places on the neck. Your only option is to develop your feel for finger, hand and arm position.

Read Music

If you sight read music as you play you'll have a hard time looking at the neck much. If you don't sight read it will also help you learn this useful skill. Of course, you can substitute other notations if you prefer - follow a chord chart or the song lyrics as you sing them.

If you are a neck watcher then these three practice techniques will help you to break your bad habit.

1. Switch on the TV, gain practice time as you watch your favourite shows.
2. Practice in the dark, gain guitar skill and save on lighting at the same time.
3. Read music and occupy your eyes as you develop useful musical skills.

The secret to all the techniques is to find a practice environment that gives you something else to watch or think about. This forces you to develop your sense of position and teach your fingers, hand and arm to feel when they are in the right place. Set up your practice so that you spend at least a portion of your time to practice without looking at the guitar neck.

Gary

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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Guitar Practice: How Much Time Do You Spend?

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:36:00 +0000

How much time do you spend on guitar practice each day? That's the question asked by this week's Not Playing Guitar poll. You can join in and let everyone know how much time you spend to practice and learn guitar.

You can find the poll at the top of the sidebar on the left of all the site's pages. To participate simply select the answer that's closest to your daily practice time. If you practice every other day then divide the time you spend by two to find your daily average.

Got more to say...?

Of course, you can also leave a comment if you'd like to share more about the time you spend on guitar practice. Simply click the "Post a comment" link below.

The poll is open for a week. I'll post a summary of the results for you then.

If you're reading in a feed reader, visit Not Playing Guitar to participate in the poll.

Meanwhile, happy picking...

Gary

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original guitar content for your web sites. Discover guitar writing services for guitar web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

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Photo by Robbert van der Steeg.

7 Ways to Improve Guitar Speed

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:28:00 +0000

Would you like to play guitar faster? Although speed alone will not make great music, having the ability to play a little faster always make it easier to play a little slower. But how do you go about building more speed on the guitar? Here are seven speed improvement tips for you to try.

1. Make Speed Your Goal

If you want to get faster at playing guitar then you should make that an explicit goal. Fill your goal list with songs and new techniques to learn then you won't have time to work on your speed.

To make best progress at increasing your speed work with techniques and songs you know already. Set speed goals for them and track them.

2. Practice Every Day

To move quickly around the fingerboard your fingers must get to know it intimately. Daily practice is the best way to ensure this, so if you are not practicing every day then make sure you start.

3. Slow Practice

To get faster you often have to get slower. More speed results from better accuracy and the best way to ensure your finger movements are accurate is to practice slowly.

4. Reduce Finger Movement

To play guitar faster you must reduce the amount of movement your fingers make. Use slow practice to study each chord change, scale or lick and try to figure out how to play the same thing while moving your fingers less.

5. Take Your Mind Off It

Your own concentration can be a barrier to faster playing. When you concentrate intensely, thinking about every movement you make your muscles move less fluidly and your overall playing will be slower.

Try to let your mind wander as you practice and give your autopilot a chance to take control. You can develop this ability by playing with distractions - turn on the TV, chat with someone, or go and practice out doors in a place where there's plenty to watch.

6. Film Your Fingers

An effective way to see how efficient your finger movements are is to film yourself. Fix a camera focused closely on your fingering or picking hand as you practice - for best results film from several angles. When you review your film you'll notice problems you don't see while you play.

7. Get The Right Tools

There's no doubt about it, the right tool makes any job easier. Make sure you have at least one of the following tools to help you practice your guitar speed: metronome, jam tracks, sampler/looper, slow-down (and speed up!) software, Guitar Pro (has loops and speed controls), guitar speed trainer software, guitar speed training program.

There you have seven different ways to improve your guitar speed. Pick one and add it to your guitar practice routine this week if you're serious about playing faster.

What about you, do you know a good speed trainer or an effective practice technique that improved your guitar speed? Why not share your experience by leaving a comment.

Gary

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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Photo by YtseJam Photography.

Acoustic Guitar Funk: Billie Jean

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:20:00 +0000

Who says you can't play funk on an acoustic guitar? Not me. Here's more evidence that you can funk all you want on your trusty acoustic...

(View video)

Of course, it helps if you can sing this well too.

Gary

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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Guitar Ear Training

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:47:00 +0000

Playing guitar without ear training is a bit like painting by numbers. You put colours in the spaces indicated to recreate a painting. But you're not really making music and you don't really learn why one colour works better than another.

Only when you can hear its language can you really claim to make music and this is a good reason to make ear training a part of your study.

Read more in my article Guitarists, Develop Your Ears over at Jemsite...

