Suggestions for developing music knowledge?

T1mothy · #1 10-20-2013, 02:54 PM

Hello and sorry for bothering you all. I was wondering if you could possibly help me a bit with taking the right direction. Ive been playing guitar for a year and I spent a lot of time on it. Its just something involved around the instrument when I grab it. Id say Im passionate about it. My mom says Im crazy.

Well I dig jazz, blues, I do not like every single kind of fingerstyle as I very often miss rythm in it and it feels just like pseudo artistic hitting sweetest tones and kindof lack structure. What I ve been focusing on lately is stuff involving the alternating bass on each metronome click while playing melody in different timing. Doing that all with one hand combined with the shapes changing with my left hand makes me fight my brain alot . Its funny to deal with new melody segment and I enjoy it. On the other hand that stuff only gets my technique better (I think!).

I love Tommy Emmanuel tho his pieces are over my capabilities both of transcribing and technique. He plays everything so fast! I love Chet Atkins. Windy and warm and freight train are lovely songs to begin with. If only I knew more songs like that. I wanted to ask you to tell me what should I do next. Learning songs from tabs or by watching some tutorial is useless in my eyes because at the end of the day I only get to know the song not the notes or their meaning behind it. In order to improve myself overally as a player I believe soloing or correct phrasing definitelly isnt something a good player can afford not to control regardless of what genre one wants to play so I wouldnt mind doing some scales too.

My thought was that a little theory and focused practising could help me to become better player and to get better at transcribing by ear if I know more about the notes on fretboard and the fretboard itself. Feeling like my technique is getting much more attention than the guitar itself. I apologize for such long and demanding message.
Best regards
Timothy

Bern · #2 10-20-2013, 05:44 PM

First, you don't bother anybody here...

Musical knowledge is a general term which could encompass a lot of things. For rudimentary theoretical knowledge to understand what's going on harmonically in a piece of music, there are plenty of sources these days on the internet for you to learn from.
Perhaps, this will get you started.

T1mothy · #3 10-21-2013, 01:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bern

First, you don't bother anybody here...

Musical knowledge is a general term which could encompass a lot of things. For rudimentary theoretical knowledge to understand what's going on harmonically in a piece of music, there are plenty of sources these days on the internet for you to learn from.
Perhaps, this will get you started.

The preparatory rudiments were easy. I wanted to enrol the further material but Thomas wants a fee for it. I guess 3 years Of piano were quite worth it back when I was a kid. I was wondering if there is a site with music stuff focused on guitar so that I dont need to feel constantly bad for just leeching from experienced folks on this forum.

JanVigne · #4 10-21-2013, 08:58 AM

"Doing that all with one hand combined with the shapes changing with my left hand makes me fight my brain alot ."

Can you explain this statement? Are you simply struggling with the demands of both hands? Or, is there more to this?

" Learning songs from tabs or by watching some tutorial is useless in my eyes because at the end of the day I only get to know the song not the notes or their meaning behind it. In order to improve myself overally as a player I believe soloing or correct phrasing definitelly isnt something a good player can afford not to control regardless of what genre one wants to play so I wouldnt mind doing some scales too."

I take from that you have not done the basic prep work which provides the "why" of music or the "how" of the guitar specifically. If that's the case, you are correct in assuming the topic would consume enormous amounts of time on the forum. Yet, you are in a similar situation with many forum members who have asked for assistance. Cruising the archives of the forum would be where you begin. The most commonly suggested free tutortial plan is justinguitar.com.

Justin will provide you the basics and then some when it comes to both the "why" and the "how" of playing. Music itself and the guitar in particular are pattern concepts. To grasp this you need a bit of theory and a bit of practical experience which, as you say, cannot be found when playing only TAB's.

There are other lesson plans mentioned by various forum members but the Justin site is a favorite of many. My one constant bit of advice is to select a good lesson plan and stick with it. Take the entire lesson step by step as playing guitar is largely a matter of building blocks stacked upon each other. Resist the urge to skip around to more interesting material moment by moment. Even if you think you already know the material covered, take the lesson to check for any inaccuracies you may picked up by accident of being self taught. Take the course day by day and you'll find yourself in a far better position within another year's time than you see at the moment.

Good luck.

T1mothy · #5 10-21-2013, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JanVigne

"Doing that all with one hand combined with the shapes changing with my left hand makes me fight my brain alot ."

Can you explain this statement? Are you simply struggling with the demands of both hands? Or, is there more to this?

