Guitar Megathread - learn-share-talk-lessons-tips-fun

[Mindripper]

^^^^^^^^^That was insane

Should I learn the C major scale in all positions before moving on to other scales?

While the Major scale is important I would start with all five pentatonic patterns... So Pentatonic, Major, Minor, Diminished, Augmented and whole tone. Whatever you playing; make sure it sounds like music and not some robotic repeating pattern. Slow is accurate, accurate is fast, clean and even tempo is a key.

http://www.theorylessons.com/pentpos.html

^

If you learn these patterns; then you can connect them using this method or something similar.

[dash_riprock]

K i've decided today that i want to learn how to play the guitar. My dad has an acoustic one that i could learn on and i would pick up an electric if i liked it enough.


Thing is, i dont want to take lessons, mainly because i just dont have the time or money right now.

Is there anyway to learn guitar by yourself? any links to sites that could act as interactive lessons or allow me to self teach ??


I would really appreciate any tips / advice

[ctgblue]

use the 'search this thread' button at the top, there are at least a dozen references already in this thread

[V.H.9.8.4.]

K i've decided today that i want to learn how to play the guitar. My dad has an acoustic one that i could learn on and i would pick up an electric if i liked it enough.


Thing is, i dont want to take lessons, mainly because i just dont have the time or money right now.

Is there anyway to learn guitar by yourself? any links to sites that could act as interactive lessons or allow me to self teach ??


I would really appreciate any tips / advice

Yea you can definitely learn on your own, cant remember off the top of my head but I know that a couple of famous guitarist are self taught.

I'd recommend picking up a chord book or going to http://www.chordguide.com/guitar/ to learn some chords, which is very important.

You can also go to http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/ and browse the lessons there. I used to do that a lot and I found they were pretty helpful. It has lessons teaching you the basics of guitar, technique, how to improve speed and accuracy, and a bunch of other stuff. I'm sure other people here know of some better stuff, but I think that's a pretty good start

The first page of this thread also has a lot of helpful stuff to get you started

[dash_riprock]

Yea you can definitely learn on your own, cant remember off the top of my head but I know that a couple of famous guitarist are self taught.

I'd recommend picking up a chord book or going to http://www.chordguide.com/guitar/ to learn some chords, which is very important.

You can also go to http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/ and browse the lessons there. I used to do that a lot and I found they were pretty helpful. It has lessons teaching you the basics of guitar, technique, how to improve speed and accuracy, and a bunch of other stuff. I'm sure other people here know of some better stuff, but I think that's a pretty good start

The first page of this thread also has a lot of helpful stuff to get you started

Thanks alot. Much appreciated

[lost1700]

K i've decided today that i want to learn how to play the guitar. My dad has an acoustic one that i could learn on and i would pick up an electric if i liked it enough.


Thing is, i dont want to take lessons, mainly because i just dont have the time or money right now.

Is there anyway to learn guitar by yourself? any links to sites that could act as interactive lessons or allow me to self teach ??


I would really appreciate any tips / advice

www.justinguitar.com

[mikeprogress09]

hey ive been playing for about a month now.. considering lessons... i leave for college in like 5 months would 5 months of lessons be sufficient? also does anyone have a price estimate on how much it is for guitar lessons per month? or does it vary a lot depending on place/teacher... thanks doods.

[lost1700]

hey ive been playing for about a month now.. considering lessons... i leave for college in like 5 months would 5 months of lessons be sufficient? also does anyone have a price estimate on how much it is for guitar lessons per month? or does it vary a lot depending on place/teacher... thanks doods.

from what I have looked at it varies from about $15-$30 per half hour private sessions and around $40-$50 per half hour for in-home sessions

[mikeprogress09]

^^^^^ alrite thanks dude. could more of you say how long u took lessons for? and what you payed for them? thanks again.

[Mindripper]

^^^^^ alrite thanks dude. could more of you say how long u took lessons for? and what you payed for them? thanks again.

I took a few lessons from my friends to get started when I was a kid. We just jammed all the time. The more I jammed the better I got. If you play with people that push you musically than you can learn alot.

I didn't take serious lessons until I was 26... In three months I learned more about music than I had learned in all my years of playing. I took lessons from a Flamenco jazz dude @ a local guitar shop who had a Master's in music, easily the most talented person that I've been around. He opened my eyes and allowed me to push to do things I never thought I could do. It was quite expensive ($50 per 30 minute) but money well spent for sure.

