For this short article, again, a few tips to develop your solos.
Often you can grab yourself a note anywhere on the fretboard, it is possible to construct a scale around this note. For any melodic pattern you often will not play a whole scale, you could just play a handful of notes. You could repeat those notes within the scale, or take the notes up an octave into a different position. It is also possible to play the same notes a string up. You may find that you are no longer playing in the same key, but it will work if you are doing it right: The new notes will sound as part of your previous phrase, you could quickly play those, out-of-key notes, before you return back to the key of the piece you are playing, using some of your original notes.
It is a good habit to be able to play melodies without any backing of chords. Melodies which can stand on their own, without support of chords, are often stronger than notes you may use to enhance chords. When you are playing in this mode you may even find yourself composing whole songs (or songideas) based on melodies. Try if for yourself to see if it works for you.
In the previous blogarticle I discussed the CAGED system, how this system makes it possible to move open chordshapes around on the fretboard to create new chords. For this blogarticle I will go into detail how you can use the CAGED system for moveable scalepatterns. Movable scalepatterns work like moveable, open chordshapes: One scalepattern can be played all over the fretboard to create different keys for the same scale. Very useful for improvising and getting to know the notes on the fretboard better.
Here is a tab. scaleform which uses the A-shape. The example is in the scale of C major:
E ———————————————–
B ————————————————
G ——————————2–4—-5——–
D —————–2–3–5———————–
A ———3–5———————————–
E ————————————————-
How do you know this scalepattern is in C major?The first note on the A string is the Rootnote, it is the 3rd fret on the A string and it makes it the note of C. When you play through all the notes you will find that the last note ( fret 5 on the G string) is also a C, but one Octave higher than the C on the A string.
How do you turn this scalepattern into a scale with a different key? Simply move the pattern around to the right note (= Key of Scale) of the A string and play pattern again. Now you can play same scale but get the sound of a different key.
What makes this scalepattern using the A- shape? When you look at the given example in key of C you will notice that fret 5 on the D string and fret 5 on the G string form part of the A-shape chord. Play those same two notes 3 frets down and you play actually part of an A chord. The shape you visually play creates the shape of a known open chord. Use this knowledge as a memory aid to help you navigate around the fretboard when playing in different keys.
Here another example. this one is a tab. for moveable D-shape scalepattern. The example is in the key of F
E ———————————————————-
B —————————————3–5—6———-
G —————————-2–3–5———————-
D ———————3–5——————————–
A ———————————————————-
E ———————————————————-
Again as before, this is a one Ocatve scalepattern in a major key. The key is F because of the 3rd fret on D string. Play through all the notes and you find fret 6 on the B string being an F again, but one Ocatve higher than the first F.
Why is this scale pattern using the D-shape? Play fret 5 G string and fret 6 B string at same time, add fret 5 on the high E string, and you actually play a D-shape chord in they of F. Move this chordshape down 3 frets and you will find your well-known open D chord! Move around the scalepattern to play scale in different keys. Keep checking the Rootnote to find the right key for the scale you need.
For this example a tab. for a moveable E-shape scalepattern. This time two Ocataves and the example is in the key of G.
E ———————————————————–2—3——–
B —————————————————3–5——————
G —————————————-2–4–5————————–
D ——————————-2–4–5———————————–
A ———————2–3–5———————————————
E ————–3–5——————————————————–
Rootnotes for this two-octave scalepattern are fret 3 on the low E string, fret 5 on the D string and fret 3 on the high E string.
Simply move scalepattern around to play in different key.
What makes this scalepattern using E-shape? Play fret 3 E string, fret 5 A string, fret 5 D string and fret 4 on G string at same time, and you play a G chord using E-shape. Move chordshape 4 frets down and you will find yourself playing an open E chord: the first note is now the low, open E string.
