GUITARHABITS

8 Reasons Why Learning The Blues is So Important

March 28, 2021 by Klaus Crow

Photo by Bigstock photo
My oldest brother introduced me to the music of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I was hooked instantly. I soon took up the guitar and started taking lessons.

Although I was happy in the beginning playing and singing songs by Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, The Beatles and Springsteen, what I really wanted was to learn those beautiful bluesy solos that came from Stevie’s fingers and strings. It took another couple of years before I found the right teacher to teach me those skills. The blues has always been a major influence on my playing ever since.

Whatever you’re playing, whether it’s country, folk, alternative, rock, pop music or jazz it’s always great to combine these and other styles with blues elements or to lean on your blues vocabulary and skills whenever you need it.

There’s also something about the pentatonic / blues scale that no other scale has in store. It’s that raw, crying, heart aching, but also earthy, soulful, honest sound that really comes alive through playing the blues.

Now if that hasn’t convinced you to pick up your guitar and dive into the world of blues, you might want to know what reasons are so important that you do so.

Check it out:Continue Reading

How to Hold a Guitar – Proper Posture and Hand Positioning

By Klaus Crow 14 Comments

June 30, 2022 by Klaus Crow

I first got briefly introduced with proper posture and good practice habits by Al Di Meola’s chords, scales and arpeggios book. For me he is just one of the coolest guitar dudes on the planet, so what he wrote in the book was a good place to start with.

Proper guitar posture is not something every guitar player is aware of or takes seriously.

That’s because improper posture and bad habits will not immediately result in injuries.

But over the long term guitar players can get back, shoulder, neck, elbow, arm and wrist pains, RSI (repetitive strain injuries), tendonitis, CTS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) and other nasty side effects.

This is certainly not every guitar player’s destiny, but it’s not out of the question either. But there’s good news! Proper posture can prevent a lot of these injuries and it makes guitar playing easier and more pleasant.

A good hand positioning is here also really important to learn to play effectively and properly. Every detail makes all the difference in the world.

Let’s take a closer look:

The 5 Major Scale CAGED Shapes – Positions

By Klaus Crow 23 Comments

March 18, 2022 by Klaus Crow

Photo by Bigstock photo
If you know how to play the major scale in one position and you’re ready to learn to play it all over the fretboard then this lesson is the next step.

If you haven’t played the major scale before you might wanna check out this post first: How to Play The Major Scale Guitar Guide for Beginners and Intermediate.

The major scale is the mother of all scales and your reference point for all other scales. That’s why it’s so important to master all of these five scale shapes.

The five C-A-G-E-D scale shapes (C shape, A shape, G shape, E shape and D shape) surround the entire fretboard. The “shapes” are sometimes also referred to as “positions”. In this post we use the G major scale as an example. So all five scale shapes (see below) are G major scale.

You can apply these scale shapes to all 12 keys by simply moving the shapes up or down the fretboard. For example: If you move the five shapes up a whole step (2 frets) then all the shapes are in the key of A, so you have five A major scale shapes.

The five scale shapes are derived from the CAGED system. If you’re not sure what the CAGED system is all about check out: What is The CAGED System? (The Keys to The Fretboard)

Each scale shape is related to a chord shape and surrounds that chord shape so you can easily identify the name of each scale shape. In each diagram below you can see the scale shape and the chord shape (made up of the red and green dots) that is surrounded by the scale shape.

PLAYING THE SCALE SHAPES / POSITIONS

If you look at the diagrams, play each scale shape starting from the lowest root note (the red note) then play all the way up (ascending) to the last note on the high E-string, then play all the way down (descending) to the first note on the low E-string and then play up again to the first root note you’ll hit upon. The tablature shows you how to play each scale shape ascending and descending.

Tips

– Practice the scale shapes with a pick using alternate picking technique (down, up, down, up, etc.)
– Practice slowly first and make sure each note sounds clean and clear.
– Try to visualize the chord shape in each scale shape.
– Make sure you can play each scale shape thoroughly before moving on to the next.
– Be patient and persistent, it takes some time to get them all under your belt.
– Repetition and regular practice is the key to success!

Have fun!

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