All guitar lessons are not the same, just as all teachers are not
the same. Guitar lessons or downloads what's the best way to
learn? Today there is a variety of ways to learn guitar the
challenge is finding the most effective way for you.
Firstly what are your goals, what you do want to achieve, in what
time frame? Do you want to be a non-professional, semi-
professional or professional guitarist? These are the type of
questions you need to ask. Which style of learning will serve you
best guitar lessons or downloads.
Guitar lessons can be a marvelous opportunity for adults to take
time out of their day-to-day routines and find new outlets for
their creative expression and they are certainly cheaper than
therapy sessions.
So let's take a look are your goals, realistically what do you
want to achieve in the next twelve months?
- do you want to jam with other musicians?
- do you want to play for family and friends?
- do you want to learn that cool song you've always wanted to play?
Do you see how I'm thinking?
Lessons are a discipline like anything else you need to make a
decision & stick do it. Guitar lessons with a private tutor or
downloads from the Internet, here's a snapshot of both
styles of tuition.
Internet lessons
Before choosing the lessons of a certain on line tutorial-
providing website over the lessons of another, it is
recommendable to ask for the advice of your friends or other
persons in whom you trust in order to find out whether those
particular guitar lessons are efficient or not.
How much do you value your time?
It's very easy to blow 5-10 hours a week mindlessly surfing the
net looking for tips, if you're focused you could spend that time
learning the things you really wanted to play.
Yes, Internet lessons do appear to be cheaper than private
lessons ... Internet lessons are convenient - learn when you want
to in the comfort of your own home, no traveling etc, and
there's the various free guitar lessons to get your feet wet in
the learning process of guitar music playing.
Private lessons
If you have money, time, and are prepared to put the work in,
this is one of the most effective routes to take, because they'll
correct any bad habits, and your guitar lessons are one-to-one.
Guitar lessons are offered under the instruction of qualified,
experienced and professional teachers. Private guitar lessons
are usually once a week, half an hour, and one on one.
Now, just because the teacher has a qualification does not mean
that can help you. What type of teacher is best for you will
depend on:
- the type of music you want to play, just because a guitar
teacher has a qualification does not mean they can (a) play the
music you are interested (b) have any understanding of the theory
behind that style of music.
The world is full of classically trained (and qualified) guitar
teachers who don't have a clue about modern music.
There's just as many unqualified teachers who don't have the
faintest idea about (a) reading music (b) anything outside the
current pop song on the radio or the latest tab they downloaded
By the way, if you're going to pay for private lessons, make
certain you do some research on the teacher :
- has the teacher had a successful performing/teaching career?
- has any of his/her students been successful in the music
industry?
The bottom line
Guitar lessons or downloads they both work, if you're clear about
your goals, if you're focused, internally motivated and
disciplined, guitar lessons or downloads will both deliver... the
question is always what is the source of the information?
Good players don't necessarily make good teachers and you can easily
find a website that offers 2,599 videos for an unbelievable price, but, fair warning: it's not the quantity of the information, it's the quality of the knowledge of how to put it all together that's the key!
Guitar lessons or downloads they're great options why not try a
combination of both? Do your research first and avoid the confusion and frustration!
Sunday, 29 December 2013
What scales are best for country music
The trick with music theory is to break everything down into
baby-steps i.e., guitar scales for country music, guitar scales
for bluegrass music, guitar scales for jazz music, guitar scales
for rock music.
Let's say your primary style of music is country music. we could
subdivide the subject of music theory into: what guitar scales
for country, what chord progressions for country, what style of
country music, what guitar techniques for country.
What guitar scales for country:
major pentatonic, major diatonic, cascading scales ...
What chord progressions for country:
two chord songs, three chord songs, four chord songs ...
What style of country music:
Traditional country, modern country, country rock ...
What guitar techniques for country:
Hammer-on's, pull-off's, bends, slides ...
As you zero in on the specific skills you need to learn the
complex subject of music theory becomes a lot less stressful
and much more achievable.