There are two open chordshapes left: The C-shape and G-shape. See if you can find the moveable scalepatterns for those two open chords for yourself. Check the scaleshapes against the chordshapes to help you see why you actually play scales in the chordshapes of C and G
If you thought this article, and videos, were useful for you, why not subscribe to the channel? Please do not forget to like and share the videos. Thanks!! Eddie
When it comes to taking up lessons there are different categories of people: There are the ones who are complete beginners who never touched a guitar before. Some of these students may be very young, some may be a bit older. Both the young and older need to learn similar skills: Getting to grips with the guitar and making some pleasant, pleasing sounds with it for their own enjoyment. I cannot stress enough the enjoyment factor: We play music for fun, whether you are a pro or a beginner it all starts off and ends with fun. We simply play music and guitar because we enjoy what it does to us. We get a buzz out of play, and people listening to someone playing pick up on the vibe.
The next group of people are the folk who have played a bit in the past. They may have some experience but they may not have played for a long, long time for all kind of reasons. The people in this group need to be reunited with the guitar, the funfactor, they need to revisit their former skills and build on them as quickly as possible.
For any kind of group of people, my task, as a tutor, is to motivate and inspire any of these people, introduce them to the wonderful world of the guitar and the sounds it can make, the various playing techniques we use to bring out such sounds. Usually the inspiration process does not take too long, however, people taking up lessons need to realise that it may take a little time to get into their lessons. The taking time comes from being introduced to a new world, a world with new habits, jargon and culture. It does help if students are madly in love with the idea of playing the guitar. Usually this is not a problem, but sometimes students need a little help in the form of being shown different kind of guitars and what some of these guitars sound like when played in a certain way.
The next group of people are the students with experience, but they may feel that they need to learn new skills to improve their playing. People who fall into this category should think about what it is what they want to learn, since they can already play. The better students are in communicating their needs to easier it is to help them quickly. Not everyone is good at expressing what it is they would like to get out of their guitarlessons. Often I can spot quickly what a student needs, however what a student needs may not be what a student wants. Again, it boild down to communication. Most of the time this is not a problem and does not take up too much time as well.
For this article a few short ideas how you improve and develop your melodic idea.
Most beginner students of the guitar will start off with open chords. Chords form the basis of many songs, and playing chords gives people the idea they made the start with playing a song. Why not try playing some simple single, string solos? The problem most people will have in the very beginning: Where are the notes I want to play on the fretboard? A simple and enjoyable way to overcome this problem is: Sing a simple melody, try to find the first note anywhere on the fretboard and work the rest of your melody around this note. Most of the time you will find that you can play the whole melody in the same place as where you found that single note which starts off your melody.
If you make a routine out of doing the above you will develop a natural instinct of where to play your melodies.
Singing notes is all very fine, but what about if you do not really sing? Anything you can do? You could play the vocal melodies of the songs you listen to. Find a good melodic song, try to hum the melody back. Once you can hum the melody, try to find the first note anywhere on the fretboard, and work the rest of the melody around this note.
Often vocal melodies will contain ideas you may be able to use for simple solo ideas. Use these ideas next to your scale practise to improve your solos.
Next to vocal melodies you could look at basslines. Go for melodic basslines, try to sing (or hum) the bassline first, find the first note of the bassline anywhere on the fretboard and play rest of the bassline in the area around the first note. Basslines will often be played on the low E and A string, but there is no reason why you could not take those basslines up a few ocataves and play them right at the 12th position. The idea will probably not sound like the original bassline, but it may still work as a melodic idea for a solo.
Working out proper solos is the next idea you may want to look at. Sometimes people are put off by working out solos as they may feel this is far too advanced for them, hence my idea of playing basslines and vocal ideas as solos. The simpler the idea the better. A melody which is humable is better than one which is not as it is more melodic and easier to remember.
Once you start to see where to look for your melodies and solos you will find there is no end: Melodies are anywhere and you can use anything for your solos. Solos do not have to be melodic, they could also be made up of pure noise with some effects. Some people may think making solos out of noise is easy, that is until you try it. Anything creative you will try on the guitar is an artform in itself and it takes dedication, skill and motivation to get better at any of this.
Ever feel you are bending your Stratocaster out of tune by resting your palm too often on the bridge? Ever wondered what would happen if you were to take that tremolo unit out of your Strat all together? Is it actually possible to fasten the tremolo without removing it from your guitar?