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original guitar content for your web sites. Discover guitar writing services for guitar web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

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Photo by krossbow.

8 Reasons to Record Your Guitar Practice

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:15:00 +0000

Do you record yourself as you practice or play guitar? If not you could be missing a valuable opportunity to gain new insights into your problems and find ways to improve your playing. Review these eight reasons to record yourself as you practice guitar and see how useful they could be to you.

1. Listener's Perspective

It's hard to judge what your guitar playing sounds like while you are busy playing. You might think you are doing fine, but a recording is likely to show up all kinds of things you could improve. You might also be surprised that your playing sounds better than you thought which can be a nice boost for your confidence.

2. Check Accuracy

As you listen to a recording playing mistakes will stand out so you can see what to work on - false notes, inaccurate bends, hitting adjacent strings, buzzes, finger noise... You can spot all those little details you need to give your playing that extra polish.

3. Timing

Almost every guitar player you ask thinks they play in time, but it is almost impossible to have an objecive feel of how good your timing is while you play. Use a metronome as you practice and record yourself playing over it. What seemed fine as you were playing might reveal a whole different story when you listen to the recording.

4. Keep Track

Recordings of your past practice and playing help you keep track of your guitar learning. You can review them from time to time to remind yourself how much you've learned and how you've progressed. This can be a great motivation booster when you get those stuck in a rut not making any progress blues.

5. Reinforce Song Memory

Record what you play and listen to it regularly and you will reinforce your learning. Picture yourself playing in your mind as you listen to improve your memory of songs and passages you play.

6. Train Ears

As you listen back to the sound of the chord changes, scales, licks and notes you play your ears will learn to recognize them. This is different from listening to someone else's music on the radio because you know exactly what chord or note you played.

7. Improve Practice Effectiveness

Leave your recorder running all through your practice sessions and you might be surprised to discover how much time you waste. The recording will reveal just how much time you spend not playing, drifting off plan, or simply doodling.

8. How Well Do You Really Improvise?

One area where the listener's perspective you get from a recording is valuable is to evaluate your solos and improvisations. Listen to your recordings and ask yourself honestly how interesting your solo is. Is it engaging, interesting, not too long?

Here's a challenge if you are serious about improving your guitar playing. Grab yourself a recorder of some sorts and record and listen to your practice sessions for one whole week. Let us know with a comment what you learned from the experience.

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original guitar content for your web sites. Discover guitar writing services for guitar web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

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Music Theory Every Guitarist Should Know

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:20:00 +0000

Music theory can be intimidating for beginner guitarists, and even for some of us more experienced players. The good news is that a lot of music can be understood with only a few essential items of musical knowledge. Here's a list of seven essentials you should learn.

1. Chromatic Scale
The chromatic scale is the foundation of all the other music theory, so you really must know it. It's the alphabet that you use to spell all the rest.

2. Intervals and Frets
Intervals are the foundation behind all the scales, chords and melodies you will play on the guitar. Knowing the relations between frets, notes and intervals will help you to really get to know the guitar neck.

3. The Major Scale
Knowing the major scale formula is the key to unlocking many musical mysteries. The pattern of whole and half steps is not hard to remember, commit it to memory:

Whole step - whole step - half step - whole step - whole step - whole step - half step

4. Major and Minor Chords
All chords share the same basic note formula, the one, three and five notes. Major chords have a major third, minor chords have a flatted third - one half step, or one fret smaller than the major chord.

5. Major Key Chord Formula
The major key chord formula tells you the quality of each chord - major, minor or diminished - in a major key. Commit this formula to memory and along with the major scale you'll be able to find the chords for songs in any key.

I - ii - iii - IV - V - vi - vii-dim

6. Minor Key Chord Formula
I haven't included the minor scales in this list because they are a little more complex than the major scale and I don't find them essential for all guitar players. But the minor key chord formula is useful for finding the chords of minor songs.

i - ii - bIII - iv(IV) - v(V) - bVI - vi - bVII - vii

7. Chord Progressions
A chord progression is simply a series of chords. Many songs use the same progressions, so if you memorize progressions learning to play more songs becomes easier.

The most commonly used chord progressions are based on the I-IV-V, ii-V-I, and I-vi-IV-V-I chords. When you've mastered these move on to study the cycle of fourths and cycle of fifths.

There you have my list of music theory you should know if you want to play guitar. You'll be able to take your playing a long way with a firm grasp of the listed concepts.

What about you, do you think there's an essential item of music theory I have forgotten in this list? Use the comments below to tell us about the music theory that's helped you gain a better understanding of how to play guitar.

