Play it. I never had a lesson, and while Im not a "good" guitarist, I can certainly work out chords or leads that I hear in my head without too much effort. I dont think that a teacher does anything except prevent the bad habits that slow yer progress...Chuck E. Jesus wrote:how the f**k do you actually teach yourself guitar?
Major Scales VS. Minor Scales
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Stupid American Pig Stupid American Pig https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=4753 - KVRAF
- 7065 posts since 25 Nov, 2002 from not sure
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- KVRAF
- 2356 posts since 30 Sep, 2003 from Sunny Staffordshire
You really can teach yourself guitar, Im sure of that. I know some really session players who are completely self taught, dont read a note of staff notion etc. But they can sit with a CD/mp3 and a tab sheet and learn to play a song perfectly in no time at all!
I guess it all depends what you want to do. Some things you should really get a teacher for. But just wanting to play songs, well, you have all the resources you need right here on the net.
I learn guitar for years as a kid. I did the classical thing, then the rock thing, then the jazz thing etc. I really dont think I learned anything that I couldnt pick up just as easily from the net. Indeed, Iv taught myself to play piano over the last two years and I doubt I could have progressed any better with a normal teacher (Im sure I could have with a really great one though).
TB
I guess it all depends what you want to do. Some things you should really get a teacher for. But just wanting to play songs, well, you have all the resources you need right here on the net.
I learn guitar for years as a kid. I did the classical thing, then the rock thing, then the jazz thing etc. I really dont think I learned anything that I couldnt pick up just as easily from the net. Indeed, Iv taught myself to play piano over the last two years and I doubt I could have progressed any better with a normal teacher (Im sure I could have with a really great one though).
TB
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- KVRAF
- 4206 posts since 21 Oct, 2001 from my bolthole in the south pacific
Take a squiz at the major scale (also known as the Ionian mode) - if you look at the intervals that comprise the scale, it is unique in that it is the only scale of 7 tones with 6 perfect 5ths - and just one diminished fifth (B-F in the case of C Major/ionian). Physics dictates that this set of tones is the least dissonant set - no suprise then that it is the scale that forms the basis of european music.
The modes of the C major scale are named like so:
C Ionian, D dorian, E phrygian, F lydian, G myxolydian, A aeolian, B locrian
These seven all use the same set of tones (the white notes in this case).
If you learn to play fingerings for that same set of tones all over the neck (five positions per octave say will give you a pretty comprehensive coverage) you will be able to play all those modes in any key. Being able to play all the major/aeolian and dorian modes is a hell of a start. Transposing keys is just a matter of shifting your fingerings on guitar.
People tend to play the minor modes (dorian and aeolian) over minor chords and for tunes in minor keys although in a popular music the pentatonic scales and blues scales are very common. I would absolutely make sure that you know your bluescale and pentatonic minor all over the neck if you want to improvise in blues/funk/rock etc.
In popular styles the use of the ascending and descending melodic minor or harmonic minors are not something I hear played on guitar that much although if you want to go to town on modes and scales crack open the John McLaughlin records.
The modes of the C major scale are named like so:
C Ionian, D dorian, E phrygian, F lydian, G myxolydian, A aeolian, B locrian
These seven all use the same set of tones (the white notes in this case).
If you learn to play fingerings for that same set of tones all over the neck (five positions per octave say will give you a pretty comprehensive coverage) you will be able to play all those modes in any key. Being able to play all the major/aeolian and dorian modes is a hell of a start. Transposing keys is just a matter of shifting your fingerings on guitar.
People tend to play the minor modes (dorian and aeolian) over minor chords and for tunes in minor keys although in a popular music the pentatonic scales and blues scales are very common. I would absolutely make sure that you know your bluescale and pentatonic minor all over the neck if you want to improvise in blues/funk/rock etc.
In popular styles the use of the ascending and descending melodic minor or harmonic minors are not something I hear played on guitar that much although if you want to go to town on modes and scales crack open the John McLaughlin records.
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Chuck E. Jesus Chuck E. Jesus https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=108246
- R.I.P.
- 7301 posts since 23 May, 2006 from in between a cornfield and a river
honestly i have taught myself, but there does seem to be a limit...i'm not very good at reading the things and saying "oh that's how it goes"...if someone showed me it would be easier...but i gotta be honest, i'm never gonna take lessons... there is a shitload of info on the internet, i wish this stuff was available when i was a kid but it wasn't...i don't have that natural guitar ability, but i can play shit right on the money, just not too fancy...and if someone can point me to a site that shows some hardcore jazz suff (i kind of grew up in my late teens/early twenties listening to wes montgomery/coltrane)i would be a happy jr. old man....
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Chuck E. Jesus Chuck E. Jesus https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=108246
- R.I.P.
- 7301 posts since 23 May, 2006 from in between a cornfield and a river
i'll be honest: i've had some books, but now that i got the computer thing AND i've been getting back into playing guitar, i'm finding it a little easier....i can sit in front of the computer with the acoustic, f**k with the stuff, find something else quick if i get bored, and go back to the other bits that have been bookmarked...egbert wrote:Take a squiz at the major scale (also known as the Ionian mode) - if you look at the intervals that comprise the scale, it is unique in that it is the only scale of 7 tones with 6 perfect 5ths - and just one diminished fifth (B-F in the case of C Major/ionian). Physics dictates that this set of tones is the least dissonant set - no suprise then that it is the scale that forms the basis of european music.