It is possible to add more springs to the tremolo unit, this will make the tremolo feel stiffer and you are less likely to bend the strings out of tune by accident. If you want to block off the tremolo all together you could install a little piece of wood in between the body of the guitar and the tremolo unit. By doing so you disable the tremolo unit and will no longer be able to use it.
Once the tremolo unit is blocked off you may want to remove the springs from the tremolo unit. If you do this you will alter the tone: The Strat without any springs does have a more “woody tone”, it will sound less lively and a tad duller. The best way to experience this is by playing the guitar without the amp and listen to its sound. Attach the springs back and your tone will ,again, be a bit more lively.
You can test all of this for yourself: If you have a few Stratocasters you can loop one simple idea, loop this idea using the different guitars, including the one where you removed the springs from and added a piece of wood at the back. Make sure you are using same pick-up and play same idea. Changes are when you do not record the experiment you may not hear the differencens very well. Loop it to record your ideas and sit back and listen, you will be surprised with what you hear.
Doing this little test is proof that the wood of your guitar does have an impact on its tone, although some people will claim that the pick-ups have more impact on the sound of the electric rather than anything else. I also would like to add that the springs and the design of the Fulcrum tremolo are responsible for that unique sound of the Strat. Of course, any guitar with a tremolo unit will have an impact on its sound, overal it makes the sound lighter and lively as opposed to fixed bridged guitars like Les Pauls and the likes, which tend to sound darker and bassier.
Enoy your little experiment and hope to see soon again. Eddie
Before I go into why you should want to work on your speed let us first have a listen to some guitarplayers who can dance all over the fretboard:
First here is Charlie Christian: Clean Sound, most of his notes are picked, he plays in position, does have lines where he plays over one string, does have an amazing feel for that swing.
Okay now here a more modern version of some fast playing: Edward van Halen from a recent 2013 show. Very good video to get an insight in some of his techniques: Watch his stiff wrist when he plays the very fast picking with pick at the beginning. Watch how he keeps first finger in place. When he taps with his left hand he uses his right hand to mute the strings, in this way he can keep the sound clean without any rumble from resonant, open strings. Lots of false harmonics to get that bell-sound, also a lot of pinched harmonics. Knowing where you go on the fretboards is a must, especially when you are improvising. Listen to the studio recording of Eruption and to this version with all the little ideas in between. Observe the violin-like sounds from the volume swells. He does have amazing control over his sound.
Here a video of Joe Satriani, which give a great insight into his playing as well: Lots of melodic ideas and impros over one string which he shifts to positions or move up into a different registre, observe his Wah pedal technique he uses to get his notes to come out in the mix a bit better. Great to see those harmonics he gets when he depresses the Whammy bar, sometimes he uses the pick-up as extra fret, and uses the tremo bar to get those notes to come up better. Again observe the position of the first finger, it never leaves the fretboard! Once you start practising your excersices your fingers will get used to some of these habits, but you may need to sit down and spent some serious time with the guitar.
Okay now for something different, this is just about some fun, not really about guitarplaying. Had not seen this one before, you may have…At the end of the day your guitarplaying should just be about fun and something like this may inspire…………….
Another one in the same category: Playing very fast is alright, but can you dance is the question?
Okay maybe enough videos to illustrate the idea what fast playing is all about. You may think : “Fast playing is not for me, I will never be able to achieve what some of those guys do” Well you will be surprised at what you can achieve when you start working on this issue serously. It is also one of the reasons why I want to highlight some of this: To play guitar well you need to work on your playing, the faster you can play the better you will be at playing at a slower pace. A little bit like driving a powerful car: You do not need to race all the time, but having all that power in your car makes driving very comfortable ( Yes I know, let us not talk about your fuelbill but really, that is another matter)
Why would you want to be able to play fast? To create variety in your playing. The danger is wanting to do it all the time, which will reduce its effect. Variety in your sound can be achieved through use of effects and being able to play fast is just another techniqual tool you may want to use to add variety and drama in your playing.
Fast guitarplayers may not be in fashion at the moment, but you do not just play guitar to be in the latest magazines. Trends do change all the time and having some fast chops can never harm you, it may cost you some time to achieve them but see it as part of your journey with the guitar through the land of music.