[snwdevl10]

While the Major scale is important I would start with all five pentatonic patterns... So Pentatonic, Major, Minor, Diminished, Augmented and whole tone. Whatever you playing; make sure it sounds like music and not some robotic repeating pattern. Slow is accurate, accurate is fast, clean and even tempo is a key.

http://www.theorylessons.com/pentpos.html

^

If you learn these patterns; then you can connect them using this method or something similar.

Thanks for this. I may try to learn these pentatonic positions first as well and see if I can understand what is going on better. I still can't get my head around major scales at all right now no matter how much reading I do but this looks like I can maybe pick it up a little easier.

Depending on what root note I started on would determine which scale I was playing, and then I can connect the patterns by moving from shape to shape along the root notes and still be in the same scale, is that right?

[G-Train86]

While on the topic of guitar lessons i just booked my first one .. what can i expect from a lesson .. also what should a good guitar teacher go through etc beginner here btw.

[LethalOnGuitarZ]

Thanks for this. I may try to learn these pentatonic positions first as well and see if I can understand what is going on better. I still can't get my head around major scales at all right now no matter how much reading I do but this looks like I can maybe pick it up a little easier.

I don't think it matters what you learn first, the pentatonic scales are usually going to be more practical because if you're playing rock you're gonna end up using them more, whereas the major scale is useful because it forms the basis of a massive amount of music theory.

It's best to start with the Chromatic Scale: A/A#/B/C/C#/D/D#/E/F/F#/G/G# (Or, identically: A/Bb/B/C/Db/D/Eb/E/F/Gb/G/Ab).

These are the 12 notes that appear on the guitar, or in Western music in general. The major scale is a diatonic scale (Diatonic = 7 tone scale, as opposed to Pentatonic = 5 tone scale).

Start with C Major: it takes every note from the Chromatic scale that isn't Sharped (Or flatted) and that leaves you with seven notes: A/B/C/D/E/F/G. As you can see, one of the irregularites of Western music is the distance between B/C and E/F - unlike other notes, the distance between these two sets is only a half step, as opposed to a whole step... it's just something you have to get used to.

If I get a C chromatic scale (C/C#/D/D#/E/F/F#/G/G#/A/A#/B) you can see that the C Major scale takes these notes: C/D/E/F/G/A/B. It's the DISTANCE between these notes (Or, the INTERVAL) that's really important: INTERVALS form the basis of chord construction, and the various sounding harmonies you get from music (IE happy/sad) (But I won't go into that here), and are useful in remembering other scale formations.....

So, the intervals of the C Major Scale would be Whole Step/Whole Step/Half Step/Whole Step/Whole Step/Whole Step/Half Step. Then we'd be back to C, but one octave (8 notes/12 frets) higher. The actual names for intervals are harder to learn, so just thinking in terms of whole step (2 frets) and half steps (1 fret) might be easier for now.

But for the sake of it, intervals are as follows:

0 frets = unison
1 fret/1 half step = augmented unison/minor 2nd
2 frets/2 half steps (1 whole step) = major 2nd
3 frets/3 half steps = augmented 2nd/minor 3rd
4 frets/4 half steps = major 3rd
5 frets/5 half steps = perfect 4th
6 frets/6 half steps = augmented 4th/diminished 5th
7 frets/7 half steps = perfect 5th
8 frets/8 half steps = augmented 5th/minor 6th
9 frets/9 half steps = major 6th
10 frets/10 half steps = augmented 6th/minor 7th
11 frets/11 half steps = major 7th
12 frets/12 half steps = octave

I might aswell mention that the Major Pentatonic interval pattern goes Whole Step/Whole Step/3 Half Steps/Whole Step/3 Half Steps (Major 2nd/Major 2nd/Minor 3rd/Major 2nd/Minor 3rd... if we were going by intervals between each pair of notes).

So, bearing in mind the 12 notes of the chromatic scale, lifting a C Major Pentatonic scale from here would give us: C/D/E/G/A ... and then the 3 half steps would take us back to the root note C. You probably know the root note is the note the scale starts on.

You can use those interval patterns to find any major scale on the guitar. That gets complicated though so it's better to stick to learning the above stuff for now.

[V.H.9.8.4.]

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[snwdevl10]

I don't think it matters what you learn first, the pentatonic scales are usually going to be more practical because if you're playing rock you're gonna end up using them more, whereas the major scale is useful because it forms the basis of a massive amount of music theory.

