Today  We will have a look at a song by Mike Posner. It is the acoustic version of the song. It is good to learn it as it does not have a straightforward feel. Song is played with a relaxed “Jazzy” feel, great song to introduce you to that feel.

 If you are not familiar with the version of this song, please click on the video at the bottom of this lesson.     

I have only included here the first part, which is a adaption of the original.
I hope to include a video of my own at a later stage to illustrate the tab provided here underneath.                

 

 

Here is the basic layout of the song:  

          E^b       Dm        Gm                   B^b

     E——————   ——————-3-

     B——————  ————–3—-3–

     G——————  ————–3——

     D—————–  ———————-

     A—6——5—–  ———3————

     E—————–  –3–6—————-

Count 1²       3⁴             1  and 2     3      4

 

About the counting underneath the tab:  the ² and ⁴ mean those beats are ringing, so please make sure you hold those notes for 2 beats.

 

      Playing Ideas:

When you are a beginner just play the bassnotes underneath the first three chords, forget about the last chord.

Play the song by just using chords, Playing the E^b with a C-shape, play Dm with a barreshape, Gm as barreshape and the B^b as a A-shape chord on fret 3.

 Here are the fingerings [also known as voicings] of those chords:

     E^{b              Dm             Gm           Bb}

     x             5           3         7

     4             6           3         7

     3             7           3         3

     5             7           5         3

     6             5           5         x

     x             x           3         x

Play each chord for two strums, for the B^b play on beat 3 the notes as indicated on the D and G string, then for beat 4 play as indicated on the B and E string. Really you split this chord up in two parts, the rest of the chords are played as indicated. When you are not familiar with this way of notating chords: Read them as tab, lower notes are played on the low E, x means do not play.

 

I have transposed the same piece for beginners to more “familiar” chordshapes. They read like:

    F             Em         Am           C

    1              0            0            0

    1              0            1            1

    2              0            2            0

    3              2            2            2

    x              x            0            3

    x              x            x            x

Play these chords also with two strums per chord. Notice the different notation for the Em, really easy! If you can play full Em go for that one as this chord gives you a fuller sound!

 

Finally the Transposed version in riff fashion:

         F        Em            Am            C 

    E——————-  ——————-

    B——————- ——————–

    G——————- —————-0—-

    D–3——-2——- ———-0———2-

    A——————– –0–3—————-

    E——————– ——————–

Count 1²       3⁴            1 and 2      3    4

For the  more advanced players: Notice that the C chord mentioned above does not have a Root, why have I chosen to harmonize the riff with a C? It is the G and the E of the C chord that we play here: The 5th and the major 3rd.

 

Okay that will do for now, make sure you revisit the stuff you have learned so far, and keep at it.

See you next time,

Eddie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the beauties of the electric guitar is that it lends itself so well to be blended with another guitar, it can act almost like a hornsection when it is put in context with another electric guitar. Off course, it all depends on the player and what he/she knows about the instrument.

               What is the Twin GuitarSound and How Do You Get It?

The Twin GuitarSound is simply the sound of two guitars playing two different parts which work together as one guitar. In other words: Two guitars are playing, but you  hear one sound because the sound “mashes” together to create one riff or chord.

    You can create that sound by:  # Playing Chords “against” each other: One guitarplayer plays one chord, the other guitar plays a totally different chord, but related to chord one.

                                                # One guitar plays a chord and holds back, while guitar One holds back, guitar Two kicks in with a riff, or part of a chord, so you hear guitar One and Two as one guitarsound.

                                                # Both guitars play same chord but in a different postion on the fretboard, Gtr One could play powerchord on low E and A string while Gtr. Two plays same chord but now as a triad (= chord with three tones) over the Top E,B and G string. The result is that Gtr.One sounds bassy while Gtr. Two sounds bright and clear.

                           When Using Effects:

It is really easy to make two guitars stand out of each other by using effects, one guitar could use distortion for the powerchords, while guitar two is played with clean and bright sound. Instead of clean you could think like: Use chorus, phase, flange or echo for guitar Two. Anything you can do to make the two guitars stand out will help. It does help if the parts themself already stand out, that is, before you start thinking about effects and other equipmentchoises!

