Lessons, Practice, & basic scales.

I've had three guitar lessons so far & I was up late last night playing the DC5 thru the Trace, all by myself.

Things were going pretty well & I turned it all up a notch. It woke the little lady up & she came in smiling, told me she when she first woke up she thought it was the radio.

I've been practicing scales steadily for three weeks & can run a couple mostly without thinking about it now. All I was doing last night was improvising the scales , (somewhat melodically) over the chord progressions I have been playing for years. Sounds that have eluded me are all in the scales, funny how knowing where a couple extra F#'s are in the key of G makes such a colorful difference.

The Redhead's my biggest fan (probably my only fan) & I know she's a bit prejudiced, It's a simple thing my friends but I'm enjoying it

That's something I just haven't gotten into Jeff, but I probably should, scales and such.

You've been playing guitar for a few years, what was you basic routine?

For me, I've been playing probably a total of two - three years, even though I bought my first guita ten years ago. I just pick it up and play some tabs that I have against the mp3 that goes with it. Problem is I sound not too bad with all of the accompanied instruments and vocals but fall quite short when by myself.

I know I should practice more basics and stuff, as well I want to work on arpeggios.

Any recommends?

My biggest fan thus far is Murphy. He turns his backside to me, but he stays on the couch.

Graham

This morning I was practicing an A minor blues scale -- first straight then improvisiong around it, and my daughter actually said it was "cool". Talk about a breakthrough!

My teacher encourages improvisation once I get a scale down, the blues scales are especially fun to work around on my electrics. The next step has been inserting chords into scales, the first one being a walking blues. Hal, (the teacher, not the computer in 2001) believes that learning guitar should be fun, so he always asks what I'd like to work on. He then gives me something consistant with my progress that will be challenging, but fun to play and listen to when I get it down. At first pieces would take two or three weeks to master, but my learning curve is thankfully moving up quickly. I bring a little digital recorder to my lesson so I can record how it is supposed to sound, then practice like crazy when I get the chance. I've been playing blues, a bossa nova, and as of last week, a little Brubeck.

You guys almost have me talked into taking lessons. I spoke with one of the best instructors around the other night. Happened to bump into him the other night, so I asked. $65 a month for four 30 minute lessons....he happens to have openings all year. Hmm, now if I could just find the time.

I'd have to give up some LTG time.

West

I bring a little digital recorder to my lesson so I can record how it is supposed to sound, then practice like crazy when I get the chance.

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[img:450:338]http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid221/pd121be767dd9336078b6b7e10f918863/eb75072d.jpg[/img] Red got me this Digitech JamMan for Christmas. I've been givin it the ole fish eye ever since I opened it. I took it in to the shop today & had Smitty demo it for me.

Wow !!! It's like playing with a band except ya gotta know all the parts. Talk about a learning tool, my timing issues showed up immediately,

The metronome feature is cool as heck, adjust the tempo with the foot pedal, set the volume so you can hear it across the street, dogone four count with the one stroke up where you can't miss it. Metronome can be tuned out on the playback.

Hit the record pedal & it gives you a four count before it starts recording, Get in on the 1 count & out the same, loops the phrase endlessly.

Boy oh boy, you want to feel humble, the first 5 or 6 takes I made I almost decided to change hobbies.

I asked Smitty to demo how to store a track & he put a 16 bar lesson in the memory for me, 1st he put in a rhythm line & then backed it up with a harmony line & then a lead line. taught me how to hit the pedal on the
one count both coming in and out. (Showed me the way it's supposed to work anyway)

I was thinking of trading it back on a better recording or rhythym system but after learning how it works I think this maybe a better learning tool.
No free lunch & listening to myself is at times quite painful.

I was working on two Guilds in the same loop earlier, laid in deliberate clean rhythm line with the DC5 & then with the F 20 overdubbed a fingerpicking pattern with some little scales here & there. Scales with bad roots are telling me positively I need to do some things differently.

Uses removeable Compact Flash same as my Olympus digital camera. to store the data. Theoretically all I have to do is load the card in my card reader & down load the data to my PC.

West R Lee said:

You guys almost have me talked into taking lessons. I spoke with one of the best instructors around the other night. Happened to bump into him the other night, so I asked. $65 a month for four 30 minute lessons....he happens to have openings all year. Hmm, now if I could just find the time.

I'd have to give up some LTG time.

West

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That's cheap, J.D.! I'd give him a shot for at least one month. Heck, everyone is having so much success and fun taking lessons, I'm thinking of it, too. I'm just afraid of how much I might have to unlearn!

Mark said

how much I might have to unlearn!

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Oh baby !!! I have been playing by myself almost my entire life & the rules for playing with others are different Or in my case, more likely, there actually are rules & they make a huge difference.

