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  #16  
Old 07-13-2018, 07:10 PM
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TBman TBman is offline
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Originally Posted by Cas-v86 View Post
What was the moment where everything just clicked and from where you really got to understand the theory, fretboard, instrument as a whole and developed a skill in say improv? Was it CAGED, was it scales? Let me hear yours!
In this particular area, it was when I finally got around to trying the Em pentatonic. Nothing fancy, just around the 3 and 5th fret area, but improvising with E7, A7, B7 suddenly became music.

I'm away from the blues right now, but when I circle back there is so much yet to learn and have fun with.
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  #17  
Old 07-13-2018, 07:27 PM
superbitterdave superbitterdave is offline
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Originally Posted by Stratcat77 View Post
I've had lots of "a-ha" moments in my 40+ years of playing guitar. And honestly, many of them came in the last 10 years as I spent more time sitting down and really thinking about what was happening as I played vs just jamming and learning songs. One example was when I realized that all of the notes in the standard chords in a key are made up of notes from that major scale. How in the world had I played for 30 years and not known that? Maybe because I never had lessons. Much of what I played in rock bands was simpler than some of the stuff I'm doing now (Bad Co vs James Taylor). And most of the lead work I did in bands was using the same couple of pentatonic boxes and getting interesting sounds with techniques like bending, hammer-ons, etc. Just in the last few years since I switched to 100% acoustic, it's forced me to play differently and I've learned a lot. I've since gotten much more familiar with playing all over the neck out of necessity because I can't do the same bends and utilize sustain the same way, etc. And I've learned to use a lot more chord voicings all over the neck. I still absolutely love it when I do have an a-ha moment. It still happens. I think if I'd had lessons earlier on, I'd probably have had fewer a-ha moments!!


Oddly enough after 30ish years of playing I had a (minor, all puns intended) similar moment a couple of weeks ago when working through a music theory book and a scales website.

All of the notes in an Emin pentatonic scale are also part of the Gmaj scale. I remember from years ago the relationship between the 1 and 5 in a scale, but this was a revelation.

So, Emin is in the Gmaj chord progression (easy to visualize in a chord wheel) and I can jump back and forth between Gmaj soloing and Emin pentatonic. Lots of fun, easy open string based riffs - Gmaj is now my favorite key (capos not withstanding). This old dog may still have some new tricks.

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  #18  
Old 07-14-2018, 05:52 AM
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It all came together when I equated the 6 strings on the fretboard to 6 offset piano keyboards, or perhaps more obviously, the succession of semi-tones. Just as notes rise and fall by whatever degree, so can chords by the same degree. Instantly then I could play whatever melody an octave higher by adding 12 frets, or transpose to other keys by adding the appropriate number of frets.

Basically, the aha moment was, "oh, it's just another piano" and seeing as I came from a piano/chorale world, it made sense to me.
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  #19  
Old 07-19-2018, 05:40 PM
s0cks s0cks is offline
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Recently, my aha in fingerstyle has been

1) learning to play with as little tension as possible

2) playing from the string*

*http://www.guitarprinciples.com/touc...om-the-string/ (this has drastically improved my right hand)
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  #20  
Old 07-20-2018, 07:56 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cas-v86 View Post
What was the moment where everything just clicked and from where you really got to understand the theory, fretboard, instrument as a whole and developed a skill in say improv? Was it CAGED, was it scales? Let me hear yours!
Hi Cas-v-86

No single moment. Lots of small (but critical) ones as I improved and continued learning more challenging music.

I have a degree in music, and play many instruments.

For me the process of learning new instruments always involves starting by knowing chords, and knowing my scales (for locating notes) in several positions up the neck. It also involves the range of the instrument.

Lastly, it involves chord progressions. I hear even classical music as chord progressions, which yield clues as to the notes involved, and incorporate the scales.