 

                           Using Different Guitars:

A guitar equipped with humbuckers will match very well with a single coil equipped guitar. For example a Les Paul and a Stratocaster will match very well, but you still need to be carefull with the guitarparts, make sure the part  the Les Paul plays will not not drown out the parts of the Stratocaster.

Once you get used to this kind of thinking you will start to see an infinite amount of possibilities, you can even use different pick-up positions, think about what each guitar is playing and find the best, matching pick-up postion for this sound. It also helps if you can hear the sound in your head before you play, this will save you a lot of time and arguments with your bandmates.

Experiment as much as you can with all these different approaches to find out what works for you, keep things clear and playful.

 

Finally I have included one example of a Two guitarpart: Guitar Two Plays Powerchords over low E and A, while Guitar One Plays notes and chords using D, G  and B string. The Part reads as follows:

 

   

 

                C     Cmaj7 C6          F       G

          E  ———————   ——————–

          B  ———————    –1—- 3———-

          G –5–5—4—-2—–    –2—–4———-   = Guitar One

          D –5–5—5—-2—–    –3—–5———–

          A ———————-      ——————-

          E ———————-      ——————–  

Count :     1   and 2     3⁴                1²     3⁴

            

             C5                                F5   G5

          D-5–5—5–5–5-5-5-5-  ——————–

          A-3–3—3–3–3-3-3-3-  –3—-5———–  = Guitar Two

          E————————-   –1—-3———–

Count:    1and2and 3and4and      1²    3⁴

 

About the Chords:

Guitar One: Fret 4 Gstring creates the Maj7, Fret2 Gstring creates the 6th. The voicing for the F and G in the second bar are my own example, you can play them any way you like as long as you avoid playing chords on the low E and A, this to create contrast between Guitar One and Two.

Guitar Two: All chords are powerchords, a powerchord is a chord existing of two notes: The Root and the Perfect 5th. They are called powerchord because the chord gives a bassy, powerful sound. It is possible to create riffs and melodies with just powerchords. Most well-known powerchordriff is “Smoke on the Water”.

 

When you play the parts experiment with use of effects, guitar One could be left clean while guitar Two could use distortion.

 

Happy Playing and See You Next Time,

Eddie

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Partly because this blog is still under development and partly because I work with simple tools: Pen and Paper and musical instruments such as guitar, keyboard and drums. 

When it comes down to notating your own music I am a strong believer in developing your own system to notate whatever it is you are playing. I still think it is more fun to play guitar, mess about and come up with an idea, play it for a while and quickly jot it down on a piece of paper, than setting up a recording device, and getting lost in all the recordingoptions and losing your inspiration in the process of this. Hopefully you will remember the idea again when you see it written down at the piece of paper. Notating your own music will also help you to understand what you are doing better in terms of rhythm and where the division of the bars are. All very useful for when you need to explain your songs to other musicians and guitarplayers!

With regards to the system I use, I will create a specific blog explaining it in detail how it works. For lessons for beginners I will mostely create chordsequences and the fingering of those chords will be given. The fingeringsystem for those chords is not too different from standard tablature with the only difference that there will be no strings going through the chords, simply because you do not need them for this purpose! Once you can finger the chord, strum (or pick) it in any way you like, then follow my guidelines for strumming or whatever is suggested.

For Melodies and Riffs ect . follow the guideline for the counting, count while you play the idea slowly and try to get the FEEL, once you feel it, speed the idea up, as this will make the feel stronger, if you speed the idea up too much it will loose its feel. This is because musical ideas work within a particular temporange: Too slow or fast will kill the feel, and you can no longer hear what the idea is about.

Once you get used to this particular way of notation you will no longer need a taperecorder or camera. I am not suggesting for a moment that any of these devices are no good, no, they are excellent, but there are other, simpler ways of recording what you played: the use of pen and paper.

As mentioned before I will create a specific blog about the notation system, for now, go over the older blogs and read them carefully keeping in mind what I suggested about feel and counting.

