Jam Babble

It can be a long road from newbie to master when learning guitar, but it should be enjoyed not loathed.

There are a few things I’ve noticed that can contribute to you feeling over whelmed or frustrated and/or having fun while you’re learning to play. In this post I want to share with you a couple of ideas that can help you stay focused and have fun.

1. Get a good set of instructions or take private lesson: If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time then you’re familiar that I’m a big proponent of either using DVD guitar lessons or signing up for private lessons. Which ever you choose I suggest you do one or the other. Trying to teach yourself can often become over whelming and you can end up putting the instrument down for good. Having a proper instructor or lesson plan ensures you get the quality instruction you deserve and you won’t end up feeling like you’re not getting any where.
2. Don’t start with chords: A lot of beginners want to rush right off to learn how to play chords because that’s the stuff that songs are made of right! Well I’m going to tell you to do the exact opposite. Instead of learning chords first start with the names of the strings then the guitar string notes on each string. Chords and scales are both made up of individual notes so starting off with the notes is the better method of getting started.
3. Use Videos to Supplement Learning: If you’re feeling stuck, and not quite sure where to turn for more information or maybe even a different take on a particular guitar lesson why not check out youtube for some videos. Many guitar teachers can put together video guitar lessons on a variety of topics. Here’s a sample lesson that explains how to find the notes on each guitar string. While this concept is taught by most beginner guitar lessons and teachers another persons perspective might ring true with you more so then the videos you’re watching.

   NOTE: I’m not suggesting you should use YouTube on it’s own as a learn vehicle I think you need more structure then that when first starting out.

4. Enjoy Yourself: Whether it’s private guitar lessons or guitar lesson videos you choose to use when learning be sure to take time to enjoy your new found skills. It’s not worth having a hobby to learn something like the guitar if you don’t really really enjoy it. Once you learn how to read tab, take some time to go out and find a tab that you like and try to learn the song. That’s what it’s all about in the end right! Having some fun.

Try to keep these things in mind as you progress through your guitar journey. It’ll be well worth it in the end!

Enjoy and Happy Jamming!

Learning the notes on each guitar string is an important foundational lesson for all beginners. Unfortunately it’s also something that is going to require a bit of practice at first and a little memorization.

In today’s post I’m going to explain first the difference between half steps and whole steps as well as how that translates to the guitar neck. Next I’ll explain the spacing between each musical note A through G and finally I’ll give you an example of how to find the different notes on the low E string using the different steps and fret spacings explained in this article.

So Lets get Started.

The concept of half steps and full steps comes from the Piano. Since we’re not dealing with a piano we need to understand it in terms of our guitar neck.

One half step is the same as one fret on your guitar neck. So to make up a full step that is the same as two frets.

REACP

1/2 step = 1 Fret
Full Step -= 2 Frets

The spacing between each note (A through F) is either one full or one half step. The easiest way to remember is that all notes have a full step between them except for B to C and E to F, between each of these notes is only one half step.

RECAP

Space between all notes is one full step

Exceptions: B to C = one 1/2 Step and E to F = one 1/2 step

Ok time for a quick example.

To get started it’s important that you know the names of the strings, E, A, D, G, B and E. We’re going to start with the low E or 6th string for this example.

So when we play the open E string we’re of course playing an E. The note that comes after E is F and if we remember from above E to F is one of the exceptions that only has one half step between them. So we move up to the 1st fret (remember each fret is a half step). Playing the low E string on the first fret is an F.

Let’s do another one.

What comes after F? It’s a G note. We know that there is a full step between the F and G notes so we have to move up two frets to the 3rd fret. So the 3rd fret on the low E string is a G note.

One more just to make sure you’ve got the hang of it.

After the G note we go back around to the beginning and play an A note. The spacing between the G and A notes is one full step so again we must move up two frets. Slide up to the 5th fret on the low E string and we have an A note.

Starting with each open string you can easily find the notes all the way up the neck just by remembering the space between each note and then convert that to number of frets.

Below is a quick video that recaps this lesson and also shows you the notes on the A and D strings as well. Take a few minutes to watch this video and after wards grab your own guitar and give this exercise a try.

If you’re interested in learning more great beginner guitar tips like this one why not consider a learn to play guitar dvd? You get all the same great instruction as private lessons from the luxury of your own home.

