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Posts Tagged ‘learn’

How To Take A Rockin’ Guitar Solo

20 Apr

Now I have a lesson for you all about how to take a great guitar solo.

I’m teaching a blues scale with an electric guitar, but you can use this tutorial for ANY kind of music and with any kind of guitar. Just switch the scale you use… and switch the guitar. Enjoy!

Here is the ‘A minor blues scale’ pattern I am playing:

e______________________________5_8_______________ (thinnest string)
B__________________________5_8___________________
G___________________5_7_8________________________
D______________5_8_______________________________
A_______5_6_7____________________________________
E__5_8___________________________________________ (thickest string)

A guitar solo is when the lead guitar player improvises a melody (on the spot) over the rhythm section of a band.

(Carlos Santana, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Hendrix, etc.)

Yup, the lead guitarist makes it up as they play it!

You are probably thinking to yourself… Hmmm, will I ever be able to do that?

Make up a solo on the spot?! The answer is YES, you can.

There are “tricks of the trade” for guitar soloing just as there are for any specialty or profession.

I am going to guide you right to the point here.

No fluff, No BS. We’€™ll discuss ONLY what you need to know to take a freakin’€™ guitar solo!

Hopefully You have a good idea about how to hold a guitar and play a note. You do not have to know what note you are playing! (ex. A, C, G, etc)

All you have to know, is how to play a note. That is pressing afinger down on a fret and strumming or picking the strings with the other hand.

Also, you will need to know how to read Guitar TAB. There are tab lessons in the first download package I sent you… here is the download link to that again:

Guitar Learning Package

Now that we got that out of the way…let’€™s learn!

I have some jam tracks for you to solo over to download:

Jam Tracks Download

Click above to download them, and read the lesson below to take your first step into being creative with your guitar and taking some awesome solos.

You will really surprise yourself when you first start to get this, I know I did. So I strongly encourage you read the lesson below!

——————————

So here is the challenge – to help train your fingers and your ears.

First to pick a scale to play along with the music. Click below to search in google images for a scale map. This link searches for the “minor pentatonic scale”, a scale commonly used in rock solos. This means that the solos would consist of these notes, which all sound good together. The key of this minor pentatonic scale is A minor.

images.google.com/images?um=1&q=A+minor+pentatonic+scale

You can also search for ‘pentatonic scale’ or ‘minor pentatonic scale’ to get other scales.

First make sure your guitar is in standard tuning (EADGBe from thickest string to lightest). NOTE: You can search for eg. ‘A# minor pentatonic scale’ to get a scale map in a specific key.

Notes played within a given scale give the music a certain ‘feel’… for example, if you play a pentatonic blues scale (look it up, and play along with the ‘Bluesy Day’ song) it distinctly sounds like a very bluesy collection of notes, even to untrained ears. You can use this link to search for a “blues scale”.

images.google.com/images?um=1&q=blues+scale+fretboard

Here is a map of one of the positions in this AMAZING pattern again:

______________________________5_8_______________
__________________________5_8___________________
___________________5_7_8________________________
______________5_8_______________________________
_______5_6_7____________________________________
__5_8___________________________________________

A minor blues pentatonic scale Position 1.

Practice going up and down the scale with these notes to develop your dexterity!

After you have played some of these notes without the music and take note of how they sound, try and play it with background music. If it doesn’t sound right (almost out of tune), chances are the music is in a different KEY than the scale you’re playing is. All you have to do to change the key of the scale is move the scale PATTERN up and down the fretboard. Cool huh!

The scale pattern you have searched for should show you the ROOT NOTE of the scale in several different positions. The root note tells you what key the scale is being played in.

So if you are playing a ‘minor pentatonic scale’ and the root note position is on the A note (5th fret in standard tuning on the E string), you are playing an A minor pentatonic scale. If you move it up one fret, you are now playing in the A# (A sharp) minor pentatonic scale!

Just move the pattern up and down and keep playing notes till the notes you’re playing sound like they are in the same key as the song! Be patient and you’ll get it, and over time you’ll be able to get into key really quickly.

Once you do this try to play around with it and be creative. Use hammer-ons and pull-off, bend the strings (remember, bending a string gives a higher note, so make sure that that note is also in the scale or it might not sound right!) and try to have fun with it.

The song Bluesy Day can be played with an A minor blues pentatonic scale (search ‘A minor blues scale’ – it is like an A minor pentatonic scale with the D#/Eb note added)) and it sounds pretty good! Give it a shot.

You’ll get it soon enough! Work on your dexterity and try to play chords within the scale (more than 1 note at a time) while playing and mix it up. Scales are the basis of soloing, and all music really, so commit all kinds of em to memory!

You can also search for more backing tracks that people make at home in places like youtube. You can find backing tracks to ANY type of music there.

Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try to get back to you! Hope this was helpful for you.

Have a good jam!
-Steve

Originally posted 2010-04-20 17:48:31. Republished by Old Post Promoter

 
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Posted in Beginners Guitar Lessons, Teach Yourself To Play Guitar

 

Play: Bob Dylan – Times They Are A Changin’

20 Apr

And here is the tabulature for the guitar chords you’ll need to play the song:

tabdylan

Don’t worry if its tough at first to sing at the same time as playing! It takes a lot of practice. Get the strumming pattern and rhythm down really well as well as the chord changes, and also learn the lyrics. Once you are more familiar with them, it will come a lot easier.

