Understanding Guitar

One Beginners’ Efforts

It is Friday Night here in Chicago; tomorrow morning I have another guitar lesson. Time in between the lessons elapses quickly.

This week I was to go over the notes on the D string and I was to practice playing the first part of Ode To Joy at 75 BPM. At about Wednesday I was playing it at about 95 BPM which I was very happy with. I hope to fit a few more run-throughs in tonight yet, but we will see what the night brings.

Going back to the D string, I’ve been having trouble with it. Not like the string is breaking or anything, just that for some reason my finger “stumbles” when time to play a note on that string. Just before I sat down to write this, I notice drastic improvement.

Every thing is what it is; eventually i will get it. I just need to practice on it all more.

The Music Room, Universal Language Spoken Here

My guitar lesson last Saturday went well. Nothing too fantastic; we went over what I was suppose to learn [See here] and then Gary (Guitar Teacher) showed me a new pattern to learn. I believe he called it 3rd skips. My intention is to throw it in TuxGuitar and post it here at a later date, but no promises on that. I’ve been trying to spend my free time with a guitar in my hand…

The aforementioned 3rd skips I should be playing in quarter notes, half notes and 8th notes.

As for the practice itself, I’ve not done nearly as much as I’ve wanted to. Between my pending vacation [Mexico!] and the election I’ve been a little distracted. I’m trying to focus for at least one hour a day but that has been hit or miss. Sometimes I get a half hour in other times the entire hour. I will be trying to improve that…

Also, I’ve been continuing to practice my Bm and other barred chords. They are getting better but nothing significant yet. I’m hoping that it takes time and my improvement since the first post about this has been vast.

Hopefully I’ll have time to post more about this last lesson at a later date.  Until then (and beyond) thanks for reading! Regards!

I’ve spent time working on a MS Windows program that I will eventually release as open source. The program isn’t spectacular — it is a hierarchical ToDo list. This means that you can have sub-tasks. I like this type of tool while I work (as a programmer).

Anyway, it got me thinking about something… Millions and millions of programmers work on open source software software each day. Some of the most notable open-source products include (but are not limited to) FireFox (the web browser) and OpenOffice (A Microsoft Office Compatible Office suite). These two programs, I imagine, have hundreds of people working on them; thousands of programmers are willing to work on free products. Given this, then why isn’t there free music? There should be thousands of free songs!

Perhaps there is? Perhaps I’m not looking in the right place? Either way, it probably isn’t wildly known else I’d have stumbled upon it by now…

I wrote my aforementioned program as a practice piece. Something to hone certain skills and to see what I could produce. I guess what I’m trying to ask is: do musician or bands create and record songs and release them for free for the same purpose? Or perhaps with the idea of getting feedback from the public in order to improve or perhaps just to hear how one sounds on a recorded and mixed song?

I know that Jonathan Coulton did something like this. He spent, I believe, a year releasing a song a week on his blog for free. You can still download those songs.

Do you do things like this?

I suppose some people do this on YouTube, doing covers and stuff. But I’m looking specificity at original material?

I’m always interested in how other guitarist practice. There are a bunch of different schools of thought on the topic.

Recently Tim of Pickstroke.com did a post about how he spends his time, what little time he has, practicing. Tim admits to not being a guitar god — I can relate! I encourage you to compare Tim’s description with how you spend your time practicing? What are the differences? Do you think the differences are good or bad? Based on that (you don’t have to post your thoughts) adjust your practice to improve.

Check out the article here: http://www.pickstroke.com/?p=278

You not only want to improve your playing but your effectiveness in praticing to play.

I ran through some scales on GuitarCardio.com this morning. I thought that I’d post the TuxGuitar files that I created while running through the scales.

The reason that I’m making the files for these (mostly) is timing. I need to improve my ability to play in time and for some reason, on scales I’m terrible at this. Though, just drilling these scales this morning, I think, have helped a lot.

Hopefully you can find these useful.

F Pentatonic Major (String-6)

C#/Db Pentatonic Minor (String-6)

C#/Db Pentatonic Major (String-6)

A#/Bb Pentatonic Major (6-String) (2 pluck)

I recently decided to subscribe to Acoustic Guitar magazine. And yesterday, I received my very first issue.

