Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: CJ on May 07, 2009, 10:29:11 PM
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for those of you who remember hearing my god awful sound clips, i've decided i'm going to dedicate myself to getting good at guitar.
i was wondering if you guys had some good tips to help me out. first things first, i figured i should have a set practice routine that i work on every day. do you guys have any good suggestions? anything that works for you?
also, i was thinking of maybe getting a good book to help me out and to put into that practice routine. what do you guys think?
thanks a lot.
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Metronome.
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Metronome.
that will definitely be a factor in my playing from now on. what do you recommend playing with the metronome? obviously i'll have my scales... any other good exercises that you would suggest?
i'd really like to get myself an exact practice schedule to work on. do you think it's the content of the practice that'll help me in getting better, or just the fact that i'll have a set schedule. because obviously i can make up any random practice schedule, but i don't really know what to do.
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repetition works
have you tried the Tascam units that let you slow music down and loop it whilst retaining pitch?
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Metronome.
that will definitely be a factor in my playing from now on. what do you recommend playing with the metronome? obviously i'll have my scales... any other good exercises that you would suggest?
i'd really like to get myself an exact practice schedule to work on. do you think it's the content of the practice that'll help me in getting better, or just the fact that i'll have a set schedule. because obviously i can make up any random practice schedule, but i don't really know what to do.
Pick half a dozen things that you cant do, technique wise, and play them all for 10 minutes each EVERY DAY.
Start at a pace that you can nail it at, however slow that is.
Do it at that speed till you can do it right pretty much every time (10 in a row is decent). Increase bpm till its a pace you cant do it at any more (no better than 1 in 3 or so). Repeat till at the desired speed.
What actual things you learn are up to you. There are hundreds of things you can do, thousands even. Finger independence alt picking stuff is a good place to start (the spider exercises)
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To stress - its the every day part that makes all the difference. You imprint and improve while you sleep. No I'm not $%&#ing with you. Its a neurological fact. Its also a fact that you dont need to do it for a long time every day, just every day. 10 minutes every day for a week is much, much better than an hour, or even many hours, once a week.
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^ agreed (not that i play every day :lol: ). little and often is better than none for ages, and then a monster 8 hour practice session.
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To stress - its the every day part that makes all the difference. You imprint and improve while you sleep. No I'm not $%&#ing with you. Its a neurological fact. Its also a fact that you dont need to do it for a long time every day, just every day. 10 minutes every day for a week is much, much better than an hour, or even many hours, once a week.
i heard something about this. and it makes sense. but what i heard was to go as far as saying it's better to break up your daily practicing into different sessions (and obviously play every day). but i would think it would be better to get in some consecutive playing hours every day. i feel if you split it up you constantly are playing "cold" unless you do a warmup session before every split section. what are your thoughts on this?
also, i got another suggestion from somewhere else to spend:
1 hour on technique/scales (metronome)
1/2 hour learning a new song
1/2 hour writing a new song
1/2 hour just jamming and messing around
so far this seems to be the best idea i've got. any other ideas?
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To stress - its the every day part that makes all the difference. You imprint and improve while you sleep. No I'm not $%&#ing with you. Its a neurological fact. Its also a fact that you dont need to do it for a long time every day, just every day. 10 minutes every day for a week is much, much better than an hour, or even many hours, once a week.
This also works if you leave off playing for a few hours. Not much help on a weekday, but at the weekend practice a bit in the morning, and a bit in the afternoon / evening.
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It doesnt work the same. Its the sleep that does it.
Play for longer and add a stock 20 minute warm up if you like. You really should warm up. I just noodle for a bit before getting down to it properly.
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To stress - its the every day part that makes all the difference. You imprint and improve while you sleep. No I'm not $%&#ing with you. Its a neurological fact. Its also a fact that you dont need to do it for a long time every day, just every day. 10 minutes every day for a week is much, much better than an hour, or even many hours, once a week.
i heard something about this. and it makes sense. but what i heard was to go as far as saying it's better to break up your daily practicing into different sessions (and obviously play every day). but i would think it would be better to get in some consecutive playing hours every day. i feel if you split it up you constantly are playing "cold" unless you do a warmup session before every split section. what are your thoughts on this?
also, i got another suggestion from somewhere else to spend:
1 hour on technique/scales (metronome)
1/2 hour learning a new song
1/2 hour writing a new song
1/2 hour just jamming and messing around
so far this seems to be the best idea i've got. any other ideas?
Thats a decent schedule. If that works for you, do it.
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one idea I got off the mark tremonti dvd I've been meaning to do is warm up the left hand first with just legato, probably best to a metronome, and then add the right to the metronome as well, and I think your hands will be more in sync
I've not done it enough to say how effective it is though, anyone else tried this?
