Guitar Lessons - Training Your Ear
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Bill_McRea]Bill McRea
Everyone that can hear normally has the ability to train their ear. I've taught dozens of students that claim they "just did not have an ear", and yet after few weeks of lessons they are able to start noticing when their guitar is out of tune. It happens relatively quickly once you start hearing how things are supposed to sound.
Training your ear is like training your fingers on the guitar, it takes repetition, and it takes accuracy. Tuning your guitar every time you play is the simplest and most natural way to teach your ear what sounds good and not.
There are some excellent tools you can use in addition to just tuning your guitar regularly. My favorite is the Advanced Ear Training Software for musicians from Jana Software. For more about Jana Software make sure to check out the information on our main website.
Another strategy it to listen to your favorite recorded music. People tend to hear the music, what I am talking about is listening to the music. Focus on the sounds you hear and how they change. How the tones go up and down. Don’t worry about what key the song is in, or what notes is being played, just focus on the tones.
You do not need to be concerned about music theory or music notations to learn about how sounds relate to each other. It truly is a natural instinct, when two notes are played together that sound good, you know it, and when they sound bad, you know it as well. Do not let your inexperience with theory keep you from doing what comes naturally with the experience of just listening to music, and the notes you are playing on your freshly tuned guitar.
With time you’ll notice how sensitive your ears become to sounds that are not “right” and you’ll be able to instinctively reach up and adjust the tuner to make it sound right again. It takes time, accurate repletion and a desire to want to ROCK ON!
Bill McRea is the publisher of [http://www.guitarwarehouse.com/]The
Guitar Warehouse and [http://guitar-playing-techniques.com/]Guitar
Playing Techniques. Both sites offer free lesson and product sales.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bill_McRea http://EzineArticles.com/?Guitar-Lessons---Training-Your-Ear&id=135343
Monday, September 22, 2008
Guitar Training Software - What To Look For?
Guitar Training Software - What To Look For?
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Reggie_Dunn]Reggie Dunn
Over recent years, there has been a shift in the way aspiring musicians are learning how to play guitar. In today's information age and technological society, the traditional school of thought of learning the guitar by going to a private instructor has stepped aside to a new way - using guitar training software.
Guitar training software offers advantages to the guitar student in several areas. No longer will you have to pack up your guitar and equipment and drive off to the instructor. Instead, the instructor comes to you in the form of a nice package of training material. You take your lessons whenever you want and in the privacy of your own home. Another advantage is that if you are self conscious about your guitar playing ability, no one has to hear you play. This takes the pressure off and you can relax and not worry how you sound.
Doing even the slightest bit of research on the internet will reveal that there are literally hundreds of guitar packages out there and all of them promise to transform you into the next guitar hero. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when reviewing them:
1. Look out for outrageous promises - Let's face it, however you plan on learning guitar there is no magic formula. Like everything else, mastering guitar takes practice. If any guitar course promises to teach you everything you need to know overnight - stay clear of it. We all know that it will take many hours of dedication to learn guitar.
2. Find a complete package - Regardless of how hyped up the guitar program sales page sounds, take a good hard look at what you are actually getting with the package. Are they covering all areas of learning guitar? Are there different types of training materials? Is there any costumer support if you have any questions?
3. You Get What You Pay For - You've heard the saying before and it holds true with guitar training software. Packages have a wide range in price but you need to think of this as an investment. Also remember that you will be paying a one time fee instead of shelling out money every month to a private instructor.
Reggie Dunn is a long time guitar professional and music enthusiast. If you'd like more information on [http://www.guitarlessonsreview.info/articles/guitar-training-software.html]guitar training software, you can check out his site at [http://www.guitarlessonsreview.info/articles/guitar-training-software.html]http://www.guitarlessonsreview.info
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Reggie_Dunn http://EzineArticles.com/?Guitar-Training-Software---What-To-Look-For?&id=890111
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Reggie_Dunn]Reggie Dunn
Over recent years, there has been a shift in the way aspiring musicians are learning how to play guitar. In today's information age and technological society, the traditional school of thought of learning the guitar by going to a private instructor has stepped aside to a new way - using guitar training software.