Please bear in mind that most of the ideas given here are only starting points, experiment with different feel and tempos ect. as none of these ideas are finished as such. For that matter, any song in the world you know can be treated like this: Try playing some of your favourite riffs with a different feel and see what you get.

 

Happy experimenting

Eddie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we will have a look at a solopiece for the Ukulele

Here are the chords tabbed out:

String  Chord 1   Chord 2    Chord 3   Chord 4  Chord 5  Chord 6

    A          5            3               7             10            8           12

    E          0            0               0              0             0           0

    C          0            0               0              0             0           0

    G          0            0               0              0             0           0

 

               About Chordnotation: The way the chords are represented is similar as tab, if you are not familiar with it please read as follows: The top number is a fretnumber and is played on the high A string, a 0 means open string, play each chord as one movement, one strum if you like. On the Lefthand side are the names of the strings mentioned: They read from top to bottom, High A as First String,G as Fourth String

 

Play Chords as follows:

       Chord1  Chord2     Chord 3  Chord 2  :     Chord 4  Chord 5     Chord 6  Chord 5 :

Count:     1 2     3 4              1 2      3 4                 1 2           3 4               1 2      3 4  

                                                                                                                      finish on chord 2 for full bar

 

As you can see each section contains two bars and is then repeated. The most basic form of strumming is two strums per chord. If strumming and accents are not a problem for you, play sequence with whatever strumpattern you like, but keeping to the 2 beats per chord feel.

 

   Playing Ideas:

~ Change the order of the chords, see what it sounds like.

~ Create a similar chordsequence, but use now fretted notes on the E (=2nd) string, keep the rest of your strings as open strings.

~ Create a melody for the sequence I wrote out, write melody down and sing it along while you play the chords.

 

  What Are Those Chords Called ?

Good question, on purpose I wanted to keep things simple, but yes the chords do have a name of some sort:

Chord 1= C9 with the D (which makes it a 9th chord) at the topstring.  

Chord 2= C   (probably the most familiar chordshape out of the whole sequence).

 Chord 3= an inversion of C with the E (the major 3rd of the chord) at the top. 

Chord 4= Aother inversion of C, this time with the G (the perfect 5th of the chord) at the top.

Chord 5= Csus4 with the F(which makes chord a sus4) at the top.

Chord 6= C6 with the A (which creates the sound of the 6th) at the top.

 

If the explanation why those chords are called that way does not make sense at the moment, please do not worry, in futureblogs I will explain about chordconstruction and the extension of chords. All of this will start to make sense to you if you keep revisiting this blog as it is my intention to unravel the whole “Musictheory Mistery” in clearcut language and examples.

 

Since this is my first Ukulele blog I would suggest to all you Uke players out there that most of the guitarblogs can be applied to the Ukulele as well, certainly the blog about Technique. Try it, experiment and rearrange the guitarideas for Uke.

 

Okay once you can play the sequence and you are hungry for some more try the next two “impossible” chordshapes: 

       String                  C              F

           A                    10            12

           E                    12             8

           C                    12            12

           G                    12            10

 

Happy Playing and See You Next Time

Eddie           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apart from having a lot of willpower here are some tips and ideas which you should keep in mind:

#   Use all FOUR fingers of your Left Hand. Go through one of my early blogs about technique and fingering, it will help you to get a focus on what I mean. We have four fingers available for our fretting hand, which is usually your left hand (if you are a lefty think in mirror version!!). Use them all, the sooner you will do this, the better your playing will get. Usually people leave out the use of the pink. Why? Because it is the weakest finger of the four, work on it seperately with individual exercises which will train you to use your pink.

