I've been playing the guitar on and off for around 40 years, but I don't consider myself a master by any stretch. I have some amount of technique and a certain amount of theory knowledge, but I feel a bit stuck in a rut. A few years back I started looking at getting lessons again as I'd not done that for a long time. I tried a few teachers, but ended up using the Artistworks on-line school with the amazing Paul Gilbert as the teacher. That was a lot of fun. There are loads of lessons on there and Paul will do a personal critique of videos that you send in. It was really cool to get his feedback, but I've lost access to this since my subscription ran out. I wasn't finding the time to work on it so much.
I'm not totally sure where I want to take my playing. I'd love to be able to play more complex music. I see the cool stuff @dreamrafa does and wish I could do that. I also want to expand my knowledge so I can get more adventurous with chords and scales. I'm not sure I want to be come a full-on jazz player, but some elements of that appeal to me.
Luckily for me there is a mass of free educational material out there. Guitarists seem very generous in sharing their knowledge. For example, here's Steve Vai giving a lesson that's part of a series. I think this is aimed at beginners, but he covers a lot of things. It's hard to ignore his guitar with wobbly frets. This is supposed to give more accurate intonation. I also notice his vibrato is different to most other players. His fingertip seems to go in circles. Vibrato is a personal thing, but we should take account of the experience of others.
I've also been watching some videos by David Walliman. This one is about making blues solos are interesting. I knew some of this, but it's good to have it explained again and I'll be looking to apply this.
There are thousands of other guitar teachers on Youtube. You can find a lesson on just about any song or technique you can think of. It maybe an idea to find one teacher and work through their lessons to get consistency. This is one of the teachers I went to a few times. He has some cool lessons.
And of course there is Steemit's own @melbookermusic.
The important thing is to put what you learn into practice. I need to develop the ideas into something musical. I'll be looking to record some of these experiments. I need to set time aside for this. I really need to spend less time on Steemit and more with a guitar.
I welcome suggestions on good lessons to look at.
Rock on!
I'll buy guitar picks for Steem Dollars
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Nice to see you are looking into expanding your playing, you are right, there are a lot of options out there, some are free and some are at a fair price... I personally like the stuff you can find at Jamtrackcentral, they are suited for all levels and all styles, very oriented to make use of the stuff rather than boring exercises... Also Troy Grady have a very interesting scientific approach to guitar technique that could be useful, he got a lot of free sample stuff on youtube, check it out!
I watched the Troy Grady stuff a while back. He goes into insane detail about picking. I don't aspire to be a shredder, so pure speed is not really an issue.
I've got another song to work on with a friend. It's just for fun.
Steve Vai has talked about his vibrato before being a hybrid of classical vibrato (nylon strings and fretless instruments) and the more extreme vibrato. Circular only really benefits chords and otherwise is just something he decided to do.
If you want to get better/sound better you will first have to discover what you are doing badly - critiquing your improvisation or having someone else do it is a huge thing because after a minute or so it's likely all the bad stuff starts coming out haha (in my case anyway). Posting videos on Steemit has both motivated and mortified me, I mean - I can barely play the songs I have written and recorded because I have never practiced them for performance... it was scary to actually understand that I'm not that good overall but it was also an important lesson that has cemented in my mind the importance of schedule and organisation when it comes to practice. You can watch all the videos in the world but the reality is as a guitar player you have to choose a path and stick to it if you want to achieve excellence - Vai/Satch et al are only as good as they are because they embraced certain aspects of playing and rolled with it. They haven't really done anything new in the last 30 years in terms of technique (said extremely loosely and only to highlight a point) - how can we as occasional players be perfect across all the styles/techniques when only a few extremely dedicated people even approach that level (Guthrie etc). Be happy with your technique - weed out the bad things you do or focu on them to improve the way you do them, study phrasing by playing the melody lines to songs (I have been working on Arms of the Angel, simple notes but a whole world of inflection and dynamics) and most importantly understand that you is what you is and that's perfectly fine (TLDR: Embrace your idiosyncrasies)
I don't expect to be good at everything, but I can improve. It's fun anyway
Too right @steevc, it's an epic journey.