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It doesnt work the same. Its the sleep that does it.
Play for longer and add a stock 20 minute warm up if you like. You really should warm up. I just noodle for a bit before getting down to it properly.
well yesterday was the first day i started my routine, kind of at least. i ended up playing for 3 hours, which was the most i've ever played for consecutively. so progress.
anyway, i started by doing all of my scales at a slow speed with the metronome. i'd imagine that's a fine warmup, right? then i just went on increasing my speed until i got borderline uncomfortable with them. did my scales for about 45 minutes and then some arpeggio/sweep picking practice for about 15 minutes. i'm going to look at that spider thing in the stickies and add that in if you guys think it's useful.
JDC, i think it was Dime who did a warmup routine where he's go up and down the fretboard with hammer ons/pull offs with just the left hand. anyone know what i'm talking about? can't find it anywhere.
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I second the practise everyday suggestion. If i practise something everyday i get good at it, but then if i don't play it for a few days and come to play it again it's rusty and needs more practise.
I was learning sweep picking before and that really does take every single day practising it. I left it for about a week and i sucked again so you need to do it as much as possible.
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Also, learn all the modes (apart from Lochrian, that's pointless) and lots of scales. This gives you more to play with than just your standard blues and pentatonic scales.
Play as many different styles as you can, Reggae/Metal/Rock/Country/Blues/Funk etc. it really broadens your playing horizon and improves you in general. Also, you can test out your new techniques and scales with these different styles and see how you can use them.
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any suggestions for trying to memorize the scales in all the different keys? i've got the patterns memorized, but only in C major. would you think it'd be better to work on a different key every day, or like one per week.
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if you've got the patterns memorised it's only a matter of moving them around, surely? apart from if you run out of frets or something. EDIT: locrian's not pointless!
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if you've got the patterns memorised it's only a matter of moving them around, surely? apart from if you run out of frets or something. EDIT: locrian's not pointless!
well yeah, its just a matter of moving them around. but if you've told to play say an E minor scale, shouldn't you know how to play it without looking in your book and figuring out which position you need to play where?
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repetition works
have you tried the Tascam units that let you slow music down and loop it whilst retaining pitch?
Yes they can help you learn a lot as you can put passages of music in loops and repeat them over and over. Yes the slowing down feature helps too.
You should start with pentatonic scales in ALL postions and keys. See how they link into each other. This is what you see when players are moving up and down the neck. Burn these shapes into your brain. Start with the common basic shape and use it to improvise over music you like or backing tracks. Don't under estimate the importance of RHYTHM! Learn basic Shuffles and 12 bar blues progressions. Then think about major scales and modes. In my opinion this will confuse you if you dont get a good grounding in pentatonics. They have 5 notes from octave to octave as opposed to 7, or intervals as its known. the website www.looknohands.com (http://www.looknohands.com) can show you all your chords and scales. Find melodies on the neck from anything you hear, like adverts on the telly, anything really. Loosen up when playing as you won't sound so stiff. Try choking instead of barreing chords as that can help. It takes around 10-15 to just warm up so don't stop that soon. Take meal and drink breaks, not beer!
Good luck :D
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if you've got the patterns memorised it's only a matter of moving them around, surely? apart from if you run out of frets or something. EDIT: locrian's not pointless!
well yeah, its just a matter of moving them around. but if you've told to play say an E minor scale, shouldn't you know how to play it without looking in your book and figuring out which position you need to play where?
Changing keys is easy. If your in A then what I do is look at the basic A minor Pentonic shape at the 5th fret. You remember this because thats where A is in a Barre Chord. Then the shapes going up the neck all link into each other until you get the 17th fret which is where the shape is the same and so are the notes but an octave higher. In C From The 8th, G from the 3rd.
You figure it out using this method quicker the more you do it.
-
repetition works
have you tried the Tascam units that let you slow music down and loop it whilst retaining pitch?
Yes they can help you learn a lot as you can put passages of music in loops and repeat them over and over. Yes the slowing down feature helps too.
You should start with pentatonic scales in ALL postions and keys. See how they link into each other. This is what you see when players are moving up and down the neck. Burn these shapes into your brain. Start with the common basic shape and use it to improvise over music you like or backing tracks. Don't under estimate the importance of RHYTHM! Learn basic Shuffles and 12 bar blues progressions. Then think about major scales and modes. In my opinion this will confuse you if you dont get a good grounding in pentatonics. They have 5 notes from octave to octave as opposed to 7, or intervals as its known. the website www.looknohands.com (http://www.looknohands.com) can show you all your chords and scales. Find melodies on the neck from anything you hear, like adverts on the telly, anything really. Loosen up when playing as you won't sound so stiff. Try choking instead of barreing chords as that can help. It takes around 10-15 to just warm up so don't stop that soon. Take meal and drink breaks, not beer!