Work approach:
There are many ways you can go about in achieving speed in your playing, but most guitar players will try something like:
@ Play slow at first @ Hear and think about every note, serious business I know, but it will help you @ Be patient, your playing ability will grow over time, but this is for life, just do not give up after two weeks of work, see this as a long term goal, or better, as something which can be worked on in all stages of your guitarplaying development, depending on what you go for at the time. @ Use warm-ups and slowly build up your playing from there, try avoiding to rush things too soon. @ Use a metronome to keep a mental check of where you are within the bar. Once you start using them you will get used to them and start to feel the beats.
What Material to Use for Building Up Your Speed?:
Anything really, from scales to set patterns, your own riffs you may make up, short phrases. Anything you can concentrate on to get your actions and timing in good shape.
I mentioned the use of metronome before somewhere on this blog.
When you are relatively new to the guitar you may have wondered what it is when your playing is not always the same every day: Your muscles do feel different at different times of the day, warm ups do help when you have not played before, use them!. There is also the fact: “Some days are better than others” Even when your technique is good you have to accept there will be moments you can play faster and better than at other moments. It is quite a common thing for players to tense up when they go for fast solos, the better your are a keeping yourself relaxed the better your notes will come through. Constant work on your technique will make your fingers work more consistently.
Whenever you listen to some music ask yourself: “Where is this particular idea played on the guitar?” “Are the phrases played in position or is it mostly over one string?” This approach does not only help your with analysing someone else’s playing, it will also give you a better understanding of the different ways of playing the guitar. Hopefully when you play yourself, you will have a choice of how you want to sound like, or what you want to do musically with the guitar.
Let me leave you with another guitarplayer who gives us an insight in some of his guitartechnique. Some very useful tips for beginners about playing patterns over one string: You do not really need to know the notes (yes it helps but………….) just remember the shape and repeat it over other strings. Some sweep picking ideas ( which I will highlight in another article) Watch his right hand wrist: Very small, neat movements when he picks through some of those fast scales, great insight for any beginner!! Also a bit of a rolling movement with his thumb (Close ups towards 4.50 minutes in video)
Two years after I wrote my first review about the Peavy Dirty Dog it is time to update my previous review. The previous review is underneath this article. Just scrowl down your mouse the see the full review from May 2011. What is new and what is not new? In 2013 there are still not many reviews about this pedal, and most of the reviews are negative, the people who like it, really dig. Similar as in 2011.
As a musician you change, in 2011 (and years before) I used to play through several amps, using EQ’s and treble boosters to give smaller amps a kick-up. These days I tend to play with just one amp without the support of any extra EQ’s or treble boosters. Having tried the Dirty Dog on its own through one amp I can only say: It sounds fabulous, very open, nothing artificial, pedal sounds like it is part of your amp.
Here is a good pointer I totally overlooked in my previous review: Anyone who uses Boss SD-2 does gets the idea what the Dirty Dog sounds like: The Lead Channel is a dark and can remind you of an older Marshall. The Crunch Channel is lighter in sound. The idea of what sounds this pedal can create is similar to the Boss SD-2, but whereas the SD-2 is artificial and takes over your amp, the Dirty Dog’s sound sits next to your amp, forms part of it.
The SD-2 is really compressed, Dirty Dog is not. When the gain is opened a lot further than the Volume you do get that tube-sag feel, changing the settings can quickly resolve this.
What I wrote in previous review about using Dirty Dog as adding more brightness is still true. Overal, what I mentioned before is true, but using this pedal on its own is great as well, and it really can be a distortion pedal if you want it. It is very open and organic.
Other open, organic pedals, in my opinion, are MXR Dist.+ and Boss DS-1, both these pedals become part of your amp sound. Personally I prefer pedals of this kind as they leave your ampsound in tact instead of taking over the sound of your amp.
Pedals which can take over the sound of your amp are: SansAmp Classic, Boss HM2, MT2, DS2, SD2 just to mention a few. Do not get me wrong, these pedals have their place, and I enjoy them as much as anyone else, just mention them to give you an idea how different the Dirty Dog is in terms of sound.
