Jam Babble

Changing chords is something a lot of beginners struggle with. I have me theories that beginners tend to try and change chords too quickly while they’re learning. By this I don’t mean physcially too fast but rather too soon.

In order to be efficient at changing chords, especially while strumming, you need to first be profeccient in playing and strumming the chord on it’s own. I’m a big believer in breaking down skills on the guitar into baby steps then piecing all those steps together to create the full picture, so lets do that with chord changes.

As I already mentioned you need to be able to make the chord shapes and strum them well before you can think about moving between them. Once you’ve got that down I want you to take the strumming part out of the equation.

Let’s say you’re trying to switch from C to G. Stop strumming and just practice moving your hands from the C shape to the G shape back to the C shape etc. The movement is the same whether your strumming or not but by stopping strumming you’re allowing your brain to focus just on the chord change and manuvering your fretting hand. Once you feel comfortable with it add a straight strumming up down up down up etc. To the mix.

A couple of points to note, if you stumble switching the chord shapes don’t worry just keep on strumming. If you continue to strum steady you’ll get in the habit of being able to leave your strumming hand on auto pilot and worry about moving your fretting fingers around.

Last but not least don’t try to learn too many changes at once. Focus on one chord to one other chord at a time. Then worry about creating chord progressions you change between. Breaking the technique down almost always works for new skills on the guitar and if your patient it will work for you really well.

Other Posts:
http://guitarlessonreview.net/669/learning-the-guitar-fretboard-notes/
http://www.youguitarist.net/291/how-you-can-benefit-from-the-caged-guitar-system/

Palm Muting is a great skill that I don’t think is used all that often. I use it a lot since I enjoy playing acoustic songs that use the guitar as a rhythm instrument as well (think tunes a la Jack Johnson).

To use palm muting what you want to do is use the fleshy part of your palm below where you thumb joins your hand and place that over the strings just above the bridge. When you do this you reduce the amount of noise that comes from the strings since they are not allowed to shake as much as when there is no hand pressed against them.

By varying the pressure and location of your palm you can get some really cool tunes out of your acoustic or electric.

This technique takes sometime to master and you need to play with it but it can allow you to create some great rhythm parts or mix up a cover tune you might already know and love to make it your own.

Other Posts:
http://www.pianoplayingtips.info/beginner-guitar-lesson-on-learning-the-notes-on-each-guitar-string
http://www.guitarlessonscritic.com/blog/learning-guitar-string-notes-first-step-to-a-solid-beginner-foundation/

I grabbed this idea from the author over at Acoustic-Guitar-Blog, it was a solid enough idea that I wanted to pass it along to you guys.

If you haven’t been playing long you may not have run into the problem of your guitar slipping off your leg. It happens a lot if you have a pair of dress pants on or a fabric that isn’t denim. There is a quick solution to this how ever and it’s something I probably would’ve never thought of had I not come across this post.

The author there talks about using a piece of shelf liner that’s cut out to go on your leg first then place the guitar on top of that. It creates a non slide surface for you to rest your guitar on. The idea seems awesome and I’m going to try.

I often have issues with my guitar sliding on my leg when I’m really getting into a tune and stomping my feet.

Another idea was to use a thin peace of rubber like a bathing or swimming cap. Anything that’s thing enough to not be obtrusive and can fit right underneath the guitar between it and your leg will work.

Other Interesting Posts:
http://www.guitarlessonscritic.com/blog/intro-to-the-caged-system-locating-all-major-chords-on-the-guitar-neck/
http://guitarlessonreview.net/682/easy-guitar-tuning-without-the-need-for-an-electric-tuner/
http://www.pianoplayingtips.info/3-speed-exercises-to-learn-to-play-guitar-faster

A lot of beginners get caught in the cycle of constantly learning to play other peoples songs exactly as they play them. If you’re goal is to play cover tunes and possibly in a cover band awesome, keep at it. How ever if you don’t want to just mimic someone elses style and music you need to break the habit.