By dividing and sub dividing any complex subject you also learn how
to accelerate your progress on guitar. What scales you would
learn for country guitar would be determined by what style of
country music you intended to play.
Instead of just saying "I want to play country guitar", if you
are prepared to dig a little deeper, you will decrease the amount
of information and skills you need to acquire by looking at each
area of country guitar playing i.e., chord progressions, if you
predominately play three chord songs in the keys of G and D,
you would only have to learn four chord shapes.
Three chord songs in key of G: G - C - D
Three chord songs in key of D: D - G - A
Although country guitar has spawned no shortage of modern greats
(Albert Lee, Ray Flacke, Danny Gatton, and the Hellecasters come
quickly to mind, although there are many others) in general,
however the music buying public doesn't really know how popular and
entertaining instrumental country guitar is.
Here's ten top country guitarists to get listening for specific
country guitar playing techniques.
1. Chet Atkins
2. Merle Travis
3. Jerry Reed
4. Roy Clark
5. Hank Garland
6. Albert Lee
7. Maybelle Carter
8. Doc Watson
9. Norman Blake
10. Tony Rice
The classic electric guitar sound for country music is
characterized by the undistorted sound of single-coil guitar
pickups, usually a Fender Telecaster or Fender Stratocaster, and
the employment of fairly undistorted amplification most often a
Fender Twin Reverb 100watt amp.
Guitar scales for country music are: major Pentatonic, major
diatonic, and to a lesser degree the minor pentatonic scale and
the blues scale.
The most popular guitar scale for country music without
any doubt is the major pentatonic. the two most common ways of playing
this scale for country music are :
A major pentatonic scale
--------------------------------------------------2------5---
--------------------------------------2----5-----------------
----------------------------2----4---------------------------
-----------------2----4--------------------------------------
------2----4-------------------------------------------------
-5-----------------------------------------------------------
A major pentatonic scale (pattern #2)
-------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------10--
---------------------------------------------9-----11--------
----------------------------7----9----11---------------------
-----------------7----9--------------------------------------
-5----7----9-------------------------------------------------
baby-steps i.e., guitar scales for country music, guitar scales
for bluegrass music, guitar scales for jazz music, guitar scales
for rock music.
Let's say your primary style of music is country music. we could
subdivide the subject of music theory into: what guitar scales
for country, what chord progressions for country, what style of
country music, what guitar techniques for country.
What guitar scales for country:
major pentatonic, major diatonic, cascading scales ...
What chord progressions for country:
two chord songs, three chord songs, four chord songs ...
What style of country music:
Traditional country, modern country, country rock ...
What guitar techniques for country:
Hammer-on's, pull-off's, bends, slides ...
As you zero in on the specific skills you need to learn the
complex subject of music theory becomes a lot less stressful
and much more achievable.
By dividing and sub dividing any complex subject you also learn how
to accelerate your progress on guitar. What scales you would
learn for country guitar would be determined by what style of
country music you intended to play.
Instead of just saying "I want to play country guitar", if you
are prepared to dig a little deeper, you will decrease the amount
of information and skills you need to acquire by looking at each
area of country guitar playing i.e., chord progressions, if you
predominately play three chord songs in the keys of G and D,
you would only have to learn four chord shapes.
Three chord songs in key of G: G - C - D
Three chord songs in key of D: D - G - A
Although country guitar has spawned no shortage of modern greats
(Albert Lee, Ray Flacke, Danny Gatton, and the Hellecasters come
quickly to mind, although there are many others) in general,
however the music buying public doesn't really know how popular and
entertaining instrumental country guitar is.
Here's ten top country guitarists to get listening for specific
country guitar playing techniques.
1. Chet Atkins
2. Merle Travis
3. Jerry Reed
4. Roy Clark
5. Hank Garland
6. Albert Lee
7. Maybelle Carter
8. Doc Watson
9. Norman Blake
10. Tony Rice
The classic electric guitar sound for country music is
characterized by the undistorted sound of single-coil guitar
pickups, usually a Fender Telecaster or Fender Stratocaster, and
the employment of fairly undistorted amplification most often a
Fender Twin Reverb 100watt amp.