OK, maybe the title of this post was a little harsh, but I always used to hear that tab was a lazy way or reading music. After you learn how to read guitar tab you may just agree with me that tab is a lazy way, but it’s a heck of a lot easier then memorizing the fret board, notes and understanding how to read the musical staff.

You see guitar tab looks like music but instead of notes on the music staff tab is actually a picture of the 6 strings on your guitar. One those strings will be numbers, these numbers correspond to the fret you play at that time.

So for instance if you were supposed to be playing an E chord it would look something like this.

1 ——-
2 ——-
3 —-1–
4 —-2–
5 —-2–
6 ——-

What this basically means is that on the 5th string, or A string, you press on the 2nd fret, then on the 4th string or D string you press on the 2nd fret and then on the G string you press on the 1st fret.

This is the simplistic view of what guitar tab can teach you but if you can get this you’ll be able to grasp reading it later on.

Here’s another great article that will help get you jump started with reading guitar tabs.

Most of us are familiar with playing Pentatonic scales. Those are the scales I’m always talking about here on the blog and they are primarily the first scales most often introduced to beginners.

Why? Well they have fewer notes then a Diatonic scale and are usually used in most pop/rock lead guitar pieces.

The difference between a diatonic and pentatonic scale is the number of notes used. A diatonic scale adds in two notes that are skipped in the pentatonic bringing the note count to all 7 notes from the scale rather then the 5 or “penta” notes used in the pentatonic scale.

When you’re trying to become a faster guitar player it’s worth learning and practicing both forms of these scales. I think they add a different dimension to your playing and they also strengthen your understanding of the notes on the fretboard.

I found a good video by Jonathan over at Guitartipsweekly.com that explains the Am Diatonic scale. You can watch it below and it should clear up a bit more of the possible confusion that exists between the Pentatonic and Diatonic scales.

He’s used some really nice images along with the video that help explain what he’s trying to teach in this quick video lesson.

Just came across another new guitar lesson product today. I think it may have been out for a while now but thought I should let you all know about it none the less.

The program is samilessons.com they’re dubbing themselves “personalized online guitar lessons”. I don’t think personalized is the exact term they should use because I’m pretty sure the lessons you’re going to be purchasing are not personalized but rather personal… as in one-on-one.

I went through their sales letter and took a peek at the quality of the demo video on their sale page. The lesson quality looks similar to other programs I’ve come across. They are covering differing styles and they appear to be teaching you by learning song parts, of course this is just from the basic demo video I was able to catch.

Like most of these programs they all have some merit to be able to teach you guitar if you’re willing to put the effort in. The question that I always ask is how difficult do they make it to learn the basic guitar skills such as notes on the string, major and minor chords, barre chords etc.

If a program is using say the CAGED guitar system, well that’s a big plus in my opinion. I like that system as a method of learning to play guitar and it simplifies how much and what you have to memorize.

I am indeed a sucker for new technology. I posted a couple of weeks ago about eMedia’s Version 5 of their guitar lesson software. I found a full review today that I thought would be interesting to those of you who like to use their computer for learning guitar.

Personally I’m a bigger fan of using videos and dvd’s but I know there are some hard core PC and Mac users.

A quick overview. Emedia of course has been selling this software for several years now. The big feature I blogged about a few days ago was the recognition feature that recognizes whether you’re playing things correctly via a microphone that is connected to your computer and used as an input device for your machine.

I’ve come across a few hard core CAGED guitar system enthusiasts that feel this software should use this system to teach but I don’t believe they are.

There are more note and finger tracking tools in this version of their program then ever before and they’ve also added more songs to the already massive library of tunes the program teaches.

If you’re into using your computer for music lessons or have owned a version of Emedia before check out the full post now.

I recently just put together a Learn and Master guitar video review. I’ve for quite a while felt that this self study learn guitar course was one of the best available but couldn’t really find a way to get that across in articles and blog posts.

So I decided to do a Learn and Master guitar review in video format.

I have a copy of this course and feel that it’s not just the fact that it uses videos that makes it such a great product. It’s the combination of all the items in the course, how they interact and the lesson plan that was developed by course author Steve Krenz.

You see the video sessions are just the start of your journey to learning guitar using this product. Once you’re done watching a lesson you can refer to the lesson book which has 20 different sections, one for each session on the 10 dvd’s. The lesson book offers additional practice exercises and a refresher of what was offered in the video.