Guitar training software offers advantages to the guitar student in several areas. No longer will you have to pack up your guitar and equipment and drive off to the instructor. Instead, the instructor comes to you in the form of a nice package of training material. You take your lessons whenever you want and in the privacy of your own home. Another advantage is that if you are self conscious about your guitar playing ability, no one has to hear you play. This takes the pressure off and you can relax and not worry how you sound.
Doing even the slightest bit of research on the internet will reveal that there are literally hundreds of guitar packages out there and all of them promise to transform you into the next guitar hero. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when reviewing them:
1. Look out for outrageous promises - Let's face it, however you plan on learning guitar there is no magic formula. Like everything else, mastering guitar takes practice. If any guitar course promises to teach you everything you need to know overnight - stay clear of it. We all know that it will take many hours of dedication to learn guitar.
2. Find a complete package - Regardless of how hyped up the guitar program sales page sounds, take a good hard look at what you are actually getting with the package. Are they covering all areas of learning guitar? Are there different types of training materials? Is there any costumer support if you have any questions?
3. You Get What You Pay For - You've heard the saying before and it holds true with guitar training software. Packages have a wide range in price but you need to think of this as an investment. Also remember that you will be paying a one time fee instead of shelling out money every month to a private instructor.
Reggie Dunn is a long time guitar professional and music enthusiast. If you'd like more information on [http://www.guitarlessonsreview.info/articles/guitar-training-software.html]guitar training software, you can check out his site at [http://www.guitarlessonsreview.info/articles/guitar-training-software.html]http://www.guitarlessonsreview.info
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Reggie_Dunn http://EzineArticles.com/?Guitar-Training-Software---What-To-Look-For?&id=890111
10 Ways to Maximize Your Guitar Playing
10 Ways to Maximize Your Guitar Playing
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Tennyson_Williams]Tennyson Williams
Many times it is necessary to acquire an over-all knowledge and understanding of how to go about practicing guitar, as opposed to just learning techniques, riffs, scales and modes. All of these things are highly important of course but when applied correctly, can make the ultimate difference in progress. Progress is the ticket for many guitarists because everyone, no matter what their passion is, strives for personal growth.
Even if a guitarist starts out sloppy and looks at their own playing half-hearted, eventually they will start taking it more seriously, because they tend to get a taste of what's possible in their own playing. Eventually a guitarist will become somewhat of a perfectionist, and for many the word perfection is sublime, but once you attach that "ist" to it, it some how taints the beautiful word perfection, by suggesting that there is a lot of work involved.
Well, I would be lying if I said that there wasn't any work involved, but feel comfortable in saying that, because if you do play guitar, then you already know that there is no really easy method to establishing an exclusive prestigiousness in your playing.
However, there are two ways of looking at this. I don't believe in right and wrong, I only believe in good and better. In my opinion there is no wrong way to do anything, only a better way and I strongly believe that those who have chosen to remove words such as "can't" and "wrong" from their vocabulary, travel further. Also, a hard lesson for most of us, and I certainly am no different, is this false form of competition. The competition that I am speaking of, comes in the form of competing with time itself. Usually this is cleverly masked as competing with someone who is better than yourself. This is an unhealthy form of competition. You shouldn't compete with those who are more advanced than yourself in anything that you do in life. Instead, you should correct your thinking and use them as a milestone to reach. This is a mandatory outlook, and I am sorry if you do not agree, but after studying many things in my life, it still stands tried and true.
There is one person that you should compete with, and only that person. That person is you. By doing this, you inspire and push yourself to accomplish what you know that you are capable of doing. Yes, this is a pep talk, but I often remind myself in my life of these very same things, though over time it gets easier and easier to the point where you almost don't have to remind yourself of these desirable attributes in thinking.
I'll leave you with this very true thought. Success in anything is 90% proclaimed by the correct and positive mindset. Re-read that and eliminate the word "correct".
1. Practice everyday for an hour. For many of you, finding the time to tackle personal interests is daunting, considering that many of you work very hard in the job world, and many of you have a family to attend to, not to mention the things that would seem necessary to conquer in order to exist. Its all about being able to manage your time. An hour isn't much and can be fulfilled effectively. The best time that I have found to practice is with the TV on and the sound on mute. If you have a favorite program that you cannot get away from, keep your guitar handy and practice during the commercials. That is not the most effective way to practice but it still does the trick. Practicing throughout the day or evening is the best way. Practice for 20 minutes, take care of something that requires your attention, go back and practice for 10 minutes, take care of something else, then practice for 25 minutes.
