Advancing on Guitar?

Well that's where you are not right or wrong, it's personal preference. Though, as stated, these scales are the pentatonic and you will not understand the pentatonic without learning these.

It is, after all, these scales but with the 4th and 7th removed. That's the major anyways.


And yeah, bass is the same. With this theory you can apply it to any instrument.

Without it, you won't get too far! Trust me, i've been playing years. It will click and you will never look back.

 

I understand theory... i think

I am trying to appeal to the learning audience. You cant go wrong with the pentatonic. Thats what you should learn first. I didnt. But thats what I wish i did.

Learn Major Pentatonic, learn Minor pentatonic and slide up and down. Basically learn the modes without the 4th/7th of the major scale.

it ALWAYS comes down to ADAPTING to what you hear.

INSIDE PICKING

INSIDE PICKING
INSIDE PICKING
INSIDE PICKING

 

Yeah, sorry, thought you were the OP

You do understand theory, you're the one who popped the chart up... my bad. So yeah, if you feel the pentatonic is important ('cos it is) fair enough. I just feel it's something that can be learned via what we have here.

I learnt it that way see

Inside picking is great, something people should always practice. But you can't 'learn' that per say, we all know how it's done

just a matter of practicing it religiously.


Like learning to ride a bike I guess. You know it's supposed to stay up and move on two wheels, you don't need to expand your knowledge- you just need to put it into practice. Though, it is one of the more important qualities.

 

you know alot of people ive known to play guitar, hear the piece on the radio and think this is one instrument. when really it may be layers of guitar.. if youre in a band, then you need to know your piece and thats it.. you may have d note e note and thats is all. this is plenty important if your a singer too, you play so much , rest, sing play rest sing..

song like row row your boat may seem childish they will teach you timing ... Other cute timing songs Mickey Mouse club, Batman, Xmas classics like Silent Night .. toss a grunge tone on this and you have just about every grunge song there is.. I kid...

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Some great stuff, thanks everyone!

 

I recently started finger picking, even the basic stuff sounds amazing.

Do you apply different pentatonic scales to different keys? I still don't really get scales.

 

world music is organized by duration , density and dynamics .

if you
just play the anarchy enough it's all inside
anarchy because anarchy is the wholeness
of possibility . hey , and it's best to practice
kindness
at the same time
in perfect time . ok?

with dexterity ,
tikoo

4d and advancing

 

An important concept to know is that any given Major scale has a 'relative' Minor scale, meaning they share the same notes.

Look at C Major and its relative Minor, A Minor (the Aeolian Mode)

C D E F G A B C
A B C D E F G A

These two scales share the same notes, but have a drastically different sound because of where your starting note is.

The same relationship exists with pentatonic scales, the difference being that you just leave out 2 notes, (from a major scale perspective: the 4th and the 7th note in the scale)

C D E G A C
A C D E G A

... hmm i dont know if that is clear, its kind of hard to explain..

What you need to know about music in general is that everything in reference to theory is based on the major scale. So starting on any given note, a major scale has this pattern of steps :

Whole - Whole - Half - Whole - Whole -Whole - Half

Modes are just scales starting at a different scale degree (meaning its location in the scale, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.)

So a dorian (the 2nd mode) scale is basically the major scale in which the 2nd note in the scale is the tonal center. So youre playing the same notes, youre just changing your starting point.

The Minor scale (known as the Aeolian mode) starts on the 6th note in the scale.

Theory is hard to grasp at the begining but really benefical in the long run.. lemme know if i can clarify or expand on anything,,

Also it helps if you have access to a keyboard to help you visually understand how it all fits together.

 

that's just wrong . the theory of music is what you want music to do .
i want to make you cry if yooz an ass . that'd be a major key thing to
do - if neccessary .

 

I'm only a beginner guitar player so I don't have anything dealing with technique to advise you on, but I will suggest playing with other musicians who are better than you. Thats helped me immensely because it provides such a challenge. Also, you should focus on writing your own songs. Not only will that improve your guitar playing but it will improve your musicianship and creativity as a whole.

 

...dont make me cry, just trying to be helpful

western music THEORY is based on the major scale.. tho i prefer minor

 

'scuse me that diminished fifth . i snorted .

 

he's not wrong per say, what he means if each relative minor key is based along a major one.

the example that was used was C and Am.

but it's not right in the sense that we have melodic and harmonic scales also.

 

yes , chords relate in the notes they share and in the sharing
is a harmonic sense .

i like to playmake a guitar arrangement with these
minor chords relating together :

Gm Dm Am Em Cm

it's a puzzle , like architecture can be a puzzle .
thankfully the structure of music - tho it must exist - it can
be more than a cathedral since it can spin and fly .


thinking of and solving puzzles advances guitar playing

 

Chromaticism is what makes jazz so interesting.. Im not saying that you HAVE to play only whats in the scale.. im saying with reference to western music theory, things are referred to based on their relationship to the diatonic scale

a melodic minor scale can be described as a major scale with a flat 3, a harmonic minor is a major scale with a flat 3rd and 6th or a minor scale with a major 7th..

its important not to be constrained to theory... but i feel like you have to learn it in order to be proficient at guitar

 

yessir , that's a language about it but it ain't exactly music . no
harm in learning some jive tho . otherwise , i couldn't spit this
english at you and these words is all we got being so far apart .
sitting down together with guitars would be quite different and then
whateverness i could toss mine in the fire and speak banjo at ya
and likely that'd be fine , Rev , since the fretted 12 tone is common

ooo ... but for the bended knee

 

The thing about advancing on any instrument is to keep doing things that you haven't done before. I've been playing bass for 15 years. And one of the things that keeps me advancing is to learn to play things that I don't know yet. Constantly feeling like a beginner. There are a million styles and types of music out there to be discovered and cross pollinated.

Stay Brown,
Rev J

 

Good advice.

No matter how good you think you are, I guarantee you someone is better at at least some aspect of playing (i think homer simpson imparted this wisdom)..

Whether it be technical proficiency, ability to find, adapt, and meld with a groove, ability to play with FEELING, ability to communicate with other musicians while playing, to improvise, to stay constant, to have an idea of the structure and big picture of a song/album, to submit your ego for good of the jam (not being a prick by playing too loudly or too often).



I was stressing scales, but really i should have been stressing the practicing of those scales. Practice in general, jamming with friends/people who know what they are doing,,, you should focus your energy on these things. also dont attempt play scales faster than you can play them perfectly.

Ive heard something like 10,000 hours of practice is necessary to master an instrument.

Frustration is the name of the game. Its painful and your fingers wont do what you tell them. Frustration.

By the time you are at a point in which you are happy with your chops, your original motivations for learning guitar will probably have changed.

Whatever your motivation, to be able to communicate with other musicians without clumsy verbal language is well worth the the hours of practice.