1 (edited by Jimmy 2011-05-01 20:09:17)

Topic: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

I've been playing guitar for nearly 8 years and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has gotten frustrated and felt like locking the guitars up in their cases forever. I figured I would create a topic where all of us Bonafan players could congregate to offer tips for improvement. Hopefully, everyone who visits will learn and add something. A close friend who has been playing for 25 years recently offered me some advice so I'll start by sharing that.

Spend a minimum of 30 minutes per day practicing, which means focussing on mechanics, building strength and flexibility, timing, and associating sound with finger placement on the fretboard.

To do this, use a metronome uber slow on 40 beats per minute and move through the following shapes as well as the blues scale and major and minor pentatonic scales:

5,6,8, with index, middle, and pinky
5,7,8, with index, ring, and pinky
5,7,9, with index, ring, and pinky

Be sure to utilize alternate picking throughout.

Gibson Custom Joe Bonamassa Ltd Signature Les Paul VOS # 31

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

I've been playing for 13 years now and one thing I can say is you gotta play every day.  I'm not saying I'm a virtuoso but I can hold my own with anyone after I figure out what key they are in, ususally 3 to 4 bars in to a song I can pick out the key to solo in.  One thing I found that helped me is hot licks videos.  I had only one of their videos but they have over 100 licks in there in every style of music.  Take that and learning new songs every week you are bound to pickup phrases that you can work into your style of playing.

I started out being a Clapton fan so I learned tons of EC songs old and new.  One thing I learned was that old Freddie King solo phrase where you bend the G string a full bend and hit 2 notes 2 frets higher then where you bent the G.  Looks something like this

e-------------------3
b-------------3
g----5^7
d
a
e

This would be a great example of a simple key of A intro to a blues solo or even better this is the intro to Have you ever loved a woman.  This would be played off of a power chord A or a5, a7 shuffle...  but if you use the low E string you can move in chromatic scale down the E string to play in any key.  Now you can say you know how to start solo its everything that follows that get tough.

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

Ok

So 2 things 

1. learn your way around the neck using all the scales and work away that allows you to
    find scales on different parts of the neck quickly.

2. An Observation . ?   Why can you play superbly  when no one is there to witness it
                                     then play in front of an audience and you cant play for **##
                                     or is it just me   lol

"Everybody's entitled to my opinion. wink

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

Cool, AD3, that's sort of similar to parts of the Stairway to Heaven solo as well.

MC, You're not alone! I never play half as good when other people are around! I think many players put pressure on themselves, sometimes on a subconscious level, and it throws them off their game. Maybe there's something to be said for taking a shot or two before performing in front of people?  big_smile

Gibson Custom Joe Bonamassa Ltd Signature Les Paul VOS # 31

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

Your right that is the first 3 notes to the solo to Stairway To Heaven.  I found that when I play in front of people for the first time in a small group of people I'm nervous, but when I'm in a band that is practiced up a little bit I can go in and be myself.  But if the band is off then everyone is off and if the bands on as a whole they can make me sound a lot better then I really am.  But I'm also used to playing in a 7 man group that get paid nothing.

6 (edited by Jimmy 2011-05-02 18:13:56)

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

AD3THREE wrote:

Your right that is the first 3 notes to the solo to Stairway To Heaven.  I found that when I play in front of people for the first time in a small group of people I'm nervous, but when I'm in a band that is practiced up a little bit I can go in and be myself.  But if the band is off then everyone is off and if the bands on as a whole they can make me sound a lot better then I really am.  But I'm also used to playing in a 7 man group that get paid nothing.

That's a good point. It also reminded me of the last gig I played. I had my Strat plugged into a PA system that couldn't properly support me, two mics for vocals and my friend's Strat since I was plugged into the 4th input. We also had a drummer who wasn't too loud, but my hearing is awful. I really had to strain my ears and couldn't hear my lead "cut through" the rest. As a result, I had to pick extra hard just to hear myself. It was at that point I knew how Beethoven must have felt playing piano deaf. tongue Having a proper balance of sound is probably just as important as timing.