#   Posture  = How you sit [or stand up] while holding the guitar: Try to sit straight, no sofas please, use a hard chair which can support your back. May feel a little boring at first, but it will help you to concentrate. Where are those teachers of the past we used to have in primary school who told you off for not sitting straight in your chair?  There is a reason for anything in this world, sitting [or standing] upright is one of them as it helps to maintain you concentrated on what you are doing. If you use a guitarstrap (which is what I do, even when I sit down!!) have it as high as when you would sit and play the guitar. Does not look cool? Maybe you should concentrate more on your haircut and doing guitaraccrobatics in front of the mirror or an audience in your livingroom!  Forget the joking and look at people who can play the guitar well, how do they hold the guitar? Yes there are a few exceptions, but most of them will not have their guitar slung that low so it will reach the point of their shoes. Once you have learned how to play you can experiment with your posture and how low you can hold your axe, you may even want to try sliding on your knees while playing through some of your favourite licks, or playing with your teeth (Nickel strings taste really rusty and metallic!, but some of your may like it as desert!) If you get bored with any of the above why not play some riffs behind your back, this will really show you and your audience how well you can play. No seriously, I am not kidding, this is a good trick to try, but it may not feel so comfortable after a while. If you practise like this regularly you may be able to beat that other kid in your class!

#   Thumb:   Find a neutral postion, which is at the back of the guitar, opposite your first finger. This is a neutral postion, from there the thumb can move anywhere, and yes, at times it will even come over the neck. But for now keep it at the back since you are not involved in stringbending yet!!

#   Wrist: Keep it flexible, try to move it around as you are holding some of the basic chords like G and Em, make sure that the open strings will sound, that your fingers do not muffle the strings, if they do, move your wrist, keep thumb at the back and see if you can get that chord to ring like a bell!!

#   Listen to your playing: Sounds all too obvious? It is quite common for people to concentrate on the motorskills in the beginning, they may forget what they are playing, as they are busy watching their fingers, and often looking at sheetmusic as well. It helps if you can memorise what you are playing as this will make it easier to concentrate on listening. This advise also goes for Intermediate and Advanced players, memorising any song will help you to play it better.

#   Enjoy what you can play, do not think too much about the future and what you COULD play. This goes especially for people who start out a little later in life. Usually children will enjoy what they can do and muck about with it a bit, which is great as you need to experiment to push your playing to the next level. It is all about being in the moment, enjoy what goes on, do it as well as you can for now and carry on with it!!

 

Stay upright and tuned!!

Eddie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 When you are a beginner you need guidance and support to help you with getting sounds from the guitar. As you progress you may find that it is easy to get lost in the track of time while you are playing some of the ideas you have been given. You get totally absorbed by what you are doing at that very moment in time. Such is the power of music: Music connects you with the moment and makes you forget whatever worries were on your mind. That is one of the reasons why people love listening to music, going out to concerts or gigs.

The idea of the lessons on this blog is to provide you with some stimulus, ideas you can use for your own playing or just musical ideas which can stand on their own.

People who can play the guitar can still benefit of going over lessons which are designed with the beginner in mind. Most of my lessons do have an open character and can be played in many different ways:

~ When there is talk about strumming you can pick the idea instead of strum, this will require a different technique but since you can play the guitar you will know what to do.

~ If a lesson is about a particular chordsequence, you can add basslines or riffs in between the chords etc.

~ If a particular fingering for a chord is given, you can change the postion of the chord, if you know the fretboard you will know what you can do with the chord.

~ You can change the key of the idea, in most cases this means you will be playing in a different position on the fretboard.

 

Most people, especially intermediate and advanced players, tend to think, after having covered the basics, they need to move on to more “advanced scales and chords”. My own experience, and that of many other guitarplayers, is that the so called “easy stuff” is open for many different interpretations. You need to learn to apply whatever you know, to play in different contexts and styles. For example, there are many different ways to play a C chord on the guitar, and there are many things you can do with that same chord. Some of those ideas will be obvious, some are less common.

 Most of the popular songs of the last 40 to 60 years are all very simple in terms of harmony [chordchanges] and melody. That is one of the reasons why people like them so much. However, most of these songs do sound great because they will have a special feel or just a little idea which makes the song sound slightly different from what you would expect it to be.

If you enjoy reading this blog, I would suggest trawling through the material and pick whatever takes your fancy, do not pay too much attention about the grading, and use the material for whatever purpose you want to use it for.

Eddie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Today we will look at a short melody played over the high E-string.