It's best to start with the Chromatic Scale: A/A#/B/C/C#/D/D#/E/F/F#/G/G# (Or, identically: A/Bb/B/C/Db/D/Eb/E/F/Gb/G/Ab).

These are the 12 notes that appear on the guitar, or in Western music in general. The major scale is a diatonic scale (Diatonic = 7 tone scale, as opposed to Pentatonic = 5 tone scale).

Start with C Major: it takes every note from the Chromatic scale that isn't Sharped (Or flatted) and that leaves you with seven notes: A/B/C/D/E/F/G. As you can see, one of the irregularites of Western music is the distance between B/C and E/F - unlike other notes, the distance between these two sets is only a half step, as opposed to a whole step... it's just something you have to get used to.

If I get a C chromatic scale (C/C#/D/D#/E/F/F#/G/G#/A/A#/B) you can see that the C Major scale takes these notes: C/D/E/F/G/A/B. It's the DISTANCE between these notes (Or, the INTERVAL) that's really important: INTERVALS form the basis of chord construction, and the various sounding harmonies you get from music (IE happy/sad) (But I won't go into that here), and are useful in remembering other scale formations.....

So, the intervals of the C Major Scale would be Whole Step/Whole Step/Half Step/Whole Step/Whole Step/Whole Step/Half Step. Then we'd be back to C, but one octave (8 notes/12 frets) higher. The actual names for intervals are harder to learn, so just thinking in terms of whole step (2 frets) and half steps (1 fret) might be easier for now.

But for the sake of it, intervals are as follows:

0 frets = unison
1 fret/1 half step = augmented unison/minor 2nd
2 frets/2 half steps (1 whole step) = major 2nd
3 frets/3 half steps = augmented 2nd/minor 3rd
4 frets/4 half steps = major 3rd
5 frets/5 half steps = perfect 4th
6 frets/6 half steps = augmented 4th/diminished 5th
7 frets/7 half steps = perfect 5th
8 frets/8 half steps = augmented 5th/minor 6th
9 frets/9 half steps = major 6th
10 frets/10 half steps = augmented 6th/minor 7th
11 frets/11 half steps = major 7th
12 frets/12 half steps = octave

I might aswell mention that the Major Pentatonic interval pattern goes Whole Step/Whole Step/3 Half Steps/Whole Step/3 Half Steps (Major 2nd/Major 2nd/Minor 3rd/Major 2nd/Minor 3rd... if we were going by intervals between each pair of notes).

So, bearing in mind the 12 notes of the chromatic scale, lifting a C Major Pentatonic scale from here would give us: C/D/E/G/A ... and then the 3 half steps would take us back to the root note C. You probably know the root note is the note the scale starts on.

You can use those interval patterns to find any major scale on the guitar. That gets complicated though so it's better to stick to learning the above stuff for now.

This really helped a lot man, I appreciate it. I never knew where those "major 3rd, perfect 4th" terms were derived from so when I read about some chord and scale construction I had no idea what that meant. After seeing it put that way from the chromatic it makes much more sense and I am starting to put it together a little better I think. Thank you again I really do appreciate it.

[ctgblue]

It's best to start with the Chromatic Scale: A/A#/B/C/C#/D/D#/E/F/F#/G/G# (Or, identically: A/Bb/B/C/Db/D/Eb/E/F/Gb/G/Ab).

These are the 12 notes that appear on the guitar, or in Western music in general. The major scale is a diatonic scale (Diatonic = 7 tone scale, as opposed to Pentatonic = 5 tone scale).

Start with C Major: it takes every note from the Chromatic scale that isn't Sharped (Or flatted) and that leaves you with seven notes: A/B/C/D/E/F/G. As you can see, one of the irregularites of Western music is the distance between B/C and E/F - unlike other notes, the distance between these two sets is only a half step, as opposed to a whole step... it's just something you have to get used to.

If I get a C chromatic scale (C/C#/D/D#/E/F/F#/G/G#/A/A#/B) you can see that the C Major scale takes these notes: C/D/E/F/G/A/B. It's the DISTANCE between these notes (Or, the INTERVAL) that's really important: INTERVALS form the basis of chord construction, and the various sounding harmonies you get from music (IE happy/sad) (But I won't go into that here), and are useful in remembering other scale formations.....

So, the intervals of the C Major Scale would be Whole Step/Whole Step/Half Step/Whole Step/Whole Step/Whole Step/Half Step. Then we'd be back to C, but one octave (8 notes/12 frets) higher. The actual names for intervals are harder to learn, so just thinking in terms of whole step (2 frets) and half steps (1 fret) might be easier for now.