That is not a formula. Don't take me literally when I say practice for 20, then 10 and then 25. The key is to break it up and you really shouldn't keep track, unless you are having trouble disciplining yourself.
2. If possible work with a metronome. You can buy one for peanuts, but there are a lot of free ones out there. My personal favorite is a program called Guitar Speed Trainer. I like it the best because its an actual training method that doesn't require a lot of time, and you can program your own passages into it. The best part about it is that it has the typical tick-tock sound of a metronome, but it is one step better for the simple reason that you can match up the notes you play with the notes that are being played in the program.
The key to using a metronome is to find your limit and then set the metronome to an extremely conservative number. If you can play something very easily at 80bpm (beats per minute) then set it to 60bpm, no matter how incredibly boring it is. Practice a riff at this speed, several times over, until it is flawless, then set the metronome for anywhere between 61 and 65bpm. Take breaks in between, repeating this process until you have reached a speed where your hands lose control, then stop. Call it a day. The next time you go to practice, practice starting at 60, and then practice starting at a slightly higher setting like 65bpm. Use that formula for taking breaks and slowly building your speed. It will take a little bit of time to reach your goal, but being consistent is what will get you there, a lot quicker than you might think. You'll be glad you did it.
3. Don't always practice the same thing. Make the attempt to step back and look at the exercises that you are playing, and make the effort to figure out how you can make them a little more difficult, interesting and melodic in order to challenge yourself. Then practice them with the metronome using that same principle. Figure out different timings and look at ways to make your picking hand pick out 2 notes on this string, 3 notes on that string and 4 notes on another string, within the same pattern or exercise.
4. Practice with one chord. Pick any chord and see how you can condition yourself to come up with different strumming approaches and rhythms. Really think about it. "I'll try playing this chord with 3 strums in even timing. Now I'm going to take that chord, play 2 strums and hesitate before the 3rd and final strum", or "I'll play this chord five times, with 4 down strokes, but the 5th one will be an upstroke".
5. Practice with multiple chords. Go out there on the world wide web and find a chord chart. Pick five randomly and play each one over and over again, repeating its name as you are playing it. Then, ignoring chord progression formulas, rearrange the order of those 5 chords. This will help you memorize and will train your ear for ultimate modulation. After you have mastered those 5 chords, add another 5 chords. Now you have 10 guitar chords to work with when you experiment with chord progression. Continue this process.
6. Get a simple tape deck for recording purposes. I would say use some recording software that you might have, but a tape is a little bit faster, for when you want to record quickly and have immediate playback. Record yourself playing a chord that interests you. Record yourself strumming it over and over again, with any rhythm that you like, but make sure to record it for a good length. Play it back and then solo over it, which brings us to....
7. Soloing. People think to hard about guitar and they think way to hard about soloing on the guitar. They have no idea because they choose to be stubborn and not correct their thinking. It is not hard. Forget scales - forget modes. Do you honestly think that when I am improvising, I am thinking about what mode I am playing out of? If someone asks me later what mode I was playing out of, I can most certainly backtrack and define, but let's look at the word theory. Theory, as in theoretical, as in theoretically this is a way to explain something so that two people can be on the same page, but it is a tool like the guitar itself, and it is far from being set in stone. Unfortunately, people base their musical lives around this. The world of musical theory is beautiful and fascinating, but until a guitarist is willing to experiment, it will not make a lot of sense, no matter how knowledgeable that guitarist may be. Which brings us to....
8. Improvising. Yngwie Malmsteen declared that "The genesis of all musical creation comes from improvisational playing". I know that I have quoted him before, but I can't even put it as well as he did. Don't be afraid of it. Too many people ask about how you get started improvising and then developing your own solos. The answer? develop your own style. Listen to a lot of different types of music and not just guitar related music, and yes, Malmsteen even said the same thing. Build a massive collection of varying musical genres and then jam with those Cd's or mp3s as often as possible. You may not be very good at first, but that's a part of any challenge. Start with a note and if it matches what you are listening to, then find another note that matches to go along with that note. Try to keep in rhythm with the music that you are listening to while you are playing those 2 notes, and then take a chance and grab another note. That 3rd note may not work so well, but you always have options like bending or sliding that note up to one that does work. In doing this, you are training your reflexes. I still hit a lot of funky notes when I improvise, but have taught myself to correct them, almost before its noticed. You can do this too. Some people don't even know when I've made a mistake and some people do. I don't care because I'm having fun. That's the whole point of music and people are quick to forget this. Which brings us to the fact that the best musicians, artists, scientists, human beings....