If you get a change, give one a try. Hope to see you soon again, Eddie
Check out the video I made which demos most of the sounds available from this pedal. If you like this article and video, why not subscribe to the channel? Please do not forget to like and share the video. Thanks!! Eddie
Today a review for the Peavey Dirty Dog pedal. It is classified as a distortion pedal, but there are many people, please read some of the reviews here: www.harmonycentral.com/products/82003 who are somewhat confused by what this pedal can do.
The pedal does contain two channels, one for “Lead” and one for “Crunch”. The controls for both channels read like:
Bark Bite Growl (Post Gain) (Treble) (Pre Gain)
Funny names, for some people downright annoying, but I think it should not be too hard to get used to them as their function is pretty standard for the guitarplaying crowd.
Furthermore, on the “Lead” Channel there is a “Boost” button, which does not need any further explanation as to what this one does. On the “Crunch” Channel there is one more control left: a button which is called “Trash”, this one reduces the mids, when you switch it on it gives you a warmer sound, more tubby feel if you like. I will come back to this button with a video to back up its sound.
There are two toggle switches, one for “Bypass”, and one to switch from “Lead” mode to “Crunch” mode. There are LEDS to show you in which mode you are. The “Bypass” is not true bypass but it is very convincing and a great feature in itself.
Okay that is about it as far as the layout of the controls goes. Pedal works with a 9 volts powersupply or a battery. If you are using Boss type of plugs you will need a adaptor plug to get the same kind of socket as what most Boss pedals use. The polarity is similar to those of Boss pedals which means ( if you do use an adaptor socketplug) you can daisy chain your powersupply and run all your pedals of one powersource.
I tested this pedal with both Single Coil guitars (Fender Strat.) and Humbuck guitars (Gibson Les Paul), used both valve amps and transitor, small amps and stage amps. In all my testings the results were similar as in that the Humbuck guitars were exaggerating the sounds more (as one would expect), gave less detail ect. The stage amps made everything louder but not really different in sound.
Dirty Dog Used on its Own:
Using the Dirty Dog just on its own with no other pedals to interact, the “Lead” channel can produce a somewhat disappointing sound: With the Pre Gain on 12.00 0’clock the pedal produces a lot of bass, you need to work the Treble control to get a workable sound. When you are expecting a lead sound you will be in for a shock as this mode just adds more gain but not really a good strong, solo sound. The “Crunch” channel is much better in this respect: It does what it tells you on the tin, but it can do it much better read on………….
As far as giving you distortionsounds right out of the box this pedal may be somewhat disappointing but heh, let us reduce the Pre Gain control, work that Treble knob a bit and make up for it with the Post Gain control. Now you are talking!! as this pedal does clean up wonderfully in both the Lead Mode and Crunch Mode, dial in more Treble and it still remains clean, does get a little grainy but does not add any more distortion as what so many other pedals will do when you add on treble. Why is this so good? Isn’t this supposed to be a distortion pedal? Read on………………..
Let Us Now Bring In Your Favourite Distortion Pedals:
Place them in front of the Dirty Dog and let the Dirty Dog do its trick on your pedals: In the “Crunch” mode the pedal can add a lot of extra treble, in the “Lead” mode it can add a lot of bass, adding more body to almost any pedal. I tried it with some of the most populair pedals like the Boss BD2, SD1, OD3, HM2 and the Ibanez TS9, all of them being stock, not modded or anything, and the Dirty Dog makes any of these pedals so much better: The SD1 sounded very creamy in the “Lead” Channel, the TS9 did get more body in both channels (Stevie Ray Vaughan, anyone???), The Boss OD3 gave extra shine on the Dirty Dog, more colour, especially when the tone control was opened up more. The HM2 in the Lead Channel could give me a real convining Marshall JMC 800 sound on both channels.
Overal Conclusion:
The pedal is designed to give a kind of Valve sound, it does this in the Power amp stage. When you play your chords hard you will experience that “dint in your sound” as any Valve amp will do when pushed hard. When you place any distortion pedal after the Dirty Dog this feature will be less noticeable. Experiment with the placement of your pedals, in any way you do it, the Dirty Dog will make your pedals and amp sound better!