Here is the melody:

                C            G    Am       C               G     Em    C           G    Am     C          G     Am

                       s                              s                           s       

         E —8—7-8—7—5—  —8—-7-8—10—12  –8–7-8—-7—5–  —8—12-15—17—–

Count:      1    2and 3    4         1     2and   3      4     1   2and   3   4        1     2  and   3⁴

        About Notation: S= Slide Up 

 

        About the Melody: ~ Notice how the melody goes back and forwards from the BC= half tone.

                                   ~ Notice the third bar is exactely same as first bar.

                                   ~ Notice that the rhythm of whole melody is the same apart from last bar: a change on beat 3 and 4.

                                  

        Why Those Chords? :  First Bar:   C of melody (fret 8) relates to Root of C chord.

                                                      The B (fret 7) is the major third of the G chord.

                                                      The A (fret 5) is the Root of the A minor chord.

                                         Second Bar: The D (fret 10) is the perfect fifth of the G chord.

                                                           The E (fret 10) is the Root of the Em chord.

                                         Last Bar:      The E (fret 12) is the major third of the C chord.

                                                            The G (fret 15) is the Root of the G chord.

                                                            The A (fret 17) is the Root of the A minor chord.

 

If you are still confused why I have chosen the chords I did, do not worry as I will explain harmony in great detail in future blogs. For now this short break-down about the harmony will do.

 

       Creating Melodies:

When it comes to making melodies, keep them short, make them independent, so they can stand on their own to make sense. If you can sing- or hum it back you are probably doing a good job!

There are a lot of different approaches about how to create melodies, the example above is of a rising nature [the notes go up all the time] and it finishes on a climax. Experiment for yourself with different approaches, in future blogs I will spend more time on the different approaches how to create melodies. Listen to the melodies of your favourite songs, see how they move.

What I mentioned for melodies also goes for Solos, make sure your solos make sense [are melodic] sing along when you play, do not let your fingers dicatate too much [a specific guitarist “problem”] what you play. Let your solos go to a climax, let them make a contrast to what goes on in the rest of the song. In futureblogs I will give more tips and ideas about how to construct guitarsolos. Listen to what your favourite guitarplayers play, do you find they use a particular approach when it comes to playing solos, can you detect what makes player X sound so different from player Y?

 

     Playing Ideas:

Play same melody but now over different strings, observe where the half tones are. Make sure you do know the notenames.

Experiment with different voicings [fingerings] for the given chords, play those chords in different places on the fredboard. Play just the chords and write out your own melody, change the given rhythm ect. 

 

Have Fun!!

Eddie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Play the following chordidea:

 

             A                   Asus4   A        A               A        A9   A

E  —————————————————————

                                H

B         ——-2——-2–3—2          –2——–2—————-

G  —————————–         ——————–4–2—-

D  —————————–         ——————————-

 A  ——0———-0———        -0——0———————–

 E  —————————–      ——————————–

Count:   1    and   2  and 3   4      1 and 2   and    3   4

 

 A brief note about my tab and other indication marks: Low E is at the bottom, high E is the top one, similar as standard tab.  Underneath the tab I put and indication for the counting, this to get an idea about the feel for the idea. I could have indicated a Beat Per Minute mark, but didn’t.  Do not worry about speed, just try to get the feel.       H= Hammer On      S= Slide   := Repeat

 

 

Here is the same chordidea but now played  as arpeggio (= broken chord—in other words, a chord played one note at a time, instead of being strummed where all your notes sound simultenously—) over just the high E-string:

          

 

                                                S

                           —5—9—5–9–10–9          —5—9–5–9–7—5  :

          count:            1   and 2 and 3   4               1 and 2 and 3   4

 

Try the last idea over the one string by using Hammer Ons as well

 

                     Some Observations:

When Playing Chord ideas @ You are able to use More strings= Fuller Sound

                                      @ You are able to play Several Strings  Simultaneously

 

When Playing over One String @ Hammer-Ons and Slides are easy! In fact they feel so good being played over one string., use them at your advantage!!                

                                           @ It is easy to notice what intervals [how many frets in between your notes] you play. Keep asking yourself which notes you are playing!

