GUITARHABITS

10 Reasons to Learn (New) Scales Now and How

May 12, 2019 by Klaus Crow

Most beginner and even some intermediate guitar players try to avoid scales. They don’t see the use of it. A scale doesn’t sound cool. It can be tough and boring to practice.

But once you know the truth and potential behind scales a whole new world of possibilities will open up for you. The truth is “Scales is Everything!” If you practice and study the scales regularly, you will soon reap the benefits of this immense musical working tool that has the answer to all your musical questions and controls everything you play, whether you like it or not. ;)

So let’s take a look at the 10 reasons to learn scales Now and How.

LEARN NEW SCALES TO:

1 – Analyse chords.
Knowing scales means you have the ability to analyse and figure out chords and chord structure. You will understand from what notes a chord is made up, why it is played and named a certain way, and why it sounds the way it does. The chord theory gives you the knowledge to calculate and analyse every single chord that is put in front of you. Knowing and understanding scales and chord theory will make everything easier to grasp. You will learn to see the bigger picture.

2 – Create chord progressions
In the same way, scales give you the notes and formulas to build your own chord progressions. You will find the chords that match and sound good together and create beautiful sounding chord progressions. You will learn the relationship between chords and scales and how they interact. So, if a lead guitar player asks you to play a chord progression in the key of G to provide a jam track for him/her to solo over, you can feel confident to do that.
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10 Best Distortion Pedals That Rock

By Klaus Crow 9 Comments

January 21, 2020 by Klaus Crow

10 Best Distortion Pedals That Rock You got a guitar, an amp, a decent clean sound, but your amp is missing that great distortion sound that will blow you away. You might already have a great distortion, but you’re lacking a 70’s classic rock tone or you want to add that sweet tone from your favorite guitar player to your arsenal.

Well, today we got a list of 10 awesome distortion pedals that will suit every style of guitar playing from delicate blues to classic rock to ruthless heavy metal.

These sounds will satisfy all your funky riffs and soaring lead solos. A great selection of stompboxes ranging from 50 up to 250 dollars, depending on your budget and personal taste, there is something here for every musician who wants to rock the place.

Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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How A Metronome Will Improve Your Playing

By Klaus Crow 3 Comments

July 28, 2020 by Klaus Crow

Practicing with a metronome seems like a boring and useless thing to do, but the opposite is true. Practicing with a metronome will develop your ability to keep time and become a tight and solid guitar player. This is one thing that your really want to be good at if you’re aiming to becoming a good musician.

It will also develop your dexterity, improve your accuracy and increase your speed. Enough reasons to check out the metronome. You can look for a metronome online, an app on your phone, or get yourself a real quality metronome that keeps you focused on your practice without getting distracted. You can also choose a good digital metronome which is really accurate and easy to set up.

The metronome practice below consists of two parts: Rhythm (chords and songs) and Lead (scales and licks). Practice everyday for 20 to 30 minutes and your playing will really shape up.

Let’s get started!
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Three Chord Songs – C major, G major, and F major

By Klaus Crow 4 Comments

September 4, 2023 by Klaus Crow

When you are at the beginning of your guitar learning journey, one of the best ways to practice is by learning songs you like and playing them until they sound perfect. This approach is fun and allows you to perform in front of your friends as soon as possible. You just need to know a bunch of chords and some simple strumming patterns.

In an another tutorial I listed 10 songs that you can play with just the C major and G major chords. The next chord to learn is F major. Why? Because F major is the fourth chord in the Key of C and one of the most common chord progressions is I-IV-V, or C-F-G. There are thousands of songs that use these simple three chords.

F major barred “133211” is not always easy for a beginner so we can always play F major like this “XX3211” if necessary. The I-IV-V progression is known as the “Rock N Roll progression” so many of the examples below will fit into the rock and pop rock genre.

When dealing with two chord songs we are actually a little limited, especially when using only C and G, however by adding F major in a whole world of new music is opened up to us. One thing not mentioned in the last article was transposition. If we have a song in the Key of D using the chords D major and A major, it is easy to transpose that song to the Key of C were the chords will be C major and G major.

Since we are sticking to the Key of C some of the songs below may be slightly transposed, it all depends if it was possible. Sometimes a song just doesn’t sound right when transposed. So below are 10 songs that are perfect for knowing the chords C, F, and G.

KUMBAYA

Another simple traditional spiritual song, first recorded back in the 1920’s. This simple folk song is a perfect example of how these three chords work together. The fourth (F major) and fifth (G major) are used to create a musical tension and bridge before returning back to the root (C major). It is truly amazing how much western music is based off of how these three chords sound together!

TWIST AND SHOUT

This song was not written by the Beatles, but they are certainly the band who made it popular. This was the last song recorded on their album Please Please Me because their producer George Martin knew John Lennon’s voice would take a beating. He definitely gave it is all while singing this song!

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