I was incredibility pleased with the issue as they had a wonderful article titled: “Tackling Difficult Chords.” I quickly read the article and I felt that it had some very wonderful tips on how to learn to imprint difficult barre chords in to your memory and fretting hand.

The article uses the F chord and the Bm chord as their example chords. Which is perfect because I’ve been working on the Bm chord. (I recently blogged about it.)

After I read the article I immediately began to apply what it had suggested. I worked with the F chord, the Bm chord and for good measure I threw in the (open) C chord. I’ve been having difficultly with that chord because it is awkward to my hand.

I drilled, and drilled the chords and have done the same thing since I read the article. That was about two days ago. It is probably too early to tell, but I do believe that it has improved my ability to play all three chords. As well as I want? Not quite yet, but it is a work in progress and I’m getting closer.

It is possible that the article just gave me the fuel to drill the chords again… I’m not sure. To any account, I loved the article and it would be worth a read to any one who is still working on memorizing barred chords.

What does the article suggest? I don’t want to give away too much (because I don’t want to plagiarize), but for those who might be interested…

The article starts out by telling you to fret the problem chord.  Play the chord arpeggiated – that is one string at a time. Play the chord twice (I suggest using alternate picking) once going down; from low E to high E then going up, from high E to the low E string.

Once you get to the low E string, release the strings but don’t remove your hand from the current position. Reapply pressure with your fretting hand with the same chord shape and do the arpeggiation again. Repeat until your hand can’t take it (actually, just repeat it a lot). You should pay special attention to whether the strings are ringing clearly or not. Don’t proceed until the strings all ring clearly – consistently.

The article then suggests you strum the chord, doing the same fretting hand pressure release as before. Repeat this a lot.

The article then suggests that you do a two-chord chord progression. One chord is the one you are learning, the other chord being a chord that you are very comfortable with. Repeat that progression. (yes, a lot.)

You may not get to this last step on your first or second day. I think that is fine. Take your time and be patient.

Buy the magazine and read the article. It has a lot more important information than what I’ve just given you.

You may also be able to read the article here: http://www.acousticguitar.com/article/default.aspx?articleid=22034

So, I wrote a very simple chord progression. It is the “start” of a song that I’ve been wanting to write for my wife. Points! Anyway, it is a simple 12 bar blues progression in the Key of G.

At this point, the chords involved (I’ve yet to dress it up at all) include G Major, C Major and D Major. However, I’m experiencing a problem that I think most beginners have or will experience… I’m having trouble switching between the chords quickly enough for the pace I’ve set the progression at – that is, I’m not switching between the chords fast enough.

I’ve been practicing the progression with little improvement and keep in mind that I’ve been playing these chords for at least the last 4 months — almost daily!

To be honest, it started to aggravate and frustrate me… I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist. But I’m also very analytical, so I decided to do some research via Google search to find some tips.

I found two tips; the first one more helpful than the second one but the second one is worth looking at.

The first tip to change chords quickly: http://www.cyberfret.com/chords/changing/index.php

What the above article explains is an exercise to learn how to form the chord before you actually place your fingers down. The exercise is basically to form the chord and raise your hand off of the fretboard a 1/4 of an inch or so… Then, put it back (you’d stay on the same chord)… Repeat this process and your hand should (theoretically) learn the new chord’s form.

The article explains that putting the entire chord shape down at once is much quicker than individually positioning your fingers. (That, obviously, makes sense.. In practice, however, it is a lot easier said that done…)

The second tip comes via YouTube:

Update: [5/1/2008]: Acoustic Guitar Magazine published a great article along the same lines as this topic. Check it out!

Recently I decided to disband from my guitar teacher and go back to self-study for now. When I originally picked up a guitar, I thought that I’d learn how to play myself.  Over time, though I realized that I’d be better and would get further with an instructor.

My search for an instructor begins… I found two instructors. The first one was not a good teacher at all. That instructor was a good player and could sight-read music, but didn’t have the ability (and perhaps the patients) to teach others. I think the instructor was doing it for money while in college. That ended after the first session.