 

                      Playing Tips:

Looking at the chord idea, notice that you play on almost every digit of the beat, only beat 3 and 4 do not have the  –and—   Clap the rhythm, tap it on your knee, this helps to get the feel in your system, knowing the feel  makes it easier to play the notes. Music in not just single notes and chords, rhythm plays a huge part in music as well  ~ If It Aint’t Got That Swing It Don’t Mean A Thing~ Try to get the feel from the first moment, first play slowly, then speed it up for the idea to make sense. Rhythms all have their own feel, and every song works with different rhythms. Try playing something you know a lot slower, how does it sound? Does it sound worse or just different? Listen to different coverversions of songs you like, try finding the ones which use a different tempo.

When Playing the chord idea over one string you could just play the idea using one finger, and use as many slides and hammer-ons as you like. Listen to some metal- and Hard Rock players like Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani and Igwie Malmsteen, notice that a lot of their faster solos are over one, or two strings, observe the use of hammer-on/and pull-offs in their playing. Now listen to some blues, for example BBKing, notice the solos are often played across the strings [postion playing]

Both position playing and playing over one string has its own function and sound, pay attention to the sound you are making next time when you play solos in your band. To become an all-rounded guitarplayer you need to be able to use both playing modes, try to get them in your system, but remember there is no rush, as learning to play the guitar is a lifetime achievement: Become aware of how you play, see what is possible, set yourself short-time goals and keep at it. Do not worry about competition and other players as each of us play in a different way, and each of us have their own unique gift and playing style. We all have our own story to tell when it comes to playing music!

 

Those letters after some of those Chords, What Do They Mean?

Don’t worry for now, I will explain all of that, but I need to put it in context and this takes time. Often I will just throw one idea at you but there is more to it than what meets the eye. I will revisit blogs and ideas and build on them, so in time you will be able to see the whole picture of what is going on playing-and theory wise.

For Next Blog Some Theory About Intervals and We Will Make a Start With the Pentatonic Scale.

 

Enjoy in the meantime

Eddie

                          Fingering of the Left Hand:

       1        =Index

       2       =Middle

       3       =Ring

       4       =Pink

 We can make the following combinations with those fingers:

 

 

1                            For playing one note at a time and slides up and down the fretboard.

 

1 and 2

1 and 3

1 and 4                Use these fingeringcombinations for playing any two notes up and down the fretboard.

2 and 3

2 and 4

3 and 4

 

1, 2 and 3

1, 2 and 4         These fingers can be used to play  for any three notes at a time.

1, 3 and 4

 Last option is a combination of all the options mentioned above [1,2,3 and 4] used for 4 notes at a time.

 Most people will use most of these options but not all, make sure you explore them ALL, by doing so you will find out for yourself which fingers feel good for whatever function you are using them.

A lot of people will ignore finger 4, start using it RIGHT NOW, as it will speed up your playing, it will also make your playing more accurate and smooth.

                                 Visualisation Fretboard: Natural Notes on ONE string

 One of the complexities of the guitar lies in the fact that notes on the guitar are playable in a linear fashion [playing on one string] and accross the fretboard [known as Postion Playing] Playing over one string on the guitar feels like playing the keys on a keyboard: The notes get higher as you move up along the string.

It is the playing on one string we are interested in for now.

                                 Natural Notes On One String

 Natural notes are all the white keys on a keyboard, for example

       C-D-EF-G-A-BC

Notice that between C and D there is a dash, this it to indicate that we call the distance between C and D a  whole tone. A whole tone on the guitar is the distance of two frets.

Notice that between E and F and B and C there is NO dash, this is to indicate that the distance between E and F is one fret. The distance of one fret is called a half tone.

 Why are half- and whole tones important? To understand the framework of chords and scales [ but I will discuss those more in detail in futureblogs, first things first for now!!]

 

 Here are all the natural notes placed on the high E string:

                        –0-1—3—5—7-8—10—12
                           E F    G    A   B C    D     E   

Notice the shorter spaces between the half notes.