Gibson Custom Joe Bonamassa Ltd Signature Les Paul VOS # 31

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

Some of the biggest things that separate the men from the boys in the guitar world is bending, vibrato, and dynamics.  Speed and technique are great also, but bending and vibrato are huge. I saw Jeff Beck in Louisville last week and he is sure a virtuoso. He made the guitar cry, sing, burn, and grab your soul. When you bend a note, don't just bend it, make sure you bend it up to another pleasing note.  Bending, vibrato, and dynamics add emotion to the music, can create tension, and stir the soul.  You will notice when the big guys solo, their volumes (and the whole band) go up and down, their attack intensity of the notes varies. and they have the courage and feeling to stay on certain notes until they reach the pinnacle.  Speed and accuracy are cool and I work on them a lot, but too much technique and speed can become like an athletic event or sound almost mathematical.  In the end we are making music, it is an art form, and we need to be able to use all the colors to paint beautiful pictures.  Sorry if I got a little deep on this, but I am pretty passionate about music.

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

HoosierRock wrote:

Some of the biggest things that separate the men from the boys in the guitar world is bending, vibrato, and dynamics.  Speed and technique are great also, but bending and vibrato are huge. I saw Jeff Beck in Louisville last week and he is sure a virtuoso. He made the guitar cry, sing, burn, and grab your soul. When you bend a note, don't just bend it, make sure you bend it up to another pleasing note.  Bending, vibrato, and dynamics add emotion to the music, can create tension, and stir the soul.  You will notice when the big guys solo, their volumes (and the whole band) go up and down, their attack intensity of the notes varies. and they have the courage and feeling to stay on certain notes until they reach the pinnacle.  Speed and accuracy are cool and I work on them a lot, but too much technique and speed can become like an athletic event or sound almost mathematical.  In the end we are making music, it is an art form, and we need to be able to use all the colors to paint beautiful pictures.  Sorry if I got a little deep on this, but I am pretty passionate about music.

Jeff Beck doesn't play all the notes on his guitar, but he plays all the right ones. -Seth

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

Jeff Beck finds notes that other people don't have on their instruments.  There is only one Jeff Beck.

10 (edited by Jimmy 2011-05-03 12:14:20)

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

I heard Jeff Beck invented a 13th key. big_smile

Getting back on topic.

Practicing bends: Play the note you want to bend up to first and let it ring for as long as it can resonate. Then move down 1-3 frets and practice bending up. Same can be practiced for tremolo dives, just let the note below ring first. Excellent and moderately easy example of tremolo use for downward bends is found on Beck's "Emotion & Commotion" in "Corpus Christi Carol". Ultimate Guitar has a decent tab of it.

Gibson Custom Joe Bonamassa Ltd Signature Les Paul VOS # 31

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

Get out of the bedroom and join a band.I believe that this can make a huge difference in yourself as a player.I agree with the little things that seperate each of us as players and hopefully make us somewhat unique.Most of all have fun.

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

I think Jeff beck uses micro notes where most of us only have 12 notes he has like 12 micro notes in a single note for a total of 144 notes  tongue

13 (edited by ZeyerGTR 2011-05-03 16:00:25)

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

I'll second (or third) the suggestion of practicing every day.  I set a goal last year to practice at least 15 minutes per day, which I figured was attainable even with a special-needs toddler at home and a demanding day job often working 60-80 hours per week.  I kept track of my practice time in an excel spreadsheet, and at the end of the year I foudn I only missed 38 days in the year, and got in well over 200 hours of practice.  All those little blocks of time add up.  I didn't play many video games, and I didn't watch a lot of TV, but with only a few exceptions, I was able to make the time every day.  200+ hours is a LOT of practice time considering I have "no free time."  I learned a lot.

Another big thing is just setting goals - both short term and long term.  You need to set goals to keep yourself focussed.  it's the difference between running around in a circle, and rising upward in a spiral.

