Jam Babble

The 12 bar blues isn’t a tough concept to understand. You do need some basic knowledge of scales, and if you know you’re way around the neck a bit that will help. If you’re not there yet don’t panic, these tips on how to play the 12 bar blues will explain how you can discover what chords to play in each key and what order to play them in. Also in the video lesson at the end of this article I’ll give you an example of how to play the 12 bar blues in A at 2 different locations on the neck.

The 12 bar blues is basically a simple pattern. While you can play the 12 bar blues in the key of A, B, D etc. There is one easy method to remember which notes you plug in.

Here’s what the 12 bar blues pattern looks like: 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 4 – 4 – 1 – 1 – 5 – 4 – 1 – 5

I now, numbers aren’t notes. No problem, because each one of these numbers corresponds to a particular note from a scale. The scale depends on the key you’re playing in.

Let’s presume you want to play 12 bar blues in the key of A. Looking at the A Maj scale:

A – B – C# – D – E – F# – G# – A

We’d grab the first, fourth and the fifth notes which would be A, D and E. Next we plug those notes into the pattern above which would make our 12 bar blues progression: A – A – A – A – D – D – A – A – E – D – A – E

Of course when we play it as a blues progression we normally use a bit of a shuffle feel with some power chord like chords. The video below will explain more about how to play this, but this article explains the basic theory behind formulating a 12 bar blues progression.

Ready to get serious about learning to play the guitar? Why not take matters into your own hands and try guitar dvd lessons so you can study on your own. Video lessons provide you with the one-on-one approach of private instruction but the freedom of self study.

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

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/

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.

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.