hi, i learnt guitar for 8 months. I basically know how to play basic cords and songs. I want to move to the next level now. I m looking forward to leads, rifs, scales. What should i do besides practicing cords what else. The theory part in most of the forums is confusing. Please help. Im looking for a tutor too but to be honest they are after your money in chandigarh, you won't find anyone serious for music. Please assist guys would really appreciate it. Thank you in advance. ANISH SHARMA
Start practising scales if you don't already. Day in and day out. Major, minor, the pentatonics, the blues etc. etc. Try to play songs you like.
What u can do is 1) Pickup solos from songs that u feel simple. 2) Try to figure out the notes by ur ears 3) Try and understand in what scale that solo is played. 4) For first few songs refer to tabs only when u r not able to figure it out by urself. 5) For the above mentioned the knowledge of scales is really very important, so start learnin scales first as @bjr has mentioned above. And try to find a good guitar teacher..Coz self learning will take lot more time as compared to leaning from someone else...so if someone shows u the path it will be easy...
Thanks alot for the replies. To be honest with you guys, I don't know how to read tabs, scales which are mentioned on this site. Is there any thread which provides links to You tube videos. Where i can learn the scales. But will learning scales actually help ? I remember my guitar teacher telling me how to combine sa, re ga ma on guitar on different frets. But i couldn't make out ever what's actually the use of learning that. I'm going to join Bharat Music Acadamy here in chandigarh, I'll ask my teacher. However im not sure if he would be a good one since most of the teachers i came across in the past were just after money.
I don't think running after money qualifies teachers as not good. They're trying to earn a living just like everyone else and you shouldn't grudge them that. I understand your problem though. Luckily, living in Calcutta meant I had really good teachers who charged less than 500 rs per month. Like the poster above you said, having a good teacher speeds up a process which can otherwise be rather painful (learning scales, correct technique etc).
Its not necessarily the entire solo that i am talking about. U cud even play a piece from a tough song. like "For the love of god". Play the start part of it. its pretty simple. GNR solos..basically short and sweet riffs...There is lots to do man...Listen to Marty Friedman, Joe sat, Any damn song..If u like the solo and if you feel its simple try to do it. Even if that means its for 20secs only.... This will build ur guitar vocab and technique
There is always internet resources on which you can rely and if u practise they'll really boost ur playing. I have been playing a li'l more than u(around 10/11 months) but I can play many A7X songs note by note. Also i learnt to play a lot of Metallica songs. So i wud say you first learn how to read guitar tablature, that helps a lot and try playing songs u like from their respective tabs. As for the online resources try getting the L&M guitar tutorial. Its really great for beginners and then you can proceed to some Lick Library stuff like "Ultimate Guitar Chords and the Scales that Fit Them", "Ultimate Guitar Techniques - Scale Shapes"(li'l advanced),"Rock Concepts With Danny Gill", "Extreme Metal Licks (Andy James)" etc. Also Paul Gilbert's "Intense Rock Sequences" was a real great help. It'll help you develop some real cool techniques. Right now I am studying "modes" from an ebook but I guess thats a bit advanced stuff.
Thanks alot. The books you mentioned are they available on internet ? Can i download these through torrents ? I searched on this website for "how to learn guitar tabs" but most of them are kind of confusing to me. For example on E string we've 0 we've 1 we've 2 and just below we've others so it's difficult to figure out which one needs to be played first. Can anyone name any specific threads for tablature.
Actually the stuff I mentioned are all video lessons not ebooks... My college has an online sharing hub and I find almost every guitar lesson over there but you'll be able to get them from torrent sites I guess. I learnt reading tabs from the L&M Guitar tutorial. Try downloading it. Its really great for beginners. And if you are looking for e books look up for buks by Troy Setina but those are for intermediate and advanced players. Dunno if he ever wrote any beginner's buks.
Try learning Cryin' by Joe Satriani... A very easy Satch song. Focus on learning how to keep the guitar quiet under high gain and keeping the whole song noise free.
i guess this will help you out... Free guitar lessons : Complete Beginners Method and loads of Blues, Jazz and rock : Learn how to play Guitar free here!