Guitar scales for country music are: major Pentatonic, major
diatonic, and to a lesser degree the minor pentatonic scale and
the blues scale.
The most popular guitar scale for country music without
any doubt is the major pentatonic. the two most common ways of playing
this scale for country music are :
A major pentatonic scale
--------------------------------------------------2------5---
--------------------------------------2----5-----------------
----------------------------2----4---------------------------
-----------------2----4--------------------------------------
------2----4-------------------------------------------------
-5-----------------------------------------------------------
A major pentatonic scale (pattern #2)
-------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------10--
---------------------------------------------9-----11--------
----------------------------7----9----11---------------------
-----------------7----9--------------------------------------
-5----7----9-------------------------------------------------
What scale to learn
What are scales? What guitar scales should you study? If you are
new to the guitar, and new to music, you are probably not even
quite sure exactly what a scale actually is, which certainly adds
to the aura of mystery that begins to surround the subject.
Learning and practicing scales can become an obsession for many
guitarists. Scales can "free your fingers and freeze your brain",
if you're not careful. Always keep in mind that scales are part
of the preparation work we do so we will be free to express
ourselves musically.
Scales are to the musician what skipping a rope is to a boxer,
it's part of the preparation work. Scales are simply a means to
an end. What guitar scales should you study depends on the type
of music you want to play. It's far better to master a small
number of scales and be able to apply these scales to many
musical settings.
The first thing to understand is that there are hundreds of
scales, to give you an idea of what you're up against, here's a
short sample of some of the names of scales starting with the
letter "L".
Leading Whole Tone
Locrian
Locrian #2
Locrian b4
Locrian Flat 4
Locrian Minor
Locrian natural 2
Locrian Natural 2nd
Locrian Sharp 2nd
Lydian
Lydian 7b
Lydian Augmented
Lydian b7
Lydian contracted
Lydian diminished
Lydian Diminished 1
Lydian Diminished 2
Lydian Dominant
Lydian dominant scale4
Lydian Minor
Lydian Sharp 2nd
Keep in mind, this is only a sample from a very long list of
scales. Each one of these scales can be played in 12 different
keys as guitarists we have the added issue of multiple fingering
options on the guitar fretboard. What guitar scales should we
study is a very important question, to be honest five minutes
thought deciding what to practice is much better than five hours
of haphazard practice.
Scales are the building blocks from which all music is created. we use
scales to create melodies (horizontal structures), chords (vertical structures),
arpeggios (oblique structures).
Scales in themselves are not music they are simply our musical
alphabet. In the hands of a skilled musician they can create
music.
Three things to consider when learning scales:
(a) there's the intellectual aspect, data memory information
i.e., the names of the notes and their scale step numbers.
(b) applying this knowledge to the guitar, in order to do this
successfully we need to be able to identify all the notes on the
fingerboard by name, not simply by a fingering pattern.
(c) motor skill training i.e., speed is a byproduct of accuracy,
with the right amount of accurate repetitions, scales will be
stored in the brain as a reflex function, training very slowly to
avoid mistakes.
Where to start:
The first scale guitar players should study would be the minor
pentatonic scale. the minor pentatonic scale is a five note
scale, (penta = five) found throughout the world.
Example of the minor pentatonic scale in the key of A would be:
A - C - D - E - G
The second scale guitar players should study would be the blues
scale. the blues scale is one of the most frequently used scales.
It is also important because it is the first real scale of
American origin.
The blues scale is a six note scale, one way of thinking of this
scale would be to treat the blues scale as a minor pentatonic
scale with a flattened 5th.
Example of the Blues scale in the key of A would be:
A - C - D - Eb - E - G
The third scale guitar players should study would be the major
pentatonic scale. The major pentatonic scale is another five note
scale.