Here’s you 3 step plan to break the Cover Habit

1.) Learn a great cover tune that you like, if you can sing and play at the same time do that. I know it might seem counterintuitive to learn another cover song when I’m telling you break the habit but trust me.
2.) Figure out what key the song is in, make note of the chords you’re playing and also what other chords go along in that same key. If you can notice the rhythm style you’re playing.
3.) Mix it up. What do I mean by this? Well first try playing the same chord progression but with a different rhythm and timing, maybe speed it up or slow it down. If you can sing the song as well try changing up the melody to the lyrics as well. Add in a few chords here and there that might not be in the original tune but make sense based on the key of the song.

If you do this with a few tunes you’ll not only start to create your own cool cover versions of tunes but you’ll also start to find your own voice as a guitar player. This could lead to writing a few of your own tunes as well.

Other Interesting Posts:
http://www.pianoplayingtips.info/memorizing-major-guitar-chords-caged-guitar-system
http://freeguitarstudy.com/2010/01/21/how-to-learn-the-guitar-neck.aspx
http://www.bestbeginnerguitarlessons.com/blog/learning-and-loving-the-guitar/how-to-learn-the-guitar-string-notes

I know lame title but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to put together this quick post on how guitar hero fans are kinda driving me nuts. I have played the game, and truthfully it is a little fun, how ever it’s not music it’s a game.

I believe that this game is creating awareness for guitar lessons and more young players are popping up, how ever I think we’re going to have a bunch of grouchy beginners on our hands when they realize that it’s a bit hard to learn the 5 shapes of a pentatonic scale then it is to play “american women” on HARD (damn you orange button).

Becoming a good guitar hero player is about practice so that is a solid skill that kids and young adults alike are learning from the game. Also for those sly enough to catch it there is a distinct rhythm to all the songs on games like guitar hero and rock band. You’ll find you’re much better at games like these if you’re able to pick up on the rhythm and notice that every song is just a series of patterns that are repeated (also known as Verse, Chorus and Bridge).

Anyways, I just wanted to share my 2 cents on this topic because I am hearing more and more about this. I don’t want anyones hopes to be raised that if you’re a solid guitar hero player most of those button pushing skills won’t translate over to the 6 string guitar.

Other Interesting posts:
http://www.bestbeginnerguitarlessons.com/blog/learning-and-loving-the-guitar/tuning-your-guitar-without-an-electric-tuner
http://www.learnguitarblog.com/beginner-guitar-chords-using-only-three-strings/
http://www.guitarlessonscritic.com/blog/tuning-your-guitar-by-ear-without-an-electric-tuner/

If you’re into a particular style of music, say jazz, rock or acoustic, only learning songs in that genre can actually stunt your growth as a guitar player.

While it’s not always fun to learn songs we don’t love, it can be great for your development as a guitar player to go ahead and start learning some tunes that are outside your comfort zone.

Why is this important?

Different genres of music utilize different styles. For example if you’re into metal and shredding you’ll probably be great at playing loud and fast, how ever put an acoustic guitar in your hand and ask you to play a nice soft palm muted melody and you’d be lost.

Learning different techniques not only makes you appreciate your main style more it also allows you to explore and possibly meld new techniques from another genre into your own.

How to Do it?

Ideally you’re going to want to learn a few tunes from a different genre not pick up “styles”, so I suggest finding a few of the popular tunes right now from another genre and finding the tab or music for them.

Download the songs MP3 so you get a feel for how the tune sounds and it’s rhythm. Then take the tab/music and learn that tune.

After a few of these you can start to meld these new styles and techniques into your main playing style. It can really help expand your creative horizons and your skills as a guitar player.

Other Interesting Posts:
http://www.guitarlessonscritic.com/blog/3-string-beginner-guitar-chords-c-g-and-d7/
http://www.learnguitarblog.com/learning-to-tune-your-guitar-by-ear/
http://easyguitarlessonblog.com/learning-guitar-notes-on-the-top-three-strings-of-the-guitar/