Very shortly later, I found the second teacher. I continued with the teacher for the last 5 months. And I must say my playing did vastly improve as a result of working with the instructor. We went over everything, form Chord Theory to proper technique. It was all helpful!

So, you might ask why I decided to discontinue working with the instructor.  I think the answer is quite simple. While the instructor wasn’t bad, I didn’t feel they were that good either. Sometimes the pace was too fast and at other times the material didn’t seem to “flow” and furthermore, sometimes when I didn’t understand certain material the instructor could not explain it so it made sense. So, I worked with the instructor for a time and got out of it what I needed.

I now plan on taking what the instructor taught me and continuing to build my skills. I’ve also planned on utilizing books to aid in my learning. (If anyone can suggest good books or training material, I’d love to hear it!)

I do plan on eventually going back to using an instructor but I think I need some time to absorb and practice what I’ve learned.

Yep, Still around. Got back from Atlanta just fine. I’ve just been busy with things.

Anyway, I have a post. I’ve been trying to study Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb. The song is in the key of Bm (from what I understand, I’m still not sure what that actually means) and because it is in Bm, the first chord is the Bm chord (Again, this is just what I’ve been told).

If you are unfamiliar with the chord, it is one of though dreaded barred chords. And it has literally been hurting my hand every time I try to play (usually it takes 15 to 20 minutes before notice). Below is a Chord Chart I threw together in case you are unfamiliar with the chord.

I still have a lot of trouble forming the chord quickly. (This is basically the first time I had a reason to play it so much. Needless to say, I should have practiced it more than I did…. But that is another post). In addition to having trouble forming the chord, it doesn’t always come out cleanly. I’d like to improve both aspects of this and I’ve been attempting to do that by following the advice I’ve been given on my previous post: “Call for Public Opinion – Mistakes”

I am trying to take it slow and I’m trying to get used to it. I’ve come to the conclusion that part of the problem that I’m having with the chord is not one that I can correct right away. I believe that the strength of my hand simply needs to be built up. Over time, after playing this chord (and other barred chords) it will become easier and will overall take less effort. I just need to be patient.

If any experienced players have advice for novice players on chords like this, please share. As I’m sure you remember from your early years, barred chords are a real pain for beginners.

Update: [5/1/2008]: Acoustic Guitar Magazine published a great article on playing difficult chords — it specificity includes the Bm chord! Check it out!

My wife and I were watching VH1’s “100 Greatest songs of the 90s” on Christmas Day (don’t ask why, were are boring people) and during a few of the many hours of watching the show they are interviewing MC Hammer, and eventually my wife makes a comment: “MC Hammer is taking himself way to seriously.”She was right; his demeanor was very “I’m so great” (my wife’s and my opinion) and in between the interviews, they are cutting away to his one single (that I know of) “U Can’t Touch this” and he is dancing around in huge-way-to-baggy pants. Additionally, during the interview he was wearing a vary nice suit and sunglasses-very business-like. It was very humorous.

Sometime later, they also had Vanilla Ice. Though, I’m sure many people doesn’t necessarily wants to admit it (and to tell you the truth, I’m not sure why) everyone enjoyed at least one song of his, if not more. (probably more!)

Anyway, Vanilla Ice was very cool and relaxed during the interview. He didn’t act high and mighty. He was dressed as I would expect for a person of his occupation (yes, he is still a writer/rapper). He seemed to enjoy the reminiscing.

I felt that both Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer got in to and out of the spot light in very short times. MC Hammer, quicker than Vanilla Ice, and yet it seems that MC Hammer took his “success” a bit more seriously during that show then he should have. (Perhaps that is just how the interview was cut…)

Anyway, today I was thinking that this probably applies to how you practice guitar. You probably shouldn’t take yourself too seriously. You should definitively correct mistakes and what not (see post: “Call for Public Opinion – Mistakes“), but you are still learning! You have to expect to make mistakes. If you don’t make mistakes you can’t improve!

I think that if you take yourself too seriously, the increased pressure that you are putting on to yourself will only hinder your efforts at learning; this will only frustrate you during your efforts (leading you to eventually give up on it)