9. Do not judge. I have learned so much from musicians who were not nearly at my level of skill, just as much as I have learned from those who were way beyond it. The thing to ask yourself, is whether or not you are doing this for yourself or for other people. If your answer is that you are playing what you want to play, the way that you want to play it for yourself, then you have already won. The reason is because even those who have massive dreams to become musical icons, start with what they want to hear in music. One of my other great passions is filmmaking and the greatest filmmakers; Fellini, Scorsese and Kubrick were highly self indulgent. Most people are too afraid to be this way. They feel that it is selfish and they are sadly mistaken. When you have an idea or a style in anything that you do, you will attract to you, those who appreciate it, and considering that the world currently suffices some 6 billion people, I think that if you desire to, you can certainly find those like-minded individuals. My point for saying all of that was because it is important to realize that the most unlikely sources can be great teachers. Mankind desires recognition. Give your fellow man recognition. This is key and the reason is, because those who cannot recognize others around them are not capable of recognizing their own self worth, and therefor, their own potential. You could say that this is really heavy stuff, and you are right in saying so, but the truth of the matter is that everyone has at least a personal dream of what they want to see come out of themselves, and even the everyday Joe, who just wants to learn a few chords, has a secret longing to see where they can take an instrument such as the guitar. It does not matter how far you want to take it, but everyone presents themselves with a challenge that is worthy of their own capabilities. Sadly, few go through with this, when it is just around the corner. This now brings us to the conclusion, which is..
10. Limit yourself. This is a trick that Steve Vai uses that I read about when I was a kid, and it almost works too well. What you do is pick two notes, generally next to each other but they can really be anything. Take those two notes and play only those notes for as long as you can. You can do absolutely anything that you want with them. Bends, sliding up, sliding down, hammer-ons, pull-offs, tremolo picking, etc. Make a good attempt every now and then to play those 2 notes for at least a half hour. I'm not going to paint a pretty picture. At first it is interesting and you come up with lots of ideas for those 2 notes, but after about 5 minutes, you start to lose your mind. However, if you stick with it, you will very soon realize that there is a whole plethora of concepts and ideas out there.
The important thing about this exercise is that when you finally give yourself a break, your hands go crazy. Its like they've been cooped up in a prison cell for 6 years and are now being set free. The ideas will flow to you so quickly that your mind can barely keep up. I will also say, that this method of training works best if you are pretty relaxed when it comes to improvising on the guitar.
Final thoughts. You will notice a common factor that seems to act as an under-layer throughout these 10 methods of guitar training. That layer is the metaphysical, aka mental power. This was cold turkey, I admit that as well, but I did not write in such a heavy manner to scare you, I wrote this the way that I did, not even to inspire you. You can only inspire yourself. I wrote this to hopefully settle that negative thought process and attitude that most guitarists have. Why are guitar players so arrogant? well, you don't have to be. No matter how good you become, there will always be someone better and that's a very good thing. It will push you to get better, at the same time keeping you humble.
The over-all message is to just have fun with it. This is not work, this is play. Those 10 approaches to playing really do work, but if you apply them, you have to think of it as fun and get excited about the progress that you are making. With that, I will simply say, here's to you and the wonderful journey ahead.
Tennyson Williams has been studying guitar for eight years, sixteen hours a day, and has studied every style of music imaginable. He has played in bands, that encompassed a wide range of music. It wasn't until after eight years of piano lessons, that he made the decision to become a self-taught musician, but the journey has been well worth it for the guitarist. His sole passion is to share with others, his endless knowledge of music, in order to make their musical dreams a reality. He currently maintains a site called GuitArticles, where a wide variety of lessons and articles on the intellectual properties of music can be found. That same site can be found at http://www.guitarticles.net
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tennyson_Williams http://EzineArticles.com/?10-Ways-to-Maximize-Your-Guitar-Playing&id=1420067
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Tennyson_Williams]Tennyson Williams
Many times it is necessary to acquire an over-all knowledge and understanding of how to go about practicing guitar, as opposed to just learning techniques, riffs, scales and modes. All of these things are highly important of course but when applied correctly, can make the ultimate difference in progress. Progress is the ticket for many guitarists because everyone, no matter what their passion is, strives for personal growth.
