Free Guitar Lesson

Should You Take Private Guitar Lessons?

Whether or not you should take private lessons to learn to play guitar is a tough subject for me. Some individuals really do need someone to get them pointed in the right direction, but I think that the majority of people will learn to play guitar faster by learning on their own. IF and I do mean IF they are learning the right things. What happens with weekly instruction is as follows:

Free Guitar Lesson - Jamming in Pentatonic Scales

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Pentatonic Scales are a great way to introduce yourself to theory, they are also good for helping you make sense of the fretboard. A Pentatonic Scale is a series of notes played in a certain key 5 notes per octave. If this sounds like gibberish to you don’t worry it will all come in time! For now just take what you can, most people learn best with a hands on approach so lets get right into playing!

The first scale you are going to learn is G Major Pentatonic, so grab your guitar and memorize this pattern…

Pentatonic scales are 5 notes per octave repeated to cover all six strings. Click Play to hear how it should sound…

How to jam with a scale:

When you are making up music on the spot. I.e. Jamming over a chord progression, you are ‘Improvising’. Improvising (on Guitar) is the act of creating music in the moment with feeling and influences coming from wherever you see fit to make the music sound good using notes from a scale or notes in a certain key. When you start improvising you will soon find that you quickly learn what to do and what not to do to make it sound good, that’s the great thing about it.

To help you get started jamming, here are a few licks using notes from the G Major Pentatonic scale you can use to jam along to the jam track.

Here is a short example of what jamming over the progression can sound like. I have incorporated all 3 of the above licks in the audio below…

So dive in and give it a shot, here is a progression in G Major, use the licks above and make up your own to create your own feel.

So how was that? Easier than you thought? If you could not seem to find anything that sounded good, just stick at it, it will come with practice.

Now use what you learnt using the G pattern to jam with to the D pattern below…

D Major Pentatonic Scale

Now use that scale to jam along to this jam track…

Now use what you learnt using the G pattern to jam with to the D pattern below…

D Major Pentatonic Scale

Now use that scale to jam along to this jam track…

Note: If you move the first pattern you learnt (G) down so the first note is starting on the 7th Fret you can jam along to the D progression as you have moved the scale down into the key of D Major. You can also move the D pattern down to the 5th fret and use that to jam in G Major (The first progression).

Here is a demonstration (using mostly the licks I showed you earlier) of a jam in D Major using both the patterns you learnt.

Hope you liked this short introduction to Pentatonic Scales, remember to practice hard and you will see the benefits!

This Lesson Brought to You By Guitar Burning Speed

Guitar Speed Exercises

Free Guitar Lesson

Brought To You By Guitar Burning Speed

Flying Fingers and Practice Less, But Get Better Faster

Here are some speed exercises I like to call the ‘Flying Fingers Exercises’ and you will soon see why. The exercises range in difficulty from very easy to very hard, but with all of them start slow! You can not play things fast if you cannot play them slow. After you have memorized the exercises slowly, start speeding them up until they are as fast as you can comfortably play…

Use only your index and pinky fingers, this can be quite a stretch for some but keep at it and it will become very easy. This exercise is great for building your confidence moving around on the fretboard.

Flying Fingers Exercise 2

This exercise is great for building your right hand and getting your fingers use to making quick movements then getting the hell outta the way! Use one finger per fretted note (E.g. for 5 use your index finger, 7 use your middle finger, 8 use your ring finger and 10 use your pinky).

Flying Fingers Exercise 3

This exercise is a bit more difficult than the other two. This helps tremendously with your playing because most phrases are not developed inn the same way as this exercise. Hence your fingers will be moving in a totally different way to how you usually do. This exercise may even feel ‘unnatural’ so some but stick at it and you’ll see the rewards.

Exercises may not always sound very musical, but I have played these demonstrations on a clean amp so you can hear exactly what I’m playing. But for those who want to hear what these exercises sound through a distorted amp, there is a sample below…

Now here is an article explaining how you can practice less, but actually get better faster! It is  a great eye opener so make sure you give it a read…

Back a few years ago, when I got my new Fender Strat, I was so amped about the fact that I actually had this brand new guitar to play on that I set out in search for literally everything I could find to play. While most people go through a stage like this in their guitar playing, mine was different. The reason for this is because of the information I found. The way I came across this was actually by chance at my local music store. I had a chat to one of the workers there, an older guy, grey hair, heavy smoker, big mustache. Anyway, other than the fact that he looked like he had a lot of experience under his belt, something about him just told me this guy was legit.

I was told a different way of thinking about music, the guitar and ultimately my playing. Not only that, but it really made me think about just what is was I wanted to accomplish with my guitar. What is that one thing I am searching for? The answer didn’t come for weeks, and I mean weeks! It frustrated the hell out of me, I had been told this information, but I had no idea what it really meant. So as the weeks past and I continued to slave away for hours on end getting sick of what I was playing something finally clicked, like I finally saw the light it was like I instantly understood everything I was told!

I thought I had learnt theory, scales, modes, chords, keys and everything else a lead guitarist should know. Then I realized the truth… I KNEW NOTHING! You see, when you first start playing Guitar or any other instrument, you think your knowledge and skills are placed on a pyramid, and eventually you will get to the very top and you would have mastered the Guitar or whatever you instrument may be. The reality of it all is that this concept couldn’t be further from the truth.

The pyramid of knowledge does exist, but not in the way you probably think it does now. The pyramid is actually upside down. You start at the very bottom, the one little point. As you go up the pyramid you finally realize just how little you know and that is when you realize that there is no real thing as ‘mastering the guitar’ because it is completely impossible. There can be no gauge to compare blues to jazz, classical to rock. There are so many different voicings from a guitar that there is no way you can compare an acoustic guitar to an electric guitar. One you realize this, you can start to define exactly what it is that you want to be able to do on the guitar, whether that means learning a certain part of theory, finger tapping, sweeping or anything else.

Once you define what it is that you want to be able to do, you can start acting on it. Get all the information you need to be able to learn what you want to learn. And of course once you have learnt everything you set out for yourself, a new set of goals with arise, it is a never ending battle of knowledge, that is what you need to realize. The real secret to be able to play less but get better faster is to know what you want to learn! Without this, you don’t know what direction you want to go so people often end up either staying in the same place or running in circles. Set out a time of day, maybe first thing in the morning or straight after work. Even if it is just 15 minutes, have the time set out so you can do it everyday without fail and start learning exactly what it is you want to learn. Stick to it and don’t give up, the results will be worth it.

So on my search for playing material I found a secret that most will never know, it’s crazy to think that something as simple as knowing what you want and doing a tiny bit everyday will make you the player you always wanted to be without having to slave away locking yourself in your room for hours on end. Remember the pyramid is upside down! So make it clear what you want, and go for it!

 Keep on jamming,

Charlie Wallace
This Lesson Brought to You By Guitar Burning Speed