Example of the major pentatonic scale in the key of A would be:
A - B - C# - E - F#
It is thought that the pentatonic scales represent early stages
of musical development, because it is found, in different forms,
in most of the world's music. These two pentatonic scales
together with the blues scale are used to create riffs, licks and
solos on many popular recordings.
new to the guitar, and new to music, you are probably not even
quite sure exactly what a scale actually is, which certainly adds
to the aura of mystery that begins to surround the subject.
Learning and practicing scales can become an obsession for many
guitarists. Scales can "free your fingers and freeze your brain",
if you're not careful. Always keep in mind that scales are part
of the preparation work we do so we will be free to express
ourselves musically.
Scales are to the musician what skipping a rope is to a boxer,
it's part of the preparation work. Scales are simply a means to
an end. What guitar scales should you study depends on the type
of music you want to play. It's far better to master a small
number of scales and be able to apply these scales to many
musical settings.
The first thing to understand is that there are hundreds of
scales, to give you an idea of what you're up against, here's a
short sample of some of the names of scales starting with the
letter "L".
Leading Whole Tone
Locrian
Locrian #2
Locrian b4
Locrian Flat 4
Locrian Minor
Locrian natural 2
Locrian Natural 2nd
Locrian Sharp 2nd
Lydian
Lydian 7b
Lydian Augmented
Lydian b7
Lydian contracted
Lydian diminished
Lydian Diminished 1
Lydian Diminished 2
Lydian Dominant
Lydian dominant scale4
Lydian Minor
Lydian Sharp 2nd
Keep in mind, this is only a sample from a very long list of
scales. Each one of these scales can be played in 12 different
keys as guitarists we have the added issue of multiple fingering
options on the guitar fretboard. What guitar scales should we
study is a very important question, to be honest five minutes
thought deciding what to practice is much better than five hours
of haphazard practice.
Scales are the building blocks from which all music is created. we use
scales to create melodies (horizontal structures), chords (vertical structures),
arpeggios (oblique structures).
Scales in themselves are not music they are simply our musical
alphabet. In the hands of a skilled musician they can create
music.
Three things to consider when learning scales:
(a) there's the intellectual aspect, data memory information
i.e., the names of the notes and their scale step numbers.
(b) applying this knowledge to the guitar, in order to do this
successfully we need to be able to identify all the notes on the
fingerboard by name, not simply by a fingering pattern.
(c) motor skill training i.e., speed is a byproduct of accuracy,
with the right amount of accurate repetitions, scales will be
stored in the brain as a reflex function, training very slowly to
avoid mistakes.
Where to start:
The first scale guitar players should study would be the minor
pentatonic scale. the minor pentatonic scale is a five note
scale, (penta = five) found throughout the world.
Example of the minor pentatonic scale in the key of A would be:
A - C - D - E - G
The second scale guitar players should study would be the blues
scale. the blues scale is one of the most frequently used scales.
It is also important because it is the first real scale of
American origin.
The blues scale is a six note scale, one way of thinking of this
scale would be to treat the blues scale as a minor pentatonic
scale with a flattened 5th.
Example of the Blues scale in the key of A would be:
A - C - D - Eb - E - G
The third scale guitar players should study would be the major
pentatonic scale. The major pentatonic scale is another five note
scale.
Example of the major pentatonic scale in the key of A would be:
A - B - C# - E - F#
It is thought that the pentatonic scales represent early stages
of musical development, because it is found, in different forms,
in most of the world's music. These two pentatonic scales
together with the blues scale are used to create riffs, licks and
solos on many popular recordings.
Three important things you need to do to improve your playing
Playing guitar looks pretty easy at a rock concert or on a DVD...
the truth is, like everything else in life that's worthwhile
achieving you have to work for it.
With guitar playing five minutes thought is much better than five
hours haphazard practice!
The important thing is to have a checklist of things you want to
achieve with your guitar playing, I've included three of the most
important things to consider.
Tip 1 -- Set Goals
Start by defining your target...
* What songs do you want to play?
* Who is your favorite guitar player?
* What style of music do you want to play?
* Do you want to be a member of a band or play solo? etc ...
By being specific about your musical goals, you will move towards
these goals much quicker than if you only had some vague
intention of becoming a guitar player.