Good luck :D
you really think its good to learn the pentatonic scales in all keys and positions on one day? 35 different scales seems tough to handle in a day. but i could see how over time you'll eventually just "get it". and do you think pentatonic is more beneficial to learn than the regular major/minor scales? i hear a lot about pentatonic, but what's the point if it is just the major scale with less notes?
anyway, yesterday was another record for me. played for 4 hours straight, and i must say, my ass hurt for like another 4 hours after that. i'll have to remember to take little breaks from now on.
-
repetition works
have you tried the Tascam units that let you slow music down and loop it whilst retaining pitch?
Yes they can help you learn a lot as you can put passages of music in loops and repeat them over and over. Yes the slowing down feature helps too.
You should start with pentatonic scales in ALL postions and keys. See how they link into each other. This is what you see when players are moving up and down the neck. Burn these shapes into your brain. Start with the common basic shape and use it to improvise over music you like or backing tracks. Don't under estimate the importance of RHYTHM! Learn basic Shuffles and 12 bar blues progressions. Then think about major scales and modes. In my opinion this will confuse you if you dont get a good grounding in pentatonics. They have 5 notes from octave to octave as opposed to 7, or intervals as its known. the website www.looknohands.com (http://www.looknohands.com) can show you all your chords and scales. Find melodies on the neck from anything you hear, like adverts on the telly, anything really. Loosen up when playing as you won't sound so stiff. Try choking instead of barreing chords as that can help. It takes around 10-15 to just warm up so don't stop that soon. Take meal and drink breaks, not beer!
Good luck :D
you really think its good to learn the pentatonic scales in all keys and positions on one day? 35 different scales seems tough to handle in a day. but i could see how over time you'll eventually just "get it". and do you think pentatonic is more beneficial to learn than the regular major/minor scales? i hear a lot about pentatonic, but what's the point if it is just the major scale with less notes?
anyway, yesterday was another record for me. played for 4 hours straight, and i must say, my ass hurt for like another 4 hours after that. i'll have to remember to take little breaks from now on.
One day :lol: No. You won't so take your time. Its not a major scale with less notes, god almighty! Don't just play scales put them into a musical context too.
Yes I do think its a good idea to learn them as well as other things you want to learn. I don't think I've ever met a guitar player who knows modes and majors but not pentatonics!
-
repetition works
have you tried the Tascam units that let you slow music down and loop it whilst retaining pitch?
Yes they can help you learn a lot as you can put passages of music in loops and repeat them over and over. Yes the slowing down feature helps too.
You should start with pentatonic scales in ALL postions and keys. See how they link into each other. This is what you see when players are moving up and down the neck. Burn these shapes into your brain. Start with the common basic shape and use it to improvise over music you like or backing tracks. Don't under estimate the importance of RHYTHM! Learn basic Shuffles and 12 bar blues progressions. Then think about major scales and modes. In my opinion this will confuse you if you dont get a good grounding in pentatonics. They have 5 notes from octave to octave as opposed to 7, or intervals as its known. the website www.looknohands.com (http://www.looknohands.com) can show you all your chords and scales. Find melodies on the neck from anything you hear, like adverts on the telly, anything really. Loosen up when playing as you won't sound so stiff. Try choking instead of barreing chords as that can help. It takes around 10-15 to just warm up so don't stop that soon. Take meal and drink breaks, not beer!
Good luck :D
you really think its good to learn the pentatonic scales in all keys and positions on one day? 35 different scales seems tough to handle in a day. but i could see how over time you'll eventually just "get it". and do you think pentatonic is more beneficial to learn than the regular major/minor scales? i hear a lot about pentatonic, but what's the point if it is just the major scale with less notes?
anyway, yesterday was another record for me. played for 4 hours straight, and i must say, my ass hurt for like another 4 hours after that. i'll have to remember to take little breaks from now on.
One day :lol: No. You won't so take your time. Its not a major scale with less notes, god almighty! Don't just play scales put them into a musical context too.
Yes I do think its a good idea to learn them as well as other things you want to learn. I don't think I've ever met a guitar player who knows modes and majors but not pentatonics!
ok, i get it. but i do know my pentatonic patters very well, just not in all the different keys. since i know the patterns, i figured i would just learn all the major scales in all the different keys. then, if i knew the major scale of a certain key, it would be easy to just play the pentatonic scale in that position.
-
repetition works
have you tried the Tascam units that let you slow music down and loop it whilst retaining pitch?