Even if a guitarist starts out sloppy and looks at their own playing half-hearted, eventually they will start taking it more seriously, because they tend to get a taste of what's possible in their own playing. Eventually a guitarist will become somewhat of a perfectionist, and for many the word perfection is sublime, but once you attach that "ist" to it, it some how taints the beautiful word perfection, by suggesting that there is a lot of work involved.
Well, I would be lying if I said that there wasn't any work involved, but feel comfortable in saying that, because if you do play guitar, then you already know that there is no really easy method to establishing an exclusive prestigiousness in your playing.
However, there are two ways of looking at this. I don't believe in right and wrong, I only believe in good and better. In my opinion there is no wrong way to do anything, only a better way and I strongly believe that those who have chosen to remove words such as "can't" and "wrong" from their vocabulary, travel further. Also, a hard lesson for most of us, and I certainly am no different, is this false form of competition. The competition that I am speaking of, comes in the form of competing with time itself. Usually this is cleverly masked as competing with someone who is better than yourself. This is an unhealthy form of competition. You shouldn't compete with those who are more advanced than yourself in anything that you do in life. Instead, you should correct your thinking and use them as a milestone to reach. This is a mandatory outlook, and I am sorry if you do not agree, but after studying many things in my life, it still stands tried and true.
There is one person that you should compete with, and only that person. That person is you. By doing this, you inspire and push yourself to accomplish what you know that you are capable of doing. Yes, this is a pep talk, but I often remind myself in my life of these very same things, though over time it gets easier and easier to the point where you almost don't have to remind yourself of these desirable attributes in thinking.
I'll leave you with this very true thought. Success in anything is 90% proclaimed by the correct and positive mindset. Re-read that and eliminate the word "correct".
1. Practice everyday for an hour. For many of you, finding the time to tackle personal interests is daunting, considering that many of you work very hard in the job world, and many of you have a family to attend to, not to mention the things that would seem necessary to conquer in order to exist. Its all about being able to manage your time. An hour isn't much and can be fulfilled effectively. The best time that I have found to practice is with the TV on and the sound on mute. If you have a favorite program that you cannot get away from, keep your guitar handy and practice during the commercials. That is not the most effective way to practice but it still does the trick. Practicing throughout the day or evening is the best way. Practice for 20 minutes, take care of something that requires your attention, go back and practice for 10 minutes, take care of something else, then practice for 25 minutes.
That is not a formula. Don't take me literally when I say practice for 20, then 10 and then 25. The key is to break it up and you really shouldn't keep track, unless you are having trouble disciplining yourself.
2. If possible work with a metronome. You can buy one for peanuts, but there are a lot of free ones out there. My personal favorite is a program called Guitar Speed Trainer. I like it the best because its an actual training method that doesn't require a lot of time, and you can program your own passages into it. The best part about it is that it has the typical tick-tock sound of a metronome, but it is one step better for the simple reason that you can match up the notes you play with the notes that are being played in the program.
The key to using a metronome is to find your limit and then set the metronome to an extremely conservative number. If you can play something very easily at 80bpm (beats per minute) then set it to 60bpm, no matter how incredibly boring it is. Practice a riff at this speed, several times over, until it is flawless, then set the metronome for anywhere between 61 and 65bpm. Take breaks in between, repeating this process until you have reached a speed where your hands lose control, then stop. Call it a day. The next time you go to practice, practice starting at 60, and then practice starting at a slightly higher setting like 65bpm. Use that formula for taking breaks and slowly building your speed. It will take a little bit of time to reach your goal, but being consistent is what will get you there, a lot quicker than you might think. You'll be glad you did it.
3. Don't always practice the same thing. Make the attempt to step back and look at the exercises that you are playing, and make the effort to figure out how you can make them a little more difficult, interesting and melodic in order to challenge yourself. Then practice them with the metronome using that same principle. Figure out different timings and look at ways to make your picking hand pick out 2 notes on this string, 3 notes on that string and 4 notes on another string, within the same pattern or exercise.