This pedal can best be viewed as an enhancer for your sound, not a distortion pedal on its own. However as a clean bass/treble boost I would be quite happy just to use the Dirty Dog on its own as it is excellent in this mode
Its biggest selling point? The fact that it turns a One Channel amp into Three Channels. Cool! Combining this with any of your favourite pedals this does give you a lot of sound to work with from your amp. One of its weakest points must be the fact that using this pedal as a distortion on its own it can be somewhat of a disappointing experience. What about the whining sound mentioned in some of the Harmony Central reviews and other posts on the net? Good question! Yes, that can be a problem, I had it too, but it can be repaired by any amptech, and after that you will be happy with a good working pedal which will last you for a long time to come. Heh what can go wrong with distortion pedals eh?
Last But Not Least:
The one thing I was going to mention but have not done so far is the Trash contol on the Crunch Channel: When you push this button it does give a less direct, somewhat warmer sound. Listen to this song here. The guitarsolo which starts at 2.07. A TS9 and the Crunch Channel with the Trash button switched engaged will get you close to that sound!
For Who is This Pedal?
If you are into enhanced, expansive sounds from your amp and you like pedals and tweaking you can not go wrong with this one. You can use it for studio or live playing. If you are a “One Amp and Guitar” kind of guy you my not like this one. What kind of guitarstyle? Any really, as this pedal puts a nice shine on any moderate- or more extreme gain pedals.
Have a great blast making music and playing guitar and hope to see you soon again, Eddie
How many different ways are there to use a metronome you may wonder? “Stick it on and play along with it”: You may say. Yes and no, once you get more experienced as a guitarplayer and musician you may see some other things you can do with your metronome. Before I’ll give you some ideas how to use your metronome in other ways let us first have a look why it makes sense to use a metronome: A metronome does not lie, it will tell you when you play in or out, it is accurate and does not speed up. Some of you may find it annoying to listen to a click. Once you will get used to it you will no longer hear the click as a sound but will start to experience it as a beat.
Typical use of metronome is to play on every beat. Most electronic metronomes will let you set the tempo of the click. Often you will be able to set the number of beats in a bar as well, you may even have a choice of eight and sixteenth beats. All very good but……………………Playing on every click is a good habit for when you are new to playing with a metronome. Most people will be able to do this fairly accurately. Try using a metronome when you are playing with a friend. What will happen is you lock in to the pace of each other rather than the metronome.
Okay so what can you do to feel the pace of the beat rather than hear each click?
Use very slow tempos on metronome:
~ Use, for example, 40 beats per minute, but actually play twice the speed. When you are doing it right the metronome will click on beat One and Three, you yourself feel beat Two and Four. When you are playing scales in this way you actually play double tempo with regards to the metronome. You can play the notes with straight eights. Once you can do this well start playing on the beat of the metronome, so your playing will have come down in tempo, after a while go back to playing double tempo with regards to the metronome. Playing solos in a band in this manner does have a great effect, it adds more drama and animation to your solos. Using the metronome as described before will prepare you for this kind of playing.
~ The next step is to play sixteenth notes to every beat of your metronome. Sixteenth beats sound like 4 notes played against every beat. Make sure you are using very slow tempos. The metronome will still click on beat One and Three. Once you can do this without too much concentratation start playing sixteeths to every beat you hear, again, your playing will have slowed down, bring it back up again after a while to experience that shift in tempo.
~ Instead of using sixteenth notes try same idea with triples (3 notes to every beat). Again set metronome to click on beat One and Three while you play and feel beat Two and Four.
If all of this is causing your trouble set the number of beats of your metronome to TWO, set metronome to higher tempos, 100 beats per minute and above. Once you are comfortable using metronome in this way, bring down the tempo to half the setting you had before (in this example it will be 50 beats per minute) and bring the number of beats back to 4. The tempo of your playing will be the same, but you will actually only hear beat One and Three clicking on your metronome while you play yourself on every beat. Go back to the tempo of 100 beats per minute and bring back the number of beats to 2 if you are still struggling.
What to Play?