Gary

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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Why I Love Tortex Guitar Picks

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:16:00 +0000

Every guitar player has their favourite guitar picks. In this post I'll explain why my favourites are Dunlop Tortex guitar picks, those brightly coloured little picks with a tortoise logo.

Non-slip Grip

Sweaty hands are a common problem when playing the guitar and many plastic picks become as slippery as soap bars while playing.

No such problems with Tortex picks though. They have a very fine and soft grain which prevents them from slipping, no matter how hot things get. The plastic is also soft and very agreeable to touch. I know no other pick that matches the comfortable shape and size, non-slip grip and soft feel.

Colourful

Who says guitar picks have to be black, grey or dark brown? Tortex picks are brightly coloured, one colour for each pick thickness. The bright colours are not only for fun, they make the picks easy to find when you drop or misplace one and you can recognize a pick's thickness instantly - handy when you are rummaging for the right one.

Thicknesses

Tortex picks come in a large number of different thicknesses, you are sure to find the one that suits you.

I mostly use the yellow medium picks (0.73mm) and occasionally the slightly thinner orange picks (0.60mm). But I also like to use a slightly fatter pick sometimes when playing acoustically - the beautiful sky blue 1.0mm pick gives a slightly louder and fatter sound that I like.

Inky Fingers

Although I love my Tortex guitar picks there is one thing that could be improved. The black ink used fot the tortoise logo and the pick thickness comes off very easily when you first use them.

It's not a big deal, and the ink is soon all gone so the problem disappears, but it does kind of mess up the nice colours for a short while. Of course, this means the cute tortoise logo disappears too, but thanks to the bright colour you always know what size your pick is.

So now you know all you need to about Tortex guitar picks. If you have trouble with slippery picks then you should definitely try some of these on your next visit to the guitar shop.

Gary

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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3 Guitar Music Notation Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:16:00 +0000

Handwritten guitar music notation is not always as easy to read as it could be. And those sheets of paper you scribbled on during lessons with your guitar teacher are easily misplaced.

When you try to note the exercises and music you play so you can remember them in a few days time you'll find that a computer is a big help. Here are three inexpensive music notation tools that you could use to write and organize music as you learn to play guitar.

Power Tab

The starting point for many guitar players will probably be Power Tab, a free application that allows you to enter and print music in tab and standard music notation. Power Tab allows you to enter notes on a tab staff and specify their durations which are displayed in standard notation. You can quite easily create and print professional looking music for your guitar.

Power Tab can also play the music you entered on your computer while it highlights the notes as they are played. It's a bit like a karaoke for guitar and it's a useful learning tool to help you follow and play the tab in time.

You can also find quite a lot of music in Power Tab format on the Net. The format gives you much better information on rhythm and note durations than ASCII tab provides.

Guitar Pro

While you will probably find Power Tab sufficient for many purposes it does have a few limitations and quirks and being free, doesn't evolve much. If you want something a little easier to use and more powerful then it is well worth forking out US $60 or so for Guitar Pro (you can try a free trial version before deciding).

Guitar Pro is a very complete tab editor and playback tool that offers all the features of Power Tab plus a few more and is friendlier to use to boot, for example you can enter music with an on screen guitar fretboard or from your instrument via MIDI. Note that Guitar Pro can read and edit all your Power Tab files, but the reverse is not true.

Apart from ease of use the main advantage Guitar Pro offers is better sound quality and easier control of playback. It has a useful looper feature to repeat a selected passage at slowly increasing speed to help you learn it. Guitar Pro is also good at handling multiple tracks and instruments, useful if you want to create rhythm and lead parts or arrange your music with bass, drums or other instruments.

Finally, it's worth noting that you can find many guitar parts tabbed in Guitar Pro format on the Net.

Forte

Forte is a music notation tool that provides a neat and simple interface for editing standard music notation. It is not specifically designed for guitarists but the light version (US $60) handles guitar and bass tablature input.

There is a free version that you can try, unfortunately this version doesn't support guitar tab so you can't evaluate that before you buy a paid version. If you work with standard notation rather than tab though then Forte's free version could be just right for you.

Do you have any other favourite guitar music notation tools I didn't include in this list? Why not tell us about them in a comment?

Gary

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original guitar content for your web sites. Discover guitar writing services for guitar web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

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Guitar: A Competition Sport?

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:43:00 +0000

It is often said of music that it is not a competition sport, but I recently discovered one guitar site that challenges that old saying in no uncertain terms. Guitar War might conjure up scary images of khaki clad troopers battling it out with Strats and Les Pauls. But the friendly and peaceful nature of these guitar troopers will soon dispell any fears.

