The Guitar Blog
In Appreciation Of Jam Bands
In the study of guitar in the area of Jam Bands is probably the most overlooked, yet essential, to study for anyone wanting a thorough knowledge of improvisation.
A jam band is a band that spends large portions of their live performances through unplanned improvising and changing songs through a transition, such as jazz and bluegrass musicians. These bands generally experiment with jazz, world music, progressive bluegrass, and psychedelic rock.
Balancing The Guitar
If you are just learning to play here’s a very basic concept that will help you. The guitar can be awkward to hold and play at the same time for most beginners. After all if you’re busy holding the neck up with your left hand (to balance it) how are you going to use your fingers effectively to fret the notes? I see most of my beginners doing this until they are taught to take a different approach
Using A Chromatic Tuner To Practice
Most people think an electronic tuner is just good for tuning but it can also serve as a great practice tool. For this lesson you’ll need a chromatic tuner. If you are not familiar with term “chromatic” this is the type of tuner that displays what note you are playing as you tune the guitar. For example if you are trying to tune the “B” string you would turn the tuning gear until a “B” appeared in the display. While you are searching for it you may see an “A” if the pitch you are playing is too low or a “C” if it is too high. Almost all multi-effects pedals have built in chromatic tuners. You can get them as stompbox pedals too.
Putting Together A Guitar Practice Space
In my experience you can learn more in just 15 minutes of focused practice then you can an hour of working with things in the background or interruptions to ruin your focus. This is the whole reason for putting together a space to practice in.
Tips On How To Play Guitar While Standing Up
This happens to everyone when they first play standing up. It probably happens to you. Here’s a few things I have done over the years to become a good player when I stand up. Don’t get me wrong there is no miracle or trick to playing every bit as well as you can sitting down, the mechanics of playing just don’t accommodate it. But there are things you can do to make it easier.
Keeping The Melody In Mind Will Work Miracles For Your Playing
Memorizing sequences of notes, especially long ones in solos, can be a challenge. People often ask me how I can memorize really long solos and execute them flawlessly. The answer to that is that I don’t have them memorized. I have the melody memorized and I follow that with my fingers. It’s not the other way around.
How To Get In Tune With A Recording
Songs are not always in standard tuning. This brings about the problem of not sounding exactly like the recording when you play along with it even if you are in perfect tune according to your guitar tuner. Even for some songs that are about a step lower (tuned down) tuning exactly a step down to a tuner still won’t do it. Sometimes you have no choice but tuning by ear. This can be especially tricky for beginners.
Play Like Your Favorite Guitarist
Everyone has a favorite guitarist that inspired them to start playing and wish they could play just like them. Emulating the style of your favorite player takes a lot of study and sometimes intense practice. You can start by looking for commonalities you can find...
Make Progress And Stay Inspired By Mixing Guitar Styles
You can see how mixing things up stylistically will help you get out of a rut when you are stuck and open new doors to your playing. Who knows you may find that you really enjoy a style that you are exploring and study it with the some excitement that you would your usual one. Overall it will definitely benefit from it.
The Philosophy Of Music Theory
The conclusion to remember is that music theory is a philosophy and concept that can be explored. This exploration involves study and application. You will find that the more you find out, the more there is to be found. That is the basis for equality across musical styles. The act of discovering leads to true understanding. Understanding what you are trying to play will increase your rate of learning it technically. With all this in mind, it becomes clear that knowledge of music theory will make you a more effective musician, which is probably your goal in the first place.