Understanding Guitar

One Beginners’ Efforts

As a follow up post to “Create your Own Custom, Unique, Unscripted Guitar Solo!“, I wanted to post the next box to learn — oh, yes — there are more boxes.  There are a total of five Pentatonic Minor scales (in the key of A). The post mentioned above introduced you to the first two – Box 1 and Box 2.

This post will introduce you to what is referred to as Box 3. The music below is Box 3 in A (Making this [also] A Pentatonic Minor). Keep in mind, for this previous series with the 3 boxes (so far) they have all been a A Pentatonic Minor scale, only on different positions on the neck of the Guitar.

A Pentatonic Minor - Box 3

You can download the TuxGuitar file here: TuxGuitar file – A Pentatonic Minor – Box 3

Remember to first memorize and practice the scale. Afterwards you can set yourself free with the scale; you can play around and improvise within the scale. Enjoy!

Bonus: Following is me practicing this scale with effects from my Pod v2. I’m posting it to illustrate how I sound when first learning a scale. I figure that it might make readers more comfortable with their practice to know that my material is full of mistakes also (it would for me). Note: The following is full of mistakes.

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As I announced…

…a while back (see blog post), I decided to “start over” as it were. I felt that my practice wasn’t going anywhere and that I needed to reestablish my learning pattern. In my “re-effort” (is that a word?) I eventually stumbled upon (and blogged several times) about GuitarCardio.com.

This site eventually lead me to start researching scales and that presented the question “what was the most effective scale or group of scales to learn”. I eventually came upon something called “the box position.”

What I learned about the box position, to my surprise, is that it was not a set of scale patterns that one learns. It appears to be a description of playing within a single position. That single position doesn’t necessarily need to be the same pattern nor the same type of scale.

For example, the A Pentatonic Major scale in three different positions would be playing in the box position. Additionally, so would playing the A Pentatonic Major scale in 5th position and then the A Pentatonic Minor scale in 5th position.

The Box Position

I spent time researching and trying to understand what exactly is meant by “The Box Position” (a.k.a “The Box Pattern”). My conclusions is rather simple and straight forward.

There is not a fixed set of scales that make up the box pattern; every source or book can (and will) have their own method and scales. Take, for example, the link I’ve provided before on this topic previously: http://www.myguitarsolo.com/sc_box.htm

Their method of presenting the box position includes learning six scales in a specific order (I’m not yet sure if there is significance to the order); while another source, a book this time, shows the box pattern in all Pentatonic scales in different positions on the neck.

Both seem valid, and I have no reason to believe otherwise. That plus in all my research, I’ve not found consistent presentations of the box pattern. This lead me to the conclusion that there is no fix set of scales to make up the box pattern.

The Box Position using The Pentatonic Scale

I was in a bookstore looking to pick up a reference book on guitar scales. I stumbled upon a book titled “Practical Pentatonics” by Askold Buk. It is a small 44 page book about how flexible the Pentatonic scales can be and what can be done if applied, umm, creatively.

Now, obviously, due to copyright laws ( ) I can’t give away or post any of the examples they have in the book. That isn’t the point of the post, anyway. I want to share, in my own words, what I’ve learned and discovered from this book. Of course, if you become interested in this topic, I’d encourage you to purchase this book or a book like it (though, I’ve not found others like it).

Examples

Below are some basic examples. First, I’m going to start out with a basic Pentatonic Minor Scale in the key of A. [If you can not see the rest of the post, please view the post on UnderstandingGuitar.org. Most RSS readers will not display the following content properly.]

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve accidentally spent my entire evening reading up on beginning to learn to play the saxophone. Not that I want to stop learning guitar mind you. Saxophone would just be another way to learn the same trade; another tool to accomplish something similar, if you will.

Anyway, so I’ve been reading the following article:

http://www.mindworkshop.com/alchemy/saxophone.html

[It's worth reading if you are at all interesting in potentially learning to play a saxophone.]

I bring this up because towards the end of the article I came across information that was very, very (very!) worth sharing with any current or future readers of this site.

