This is a bit of an unorthodox suggestion, but have you considered trying out Rocksmith? It's basically Guitar Hero but the game is played using a real Guitar and it's intended to teach you real...
This is a bit of an unorthodox suggestion, but have you considered trying out Rocksmith? It's basically Guitar Hero but the game is played using a real Guitar and it's intended to teach you real Guitar playing technique.
My buddy tried to learn Guitar a bunch of times over the years but always wound up giving up eventually due to frustration/boredom/etc, and he said it wasn't until he tried Rocksmith ("which is actually fun") that he finally managed to get over that initial hump. He has since moved on to taking regular lessons with a teacher at his local Guitar shop, and is probably well beyond Rocksmith in terms of his ability to play now, but even so I still see him playing it a few times a week.
Rocksmith is great! It has actual lessons which explains concepts. It has actual songs you can play along with (adjusting speed and complexity, which allows you to slowly build up muscle memory to...
Rocksmith is great! It has actual lessons which explains concepts. It has actual songs you can play along with (adjusting speed and complexity, which allows you to slowly build up muscle memory to play a song).
It also has arcade games which gamifies and lets you practice concepts like arpeggio's, playing the correct note, chords, etc.
It also has a free play mode, which is lot of fun to noodle around with scales, and building your custom effects pedal chain :)
Whatcha got? What d'ya want to learn? Strum some campfire chords? Learn a couple of tunes? Become a ~musician~? A Modern Method for Guitar and The Praxis System are pretty well-regarded guitar...
Whatcha got? What d'ya want to learn? Strum some campfire chords? Learn a couple of tunes? Become a ~musician~?
A Modern Method for Guitar and The Praxis System are pretty well-regarded guitar method series. But, depending on your goals, might not get you to where you want to be fast enough.
I'm a bit loathe to recommend online resources because I feel they tend to be kinda scattershot and unfocused and stuff that is focused on guitar seem to be a bit wonky on the theory side of things. Though, I'm sure there's some good stuff out there.
I play guitar with an interest (but not a whole lot of experience) in the pedagogy side of it, so feel free to hit me up and we can figure it out together.
I bought my first guitar late last December. I've currently got Hal Leonard's guitar method, but these books seem much more in depth. Thanks for the recommendations! I have to say that having a...
I bought my first guitar late last December. I've currently got Hal Leonard's guitar method, but these books seem much more in depth. Thanks for the recommendations!
I have to say that having a guitar and working steadily to improve has really helped me handle this quarantine. I've been using a habit tracker to track the days I've practiced. I'm at 30 days since missing a practice and 95 total days of practice so far! :D
I'm also doing musictheory.net's ear training exercises in hopes to improve my singing which is really quite awful right now. If you've got any suggestions for methods to learn to sing and play at the same time I'd love to hear them.
For shame that ear training is oft disregarded by musicians these days as I'd say it's the most important aspect of musicianship to train. Good on you! I also highly recommend musictheory.net's...
For shame that ear training is oft disregarded by musicians these days as I'd say it's the most important aspect of musicianship to train. Good on you!
I also highly recommend musictheory.net's theory lessons. They do a fantastic job of thoroughly, yet succinctly, reviewing common practice period functional harmony. It's what you could expect to learn in 4 semesters of college-level music theory courses. Minus the guidance and prescribed practice of a professor.
As for the books, I have no actual experience with them though I understand them to be solid starting points. The Praxis System looks a lot more interesting, and closer to how I would think of teaching, just based on the previews available.
Singing and playing together is a matter of independence. Take it slowly and you'll eventually be able to separate the concerns so that your hands are playing chords/melodies while your voice is able to do work on top of that. Learn some folk tunes to really get there quickly (but slowly). If you can play that on guitar while singing, no doubt you'll be able to tackle a wide variety of other songs.
Consistency is key. If you were to practice a year consistently and dutifully, no doubt you'd be able to match my 18 years (or so) of hodgepodge meandering.
Yea! Not that I don't like some good ol' fashion rock and/or roll, but I feel there's a lot more actionable stuff to teach with regards to jazz. I'd recommend starting with getting to know your...
and Jazz
Yea! Not that I don't like some good ol' fashion rock and/or roll, but I feel there's a lot more actionable stuff to teach with regards to jazz.
I'd recommend starting with getting to know your drop 2 guitar voicings. Particularly, the voicings where the bass is on the 4th string. Some of the voicings where the bass is on the 5th string are hard to finger. And the drop 2 voicings where the bass is on the 6th string get a bit muddy.
