Hopefully you folks can help me out. Given that I cannot afford lesson at this point in time, hopefully some able teachers on this forum can help me. I have been playing guitar for just about a yeah and a half, and I believe I finally have some solid goals to work towards. Unfortunately they are not, as far I can imagine, easily self-taught.
My ultimate (semi-intangible) goal is to write, and perform, music in a band context. I have no illusions of making it big, but being able to play my first local show in a couple years would be great. Thus I have several sub-goals:
"Play by Ear"
I want to be able transcribe, jam and improvise music. Currently I am doing ear training using the programs on http://www.musictheory.net . It is slow going so far, but only started this month. I currently do 50 'questions' each of chords and intervals; my goal is to reach 95% for at least a week before adding another chord or interval. Am I going about this right way? If not, how should I proceed?
"Read and Write Music"
This is a pretty monumental task. I want to be able to sight read standard notation, and understand enough theory to compose my own music. With a help from a fretboard key I can pick out simple melody lines but it's nowhere near where I want to be.
"Technique"
Right not I am really focusing on hybrid picking and timing. However hybrid picking does not have alot of material available to learn from. I currently learn songs, and then play them with a metronome to get my timing down; it certainly has improved my timing. Also, I do not want to have my technique limit my ability to express my musical idea; BIG TASK!
I have approximately an hour to practice guitar, or maybe an hour and half if you do not seperate guitar and ear training practice. I mainly like every form rock (rockabilly to metal), and most country. Jazz, bluegrass, folk, and pop are all genres I like and want to play as well.
If ya'll could lend me a hand with this it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Wow, those are all great goals. I hope you are either very young or very gifted as those are going to take some time to master especially if you are only practicing for an hour a day.
The biggest thing I could suggest is to find yourself a good teacher.
Good luck man I hope it works out for you.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
cnev said: I hope you are either very young or very gifted as those are going to take some time to master especially if you are only practicing for an hour a day.
Yup, I think that hits it on the head! Not that you shouldn't have those goals, but be realistic with yourself about how much progress you'll make with an hour a day.
As far as training the ear and writing music is concerned, David Hodge did a series on this site about the key steps you should take. I doubt I could say it better than what's in those. The first in the series is here:
https://www.guitarnoise.com/article.php?id=7
Cheers,
David
Well I can certainly have more than an hour a day...until I find a job. An hour and half is probably the only reasonable amount I can seriously make. I'm 21 going on 22, so real life is catching up pretty fast! I'll check out Hodge's articles, but don't stop the advice and tips, keep'em coming!
You're young enough to reach those goals and you very well may and I applaud you for setting some serious goals. What I want to be sure you understood was that i was not trying to be negative or anything it's just those things will definitely take time and as pretty much everyone else that plays guitar you will at times be frustrated with your abilities and your progress. (Every one or at least most of us think we should have progressed farther than we have)
If you play everyday you will improve. Will you get to your goals that way? Maybe, but probably not without some serious structure that most people can't do by themselves that's why I suggest a teacher. If not find someone that's alot better and start picking there brain/playing with them.
Perseverance is the key, you cannot give up ever!
Good luck bro!
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Oh believe me, I know these are lofty goals. The moment the budget allows, I will be searching for a good instructor. But until then, there is no point wasting time.
Currently my guitar practice schedule involves:
5-10 minutes playing old songs to a metronome
15 minutes learning New Song 1
10 minutes Hybrid picking exercise (whatever I can find)
5 minutes scales
15 minutes learning New Song 2
10 minutes playing (or attempting) a song from sheet music
I definitely am doubting this is the best way to split my hour.
I wrote a post on ear training awhile ago. I'm reposting it here . . . .basically, for ear training, step away from your computer and pick up your guitar . ..
There are a remarkable number of ear training programs out there these days. They range from web pages offering free sound clips to expensive computer programs with full midi capabilities. What amazes me is that all of these high tech solutions are entirely unnecessary. More importantly, apart from being unneeded, they almost all fail to actually provide for useful ear training for an aspiring musician.
The purpose of ear training for a musician is three-fold. First, there is the goal of being able to play what you hear, that is, to be able to figure out a song from a recording or to mimic another musician. Second, there is the goal of being able to identify that what you are playing is correct by comparing what you hear to the written music. Lastly, there is the goal of being able to imagine some music, and then to recreate that imagined piece on your instrument.
What the astute reader will undoubtedly pick up on is that all three of those purposes involve the musician's instrument! And this is where the vast majority of computer programs fail.
Ear training is something that needs to happen with your instrument in hand, not with a mouse and keyboard.
Further it's very simple to do.
Here are the three exercises you need to train your ear. And yes, it really is this simple.
Exercise I: Play children's songs!
Sit down with your guitar and think up a child's tune. Mary Had a Little Lamb, Ring Around the Rosie, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, whatever. Now, pick a key. It doesn't matter what key it is. Now, play the song you hear in that key.
That's it. Since most people know dozens and dozens of children's tunes, it will take a long time to run out of songs here. In the meantime, listen to more children's music to get additional songs to figure out.
Once you get to the point where it takes you only a few minutes to pick out a melody, you're ready for exercise 2.
Exercise II: Learn “real†songs!