Usually players will use a metronome for particular excercises and scales, but you can also use the metronome as a tempo guide for playing a whole song. Most excercises to improve your speed and accuracy will focus on four-or six notes patterns per beat. You can create solos out of stringing some of these ideas together. Once you understand how it works you can make your own excercises. Your ultimate goal should be to string together a chain of patterns into a longer solo. The hardest thing will be to break up these patterns with other ideas. Breaking up the ideas will make your solos more interesting. Patterns which employ playing over one string are the easiest, patterns which skip strings will be harder to achieve. Some people start using sweeppicking (plectrum gradually falls on next string to play the next note) when they want to play fast patterns which skip strings as strickt picking with the plectrum may become harder.
Next article will go into detail about Speed, Why You Should Work on It and How You Can Improve It. See you next time. Eddie
Playing is fun and practising your guitar can be fun too but there is a difference between working on things you cannot do and playing just for fun. For this article a few tips and highlights about what you can do to get yourself more focused on what your own playing needs at the moment.
If you are a beginner it makes sense to play as often as you can to improve your guitarplaying but also to reinforce your relationship with the guitar. As guitarplayers get better and more experienced there is a tendency to play just for fun: Play during bandrehearsals, have the odd blast at home through the amp etc. Great, but there may be a lot of issues you may need to work on to improve your own playing, work you may not get time for when you play with your band. The time on your own with the guitar should be well-spend-time since you do not want to spend your time too much on things you can already play. Okay, so how do you find out what your playing needs? Here a few ideas which can get you into the zone:
What Does My Playing Need at the Moment?
This question can be anwered from different angles, let me focus on the playing you do at the moment, not on the things you would like to learn for the future. No, practise-time is daily work, so what your playing needs (or lacks) is anything you do at the moment which is not that smooth. They are the riffs and solos which sometimes sound great and flawless, but not always. Would you not like to make them sound good all the time? What is lacking at the moment may be certain techniqual issues with your stlye of picking, your stringskipping or………………… To find out how your playing sounds and what it may lack, play spontaneous for a little while, record yourself and have a listen and be honest to yourself about what you hear. Listen out for stutters, broken up phrases which should be smooth. All sounds perfect? You are God! Do it again, there will be things you can not do very well, and that is what you should try to overcome.
At the moment you may work with Scale excerscises, fingerexcercises ect. all material which you may have collected from the net, material which comes from someone else. Good, really good stuff, as it may all be material you do not know yet. You own playing will give you feedback. In your own playing will be the answer to what you need today. Most of the material you practise from other people is good for tomorrow, the long term goal, but have a look at what it is you cannot do today, the things you can do but which do not flow smoothly.
Once you can see what it your playing needs your next step should be to find a way to iron out those issues. You may be able to do this yourself, you may have some friends who can offer help, maybe someone who has more experience than yourself, or maybe you can contact a local teacher to help you overcome some of those issues in your playing.
If you can help yourself you are probably experienced enough in your playing, but you may need to be honest with yourself that your playing could benefit with a little work at home from time to time.
Most of the well-known players will admit that they play excersices or particular ideas which they do not really use in their day to day playing. All good and well, but maybe you should work on things you use daily. Even the well-known guys do admit that some of the things they practise may not be all the relevant to what they need. Andy Summers mentioned in an interview at one point something about speed and the state of guitarplaying at the time (it was around ’93) His comment was along the lines of: “You can spend a lot of time of getting faster and faster, but at the end of the day you have only achieved one goal: Getting faster. But you have no songs to play these fast solos over, you could have spend your time on making songs and working on unusual chordvoicings etc.” I think anyone, if you are honest, can see the point of this remark. It really pays off to work on different things in your playing all the time. Start with what you really need for now. Keep it fun and light, no need to run yourself in the ground, especiall if you have been playing for some time, but at same time, be honest and dilligent on what it is your playing needs right now.
Next to your daily practise routines there is something like bigger,longterm goals. One of those goals could be: “I would like to play faster solos” Usually these goals are not something you can do right now, they are something you may want to work toward to be able to do it at a later stage.
For next article I will look into speed, oh yes, we guitarplayers cannot get enough of it, and you can never overdo it, but there are quite a few things you can do which will speed up your progress with getting on the speed-highway.
