I'm Thinkin!

Just wanted all to know I am thinking about new lessons and what best to cover next.

My advice for now follow suit :-)

I have built myself a practice plan...  a list of songs to play, chords to practice and riffs to work on :-)

keep it to about 30 minutes to start and grow it from there.... leave some time for some improve work.... just try new chords see how they work together.  Change them up!

Get a feel for what sounds good and what doesn't.  

We will cover the Concept of KEY and chords in a key as well as scales and solo practice, along with true improvisation!   I promise :-)

Yes I have the knowledge know how and personal drive to show you it all!  

Please feel free to follow and recommend to your friends!  I intend this blog to be free informative and fun!

Take Care for now...

remember practice lots and have fun with it....

back to that pesky Riff that just won't work LOL

Rhythm- Groove to the beat man!

Practice your chord patterns to a drum beat. Developing good rhythm is just as important as developing your chording skills.  You want to perform songs right?   Why else learn all this stuff :-)
Well songs are played to a rhythm :-)

Another skill you will start to develop as you practice to a drum beat is your internal rhythm.  It is an important piece to playing songs by the fire or sitting with friends in your living room or out on the back deck. What do I mean by your internal rhythm? Have you ever found yourself tapping our foot to a song or drumming your finger tips on a table?   Maybe even got in some trouble from mom for drumming while waiting for your dinner?  That is your internal rhythm trying to come out.  Let it out! ok,  not at the dinner table or in the classroom LOL but definitely get into it.  For example:  The other day I was at the shoe store to get a new pair of shoes for my daughter and i was holding a shoe box.  I just started tapping the surfaces and the edges of the box and next thing I new i had a drum beat going that was really groovy.  One or two people actually started tapping their toes.  How cool is that?  Honestly deep down in the stuff that makes us tick is a constant metronome, your heart....  We are hard wired to be musical :-) Keep the beat with your foot or a hand to all the music you listen to...  get into the feel of music.

Metronomes are another way to get you keeping the beat, but they lack soul in my opinion!  You be the judge!

Make your own beat!

I use Ableton Live I started with a demo copy and from there i'm gonna spend the cash :-)  In my opinion it is the best all around Musicians tool.  Check out Zoe Keating!  she is a testament to what one lady with one Cello a MIDI peddle, 2 macs running Ableton Live and a cool plugin called SooperLooper can do. WOW!  is all i can say!

Absolutely anything you want to do in the Musicians world can be done with Ableton Live.  The Drum machine built in is excellent in my opinion.

Here is a couple minute long 100 bpm drum beat you can loop in itunes if you need something to start with. Of course made and recorded in Ableton Live.

Download
Right click and "Save AS" to get a local copy.

There are many ways to get a software drum machine, many free ones as well. I would make some recommendations but it depends on your system, the resources you have and the OS you are running.  there are freeware products for Linux, Windows, Mac.... Google is your friend.

Groove!

Bar Chords - I am sure I mentioned Bar chords :-)

So do not Panic....  I know almost everyone who tries bar chords gives up.  try try again I say :-)

Bar chords are not anymore complex than any other chord, they just require more finger strength.

The biggest misconception most players have is that once you know a bunch of chords new chords get easy to learn.  Not the Case,  Chord mastery is about 2 things:

1) Finger strength
2) Muscle Memory

Both of these improve with practice.
Finger strength develops over time, and stays with you once achieved. so work hard and the reward is there for you. once you develop the finger strength all Bar Chords will get easier.

Muscle memory Must be learned for every chord and Every scale pattern, as long as you play the guitar.
The Muscle memories of transition between chords is the most challenging for everyone.
You can know how to Play D A E for a song and play it like an expert and then you find a cool song with the Chorus using E A D and find yourself fumbling through the chords :-)  Your Muscle memory needs to develop.  The pattern Model I introduced last post will help with that.

All I can tell you is Play that guitar!

So On to Bar Chords...

Bar Chords take their root from the bass string they are formed around.

5 String Bar Chords are based on the A (5th String) as the bass note (Lowest note in the chord)
6 String Bar Chords are based on the E (6th String) as the bass note (Lowest note in the chord)

The Key is your first finger forms a bar and the chord is defined by the note on the string that is the Bass note of the chord.

So for a 5 string bar chord on the 3rd fret you have a C chord as the 3rd fret of the A string is a the Note C.
For a 6 string bar chord on the 3rd fret you have a G chord as the 3rd fret on the 6th string is a G Note.

Move them down 2 frets (a whole step in this case) to the 5th fret and the 5 string bar chord becomes a D chord and the 6 String Bar chord becomes an A chord. This continues down the neck.

Here are the Patterns for Major and Minor Bar Chords:

Click To Enlarge

All I can tell you is don't give up!  keep trying, I gave up at least 4 times before I just hunkered down,  took the discomfort and wrestled my way through until I had the strength to play these with ease.

Please provide me comments, and send me an email if you want more detail :-)

Practice is the key

I know so many people who have tried, tried and tried again to play guitar and the story of those that fail is always the same. "It is just too Hard" it is not guitar that is hard it is discipline that is hard. In our modern society you can be a social critic with a library computer and a basic understanding of how to write which school gives you by grade 8 LOL. Look at all those social critic blogs LOL

To Play guitar infront of others requires accuracy and knowledge. Not an easy thing to gain but a very rewarding boon if you put the time in.

To start this journey I will say only this. Play your chords in random order over and over again never repeat a pattern too often and work on making those transitions smooth.

Some examples:

C A G E - Play each chord to a rhythm then change chords and repeat the rhythm.
E D G E - Play each chord to a rhythm then change chords and repeat the rhythm.
G E F D A B Play each chord to a rhythm then change chords and repeat the rhythm.
Then reverse each and and repeat
Make up your own combo's too! See how they sound :-)

Make each chord sound on all strings then move to the next. Make up your own as well!  the goal is not to stay in Key, but to build the muscle memory to allow your transitions to happen quickly and accurately

Here are the standard Open chords for you!

Click to enlarge

Do this exercise with Open Chords then with Bar chords both 5 string and 6 string Bar chords :-)

Sound like alot of work?

Not really :-) only about 8 minutes to play each chord from all patterns 5 times. maybe 20 minutes if you are new to playing guitar....  Go for it, make it a daily ritual :-)

My recommendation is spend 30 minutes practicing to start and work yourself up from there 1 hour should be the minimum if you intend to be a performing musician. I recently joined my first Band and we practice for 3 - 4 hours at a time ouch that is hard on the fingers LOL

So Here We Begin

I will not hide the inspiration that started this endeavor.

I was in you-tube and saw the video above.  Mark plays with such a laid back style and such amazingly inspiring results I knew guitar had to be organic not route at its core. his playing is the inspiration for my picking up a guitar again!

There will be more info as we go and much new guitar stuff as we move along! Please know, your thoughts are more than welcome!

The goal is to grow my skills and find the knowledge I need! while at the same time giving others what I find!

And The Beat Goes On

It has been my experience that the things that one needs to learn to be a good guitar player are not found easily.

Everyone wants to sell you the easy and quick way and everyone gives the same thing the simplest and most mundane of solutions.

I am far from an expert, having been one of those experimenting with these sites and solutions for too many years.

i decided to start here!  a simple model focused on the adventure with the goal "simple improve week by week and play day by day".