4. Practice with one chord. Pick any chord and see how you can condition yourself to come up with different strumming approaches and rhythms. Really think about it. "I'll try playing this chord with 3 strums in even timing. Now I'm going to take that chord, play 2 strums and hesitate before the 3rd and final strum", or "I'll play this chord five times, with 4 down strokes, but the 5th one will be an upstroke".
5. Practice with multiple chords. Go out there on the world wide web and find a chord chart. Pick five randomly and play each one over and over again, repeating its name as you are playing it. Then, ignoring chord progression formulas, rearrange the order of those 5 chords. This will help you memorize and will train your ear for ultimate modulation. After you have mastered those 5 chords, add another 5 chords. Now you have 10 guitar chords to work with when you experiment with chord progression. Continue this process.
6. Get a simple tape deck for recording purposes. I would say use some recording software that you might have, but a tape is a little bit faster, for when you want to record quickly and have immediate playback. Record yourself playing a chord that interests you. Record yourself strumming it over and over again, with any rhythm that you like, but make sure to record it for a good length. Play it back and then solo over it, which brings us to....
7. Soloing. People think to hard about guitar and they think way to hard about soloing on the guitar. They have no idea because they choose to be stubborn and not correct their thinking. It is not hard. Forget scales - forget modes. Do you honestly think that when I am improvising, I am thinking about what mode I am playing out of? If someone asks me later what mode I was playing out of, I can most certainly backtrack and define, but let's look at the word theory. Theory, as in theoretical, as in theoretically this is a way to explain something so that two people can be on the same page, but it is a tool like the guitar itself, and it is far from being set in stone. Unfortunately, people base their musical lives around this. The world of musical theory is beautiful and fascinating, but until a guitarist is willing to experiment, it will not make a lot of sense, no matter how knowledgeable that guitarist may be. Which brings us to....
8. Improvising. Yngwie Malmsteen declared that "The genesis of all musical creation comes from improvisational playing". I know that I have quoted him before, but I can't even put it as well as he did. Don't be afraid of it. Too many people ask about how you get started improvising and then developing your own solos. The answer? develop your own style. Listen to a lot of different types of music and not just guitar related music, and yes, Malmsteen even said the same thing. Build a massive collection of varying musical genres and then jam with those Cd's or mp3s as often as possible. You may not be very good at first, but that's a part of any challenge. Start with a note and if it matches what you are listening to, then find another note that matches to go along with that note. Try to keep in rhythm with the music that you are listening to while you are playing those 2 notes, and then take a chance and grab another note. That 3rd note may not work so well, but you always have options like bending or sliding that note up to one that does work. In doing this, you are training your reflexes. I still hit a lot of funky notes when I improvise, but have taught myself to correct them, almost before its noticed. You can do this too. Some people don't even know when I've made a mistake and some people do. I don't care because I'm having fun. That's the whole point of music and people are quick to forget this. Which brings us to the fact that the best musicians, artists, scientists, human beings....
9. Do not judge. I have learned so much from musicians who were not nearly at my level of skill, just as much as I have learned from those who were way beyond it. The thing to ask yourself, is whether or not you are doing this for yourself or for other people. If your answer is that you are playing what you want to play, the way that you want to play it for yourself, then you have already won. The reason is because even those who have massive dreams to become musical icons, start with what they want to hear in music. One of my other great passions is filmmaking and the greatest filmmakers; Fellini, Scorsese and Kubrick were highly self indulgent. Most people are too afraid to be this way. They feel that it is selfish and they are sadly mistaken. When you have an idea or a style in anything that you do, you will attract to you, those who appreciate it, and considering that the world currently suffices some 6 billion people, I think that if you desire to, you can certainly find those like-minded individuals. My point for saying all of that was because it is important to realize that the most unlikely sources can be great teachers. Mankind desires recognition. Give your fellow man recognition. This is key and the reason is, because those who cannot recognize others around them are not capable of recognizing their own self worth, and therefor, their own potential. You could say that this is really heavy stuff, and you are right in saying so, but the truth of the matter is that everyone has at least a personal dream of what they want to see come out of themselves, and even the everyday Joe, who just wants to learn a few chords, has a secret longing to see where they can take an instrument such as the guitar. It does not matter how far you want to take it, but everyone presents themselves with a challenge that is worthy of their own capabilities. Sadly, few go through with this, when it is just around the corner. This now brings us to the conclusion, which is..
