Archive for the ‘Practice’ Category
5 Beautiful Ways to Play a II-V-I Jazz Chord Progression
I just love figuring out different ways to play a jazz chord progression or just mixing up jazz chords with other styles of music.
It can add nice flavors to a song and give it some extra magic. It’s really fun to experiment with that.
Learning jazz expands your guitar vocabulary to a whole new level if you are ready for it.
In the meantime it’s just fun to play some beautiful jazz chord progressions and it will certainly contribute to your playing skills and creativity as well.
There are also more advanced II-V-I’s than the ones I show here but these are really nice to start out with and get your feet in the dirt. It can be a little bit overwhelming if you learn to play jazz chords and progressions for the first time, but after a few runs you’ll get the hang of it. You’ll be amazed! Read the rest of this entry »
Online Tools For Guitar Players Worth Checking Out
Every now and then I’m on the look out for new handy tools online that makes the life of a guitar player easier, more efficient, effective and more comfortable.
Guitar playing and the stuff that comes with it like backing up your audiofiles, writing down your lyrics and music becomes even more enjoyable if you got the right tools for the job.
Or some nice blues backingtracks to improvise over. It makes practicing a hell of a lot more fun.
Let’s take a look at these guitar productivity tools:
- Blanksheetmusic.net Notation sheets for every instrument and vocals
- www.guitarvoice.com Awesome guitar backingtracks. Search by artist, random or genre.
- Crashplan.com Unlimited Online backup storage for all your precious audio files and everything else for only $3 a month
- Audio.online-convert.com Online audio/video/ebook converter
- Mflow is a really good sounding/looking Online Social Music Streaming Tool next to Spotify, Last.fm and Grooveshark
- Audio speed tempo pitch changer (reducing audiospeed while remaining pitch and vice versa)
for Windows: Windows Media Player 12
for Mac: Audiolobe
- Masterwriter.com Songwriter tool used by famous artists and producers including Rob Thomas and David Foster.
- The 150 Essential Chords Ebook I would be a fool not to recommend my own 150 Essential Chord Ebook. A good organized, categorized and easy to read chord book with a nice layout. Free to download.
- Reading sheet music:
A short version:www.musictheory.net
An extended version: www.readsheetmusic.info
- More Tools 21-must-have-online-musician-tools-for-guitar-players
If you know some cool guitar productivity tools, please share it in the comments.
I appreciate it.
Klaus
9 Effective Ways to Increase Your Guitar Picking Speed
Working on increasing your picking speed is not just for the hell fire speed guru wannabe’s.
Once your speed increases your whole style of playing loosens up. Your fingers will feel light and flexible and you’ll gain more freedom in your playing.
Your fingers will float easily across the strings without trying so hard. It’s an important skill to work on and to maintain.
Increasing your picking speed comes with obstacles, victories, ups and downs, lots of patience and hard work. It’s all about practicing and equally important “the right way of practicing”. Just practicing a lot of hours doesn’t necessarily increase your picking speed if you don’t do it the right way.
Every individual has it’s own specific hurdles to overcome, but if you focus on these tips you are already off to a great start.
You can do it too!
Read the rest of this entry »
6 Cool Major Scale Sequences to Get Better
If you’re new to scale sequences I suggest you check out “6 Basic Major Scale Sequences / Melodic Patterns” first. That’s where I explain why and how you should practice scale sequences.
This is Part II of the previous post and if you got the basic scale sequences under your belt you’re pretty much up for this challenge.
I recommend you play these sequenses along with a metronome: “www.metronomeonline.com” It’s the best way to make progress in accuracy and speed. Start out really slow and gradually build up your speed. Only go faster when you can play each note clear and correctly.
The sequences are for the intermediate and advanced. They are tricky but incredibly fun to play.
Enjoy and improve!
SEQUENCE #1 ascending e:-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------| B:-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|---------------3-| G:-----------------|-----------------|-------2-------4-|-----2-5---2-4---| D:---------------2-|-------4-----2-5-|---2-4---2-4-5---|-4-5-----5-------| A:-----2-5---2-3---|-2-3-5---3-5-----|-5---------------|-----------------| E:-3-5-----5-------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|Read the rest of this entry »
6 Basic Major Scale Sequences / Melodic Patterns
When I first learned to play sequences I didn’t know what all the fuzz was about. Why was it so important to learn all these “sequences” or as some prefer to call them “melodic patterns”?
Anyhow, I did enjoy playing them because after a while I got into this flow and it sounded kinda cool.
Once I really got the hang of it I came to learn the benefits of mastering sequences
Sequences will improve your technique and ability to improvise and create melody on the spot.
Your playing becomes more flexible, creative and it’ll keep you from sounding like someone who is playing scales all the time. :-)
In other words… Want to improve your technique or want to improve your improvising skills?
Go ahead and work hard on these assignments.
Enjoy!
Assignment #1: Memorize the G Major scale and play it using alternate picking.
Assignment #2: Memorize the 6 sequences below (ascending and descending) and play them through the cycle of fourths. (in the key G, C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, B, E, A, D, G)
Assignment #3: Incorporate bits and pieces of each sequence into your improvisation.
Assignment #4: Try to make melodies from the patterns, play with the notes, experiment with timing and rhythm, turn things around, extend or shorten the duration/length of some of the notes, create pauses, etc.
These assignments will keep you busy for a while. Be patient and take your time!
G MAJOR SCALE e:-----------------------------2-3-2------------------------------------| B:-------------------------3-5-------5-3--------------------------------| G:------------------2-4-5----------------5-4-2--------------------------| D:-----------2-4-5-----------------------------5-4-2--------------------| A:-----2-3-5------------------------------------------5-3-2-------------| E:-3-5-------------------------------------------------------5-3--------|SEQUENCE #1 ascending e:----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------| B:----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------| G:----------------|-----------------|---------------2-|-----2-4---2-4-5-| D:----------------|-------2-----2-4-|---2-4-5-2-4-5---|-4-5-----5-------| A:-----2-3--2-3-5-|-2-3-5---3-5-----|-5---------------|-----------------| E:-3-5-----5------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------| Read the rest of this entry »
The Most Important Scales to Learn on Guitar
Photo by Michael Mooney
The first scale I learned as a teenager was the minor pentatonic scale. That was a good starting point for me cause I was really into rock music and metal.
I only learned the first and classic position that most guitar players know, but l did learn it thoroughly though.
I also figured some blues boxes like the “Albert King box” and the “B.B King box”. (they are not official names).
They are just little pieces of postion 2 and 3 of the blues scale. I learned how to connect the minor pentatonic scale and some of these blues boxes together and tried to improvise over these scales in every possible way I could. (by creating licks, applying sequences, learning solos to gain input, building a vocabulary to understand soloing and improvisation, etc.)
Much later on I learned to use the other 4 postions of the pentatonic / blues scale. Then I moved onto the major scale and it’s modes, harmonic minor, melodic minor etc. But not all those scales are important or necessary for every guitar player.
So the big question is: What is the most important scale for you to learn? Read the rest of this entry »