If you’re interested in learning to play guitar, and private lessons aren’t your thing, watch my review. Learn and Master guitar might just be the product you’ve been looking for to teach you how to play.

Continuing along with my post on becoming a better lead guitar player here I thought it would be worth while to give a quick reference to how you can learn to play faster.

I’ve read a lot about different exercises you can use to improve your speed when playing. One such article I read today gave a great over view of three different exercises you can use that will have you playing more accureately and faster in just a few weeks.

In order to do these exercises you’re going to need a metronome so if you don’t yet have one you’ll want to either get a software based metronome or buy an electronic one.

Here’s the original article on playing guitar faster but I’ll give a brief over view here.

Tip 1: Learn your Pentatonic scales (sound familiar) I’ve been talking about this a lot in different posts. You want to learn the first shape and then play it forwards and backwards. Do this first for accuracy by starting in the open position playing the scale forwards then backwards, moving up one fret and doing it again.

Tip 2: Play the scale along with a metronome. It’s good to be able to play it all the way up the neck but also practice doing it in time with a metronome. The exercise they suggest will work well.

Tip 3: Pick up and down. Not all beginner guitar players do this but double picking with double how many times you’re hitting your string in the same time frame you used to only hit it once.

So check out that original article and start integrating some of this into your practice routines.

Solo and lead guitar is what facinates an awful lot of beginners. Unfortunately it’s also that part of learning guitar that takes the most work. There are some things you can put your time into learning that will be very useful. This article is going to be a fast primer on learning to play lead guitar and developing your own solos.

Scales

Soloing and lead guitar starts with scales. If you don’t yet know your Blues and pentatonic scales this is something you should start on right away. If you’re not using a guitar lesson program that’s no problem. There are lots of free videos out there you can access which will provide a lesson on playing pentatonic scales.

Once you’ve learned the basics of these scales you want to practice them forwards and backwards to first master accuracy and later improve your speed. You should do this for all the shapes of each scale. At first don’t worry too much about what key it is you’re playing in, you want to master moving around the scale.

Improvising

Next you want to start working on making up some licks of your own. Play around inside the different scale shapes you’ve been practicing. This will help you improvise inside the scale shapes. Playing the scale backwards and forwards is great but it’s not really original. Making up small solos of your own within the shape is the first step to being a creative lead guitar player.

Since the shapes maintain the same for each key you’re playing in licks and pieces you create when practicing are transferable to any key you may just have to move the position of the shape up or down the fret board.

Keys

Once you have a solid understanding of the scales backwards and forwards it’s time to start introducing keys and theory. If you haven’t done any theory study before this will take a bit of time for you but it’s something you are going to want to do.

Understanding what chords fall into which Keys is important. You need to know this so if you’re jamming with someone you can quickly recognize which scale you can play from that will fit the particular chord progressions.

Next you’ll want to memorize which scales match up with each key. From this you’ll be already to play along on the fly with friends or a band when they’re jamming.

That’s the intro to learning to be a great lead guitar player.

When you first start learning to play guitar, no matter how you choose to learn, you’re going to have to break through a mental barrier that exists. This is especially true when start trying to learn major and minor chords.

You see the positions we want our hands to go in aren’t natural to anything we’ve tried to do before. Also the concept of strumming with one hand, making a chord with the other then changing to another chord without stopping strumming takes some serious concentration as well.

Add on top of this that eventually you want to be able to play guitar faster and there’s a lot going on at once.

I want to help set your mind at ease a little. All beginner guitar players have this trouble at first. They tend to stumble feeling like their hands just can’t do it. They can’t form these chords. It isn’t true and all beginners face this.

Here are a few things you can try as you’re learning this new skill.

1 – Separate strumming from fretting. For the first little bit just practice making chords with your left hand. Switch between the different chords and aim for getting the right shape.

2 – When playing chords, even when you stumble making a particular chord shape don’t stop strumming keep on moving ahead. Separating out your strumming hand and fretting hand in your mind is important since they are independent.

Like most things in guitar you want to first aim for proper technique and then add in speed. Doing these two things (practicing chords shapes without strumming and continuing to strum even when you have trouble keeping up with your fretting hand) will improve your ability over all.