Anyway, getting comfortable with playing those major/dominant/minor/half-diminished/diminished voicings up and down the neck is a great start. Here's a handy chart, so you don't have to keep referencing the video. You can get some pretty nice chord-melody arrangements just out of those chord voicings. Jens Larsen's Youtube channel is a good one to check out when you want to take a deeper dive into the concepts.
This is a bit of an unorthodox suggestion, but have you considered trying out Rocksmith? It's basically Guitar Hero but the game is played using a real Guitar and it's intended to teach you real Guitar playing technique.
My buddy tried to learn Guitar a bunch of times over the years but always wound up giving up eventually due to frustration/boredom/etc, and he said it wasn't until he tried Rocksmith ("which is actually fun") that he finally managed to get over that initial hump. He has since moved on to taking regular lessons with a teacher at his local Guitar shop, and is probably well beyond Rocksmith in terms of his ability to play now, but even so I still see him playing it a few times a week.
The remastered version seems to be a better option: https://store.steampowered.com/app/221680/Rocksmith_2014_Edition__Remastered/
Oops, I thought that was the one I linked. Fixed my link, thanks.
Rocksmith is great! It has actual lessons which explains concepts. It has actual songs you can play along with (adjusting speed and complexity, which allows you to slowly build up muscle memory to play a song).
It also has arcade games which gamifies and lets you practice concepts like arpeggio's, playing the correct note, chords, etc.
It also has a free play mode, which is lot of fun to noodle around with scales, and building your custom effects pedal chain :)
Not sure what your musical interests or previous ability are but you can't go wrong with Justin Guitar.
Whatcha got? What d'ya want to learn? Strum some campfire chords? Learn a couple of tunes? Become a ~musician~?
A Modern Method for Guitar and The Praxis System are pretty well-regarded guitar method series. But, depending on your goals, might not get you to where you want to be fast enough.
I'm a bit loathe to recommend online resources because I feel they tend to be kinda scattershot and unfocused and stuff that is focused on guitar seem to be a bit wonky on the theory side of things. Though, I'm sure there's some good stuff out there.
I play guitar with an interest (but not a whole lot of experience) in the pedagogy side of it, so feel free to hit me up and we can figure it out together.
I bought my first guitar late last December. I've currently got Hal Leonard's guitar method, but these books seem much more in depth. Thanks for the recommendations!
I have to say that having a guitar and working steadily to improve has really helped me handle this quarantine. I've been using a habit tracker to track the days I've practiced. I'm at 30 days since missing a practice and 95 total days of practice so far! :D
I'm also doing musictheory.net's ear training exercises in hopes to improve my singing which is really quite awful right now. If you've got any suggestions for methods to learn to sing and play at the same time I'd love to hear them.
For shame that ear training is oft disregarded by musicians these days as I'd say it's the most important aspect of musicianship to train. Good on you!
I also highly recommend musictheory.net's theory lessons. They do a fantastic job of thoroughly, yet succinctly, reviewing common practice period functional harmony. It's what you could expect to learn in 4 semesters of college-level music theory courses. Minus the guidance and prescribed practice of a professor.
As for the books, I have no actual experience with them though I understand them to be solid starting points. The Praxis System looks a lot more interesting, and closer to how I would think of teaching, just based on the previews available.
Singing and playing together is a matter of independence. Take it slowly and you'll eventually be able to separate the concerns so that your hands are playing chords/melodies while your voice is able to do work on top of that. Learn some folk tunes to really get there quickly (but slowly). If you can play that on guitar while singing, no doubt you'll be able to tackle a wide variety of other songs.
Consistency is key. If you were to practice a year consistently and dutifully, no doubt you'd be able to match my 18 years (or so) of hodgepodge meandering.
Yea! Not that I don't like some good ol' fashion rock and/or roll, but I feel there's a lot more actionable stuff to teach with regards to jazz.
I'd recommend starting with getting to know your drop 2 guitar voicings. Particularly, the voicings where the bass is on the 4th string. Some of the voicings where the bass is on the 5th string are hard to finger. And the drop 2 voicings where the bass is on the 6th string get a bit muddy.
Anyway, getting comfortable with playing those major/dominant/minor/half-diminished/diminished voicings up and down the neck is a great start. Here's a handy chart, so you don't have to keep referencing the video. You can get some pretty nice chord-melody arrangements just out of those chord voicings. Jens Larsen's Youtube channel is a good one to check out when you want to take a deeper dive into the concepts.