Yes they can help you learn a lot as you can put passages of music in loops and repeat them over and over. Yes the slowing down feature helps too.
You should start with pentatonic scales in ALL postions and keys. See how they link into each other. This is what you see when players are moving up and down the neck. Burn these shapes into your brain. Start with the common basic shape and use it to improvise over music you like or backing tracks. Don't under estimate the importance of RHYTHM! Learn basic Shuffles and 12 bar blues progressions. Then think about major scales and modes. In my opinion this will confuse you if you dont get a good grounding in pentatonics. They have 5 notes from octave to octave as opposed to 7, or intervals as its known. the website www.looknohands.com (http://www.looknohands.com) can show you all your chords and scales. Find melodies on the neck from anything you hear, like adverts on the telly, anything really. Loosen up when playing as you won't sound so stiff. Try choking instead of barreing chords as that can help. It takes around 10-15 to just warm up so don't stop that soon. Take meal and drink breaks, not beer!
Good luck :D
you really think its good to learn the pentatonic scales in all keys and positions on one day? 35 different scales seems tough to handle in a day. but i could see how over time you'll eventually just "get it". and do you think pentatonic is more beneficial to learn than the regular major/minor scales? i hear a lot about pentatonic, but what's the point if it is just the major scale with less notes?
anyway, yesterday was another record for me. played for 4 hours straight, and i must say, my ass hurt for like another 4 hours after that. i'll have to remember to take little breaks from now on.
One day :lol: No. You won't so take your time. Its not a major scale with less notes, god almighty! Don't just play scales put them into a musical context too.
Yes I do think its a good idea to learn them as well as other things you want to learn. I don't think I've ever met a guitar player who knows modes and majors but not pentatonics!
ok, i get it. but i do know my pentatonic patters very well, just not in all the different keys. since i know the patterns, i figured i would just learn all the major scales in all the different keys. then, if i knew the major scale of a certain key, it would be easy to just play the pentatonic scale in that position.
Well it depends a bit on what shape majors your learning, some of the ones I use are all 3 notes per string shapes, which are great for legato. Look under the spider exercises thread for some 3 note major scales! Anyway the keys are the same as where you will find the chords basically speaking. Try and improvise and work on phrasing. Also see how you can fit licks in on different rhythm patterns.
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Play everything using the A minor pent, or the C Major scale... works for me :lol:
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Well it depends a bit on what shape majors your learning, some of the ones I use are all 3 notes per string shapes, which are great for legato. Look under the spider exercises thread for some 3 note major scales! Anyway the keys are the same as where you will find the chords basically speaking. Try and improvise and work on phrasing. Also see how you can fit licks in on different rhythm patterns.
enough with that insanely long quote.
i forgot about my three note per string scales! i learned them a while ago but i forget them. i'll take a look at them, i have a feeling they'll be a lot more useful than the traditional scale patterns. also, i'm finding it much easier to learn the scales in new keys now. after only one day i'm starting to not see the scales as C major scales anymore, and rather just patterns. i also realized that all i have to do is find all of the say, d notes (if i'm playing d minor), and then i know exactly what scale pattern i have to play since i know my root notes. before i was trying to memorize them in relation to the C major/A minor scale, but its a lot easier just using your root notes.
improvising is something that i do all the time. also, after working on my scales so much now, i'm finding i'm using them a lot more in rhythm type stuff as you said.
i've also been doing the spider exercises. very difficult to play fast! i haven't even attempted anything over like 100 bpm on the first and 80bpm on the second. they're good exercises though.
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Root notes is how i visualise the different keys, the same as where you would find barre chords. Well thats how i do it. The shapes are the same, i look at the basic A Minor Pentatonic shape in the different key positions and relate the rest of the shapes to it, which is how everyone does it I should imagine.
As for using a metronome on the spider exercises, they're not musical exercises, just finger exercises, so a metronome isn't really necessary. Just keep it sounding even.
Practice those 3 notes per string majors using legato. That will give you a work out!
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Root notes is how i visualise the different keys, the same as where you would find barre chords. Well thats how i do it. The shapes are the same, i look at the basic A Minor Pentatonic shape in the different key positions and relate the rest of the shapes to it, which is how everyone does it I should imagine.
As for using a metronome on the spider exercises, they're not musical exercises, just finger exercises, so a metronome isn't really necessary. Just keep it sounding even.
Practice those 3 notes per string majors using legato. That will give you a work out!
yeah, i know they're not musical exercises, but i'm trying to use the metronome as much as i can right now. if you've listened to any of my clips you'd know why. plus, it gives me a good reference to go by. i know what speed i did them at before and i can try to improve it.
and legato would mean only picking one note per string (in this case), correct?
again, thanks for all the help guys.