But for the sake of it, intervals are as follows:

0 frets = unison
1 fret/1 half step = augmented unison/minor 2nd
2 frets/2 half steps (1 whole step) = major 2nd
3 frets/3 half steps = augmented 2nd/minor 3rd
4 frets/4 half steps = major 3rd
5 frets/5 half steps = perfect 4th
6 frets/6 half steps = augmented 4th/diminished 5th
7 frets/7 half steps = perfect 5th
8 frets/8 half steps = augmented 5th/minor 6th
9 frets/9 half steps = major 6th
10 frets/10 half steps = augmented 6th/minor 7th
11 frets/11 half steps = major 7th
12 frets/12 half steps = octave

Uh, MY BRAIN HURTS, can I go now

[MA5Bergey]

just managed to play my first song from beginning to end... was a simple three chord song but it's a big step for me haha.

[BobDaNob]

just managed to play my first song from beginning to end... was a simple three chord song but it's a big step for me haha.

Hey, playing that first complete song is an awesome feeling. It's been a while for me, but I still remember it.

[Master.D.]

OMG guys.. just found this old ass recording of a song of mine and I reckon its pretty cool hahaha wow. Might have to upload for you guys \m/ \m/




Farkkkkkk megaupload isn't working can you guys think of somewhere else I can upload it to??

[ElSpaceBandito]

zshare?

[maynardjames]

Some of the regular contributors to this thread are unbelievably awesome.
Some of them have posted their own vids like captainhorseboy,
I was just wondering who else has done that and can you redo it. It just puts the f in fun for me.
Thanks.

[LethalOnGuitarZ]

Some of the regular contributors to this thread are unbelievably awesome.
Some of them have posted their own vids like captainhorseboy,
I was just wondering who else has done that and can you redo it. It just puts the f in fun for me.
Thanks.

I'm gonna post a vid soon enough of me goin through leads of Layla and Sweet Home Alabama soon enough, hopefully they'll be note for note accurate. Just building the speed and accuracy up first.

[Master.D.]

Aite.. I'll post up a little teaser for you guys.

My mate and I are recording a song that is pretty much gonna be a complete shred-fest lol, this is all we have so far as the opening riff which will pretty much lead into the rest of the song which will be fairly simple rhythm wise but (hopefully) nice and technically proficient.

If you like Racer X you will like this, we used their patch and it reeks of PG haha.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FD7YND3D

EDIT: That's me playing

[G-Train86]

Aite.. I'll post up a little teaser for you guys.

Not bad man look forward to hearing rest of it .. how long you been playing for?

[nail3r]

Does anyone else use your thumb to fret the base notes on the low E-String Jimi Hendrix style? It's the bomb, it leaves your pinky free to add embellishments (sp?). Once I discovered it, I never went back.

SRV uses it too on things like Texas Flood etc.

[snwdevl10]

Does anyone else use your thumb to fret the base notes on the low E-String Jimi Hendrix style? It's the bomb, it leaves your pinky free to add embellishments (sp?). Once I discovered it, I never went back.

SRV uses it too on things like Texas Flood etc.

I was trying to learn Little Wing using my thumb, I don't think my hands are big enough though , or maybe just not flexible enough.

It was cool the few times I was able to get it to work though.

[nail3r]

I was trying to learn Little Wing using my thumb, I don't think my hands are big enough though , or maybe just not flexible enough.

It was cool the few times I was able to get it to work though.

Yeah your hands have to be quite big to make full use of it, but I would never go back to the old way now.

[An hero]

Does anyone else use your thumb to fret the base notes on the low E-String Jimi Hendrix style? It's the bomb, it leaves your pinky free to add embellishments (sp?). Once I discovered it, I never went back.

SRV uses it too on things like Texas Flood etc.

Yep. It hurt my thumb a lot at first but I'm used to it now. Lots of guitarists from that time used that trick (I first learned of it while trying to play Pinball Wizard).

[ctgblue]

No, I found it too easy to get sloppy that way, it's fine for the bluesey stuff, but it will ruin your technical runs

[Mindripper]

No, I found it too easy to get sloppy that way, it's fine for the bluesey stuff, but it will ruin your technical runs

I do it for blusey stuff on frets 1-3... But yeah Paul Gilbert doesn't use the thumb over very often.