Topic: Advice for playing?

Hi evryone...

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on playing technique and how to improve,  at the moment i'm learning cliffs of dover by eric johnson its difficult but i can handle it; i just need some good ideas on how to improve and get a better knowledge of the fretboard? and how to keep  really interested? any advice/help would be greatly appreciated also any idea how Joe used to practise when he was younger?

Adam

Re: Advice for playing?

Hey man, sounds like you're an eager learner, so I'm sure if you stick at it, you'll be fine real soon. Cliffs of dover is an awesome, and is a fairly hard one too. As for learning the fret board, one good thing is to play over backing tracks, or songs in general, and just play through loads of box patterns, so to learn those notes, find the key note all over the neck, and try to revolve around that a few times, and do this with different keys. You'll have it in no time smile
RusScagell

Jamming with Joe and Bernie Marsden:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18zqg3brNH8

Re: Advice for playing?

Here's how I learned my fretboard. I drew out a fret board on a piece of paper and showed all the notes on every string going up and down the neck. I then circled all the notes in the G major scale (was the first scale I learned). After awhile of looking at that neck for the notes on the G major scale, I learned all the notes, and now can tell you that starting on the low E it goes E open, F, F#, G, G#, A, Bb, B, C, C#, D, Eb, and then repeats starting at the 12th fret.

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make"

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Re: Advice for playing?

Use programs (like Soundforge) to slow down fast solos and learn them note by note. It will work. smile

5 (edited by NPB_EST.1979 2010-01-05 06:08:09)

Re: Advice for playing?

Joe learned classical guitar first.

My advice would be to put the radio on seek. When a song comes on, try jamming along with it. Then search for another station and repeat. It helps develop your ear and could make your playing more versatile. It will also demand you play different ways than your comfortable genre you are currently playing.

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
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Re: Advice for playing?

Thanks for the great advice. i'm going too sit down and work through learning every note on the fretboard to start, I play with backing tracks all the time but they are mainly in A, E or G so i think ill look for some in a different key and i'm definitely going to look at that program soundforge, i like the idea of doing different genres of music i play blues but i'm no good at Classical or Jazz so i'm going to look into those.

Thanks
Adam

7 (edited by DAN 2010-01-15 20:11:44)

Re: Advice for playing?

Hi Adam.... I dont know your skill level, so will just put out my advice.
With the development of tab, computers, & internet, guitar learning has become a much faster process. In my teens, we had none of these & relied on our ears by picking up the record needle & replaying over & over guitar parts. I/we went threw the hard knocks of learning, but also developed good ears for really learning the tones & sounds & notes.

Paul McCartney said that when he was a kid,and learning guitar, he and his band mates took the city bus accross town to see a guy who knew the B7 chord....that's kinda how us older guys learned.!
I fear with tab, that new players will just zip threw it and learn the song, but not develop feeling, or vibrato to the song, or develop their ear, or eventually their own personal style. Unfortunately alot of the newer music has alot of speed without feeling, or is so distorted, you dont know what chord they are playing.
Guitar learning comes in steps & is sometimes a slow process that becomes tedious and boring. But once you learn a certain skill, like hammer-ons, or using your pinky finger, your learning of new songs just takes off and becomes easier. The bottom line is you need a good foundation to a house before you can start building on top of it . So you could initially  jump ahead and learn to do speed runs, but then thats it, where do you go next. My advice is split your guitar time in half with learning the technical stuff, but also have some blazing loud fun time. And when you get bored or too frustrated, put the guitar down for a while. Overall guitar learning gets hard, then gets easy. You cant move to the next level until you master the lower levels.
I NEVER played with anyone else as I was learning....cause there were no other guitarists around. Get around some other players who are better or are of the same level as you & have fun learning from them. These better players will motivate you to improve between practice sessions.
I first learned off of Hank Williams (Sr.) records with ''Hey Good Lookin'' .... a 3 chord song strum that had that trickey G7 chord in it....My ears learned that that ''7th'' chord sounds good moving into a transition in the song, and to this day, when I hear a chord pattern going on in a song, and then hear a chord that sounds distressed and makes your eyebrows raise,.... I guess it is some type of 7th chord....that's ear training and understanding ... the (sorry to say) slow hard way. Wow! figuring out the mystery G7 chord by repeatedly lifting the record needle, which forced me to focus hard on chord patterns and sharpened my ear to listen for that distinct 7th note/chord sound.
If you learn threw tab...and I Love it to,....eventually take the time to understand how the notes and chords all work together. I'm struggling with a Joe Perry solo that was tabbed. The hardest part is getting the groove & feel going with my playing. Tabulature can make you play mechanical, and hamper mastery of the solo/song.!!!!
Songs I learned by ear I remember much longer than the ones I quickly learned threw tab.....so unfortunately or fortunately, ....learning guitar stuff the slow way does pay off in many respects. The hardest part overall, to overcome, may be,  the frustration level of the learner..... Take care ! Have Fun!.>> DAN

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