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A Beginners Path to Learning Guitar

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You want to learn to play guitar but you’re having trouble finding which way to go next. Well, don’t worry, today we have a roadmap or beginners path to learning guitar that will show you where to start and how to continue on your journey.

The learning path to guitar playing will not be the same for everyone. It depends on what style or genre you want to learn and your ultimate goal.

Do you want to become a shredding guitar virtuoso or are you more a singer songwriter type? Do you want to become a solid blues guitar lead player or work your way to an acoustic fingerstyle wizz or a hybrid picking country cowboy?

Whatever your choice is, if you want to start learning popular music, folk music and work your way towards blues, rock, alternative, metal, country or jazz this beginners path is a good starting point.

You don’t necessarily have to stick to the order of this list, there is more than one way to skin a cat. There are always side roads and other things you can learn besides this list. But this beginners path is a good indication to create the solid building blocks you need to becoming a pretty decent guitar player.

Somewhere down to road you got to choose which way to go next, but you’ll figure out when the time is right.

Notes:
– If you want to learn to play classical guitar this is probably not the beginners path you want to follow.
– Take your time. Learn each aspect thoroughly. Even though learning basic chords and an easy song can be mastered in days, this path is not a plan for days or weeks but more for months, years and even a lifetime.

Don’t forget: “It’s about the journey, not about the destination.”

8 Ways to Really Develop Your Aural Skills

By Klaus Crow 13 Comments

Photo by Bigstock photo
Developing your aural skills is one of the most important things when it comes to guitar playing. If not the most important thing.

It’s something I still work on after all these years of playing. Each time I invest time into ear training it pays off big time.

The ability to identify chords, chord progressions, notes and melodies by ear or creating melodies from the mind and translating it to the fretboard is the greatest asset and resource a guitar player can have.

And to take it even one step further, combining good aural skills and knowledge of music theory will make you invincible. It’s the ultimate combination and makes you a complete musician.

But today we focus solely on the quality of listening. There are many ways to improve your aural skills, but here is a list of the most essential ones:

1 Transcribe songs.
Figure out chords, chord progressions and solos by ear. Work out the pitches and rhythms of a song. Use software like Transcribe to slowdown, loop and change the pitch of the song to make transcribing easier. You can use Anytune to transcribe songs on your Ipad.Continue Reading

Triplet Scale Sequence Exercises Why and How

By Klaus Crow 7 Comments

Photo by Bigstockphoto
The first scale sequence I learned without being aware of it was the “pentatonic triplet sequence”. They were all over the place in Metallica solos and I learned a lot of them.

Once I knew what I triplet really was I noticed them in many other rock and metal songs. But also in a lot of blues solos, usually played with hammer-ons and pull-offs.

A triplet is when you’re playing 3 consecutive notes per beat. Also called an eighth note triplet. (There are also sixteenth note triplets but we’ll save that for another post) Since there are 4 beats per bar in 4/4 time, you can count them like this: 1 trip-let, 2 trip-let, 3 trip-let, 4 trip-let or if you prefer you can count: 1 & a, 2 & a, 3 & a, 4 & a. It’s important to learn the feel of playing triplets.

Triplets are often used at the end of a musical phrase. They can be played fast and ascending, building a climax and leading up to that final screaming note or descending to a lower impressive last note to give it more impact.

Once you know your scales and you’re starting to improvise you don’t want to sound like you’re playing scales all the time. That’s where sequences come in. Sequences are a great tool for building your improvising chops.Continue Reading

The Almighty 1 2 3 4 Combinations Workout

By Klaus Crow 17 Comments

Photo by finewallpaperss.com
The 1 2 3 4 exercise is a notorious warmup exercise that many skilled and famous guitar players have adopted in their regular workout.

It’s the perfect exercise to develop dexterity and increase your speed.

In the beginning it tends to be a little bit boring because of the monotonous movements, but after a while your fingers get accustomed to the stretch and finger placement and you’ll start feeling the rush of getting up to speed. You’ll notice your fingers become more flexible and capable and eventually you’ll get hooked on the exercise.

Also playing chords, fill ins, licks, arpeggios and everything else on the guitar becomes a lot easier, even effortless, depending on how much you practice.

This is the Almighty 1 2 3 4 Combinations Workout:Continue Reading

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