A good rule of thumb is to always start slow and take it in baby steps – just make sure you aren’t making any mistakes while practicing – so you don’t learn the wrong habits! For example, only strum a chord once instead of using the strumming pattern while you first start to sing with the song, just to get the timing right.

Enjoy and leave any comments or questions below.

-Steve

Originally posted 2010-04-27 16:20:11. Republished by Old Post Promoter

 
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Posted in Acoustic Guitar Lessons

 

Easy Guitar Lessons For Disabled Children and Senior Citizens

20 Apr

Music therapy has been around for many years. It is recognized as a tool for helping patients with emotional and behavioral problems like depression and ADHD. While the usual instruments used are the drums, cymbals, and other instruments that do not need too much instructions, the guitar is now being introduced as an option to consider. Learning to play guitar requires some finger dexterity, and this comes with limitations as to who can learn to play guitar. Nevertheless, allowing disabled children to handle the guitar is a start towards giving them new hope and opportunities.

One of the uses of easy guitar lessons for disabled children and senior citizens is as a motivational tool. For children with ADHD, they develop the drive to sit down for at least half an hour to strum a guitar. It gives them a chance to learn how to focus on making sounds, and eventually playing simple songs.

Senior citizens are also open to learning to play guitar, mainly because it is reminiscent of days when the guitar was a popular.

The beauty of learning to play a guitar is that by learning a few chords, you can create music. After learning the basics, which includes how to care for the guitar, there is a lot of freedom to play anything. Even just strumming the guitar can relax children and senior citizens easily.

Music appreciation through easy guitar lessons can also help children with autism or learning disabilities, as well as speech and emotional problems. Furthermore, by learning to play the guitar, the children and senior citizens have a unique opportunity to enhance their social skills.

In Manhattan, an innovative approach by the Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center uses music as a means for getting patients to release tension and anger. They believe that music can heal the spirit, just as medicines can heal the body. With music, they can connect with the rest of the world and the people around them.

With easy guitar lessons, children are taught how to follow schedules, and the need for practice. They also get a lot of free time to just play the instrument of their choice. Learning to play guitar is just one of the ways to draw out a child or a senior citizen, and make them feel important.

Here are some guidelines you can use in helping a child learning to play guitar:

1.    Keep the pace slow and repetitious. While you may find it boring and redundant, they won’t.
2.    Give prices or tokens as a reward system
3.    Insist on practice
4.    Give them a choice of songs to learn, making sure that the songs are appropriate for their level of playing
5.    Start a band with drums, guitars, and any other instruments you can think of
6.    Give them a chance to vocalize how they feel about the easy guitar lessons, and if they want to pursue the lessons or not
7.    Inject fun into every lesson

These are just a few of the things you can try if you have a disabled child or a child who has gone through emotional distress in his life recently. Music has a gentle way of healing broken spirits.

Originally posted 2009-12-10 03:29:44. Republished by Old Post Promoter

 
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Posted in Beginners Guitar Lessons, Guitar Lessons, Guitar Lessons For Kids

 

Electric Guitar Lessons For Beginners – Learn To Play Electric Guitar

20 Apr

If you are intent on finding electric guitar lessons for beginners, you might as well start with classic guitar lessons. The reason for this is it becomes easier to learn guitar techniques and chords on a classic guitar.  However, it is possible to fast track your guitar lessons and go straight to electric guitar lessons for beginners. You just need to avoid getting frustrated, and you will because playing a guitar, electric or classic is a lot of work. You have more things to remember than just chords and playing guitar; you will also need to learn how to use the amplifier and hooking up your guitar properly.

When you see guitarists in bands play, it all looks so easy, but they didn’t get to where they are without tremendous dedication and hard work. Learning their craft takes some time, so be ready to allot at least 15 to 30 minutes a day to learn to play electric guitar.

Once you have been able to hook up your electric guitar, you need to check the strings of your guitar. With electric guitars, loose strings will mean flat or out of tune notes. Give your strings proper attention.

The difference between a classic guitar and an electric guitar is the sounds produced.  To learn to play the electric guitar, you need to be familiar with tone, volume, and sound textures. You can strum your strings, and come up with different sounds, depending on your touch, the amount of pressure you put on the strings and the way you play the chords.

Electric guitar lessons for beginners will always start with the basics. There is just no way you can pick up an electric guitar and start playing tunes. This means learning the guitar chords and scales. If you have heard about playing by ear, it can happen. Some people are gifted with knowing what chord to play to get the sound they want. Just by listening to a song, they can play it on any instrument easily. Unfortunately, not a lot of people can do this.

Thus, assuming you don’t have the gift, then learn to play the electric guitar the traditional method. Practice, practice, and more practice. You will also need to know how to read music sheets. With guitar, it is much simpler than piano music sheets. This is because guitar uses letters as names for chords. Thus, it is important to know what strings, frets to press on with every chord.

The highlight of electric guitar lessons for beginners is learning how to bend strings to get that wonderful vibrato sound. When you are able to bend strings, you can produce a lot of personality to a tune – giving you that amazing rock and roll sound that everyone loves.

For the sake of the people living in the house with you, make sure to find a room that can hold the sound in with solid walls and ceilings – like your garage. This way you can practice and never have to worry about creating so much noise pollution in your neighborhood.

Originally posted 2009-12-10 03:24:54. Republished by Old Post Promoter

 
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Posted in Beginners Guitar Lessons, Electric Guitar Lessons, Teach Yourself To Play Guitar

 


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