I still remember you :P  

Posted by Guitar Player

I have not forgot about you guys :P I am working on some personal projects at the moment and don't have time to post on the blog. But I'll have soon. Cya then ;)

While working  

Posted by Guitar Player

While I'm working at the new material I'll give you a few tips. These are related to music overall. No matter how simple this sounds, try it. Always listen to new music. I know it's nice to keep listening over and over to those favorite songs, but that way you'll never learn anything new. Keep getting new music, new bands, new albums.

You'll see that after some time, you start hearing music differently. At the beginning, you saw it as ... well, music. After some time, you start to break it down while listening. You start to hear each instrument individually. You start to feel the notes, where they fit in, etc. You start guessing where the chord progessions go, etc.

If you are a beginner, you don't understand what I'm saying. And it's comlpetely normal. If you are playing music for some time you know what I mean.

Check out iTunes for new songs, check out your local music shop, etc. While listening to new music you add to your library of favorite songs, and you hear new ways of doing certain chords, you find new ways of doing a solo.

To put it simply, you learn so much!

The truth is that while you lern guitar, or any other instrument, in the beginning, it may be a little frustrating. And that's normal. You hear all those great solos and you have abosolutely no idea how to do them. If you visit this blog on a regular basis, good for you! You're a step ahead of everyone else. I might post stuff here faster or slower than you progress, but don't worry. You can always check out the archives.

Before I close the post, I want to say one more thing.

I encourage you to post your progress on comments. If you learn to do a chord that I posted, go ahead and say it!

You have a problem with a chord? Maybe a scale? Put a comment and me or other people visiting will do our best to answer your questions.

Pattern of the day #2  

Posted by Guitar Player in

Here's another pattern.

Look Change  

Posted by Guitar Player in

I have changed the blog template. How do you like it? :D

Pattern of the day #1  

Posted by Guitar Player in

Here's a patter for you to try ;)



It's a "finger twister" i guess :P


Don't know anything about guitar? Scrool down to the first post and start reading. :D

1st Surprise  

Posted by Guitar Player in



;)

What's coming up  

Posted by Guitar Player in

I have some surprises for you. I got some feedback on the "Speed" post. People kept asking for more patterns to work on. Here's what I'll do.

I'll provide you with more patterns to exercise on. From time to time. Like the "Chord of the day". It will be the "Pattern of the day". I'll fit this patterns into pentatonic scales. Some might be in the form of tabs. Finger twisters :D

How will this help you? Well, being used to running around in pentatonic scales will help you when you'll need to improvise on guitar or do a solo.

Summary:

This patterns will help you:

1) Play faster
2) Be more creative and play with ease
3) Warm up (yeah, you can even use them as warm-ups)

What do you think about this?

Speed  

Posted by Guitar Player in

There's always alot of talk about building speed. The bad news is that all the articles in the world won't do the work neccesary in your place. The good news is that with practice everyday, you'll slowly but surely build speed. That's one oppinion of course. Personally, I didn't do daily exercises dedicated to speed.

I just played guitar everyday. For some time. I did chords, scales, on the tempo that felt confortable for me. Then it kinda sped up with time.

Do you have toughts like:

- "My fingers are too bulky" ?
- "I'm too slow" ?
- "Stupid fingers" ?
- "I can't imagine my fingers going faster than this. It's just not possible." ?

I know I did. Here's some good news: If you look yourself in the mirror while playing, you actually look like you play faster. I don't know it's just an illusion or we just think we play slower than we really do. It works when u get filmed also. Even more great news is that EVERY GUITARIST had this problem. The answer is just keep persevering, keep trying, in a month or 2, you'll get it.

If you really want some exercises, I'll give you an example. You can derive hundreds of exercises out of this one:



I hope it's pretty simple to understand. You just do a "chromatic scale". Every four notes on all strings starting from the 6th string (thickest one) and landing on the first one. Do it at different tempos. After you can do this like a piece of pie, just start playing with the notes. Mix them up, "dance", everything that can cross your mind. Even try to learn a guitar solo if you think you are up to it.

Do so and start noticing that each and every one of those solos fit into certain patterns called scales. We'll talk about them in some future posts.

Get to work now.

PS: When you get bored, imagine yourself playing Wembley. That might help.

Brb in a few days  

Posted by Guitar Player in ,

I didn't have a chance to record those chords. I'm getting all the stuff ready and going on the road for a few days. I'll be back monday ;) Cya then.

Problems with my guitar  

Posted by Guitar Player in

I'm having some problems with my guitar, and I can't record those chords. It should be done until Monday night tho. I'll upload some then.

Another problem is that Tuesday I'll go on a trip, and it will take around 6 days. Monday night I'll try to upload material wich u can work with a whole week.

Shoutbox  

Posted by Guitar Player in

Let us know what you think about the blog. See the little shoutbox on the right of the screen? Write in your name, your website (if any) and tell us what you like/don't like about the blog. We will thank you for the feedback and try to work on the bad parts of the blog :D

Coming soon...  

Posted by Guitar Player in

I'll do some upgrades to the blog content. What do I mean by that. Well, for each chord I posted and will post, I will add a sample. Me playing the chord. So you can hear what it actually sounds like played correctly.. I will also start posting some chord progressions. How you can use them in your songs, and how you can make them.

Chord of the day #8  

Posted by Guitar Player in

As you can see, there has been a change in the chord chart's look :) This chord is D Minor. As I said before, Minor chords are sad chords. Mixed with proper Major chords, they sound great. Soon, I will start recommending chord changes. Have fun.



Click here to see the first chord i posted and to see how a chord chart is read.

Jam  

Posted by Guitar Player in

Jamming is the best thing ever. Find a drummer and start jamming for fun. As Paul Gilbert once said: "Your ears will start going a bit, but it will make you a better musician". You already know some chords, so start playing some acoustic songs. You can sing on em too, or you can find a singer. It's up to you. Once you start going into the habit, you can never go back. It's that great. And the best part is that, time spent playing an instrument is not lost time. Have fun!

A few words on practicing  

Posted by Guitar Player in

When practicing, I prefer to have a more balanced view. Some people say, practice what you're good at. Other say, practice what you can't do very well. I tried both. I tried practicing what I was good at. Then I got this false impression that I was very good. I rocked on some sides, but was a disaster on other sides. Then I tried just practicing all the things I couldn't do very well. I got a sense of frustration, like I had no idea how to play. The best approach in my view is to combine them. Here's a little example on what to practice:

1) Stretching and warming up
2) Practice some simple chords
3) Play a little riff that you like
3) Practice some scales (the ones you use most often)
4) Practice some more adavanced chords
5) Try to work on your song (I sugges you do work on some songs, to work out your creativity)
6) Practice some songs you like, some more riffs, even solos if possible
7) Practice even more scales, chords, etc

This is an example. If you plan to play guitar just as a hobby, 15-30 mins of practice / day could suffice. If you play in a band, or plan to play at a professional level, 3-5 hours/ day (including band practice) can do the trick.

If you have any suggestions, leave a comment. Cya next time!


Chord of the day #7  

Posted by Guitar Player in

A very nice bluesy sounding chord: D7




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