Let's take these general goals and make them even more focused.
(a) What songs do you want to play? --
* Write down the title of five songs you want to play.
* Do you want to play the rhythm guitar or lead guitar parts?
* What is your time frame for learning each song? etc ...
(b) Who is your favorite guitar player? --
* Write down the name of your favorite guitarist.
* Listen carefully to some recordings of this guitarist, even the
very best guitarists start to repeat themselves after about
twenty minutes, what you are listening for is certain "trademark"
techniques your favorite player uses.,Those will be the specific techniques
to work on.
Tip 2 -- Practice Sessions
Now that you know what it is that you want to achieve, we need to
set up a practice program that will guarantee the desired
results.
* Is your practice material organized?
* Remove all distractions from your practice room!
* What is the best time to practice for you?
* Do you have good full spectrum lighting?
* Do you have a music stand?
etc ...
OK, let's drill down deeper and be more specific with these
practice headings
(a) Is your practice material organized?
* Is your guitar on a guitar stand, tuned and ready for action?
* Are all of your practice, CD's, music books, DVD etc., within
easy reach?
* Do you have a list of what today's practice session objective?
(b) Remove all distractions from your practice room!
* Is your mobile phone switched off?
* Identify and eliminate sounds (TV, radio, fridge motor etc.,)
that are distracting you.
* Be certain to only have one project (the project you have
decided to work on this particular session) on your music stand
at all times.
etc ...
Tip 3 -- Data or motor skills
Determine if your need to work on data skills (new concepts,
theoretical information etc.,) of motor skills (physical
repetition of material already learned).
If you have a system of learning and review your checklist every
weekly to be certain you are "on-track" you will notice a
constant improvement in your guitar playing.
the truth is, like everything else in life that's worthwhile
achieving you have to work for it.
With guitar playing five minutes thought is much better than five
hours haphazard practice!
The important thing is to have a checklist of things you want to
achieve with your guitar playing, I've included three of the most
important things to consider.
Tip 1 -- Set Goals
Start by defining your target...
* What songs do you want to play?
* Who is your favorite guitar player?
* What style of music do you want to play?
* Do you want to be a member of a band or play solo? etc ...
By being specific about your musical goals, you will move towards
these goals much quicker than if you only had some vague
intention of becoming a guitar player.
Let's take these general goals and make them even more focused.
(a) What songs do you want to play? --
* Write down the title of five songs you want to play.
* Do you want to play the rhythm guitar or lead guitar parts?
* What is your time frame for learning each song? etc ...
(b) Who is your favorite guitar player? --
* Write down the name of your favorite guitarist.
* Listen carefully to some recordings of this guitarist, even the
very best guitarists start to repeat themselves after about
twenty minutes, what you are listening for is certain "trademark"
techniques your favorite player uses.,Those will be the specific techniques
to work on.
Tip 2 -- Practice Sessions
Now that you know what it is that you want to achieve, we need to
set up a practice program that will guarantee the desired
results.
* Is your practice material organized?
* Remove all distractions from your practice room!
* What is the best time to practice for you?
* Do you have good full spectrum lighting?
* Do you have a music stand?
etc ...
OK, let's drill down deeper and be more specific with these
practice headings
(a) Is your practice material organized?
* Is your guitar on a guitar stand, tuned and ready for action?
* Are all of your practice, CD's, music books, DVD etc., within
easy reach?
* Do you have a list of what today's practice session objective?
(b) Remove all distractions from your practice room!
* Is your mobile phone switched off?
* Identify and eliminate sounds (TV, radio, fridge motor etc.,)
that are distracting you.
* Be certain to only have one project (the project you have
decided to work on this particular session) on your music stand
at all times.
etc ...
Tip 3 -- Data or motor skills
Determine if your need to work on data skills (new concepts,
theoretical information etc.,) of motor skills (physical
repetition of material already learned).
If you have a system of learning and review your checklist every
weekly to be certain you are "on-track" you will notice a
constant improvement in your guitar playing.
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