1,2,3,4 ; 5,6,7,8; 1,2,3,4; 5,6,7,8 16 measures & repeat, stuff like that. Leaving a measure out or ad libbing an extra makes it hard to play along.

West, the rate you were quoted for lessons is the same as Phil is charging me here. 4 half hour lessons a month $67.00 . I have another player I know that found out I was taking lessons & has 1 spot open on Mondays. He charges $50.00 an hour, comes to me & we meet for an hour twice a month.

Seing as how I have several thousand invested in hardware I may do both for a while & see what happens. I can't really keep up with the one.

Wow, I only charge $8 per half hour for kids & $10 for adults. Then again, I'm no pro & most of my students are kids from church. 8)

Don,

I would think it would be more like $10/hour for adults and $25/hour for kids. You must be a patient man. Gotta love kids though!

Mark,

Yep, I know the feeling. I'm afraid that after all this time, what little I know is so ingrained in my playing that there's no hope of changing it. Just try to keep an open mind I guess. I don't know what you do with a 50 year old guy that can't read music, doesn't know the names of most chords, but can play them, doesn't know the neck or any notes, still has trouble with barr chords and is very set in his ways.

Jeff,

Same here.....I feel like I have thousands invested that I could get so much more from. It's just a matter of taking the time to do it and being very open to new ideas. We'll see.

Thanks guys and Happy New Year to all,
West

West R Lee said:

I don't know what you do with a 50 year old guy that can't read music, doesn't know the names of most chords, but can play them, doesn't know the neck or any notes, still has trouble with barr chords and is very set in his ways.

West

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West -- you're setting us up for the kill here, right?

Tongue is firmly in the grasp of upper and lower teeth. (still my own )

Graham

Yep, if you heard me it might kill ya! :shock:

West

Here's a question anyone can answer. . .

I can play all the chords, the barre chords, etc., like nothing; easy to do. I strum the guitar, can do the boom-chukka stuff, when I go slow enough I can do basic kinds of bass runs.

Can I consider myself a guitar player?

Can't play lead; I don't know how to pick individual notes. Would like to do more flatpicking (I like playing loud, and the fingerpicking I've done isn't that loud, and I don't do much of it, since I have to read tab to do it and don't want to be stuck with that).

What do you think? I like the idea of practicing scales for some reason.

Most of the kids are ok, a couple not so much fun 'cause they refuse to practice, but their parents keep them coming. Funny, the one I thought was going to be the biggest headache has turned out to be the most fun! I have several in the 10-12yr old area, most in their early teens & the oldest is 63. The oldest is also the one the owns the '70's F20. 8)

Any of you other instructors out there have experience with dyslexic students?

Don,

Just out of curiosity, and Don I know this might be hard to put in a nutshell, but how do you deal with people of such varying talent and ability?

I mean you have one student that comes in and knows chords and plays songs, and the next one has never seen a guitar before. I would think that no one knows it all and Doyle Dykes probably learns something every day. But as a teacher, it would seem that there is such a wide variety of student's ability, it would be difficult to teach each student the same way. Do you sort of custom fit lessons for each student?

I know that if I decide to take lessons, I don't want to have to sit through the names of the strings and basic chords. On the other hand, that might be beneficial for the instructor in order to determine where I am. Do you ask each student what they'd like to learn, and go from there?

West

dklsplace said:

Any of you other instructors out there have experience with dyslexic students?

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oN

Graham

Quite a few of the young-uns come with the First Act type stuff they received as a gift & want to start learning. I do what I can to make use the books they already have, & they are usually pretty good indicators of how they will do with better materials. Several are home schooled & I talk with the parents up front about how they do in school & particularly about their comprehension of math.

There are thousands of "beginning" lesson plans on the market, & honestly, most are crap. Even after going through the basic beginner books, I still try to work my students through another "beginner" plan by Greg Horn. It's still pretty simple, though he actually does a great job of explaining the basics of the theory behind the exercises. I see more lightbulbs going on in their heads when they begin to connect the concepts, rather than just playing Rockin' Robin as fast as they can. :lol:

Graham said:

dklsplace said:

Any of you other instructors out there have experience with dyslexic students?

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oN

Graham

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Sorry I guess that was poor taste.

Graham

I was going to write lysdexic the first time.

Unfortunately, the kid with the most talent is dyslexic, so I'm trying to come up with some creative learning ideas to get over those basic hurdles with him. He's gonna be great some day!

Siwash said:

Here's a question anyone can answer. . .

Can I consider myself a guitar player?

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Don's first time students are guitar players, just as much as the pros on this site. Do you do it? Do you love it? Do you get some satisfaction out of it? Do you get any positive reinforcement from the ones who hear you? If you answered these "Yes", then you answered your own question.

Now go do your scales.