The modes of the C major scale are named like so:
C Ionian, D dorian, E phrygian, F lydian, G myxolydian, A aeolian, B locrian
These seven all use the same set of tones (the white notes in this case).
If you learn to play fingerings for that same set of tones all over the neck (five positions per octave say will give you a pretty comprehensive coverage) you will be able to play all those modes in any key. Being able to play all the major/aeolian and dorian modes is a hell of a start. Transposing keys is just a matter of shifting your fingerings on guitar.
People tend to play the minor modes (dorian and aeolian) over minor chords and for tunes in minor keys although in a popular music the pentatonic scales and blues scales are very common. I would absolutely make sure that you know your bluescale and pentatonic minor all over the neck if you want to improvise in blues/funk/rock etc.
In popular styles the use of the ascending and descending melodic minor or harmonic minors are not something I hear played on guitar that much although if you want to go to town on modes and scales crack open the John McLaughlin records.
believe me, any tips i get i try to absorb...sometimes not right away, but a good tip can come up in a certain situation/riff/pattern/etc..
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- KVRAF
- 6519 posts since 13 Mar, 2002 from UK
Modern harmonic theory blurs the lines between major and minor. The basis is, as ever, the major scale but with chords freely borrowed from other parallel scales (typically the various minor scales and modes of the major). This is known as modal interchange. What this means in practice is that while working in, say, C Major you can borrow any chords from C Mel Minor, C Harm Minor, C Dorian, etc. etc.
Naturally, if you borrow all the chords from C Harmonic minor you're back to working in a "traditional" minor context.
Naturally, if you borrow all the chords from C Harmonic minor you're back to working in a "traditional" minor context.
Now with improved MIDI jitter!
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- Banned
- 1842 posts since 4 Aug, 2004 from just right here
Iv forgotten all the theory stuff now. If I pick up the guitar it all comes back, but I work from my ears and feel. Sheet music to me never realy lends itself to guitar. I do think it is a problem if you get too lost in the classical and even the jazz discipline and you loose sight of what its about. Im bassicaly self tought, and started off whith a Jazz rock funk fusion type of style, then got a bit experimental/discordant and moved on into a more bluesy feel later. I know all my scales. I use the keyboard mostly now which I was self taught in too, anyway so......mmmm....
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- KVRAF
- 3299 posts since 7 May, 2004 from Athens, Greece
Yeah, esp. when you play something between Mozart and Bach. Mach for examplethecontrolcentre wrote:Didn't Nigel Tuffnal say that in the Spinal Tap movie?NAD wrote:D minor is the saddest of all keys
If I go insane, please don't put your wires in my brain
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- KVRAF
- 3299 posts since 7 May, 2004 from Athens, Greece
Shouldn't sound different on a piano or keys in general provided it is tuned the way we tune today. It probably did matter with an older kind of tuning but don't remember the details.tee boy wrote:Do you find that the different keys have different moods?
Like, does Eb Major mean anything different to you than F Major?
TB
However in stringed instruments it's still different. Different open chords in each key etc.
Scales that I am not very familiar with make me think differently esp. when we're talking about chord progressions.
If I go insane, please don't put your wires in my brain
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- KVRist
- 322 posts since 2 Mar, 2005
Ive only really been trying to teach myself music theory this year can anyone send me any links or recommend a book to me?
At the moment a normally find a scale or mode from http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/piano/ but I still don't know any theory behind what chords fit into what scales and chord or scale progression, I normally just try to work it out on my own although I see this as being very important to learn.
I find all the music theory books I look at have things written in staff which I can't read, Im really looking for a book or website that covers everything and explains it clearly.
At the moment a normally find a scale or mode from http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/piano/ but I still don't know any theory behind what chords fit into what scales and chord or scale progression, I normally just try to work it out on my own although I see this as being very important to learn.
I find all the music theory books I look at have things written in staff which I can't read, Im really looking for a book or website that covers everything and explains it clearly.
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- KVRian
- 762 posts since 2 Sep, 2004 from Poland
Exactly and it's a root of chord what is really counting. Scales are just a tool (or a guide) for playing melodies what might fit a harmony.Gregjazz wrote:Minor... major... they're all based off of the same tones, you just have a different root.
Better question would be - what is your favorite chord?
Mine is dimished 7th.
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- KVRAF
- 6519 posts since 13 Mar, 2002 from UK
You could try my theory pages... http://www.chordspace.com/Intro.htmJohnny Cherry wrote:Ive only really been trying to teach myself music theory this year can anyone send me any links or recommend a book to me?
At the moment a normally find a scale or mode from http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/piano/ but I still don't know any theory behind what chords fit into what scales and chord or scale progression, I normally just try to work it out on my own although I see this as being very important to learn.
I find all the music theory books I look at have things written in staff which I can't read, Im really looking for a book or website that covers everything and explains it clearly.
If those don't work for you there's a list of links here... http://www.chordspace.com/Links.htm
Now with improved MIDI jitter!
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- Banned
- 264 posts since 29 Jul, 2006
Minor 7th or 9thRadek wrote:
Better question would be - what is your favorite chord?
Mine is dimished 7th.
Like the sus chords as well (no pun intended) and add 6
O yeah, and Maj 7th too
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- KVRAF
- 2327 posts since 13 Apr, 2004 from Vancouver, Canada
Am7 strummed out on my nylon string is my all-time favourite musical sound...Radek wrote:what is your favorite chord?
Mine is dimished 7th.
(I might change my mind if I had the patience to learn another chord though)