If you perform an identical motor action repeatedly – such as operating the keys of a saxophone – your brain will form neural pathways to make the action in question easier, quicker and more intuitive. Think of them as shortcuts between your brain and your fingers for frequently used tasks. As you practice, the neural pathways that will make playing your easier will develop and become more accessible.

To apply this to guitar, replace “operating the keys of a saxophone” with “fretting the guitar.” In my pursuit of learning guitar, I had already read this somewhere, however revisiting this as a reminder doesn’t hurt. For me, it helps me keep in mind that fretting a guitar will become easier…

To my readers in America; the country in which I reside, happy <!– @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>Independence day.

Hopefully between festivities you’ll find time to <!– @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>practice guitar.

Regards,
Frank

IG’s latest post was about a study where a scientist found that if one practices something for 2 hours a day for 10 years (including weekends) then you’ll be very good at it.

If we apply this to guitar and if you start today, you should be a guitar superstar by 5/7/2018.

Of course (and I’m sorry) that just isn’t going to happen. A lot more goes in to becoming a superstar than just being a good guitarist. I feel that charisma plus the style of music you enjoy playing as well as many other things factor in to super stardom. However, I would not expect that to deter you from trying. If you don’t try, you will only regret it.

However, I’ve wondered off the point of this post. The question I have to the readers / contributors out there is what is your practice routine?

In my pursuit of learning guitar, I’ve come across many recommendations for practice routines.

Some of the recommendations that I’ve heard include things like “always practice for a set amount of time” and / or “at a specific time in the day”. The goal is to make the practice a routine in your day. And while I have tried to apply the idea, the reality of where my time can go is never cohesive to such a practice schedule… As a kid, that might be possible; however as an adult I do not believe it is.

For me my first goal is to make sure that I at least get some practice in each day. Even as little as 10 minutes before going to bed. (Such as yesterday, in which I spent most of my time trying to fix my wife’s New Dell laptop.)

Aside from the 10 minutes, if I have more time I include chord drills — Currently Bm with rhythm and strumming drills. I’ve not found the time to practice an actual song for a while. I need to find time to work on that.

So again, what is your practice routine? What do you spend time on and do you have any suggestions for the guitar-learning-public out there from your trials and tribulations?

I wanted to wish all my readers a very Happy Earth day. I hope everyone ran or bicycled to work today…

I didn’t… But I also drive a hybrid or motorcycle everyday, which means I feel that I’m doing my part.

I also want to mention that I greatly respect what Laguna is doing… They are planting a tree for every guitar they make. That is pretty amazing. You can find more information at: http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/2008/Laguna-Guitars-Launches-One-Guitar-One-Tree-Reforestation-Initiative-.html or http://www.playlaguna.com/conservation/index.cfm

I just signed up for a service called Blog TopList… Being that this is a new blog, I’ve been trying to get some exposure. Though, the primary content for this site comes from myself, I’ve always considered that a good portion of the content would be derived by the readers (either through questions or comments). And in order to add content due to readers, I simply need more of them!

If you find this blog is helpful, even in the smallest way, please click the button that says “Vote For Me.” Clicking that button, will simply give me a bit more exposure on the www.BlogTopList.com website, which is a list of Blog sites sort of like this one.  The thing is, is this blog has a very specific audience and will never have the follow-ship of some of the more general blogs. So, any little bump will help!  Thank you!

Welcome and thank you for visiting!

My name is Frank; I’m a beginner guitar player (5 weeks as of 11/11/2007) – This is a blog about my experience (both trials and tribulations) in learning about how to play the guitar as well as how the guitar and guitar players fit in to music overall.

I suppose my primary hope in keeping this blog is that others can benefit from it – I hope that it can be an invaluable resource to other newbie guitar players. And in the spirit of helping others I highly encourage readers’ posting experiences of their own as well as any questions.

Aside from helping others, I honestly do keep this blog for myself – to see where I’ve come from as a new musician (if I can call myself that) and to remember.

Aside from spending time with my guitar, I also spend time with my wife (of 3 years now [time moves fast]). Additionally, I enjoy motorcycles (mine is pictured below) and software development. I work as a professional software developer (websites and windows applications).

Finally, if you want to contact me for anything related to this Blog, please e-mail at: Frank [at] UnderstandingGuitar.org (fill the at in with the appropriate character)