This is a much more fun exercise, and much more rewarding. Put down the tabs, put away the music books and get out a CD of a song you want to learn. To start with you'll want to focus on music that has very clear lines that are easy for you to hear. Play the CD a few times, now start picking out the melody. Once you have the melody, start picking out the base notes and chords. Get to the point where you can play the whole song.
For the next few months, every time you want to learn a song, learn it this way.
Exercise III: Socialize!
Here's where it starts getting fun. Get together with other musicians and take turns playing licks for each other. Try to respond with the same lick.
Once you can do that, then start making up your own variations and phrasings based on what the other person plays. If they play a major lick, for example, try to imagine it transposed to a minor key and play that. Or try moving it up a 5th. Have fun with it.
Again it will take some time, but once you can do this reliably, you will have a very well developed ear.
And here's the important thing – now instead of being able to listen to a midi piano playing a minor-7th interval, you'll be able to play music that you imagine, or hear. Your skill will actually have a performance context around it and a daily utility. Best of all, this method of ear training, while not only more effective than sitting in front a computer (because it involves you using your instrument) it is a lot more fun!
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
The purpose of ear training for a musician is three-fold. First, there is the goal of being able to play what you hear, that is, to be able to figure out a song from a recording or to mimic another musician. Second, there is the goal of being able to identify that what you are playing is correct by comparing what you hear to the written music. Lastly, there is the goal of being able to imagine some music, and then to recreate that imagined piece on your instrument.
Considering he also wants to compose his own music you forgot one: to be able to hear a melody and write it down. You can practice that with a computer (or laptop in a train for example!) and it's definitely usefull.
Thanks kingpatzer, for that post. I don't think I'll give up my current computer based training but I definitely will be adding Exercise 1 to my practice. I should prove interesting, and hopefully more fun than frustrating. However I believe I would find Exercise 2 frustrating if I couldn't already identify intervals and chord types, so I think I will wait until I have some mastery of the computer based training before attempting it.
I took an ear training class at adult ed with a classically trained opera singer and she taught us a few really good exercises. This isn't something that you can really "get" in a short time. You need to fit it into your practice schedule and hit it regularly. I took the class last fall and I try to get about 10 minutes of this into every practice. There are lots more exercises than what I list below but this is a good start. One trick that I learned was to use your chromatic guitar tuner to check the pitch of your singing at least at first - it can help tell you whether you're singing the right note.
Ex 1) interval training
a) play a note on the guitar
b) sing that note (yes you need to sing the note to really help you "hear" it)
c) play a note an interval step up or down from that original note (start with 1/2 and full steps and when you have those move on to other intervals)
d) now sing that note
e) play the interval note again to check your sung note
f) repeat with a different starting note
- when you can do it pretty reliably drop step (c) and don't play the interval note before you sing it
Ex 2) scales
a) play a note on the guitar
b) sing that note
c) now sing up the scale using the half and whole steps that you practiced in exercise 1
d) after you sing each note play it on the guitar to check your singing
- once you can do the scale up then work it up and down
Ex 3) scales steps
- this works like exercise 2) except that when you reach a new note on the scale drop back to the root note and climb again until you reach the next new note in the scale
- so for the C scale you would sing: C, D; then C, D, E; then C, D, E, F; etc.
- if you get stuck or are off (by this point you should be able to start hearing that) play the note on the guitar
Ex 4) more scale steps
- this works like exercise 3) except that you use different cycles (there are lots of possible cycles - just make some up but stay in the scale)
- so for the C scale you could sing: C, D, E; then D, E, F; then E, F, G; etc
Pop music is about stealing pocket money from children. - Ian Anderson
Well I have incorporated interval and scale singing as part of my new practice schedule. Here it is:
So Monday and Thursday go:
1st hour
5-10 Songs with Metronome
30 on New Song 1
10 hybrid picking
10 read music
Optional Hour
10 Scales (sing'em too)
15 Read music
15 New Song 2
10 Pick out a children's song from memory
10 New Song 1
Tuesday and Friday Go:
First Hour
10 Scale (keep singing'em)
15 read music
30 New song 2
5 Pick out a children's song
Optional Hour
10 Songs with metronome
15 New Song 1
15 Hybrid Picking
10 Read music
10 New Song 2
Wednsday
15 guitar intervals (sing along!)
5 spiders (string skipping ex)
20 Hybrid picking
10 Children's Song
10 Scales (sing'em)
Saturday: learn a new lick
Sunday take a rest
Everyday: ID 50 intervals and 50 chords ( http://www.musictheory.net )
Sunday take a rest
Or
Sunday: go to the High & Lonesome club Sunday blues jam session! :D
People in other cities can substitute their own local bar's jam night.
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
Haha, am I old enough to have the blues? I might give it a try when I add an electric (and a bit more experience) to my inventory. My first attempt at jamming with someone was...a disaster. But the High and Lonesome is an awesome place. Definitely dig it.
Haha, am I old enough to have the blues?
Sure you are. You're already 21 - you must have had "wimmin" troubles by now or a friend who betrayed you or any number of "blues" topics.
Johnny Lang made a hit blues album (Lie To Me) when he was only 15.
Pop music is about stealing pocket money from children. - Ian Anderson
Well I did write the lyrics for a blues tune about missing my moms cooking, so I'll have to give it a shot at some point.