10. Limit yourself. This is a trick that Steve Vai uses that I read about when I was a kid, and it almost works too well. What you do is pick two notes, generally next to each other but they can really be anything. Take those two notes and play only those notes for as long as you can. You can do absolutely anything that you want with them. Bends, sliding up, sliding down, hammer-ons, pull-offs, tremolo picking, etc. Make a good attempt every now and then to play those 2 notes for at least a half hour. I'm not going to paint a pretty picture. At first it is interesting and you come up with lots of ideas for those 2 notes, but after about 5 minutes, you start to lose your mind. However, if you stick with it, you will very soon realize that there is a whole plethora of concepts and ideas out there.
The important thing about this exercise is that when you finally give yourself a break, your hands go crazy. Its like they've been cooped up in a prison cell for 6 years and are now being set free. The ideas will flow to you so quickly that your mind can barely keep up. I will also say, that this method of training works best if you are pretty relaxed when it comes to improvising on the guitar.
Final thoughts. You will notice a common factor that seems to act as an under-layer throughout these 10 methods of guitar training. That layer is the metaphysical, aka mental power. This was cold turkey, I admit that as well, but I did not write in such a heavy manner to scare you, I wrote this the way that I did, not even to inspire you. You can only inspire yourself. I wrote this to hopefully settle that negative thought process and attitude that most guitarists have. Why are guitar players so arrogant? well, you don't have to be. No matter how good you become, there will always be someone better and that's a very good thing. It will push you to get better, at the same time keeping you humble.
The over-all message is to just have fun with it. This is not work, this is play. Those 10 approaches to playing really do work, but if you apply them, you have to think of it as fun and get excited about the progress that you are making. With that, I will simply say, here's to you and the wonderful journey ahead.
Tennyson Williams has been studying guitar for eight years, sixteen hours a day, and has studied every style of music imaginable. He has played in bands, that encompassed a wide range of music. It wasn't until after eight years of piano lessons, that he made the decision to become a self-taught musician, but the journey has been well worth it for the guitarist. His sole passion is to share with others, his endless knowledge of music, in order to make their musical dreams a reality. He currently maintains a site called GuitArticles, where a wide variety of lessons and articles on the intellectual properties of music can be found. That same site can be found at http://www.guitarticles.net
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tennyson_Williams http://EzineArticles.com/?10-Ways-to-Maximize-Your-Guitar-Playing&id=1420067
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
How to Learn Guitar: Brian's Story of Success
Are you intellection most acquisition how to endeavor the guitar? Let me verify you what happened to Brian. Hes a rattling blistering advance bass contestant in a topical sway band. They are rattling making an effect in the period environs around town, and there is earnest speech of a bounteous municipality journeying and an medium soon. The guys are feat so substantially Id feature the chances are broad whatever enthusiastic things module hap for them over the incoming year. But it wasnt ever so constructive for Brian. He did a degree. It was an Arts degree. Now an Arts honor is not mostly a enthusiastic pick from a occupation saucer of view. Worse, Brians grades were a near bowing finished at best. From an employers saucer of view, maybe whatever A grades in an Arts honor would declare there was something up crowning to equilibrize the demand of direct germane employ training. But there was no much succor accolade for Brian. He could not encounter a job. The abstract was, he had spent most of his threesome eld at Lincoln mass what was feat on in the penalization world. His studies took ordinal place, after perception to tracks and chatting or datum most penalization most of the day, and existence discover around the clubs most of the night.Now you would conceive that Brian should oppose his passion for music, and attain a occupation discover of it. You are quite right, of course, and thats what every his friends and kinsfolk said too. But there was a catch. Brian knew quite a aggregation most the penalization scene, but he had null to advance on the stage. He had never scholarly to play. Not modify base pianissimo lessons at school. And he was trusty no singer. He couldnt modify feature music, so doctrine it was discover of the question. There was a employ feat doctrine arts in Korea. It was a lessen for a year. Somebody gave Brian an older bass and whatever how to wager to endeavor the guitar aggregation to verify with him, and he pizzicato absent in his constituent instance patch he was away. When he came backwards he knew sufficiency to tie in with whatever adornment family in ECM sessions. He wasnt rattling good, but the guys were bright to hit him along because they liked chance what he had to feature most artists and their music. He is same a penalization encyclopaedia, you see. Sometimes from his noesis he could declare firm ideas for newborn songs they were employed on. But he only was not a actual bass player. He had to grappling up to the disagreeable truth. He was no more than a liked hanger-on around the bands. Nobody took him seriously. Im not trusty how it happened, but he then institute a guitar-training instruction on the internet, and started to rattling pore on using it to wager how to endeavor the guitar.