I know the feeling.
When you find your playing to be "Stuck in a rut", it's time to play something new and different. Time to explore some styles you haven't explored yet.
If you haven't looked into guitar theory yet, that can help too. The Scales actually aren't that hard to understand but are often made to appear complex by many teachers.
Over the years, I've seen plenty of online lessons by guitar teachers and out of all that I've seen so far, I think I found the best there is.
Guitar Mastery Method.
YouTube Channel: youtube.com/user/guitarmasterymethod
I've been taking lessons from Charlie Wallace (I call him "The Crossroads") for over a year now as a paid "VIP Member" and it has been well worth it. His ability to teach seemingly complex things in a simple way is awesome.
I hadn't spent much time on theory, but after going through Charlie's 10 week "Master The Fretboard" Course the guitar has opened up and I really get what I'm doing now.
He also has a pretty cool Kiwi accent and a great sense of humour.
Here is one of his free lessons that I'm sure you'll enjoy.
You may also like to check out his free 3 part video series:
https://www.guitarmasterymethod.com/lp/free-lessons
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
Well I was tempted and joined his 101 course. What I don't like about some of these on-line courses is all the marketing and he fails at this too by trying to get you to sign up for more before you've even started. I know you can get your money back, but it just looks greedy as they know a lot of people won't get around to asking for a refund. I'll try this first course and see how it goes. It at least gives me a fixed thing to concentrate on for now.
Check out his free stuff first and see how you like his teaching style.
I paid for his Guitar 101 course and ended up paying to be a VIP member to join in on the live lessons too. His best course by far is the 10 week Master the Fretboard course which is all in 101, but hand fed to you over 10 weeks which forces you to get all the information in the right order.
I highly doubt that you'd want a refund, like I said before, I've checked out a few online teachers, and I think Charlie is the best there is.
Cheers. I'd added him to my subs
BTW: My very first post on Steemit was about Charlie's lessons.
He was running a competition at the time giving away effects pedals and lessons.
steemit.com/guitar/@hammaraxx/my-guitar-teacher-is-giving-away-effects-pedals-and-12-months-of-lessons-worth-usd1-793-95
that's very interesting. I would improve my playing too, but I think it will always stay behind in the ranking of my priorities ^^
As you know I've tried all kinds to thing. I always seem to end up using Justin Guitar's resources as they match my beginner level. I find his lessons and books very simple to follow.
I just bought a course by a guy suggested in the comments here. Will report on how it goes
Hey Steve ... I've been gone for a long time, but now I'm back ... looks like you are basically running the place now ;) Good job great post... talk to you soon!!!!
Good to have you back. Keep on rocking
A few years ago I also had guitar lessons. A great instrument, you can play nice songs fairly quickly and if you can sing a bit the campfire idea is complete. Great idee to start again! I'm going to cut my nails again and "call heads" on my fingertips.
Dude hell yeah, Steve Vai is a legend.
Wow! My cousin loves to play guitar and he always asks for a good teacher of guitar. I think you have solved my problem i will show him your blog and the videos for sure. Thanks @steevc for sharing this blog of music theory. I will help out to many as well
Stay Blessed, Steem On!
A teacher is still useful at times when you need someone to watch what you are doing so you don't get bad habits. It's also great to have someone to play with.
Agreed upon this very point. By the way i am a School Teacher by profession and i am fond of music as well it is considered as the food of soul.
"To teach is to learn twice" ~ Joseph Joubert
Learning guitar has been a failed resolution for two years now. This makes me want to try again!
amazing music theory
I have watched the video. Dynamic! Master of guitar I think. Really amazing you play the guitar. Thanks for sharing such a good post
Guitar lessoning very hard task if one can try to learn it normal way, like A B C D down cord or high! thanks for sharing.. if you learn & teach us... we will be glad! @steevc
It seems guitar is your passion. So if you get a chance then you must go for it and should enjoy your life in its way. steemit is here and you can touch occasionally. All is well @steevc.