Exactly the opposite. I wanted to say that playing chet atkins / merle travis / tommy emmanuel music with that constant bassline makes it very challenging yet even more enjoyable for me. I still love windy and warm so much..
I learned to play Mr. Sandman by Chet via watching some youtube tutorial and it actually enriched my chord database. And I by myself just now and then adjusted the timing of the melody just to spice it up a bit or just to get a different feel. Oh yeah why Im saying that is that I see people playing nice music apparently much more experienced than me but not feeling the opportunities to put in the groove.
As Im all self taught and kindof confused by all the words like scales! triads! diminished! 7th! perfect 4th! 13! harmonies! cryxolidian mode (joking on that one)!
I have no idea what to start looking up info about. And what to start memorizing. I went through justing guitar lessons I believe. And I studied some general music theory at school today on my friends phone during a lesson. So I got to know that chords can be played in very simple form triads and theese are formed by the root, third and perfect fifth.

I found that from root to root is distance of 12 tones (which I knew) and each of them has their kindof name depending on the interval / distance from the root. So the second is minor 2nd, etc etc. Also I got to know that from major triad you can easily make minor triad just by moving the major third down halfstep to the minor third.

Right after I got home I tried it on G chord triad and C chord triad. I loved that I could immediatelly apply my knowledge to the fretboard. So knowing how much I actually dont know Id love to get a studying plan so I dont burn out or so I dont start with something unneccesarily difficult / advanced and rather get some systematical approach towards the whole complex lot of informations and things my hands also need to get to know. Im sure you guys can understand

JanVigne · #6 10-21-2013, 06:34 PM

"Also I got to know that from major triad you can easily make minor triad just by moving the major third down halfstep to the minor third.'\"

Right. If you've taken the Justin course, that would have been covered.

Why don't you try a search for "practical music theory for guitar".

EllaMom · #7 10-21-2013, 06:50 PM

I purchased a book that just came out called "Guitar Theory for Dummies" written by Desi Serna, the guy who wrote Fretboard Theory, which many say is a really useful tool (books, video) too. The beginning of the book covers some basics, but already I am learning things (like about fifths, inversions, diminished/augmented, etc.) that I had heard of before but didn't understand.

I, too, took a few years of piano as a kid, and it's paying off now, though I hated it back then.

Maybe look at this "Dummies" book on amazon and see what you think...?

Best of luck!

JanVigne · #8 10-22-2013, 07:36 AM

"I have no idea what to start looking up info about."

Carol's suggestion seems to provide the material you would want to study and get under your belt if you want to understand the mechanics of music and how it relates specifically to guitar. If you do nothing else, look at the breakdown by chapter of the book's contents and perform a search for those topics. This isn't secret, mysterious stuff. It's well covered in lessons and articles found on the internet. The Dummie's book simply puts it in one place and spoken in one author's voice. You could buy several books which might not give this much material. I haven't seen the book and can't comment on the quality of instruction provided. IMO most of the Dummie's books are nice overviews of a topic while not going beyond the category of making you a moderately informed dummy. But they do lay a groundwork you can build upon.

Andrew Wasson provides what IMO are the best explanations of music theory for guitarists (available on line and without cost); http://www.andrewwasson.com/guitar_theory.php

jacothedog · #9 11-05-2013, 10:25 AM

IMHO, no matter what type of guitarist you are, you can benefit from playing with others.

With the type of playing you describe - I would try to find other similar players and get together with them.

Whenever I play with others, regardless of their ability, I seem to take something from it.

oldhippiegal · #10 11-05-2013, 11:21 AM

Justin's courses on ear training and transcribing are great. Do them all--do them twice!

You might do well by setting yourself up a daily schedule, like ear training on Mondays, transcribing on Tuesdays, fingerstyle pattern work on Wednesday, fretboard work on Thursday, plugging in new interests as they arise.

You sounds like you're trying to save money, so can I suggest you check your local public library? Mine had some instructional DVDs like Stephan Grossman's Country Blues, which is fingerstyle that I think would appeal to you and teaches songs and techniques. He has a youtube channel here, with plenty of free bits: http://www.youtube.com/user/GtrWorkS...w=grid&sort=da

Those uploads are a mix of lessons and really good guitarists playing their stuff. You might find new things (new to you) that really excite you there.

Homespun Tapes is another company whose DVDs you might find, and who had a youtube channel with excerpts (you can learn a lot from those).

http://www.youtube.com/user/homespun...view=0&sort=da

I've sorted their vids for you so that they start with the oldest uploads, as that's often where the best lessons are.

And start compiling a "wishlist" on Amazon for your mom (and whoever else) to buy for you. If you like Emmanuel, you might want this DVD

You don't bother people by asking questions here. You make us feel good to be able to pay back what was given to us X years ago.