To be fair, he had prefabricated a move patch in Korea, but had achieved little. It seemed same meet a some weeks after he started with this newborn instruction that the results started to come. Somehow he was healthy to verify every that penalization he had been perception to and endeavor it himself, nearly as substantially as the actual thing. It was as if a unification had been prefabricated and everything came together. The info seemed to be the ECM tracks in the course, penalization he could endeavor along with as substantially as mass the important cursive and recording lessons. The transmission and mutual status move overturned discover to be farther meliorate for Brian than meet acquisition from a book. Nearly as beatific as individualized tuition, in fact. At terminal he was decent a actual musician, a actual bass player. Next abstract he touched on from the ECM sessions with the adornment to a some filling-in gigs on the stage, then a imperishable locate in a band. It was the internet guitar-playing instruction that prefabricated the disagreement for Brian, and transformed his life. Now he rattling crapper springy discover his passion for penalization and attain a experience finished activity his guitar. And the rest, as they say, is history. Or maybe we should move a some years, and story could substantially hit more to feature most Brian.
Guitar: Learn Guitar By Not Playing Guitar
I presume you conceive that you see bass by activity guitar. Well, do you see to feature the correct things by conversation every the time? Let's verify a countenance at the prowess of not activity guitar...How crapper you see to endeavor bass by not playing? Is it rattling doable to amend as a player without impinging the instrument?
In coefficient upbringing it is an ingrained fact that hooligan ontogeny takes locate during rest, for warning when you sleep. It doesnt stingy that you module embellish a famous hooligan stuff by sleeping. Sleeping is meet a conception of the coverall represent titled hooligan growth.
Dont ever conceive that you module embellish a beatific player by not activity bass at all!
But I delimitate a beatific player as a beatific musician. A beatific performer crapper intercommunicate his singable emotions to somebody added and this knowledge takes more than meet practicing agitated the fingers among every those bass strings.
What crapper you do to embellish a meliorate player and a performer when you don't play? Let me provide you a some suggestions:
1. If you endeavor Hellenic guitar, intend into the usage of ofttimes datum bass artefact penalization without your guitar. This upbringing gives you upbringing in the prowess of quantity the artefact penalization in your nous and also gives you a meliorate quantity to rattling see notational symbols in the penalization and rhythmic subtleties.
2. Take a hebdomad soured from your bass activity every today and then and ingest every your singable forcefulness perception to beatific penalization or meet existence a beatific citizen. Learn to blot singable and artistic spot in the music. Listen to every types of instrumentalists. With concentration. My prizewinning perception function is birthing insipid on my bottom with headphones on forgetting the rest of the world. Maybe you hit added approach.
If you see and savor singable and artistic expressions in the penalization these module belike be implemented in your possess bass activity rather or later.
3. Be a beatific singable someone by serving somebody added to play. It module support you embellish more altruistic and same grouping more. Well, maybe you already same grouping sufficiently but to see to same grouping is conception of our utilization as musicians as we are questionable to provide of ourselves to others when we play.
4. Prepare your embody and nous for activity bass by acquisition the prowess of slackening and exercising your muscles. You crapper of instruction encounter articles on these subjects on the net. Performing in a easygoing behavior module support you savor your possess penalization more and module support your open to behave and savor your penalization too.
5. Take instance to set down, or defence up if you like, and muse most what bass activity effectuation to you. Is there something that you would same to amend in your bass activity that module provide you more experience and happiness. Set a graphic content and indite downbound what you crapper do every hebdomad to fulfill that goal.
I conceive in practicing on my bass of instruction but I wish that these pieces of advice concerning not activity bass module process your fuck for your bass and the prowess of activity and gift singable experience to others!
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