Guitar War is perhaps a rather inappropriate name for this friendly community of guitar players. In fact, you might learn just as much about good manners as good guitar with these guys. So just what is a guitar war then?

Guitar War: What Is It?

Guitar War is an interactive web community where guitarists can share their playing and have it appraised honestly and openly by the site's community. Pairs of guitarists are pitched against each other to record their performance of a guitar piece. The community listens to their playing and leaves comments, suggestions, and an overall rating for the piece.

The idea behind the competitions is that they force you to take your playing out of the practice room and into an arena where you can get good feedback from real human beings. Through this process of performing and receiving feedback you get to learn and improve your guitar playing.

Air Your Guitar Chops

If you're looking for a way to give your guitar chops a public airing and get some good honest feedback and suggestions for improvement Guitar War could just be a place to take on someone more your own size. If you do be sure to share your experience by leaving a comment below.

Gary

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original guitar content for your web sites. Discover guitar writing services for guitar web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

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Guitar Chord Lesson - G Major

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:15:00 +0000

This beginner guitar lesson shows you a G chord fingering commonly used in rock music. You'll learn how to add some interesting bass movement to the chord and use this technique to play the song Walk Away by Ben Harper.

G Major Chord

Let's start the lesson by taking a look at the chord fingering you're going to use. The standard open G major chord fingering you may have learned already is shown in the first chord diagram. In this lesson you'll be using the alternative fingering shown after it.

Notice the bottom two strings are fretted at the third fret. This adds an additional 5th note turning the chord into a kind of G5 chord. Strum both chords to get a feel for the difference in sound before moving on to the first exercise.

Exercise 1

In this first exercise we're going to start playing around with the bass notes to create some interesting movement. Use your thumb and two fingers of your right hand to pick the notes as shown in the tab below.

The little descending and ascending line uses the 6th, major 7th and root degrees of the G major scale. Practice playing the pattern as shown below and then experiment to make up some patterns of your own using these bass notes. Note that you can also use the other high strings if you wish.

Exercise 2

The second exercise takes your use of the G major scale on the bass notes a little further. As you play through the pattern below you move the bass note from the root of the chord up to the 6th degree and back down again.

As you can see the open G chord lends itself nicely to creating little runs or melodies using these notes. Experiment with some little runs and rhythm patterns of your own using two or three notes at a time.

If you know how to perform them you will find that hammer-ons or pull-offs work well with these kind of bass lines. We'll see an example in the next exercise inspired by the Ben Harper song Walk Away.

Walk Away

Walk Away is a beautiful ballad by Ben Harper from the his Welcome to the Cruel World album. The verse is based entirely on a moving bass line over a G chord more or less as in the exercise below. Play the bass notes with your thumb and pluck the two notes on the 2nd and 3rd strings simultaneously.

The song is quite simple to play with the main difficulty being the rhythmic placement. You'll also need to mute the bass notes just after playing them to get the staccato sound. The chorus uses exactly the same pattern over a C chord - simply move the bass notes down one string to the 5th string.

This lesson has shown you an open G chord fingering that is commonly used in rock music. You've also learned how to create some interesting bass movement by using the G major scale. Experiment with these notes to make up some bass licks of your own to include in your songs.

Learn more acoustic guitar chords: 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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Easy Beginner Arpeggio Picking Lesson

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Fletcher) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:03:00 +0000

Last week's video lesson showed how to play a finger picking arpeggio pattern. This is a nice technique, but in some situations it is hard to play loud enough. One way to get more volume is shown by today's lesson - use a pick to play arpeggio patterns.

This lesson shows you a great sounding Asus2 chord with some cool bass movement added as a bonus. I'm sure you've heard this kind of thing in many rock songs and you might be surprised to discover how easy it is to learn.

Of course it takes a while to achieve speed with this technique. You have to be disciplined about putting the down and up strokes in the right places or else you will only get into a horrible mess. So be patient and pick slowly.

Remember the three key points from the finger picking lesson and apply them here too.

1. One chord. There's a little more finger movement in this lesson, I recommend you start with a simple A chord until you're comfortable with the picking pattern.

2. One pattern. Always learn one pattern at a time, don't try to mix things up until you're ready.

3. Go slow. As usual, start slowly and focus on accurately reproducing the picking pattern. If you start too fast you're heading for a train crash.

Right, now it's time to play along to the lesson (don't just watch it - you won't learn to play that way).

Sounds good doesn't it. Now you can have fun learning to pick this neat rock arpeggio.

Gary

Video lesson from Next Level Guitar.

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original guitar content for your web sites. Discover guitar writing services for guitar web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

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