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  #21  
Old 07-25-2018, 12:13 PM
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My Aha moment was much later on in life when I realized I did not need to impress anyone but myself......
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  #22  
Old 07-26-2018, 04:57 AM
BobbyMocha BobbyMocha is offline
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As a beginning learning /player I could not play a barre chord at all, nothing even close. A luthier friend, who is a bit of a mentor for me, told me to play it regardless of how it sounded. Never judge it. Just make the shape. Let your brain rewire. I did this for almost 4 months. Nothing.

One morning the barre chord appeared. Sounded exactly as it's supposed to. Out of nowhere. The brain had made the change.
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  #23  
Old 07-26-2018, 08:24 PM
S.bowman S.bowman is offline
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I was reading something theory related years ago, when it occurred to me that there is a musical alphabet, and that by applying it to any given string on the guitar, it was pretty easy to find any note, anywhere on the fretboard.
One of the first things we learn when taking up the guitar is the names of the strings, and one of the first things we learn in school is the alphabet. The musical alphabet is A thru G, with sharps/flats. The only place that a sharp/flat does not occur is between E & F, and B & C. So, the Musical alphabet is A - A# -B -C -C# - D -D# - E - F - F# - G - G# . If you apply it to any string on the guitar ,the string name is the starting point to begin the alphabet, and once you arrive at G#, the musical alphabet begins again. This, combined with having learned a lot of chords when I began playing, really opened the fretboard up, and got me into exploring it daily. It was such a simple thing that I could'nt believe that it hadn't occurred to me sooner. It was all stuff that I knew, but had failed to tie together.
I realize it isn't a big revelation, or anything, but it does go to show that sometimes we can be our own worst enemies when it comes to hitting the next milestone in our playing. I would rather play than stick my nose in a theory book any day of the week, but good things can come from setting your guitar on a stand for a while, and taking in some new info.

Last edited by S.bowman; 07-26-2018 at 08:38 PM.
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  #24  
Old 07-27-2018, 06:53 AM
matthewwensor21 matthewwensor21 is offline
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Firstly I learned by using the power chord shape and moving it up and down the 6th and 5th string, later came the scales, CAGED system etc. But that was my moment.
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  #25  
Old 08-01-2018, 12:14 PM
bg56 bg56 is offline
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Default Only playing since March 2018 but multiple "moments"

Multiple aha moments since I started in March 2018 -My biggest moment was probably when I played with my first "jam" group with players who were MUCH more experienced and skilled but I held my own and actually enjoyed playing 3 hours of very entertaining music (in a bar/mexican restaurant none-the-less which I at first thought would be intimidating).
Other than that, finally seeing how major/minor scale patterns fit together and point out where notes are on the fret-board. And then "noodling" with triads and see there are all kinds of ways to get chords and notes on the fret board.
I'm sure there'll be many more along the way.
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  #26  
Old 08-01-2018, 02:49 PM
Cameron_Talley Cameron_Talley is offline
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For me, it was probably an understanding that every fret represented a half-step. I don't know why I didn't understand this earlier, but once I did it was like a revelation.
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  #27  
Old 08-01-2018, 05:34 PM
Silly Moustache Silly Moustache is offline
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Default Harmonising the Scale.

For me, I think this was a liberating concept, but I had to work it out on spreadsheets for myself.

https://spinditty.com/learning/Music...-C-Major-Scale
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  #28  
Old 08-01-2018, 10:40 PM
51 Relic 51 Relic is offline
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Default Your biggest 'aha' moment when everything made sense in learning guitar / fret-board?

When I was aged nine ( 60 now ) I started classical lessons for five years . Then during the Glam Rock years and upto eight years ago the electric guitar and gigs took over . On being 100% Acoustic now the classical lessons have really been helpful with fingerstyle playing . For me the lightbulb moment was using a Fred Kelly Speed pick and studying Doyle Dykes approach to fingerstyle playing
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  #29  
Old 08-12-2018, 11:37 PM
DesertTwang DesertTwang is offline
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I'm still waiting for my aha moment that unlocks the fretboard...
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