                                Playing Natural Notes with Suggested Fingering Left Hand

 Play now over one string [High E for example] first with one finger all the natural notes, starting with the open E string up to the 12th fret E. Play then all the combinations you can make with two fingers, use then the three finger combinations ect.   Keep playing natural notes for now, paying attention to where the half notes are.
Once you feel comfortable with the natural notes on the High E string move on to the B string. Before you start playing, please find yourself the E on the B string [ 5th fret] and move up to the 17th fret. In this way you play the same combination of notes [EF G A BC D E] as you did on the High E string. Play up and down B string using suggested fingerings, and again observe where the half notes appear. Continue this process untill you have covered all your strings!

                               Tips and Ideas

  # First play natural notes up and down one string, then start making riffs and short melodies using [just for now] only natural notes.
  # Play your favourite riffs, the ones you already know, over one string, ask yourself which notes your are playing, transpose your riffs so you can play them using only natural notes [You will now play in the key of C major or A minor!!]

                               What Do You Learn When You Apply the Above??

!! You will start playing with FOUR fingers, including your pink, very helpful indeed!!

!! You will notice how your melodies and riffs move up and down the fretboard according to the music you play.

!! You will start to notice where half-and whole notes are, this will help you when it comes to chord-and scaleconstruction [Probably one of the biggest areas of study for any serious,improvising musician]

 

For next blog I will give you plenty of simple melodies and riffs which you can play over one string.

—————————————————————————————————————————– 

Do you think I need way too many words to explain all of this, and do you live locally? Please do not hesitate to contact me for any guitarlessons or an informal session with tips, ideas and feedback on your guitarplaying.

 

Have fun and see you next time,

Eddie

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let us start with a few questions first: What is guitartechnique? For who is guitartechnique? When do you need guitartechnique?

What is Guitartechnique?
Anything we play on the guitar where we use our left-or right hand I consider as guitartechnique. Think of playing with a plectrum, using the fingers of your right hand, playing chords, playing hammer-ons/pull-offs with the left hand, slurs and slides etc. All of these movements of the hand are considered as guitartechnique, and all of them need to be carefully developed one by one.

Who needs Guitartechnique? 
Anyone who wants to make sounds coming from a guitar, simple eh?!

When do you need Guitartechnique?
Any musical idea [ a riff, a chordsequence, a simple single string melody etc.] you may want to play on the guitar requires some form of technique. The truth is you ALWAYS need SOME technique to play the guitar. Another truth is: You can ALWAYS IMPROVE your guitarPLAYING no matter how experienced you are. The conclusion from what is mentioned above is that guitartechnique is part of your overal development as a guitarplayer and a musician. The process of improvement never stops, it can be enjoyed if nurtured with the right approach.

The Approach 
When it comes to guitarlessons and the learning of new guitar-and musical related ideas I find it helpful to approach the process with an attitude like this: “I am starting all over again with the guitar and making music” I pretend not too know too much, and anything I am introduced to is new to me. This approach, at least in my experience, helps me to keep things fresh and makes it able to rethink what I already know. It also helps to see my own guitarplaying from another angle. I will explain a lot of this later on in future blogs, will also add a lot of playingexamples you can use for your own guitarplaying, for now I only want to set the pace of the blog and introduce you to the bigger picture of your guitarplaying, your learning process and the development of your musical skills in general.

The Process
When it comes to learning to play the guitar everyone goes through a similar process– whether you are a pro-minded musician or play guitar just as a hobby–most people stuggle in the beginning with the co-ordination of hand and fingers: It may be difficult to change from one chord to another, playing across the strings may feel awkward for your wrist, some fretted notes may not sound at all whilst being pressed down etc. All of these “problems” are very common, and anyone who plays the guitar has experienced them at some point in their life [including myself!!] At some point, usually after a lot of years of playing, the problems mentioned above “disappear” or your fingers simply get better at “feeling their way around the fretboard on the guitar” It is my personal belief that a lot of problems related to guitartechnique can be solved a lot quicker. I also believe you can ENJOY your playing from day one when you start out with the guitar and your guitarlessons. You really should, as this is the only way to survive as a guitarplayer. In the next few entries about guitartechique it is my intention to break down any particular techniqual problem related to guitarplaying and to provide you with plenty of exercises and analysis to help yourself and improve your playing. For the next blog I will break down the fingering of the left hand — the main issue of concern — will talk a lot less! and start playing more!!

 Stay Tuned, Eddie