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

I agree with the general consensus that you have to have set goals with your practicing, rather than just endless noodling or repeating scales ad nauseum.

One of the things that made me see a noticeable improvement in my playing was pushing myself to learn new songs.  I don't play in a regular band any longer, but nevertheless, I pretended that I had a gig coming up and made up a set list of about 20 songs - half of which were songs I already knew or sort of knew, and half of which were songs that I was not familiar with.

I downloaded backing tracks for those songs, and over the next 3 months I made myself learn those songs, play them repeatedly and work on problem areas.  I noticed a big difference in my timing and phrasing throughout that time.

Also, I try and go to open jams.  There is still nothing better than getting up on stage with really good musicians and playing for a crowd that will improve your playing.

JBLP Gold Top #129 - redubbed "#1 in Oz"

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

Couldn't agree more.  Learning new songs forces you to learn new theories even if your not playing note for note you want to get the heart and spirit of the song nailed down.  No scale can teach you that only your ears and your heart.  Join a band and I promise you you'll play a few tunes you already know, but then you get around guys that know how to play new stuff too and learning to play a song with someone showing you the in's and out's is much easier then reading tabs or figuring it out by ear.  It all goes back to practice, if you want to shine you know you got to wood shead.

Devan wrote:

I agree with the general consensus that you have to have set goals with your practicing, rather than just endless noodling or repeating scales ad nauseum.

One of the things that made me see a noticeable improvement in my playing was pushing myself to learn new songs.  I don't play in a regular band any longer, but nevertheless, I pretended that I had a gig coming up and made up a set list of about 20 songs - half of which were songs I already knew or sort of knew, and half of which were songs that I was not familiar with.

I downloaded backing tracks for those songs, and over the next 3 months I made myself learn those songs, play them repeatedly and work on problem areas.  I noticed a big difference in my timing and phrasing throughout that time.

Also, I try and go to open jams.  There is still nothing better than getting up on stage with really good musicians and playing for a crowd that will improve your playing.

16 (edited by Devan 2011-05-03 21:51:59)

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

Thanks AD3THREE !!  And thanks for posting that intro lick earlier in this thread.

Move it 2 frets up, and you have the starting notes of the "Highway To Hell" solo - probably one of the first guitar solos I ever heard and got inspired by when I started playing guitar.  Angus is one of my early influences on guitar and I love how he takes some of those simple bluesy licks and just ROCKS them out...

Whenever I get to carried away with worrying about gear, pedals, amps etc. I make myself remember that Angus just plugs his stock SG straight into his Marshall and bangs out those open chords real LOUD!

JBLP Gold Top #129 - redubbed "#1 in Oz"

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

AD3THREE wrote:

I've been playing for 13 years now and one thing I can say is you gotta play every day.  I'm not saying I'm a virtuoso but I can hold my own with anyone after I figure out what key they are in, ususally 3 to 4 bars in to a song I can pick out the key to solo in.  One thing I found that helped me is hot licks videos.  I had only one of their videos but they have over 100 licks in there in every style of music.  Take that and learning new songs every week you are bound to pickup phrases that you can work into your style of playing.

I started out being a Clapton fan so I learned tons of EC songs old and new.  One thing I learned was that old Freddie King solo phrase where you bend the G string a full bend and hit 2 notes 2 frets higher then where you bent the G.  Looks something like this

e-------------------3
b-------------3
g----5^7
d
a
e

This would be a great example of a simple key of A intro to a blues solo or even better this is the intro to Have you ever loved a woman.  This would be played off of a power chord A or a5, a7 shuffle...  but if you use the low E string you can move in chromatic scale down the E string to play in any key.  Now you can say you know how to start solo its everything that follows that get tough.

TEXAS FLOOD!

Re: Guide to becoming a virtuoso

Tin Pan Alley as well, except start on the 10 fret of the G and then go 8th on B and 8th on e. I think...

Gibson Custom Joe Bonamassa Ltd Signature Les Paul VOS # 31