matonanjin
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Posts posted by matonanjin
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@Ionut let me think on the G chord and get back to you. Hopefully, someone more qualified than I will get back to you in the meantime.
Regarding the A chord, I have seen it played so many different ways that I have come to the conclusion that if it works for you, Great! In fact, for any chord, I think a lot of people agree that if it rings out clearly and the fingering works for you, that is the perfect way to play it! My philosophy has become, "If it works and doesn't spook the horses, perfect!"
My own journey with the A chord is somewhat illustrative. I started out fingering the chord with my 1, 2, 3 fingers. I played it for a while as such. But then I started L&MG and saw where Steve taught it fingering 2,3,4 and especially with my chubby, little fingers that worked so much better. But then I went to my weekly jam and one of the guys suggested, "Have you ever played the A as a barre?" He wasn't talking about the full barre chords you are going to learn in sessions 7 and 8. He played it with a "mini-barre" barring the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings with his 3rd finger. And I did that for a while.
I'm a blues guy (or wannabe). Blues uses a lot of 7th chords. And you have learned the A7 open chord. But I recently learned an A7 using that mini-barre A chord with my 1st finger and then adding the 3rd finger on the 3rd fret to make it a 7 chord:
A fun little quick A7 chord and now when just playing the A I use the mini barre and play the 1st string open.
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Mandy, we all are so saddened to hear about your loss. It's always difficult to hear this but especially so with it occurring to someone that is such a valued member of our guitar family. When the time is right you will pick up the guitar again. Until then we are all here for you.
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@filipmo, glad you're back to playing and good luck on getting back to it.
Of course, the first place I'm going to direct you is Steve's session on Pentatonics, Session 11 Gibson's Learn and Master Guitar, is about the pentatonic scale. Having nearly completed the course I can tell you it is the best thing that I have done for my learning guitar. And session 11 is representative of the quality of the course.
Outside of Learn and Master, a lot of us use TrueFire courses to complement our studies. Almost all TrueFire instructors are top notch, at least all whose courses I have purchased. Jeff McErlain is one of the most popular there and he has a course dedicated to your subject, Pentatonic Deep Dive. I do own this but haven't opened it yet so I can't comment.
Anther one that looks interesting to me is 50 All Purpose Pentatonic Licks You Must Know by James Hogan. I don't know anything about this course or the instructor. And I don't know how much theory about Pentatonics there is (or how much you want) or other general knowledge about the scale there is. Or is it just rote learning of licks. But it is on sale right now for only $5!
A couple of the Truefire instructors have held quarantine YouTube lessons over the last pandemic lockdown months about the Penta Scale. Jeff, who I mentioned above, and Corey Congilio both have. Searching their names combined with the word "Pentatonic" in a YT search should return those lessons. If I recall Jeff had a 3 week series on it.
Keep us updated on your progress.
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@ShadowBoxer86 I am similar to @Eracer_Team-DougH and the Gary Hoey course; in that I don't know when I'll be able to give a report. I haven't even unpacked it yet!
And, oh yeah, I did gave Santa a suggestion of
Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019
😁
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And I just picked up Robbie Calvo's Rhythm Craft. It looks really interesting and covers rhythm in a lot of different genres. It seems like I always just look at blues stuff and this is going to be more broad based.
"In this new course we are going to learn the art of great rhythm guitar playing in a variety of popular styles. For each genre we'll be looking at standard progressions, typical rhythms for that style, chord vocabulary and some stylized tricks of the trade. We'll look at making simple chords sound more interesting by adding additional voices. We'll take simple chords and invert them to add variety and movement. What is a slash chord and why should you care? Well, when you see and hear how easy and powerful changing a bass note is under your chords you are going to beg me for more! I'll give you a multitude of ideas on how to create great overdub or second guitarist parts for your band or song arrangements. Think about the layers and textures created in the studio by bands like Def Leppard, Boston, or even Eric Clapton. The studio session cats all know the secret to how smaller guitar parts layered together create amazing arrangements in pop and rock music and I'll show you how. Rhythm Craft is an easy and concise musical approach to making you the rhythm guitarist you should and will want to be. I'll even throw in some great applied harmony and theory as we go along which will open doors and windows for you in such an enlightening way. Let's get cracking on this course so that you can take your Rhythm Craft to a groovy new level "
I repeat, for $5?
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Yep, @Eracer_Team-DougH. What have you got to lose?! Well, other than the $5.🤔 And you're probably getting tired of me talking about the cruise, but we saw Gary Hoey for the first time there. We had never even heard of him before then. What an awesome player. I hope that you will report back on how he is as an instructor.
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Steve often says "Learn All You Can". And on more than one occasion we have talked on here about TrueFire courses as a means to that end.
TrueFire currently has what they call their "Rhythm Jamboree" sale in progress. Lot's of their great courses on sale for 20% off. Go have a look.
What I always find interesting at TrueFire sales are their "$5 Downloads". As the title implies the course is only available as a download. There is no option for a DVD version, But the normally $29 course is available for $5.
I just picked up Rob Garland's The Guitarist's Pentathlon for that $5.
During the sale the sale items rotate every hour. So it doesn't hurt to check back routinely if you're hoping for a particular course to go on sale.
Happy Shopping!
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2 hours ago, Plantsman13 said:
Hmmm...this approaches the Ford, Chevy, and Dodge trucks argument in rural coffee shops.
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I agree with the Bourgeois comments made above.
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Bryan, what a great analogy to the Ford/Chevy/Dodge loyalty these guitar conversation show. You and I, and probably only a minority of other rural members on here, can appreciate the passion some of these arguments in those coffee shops can manifest. (btw, I'm in the Ram camp lol)
And Bryan and @William Nelson I had never heard of Bourgeois before. Thank you.
And @Tom M I am still really drooling over the Martin EC. I also came really close on one, a used one, at a local store here. Used but mint. I just delayed too long and missed it.
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People begin to learn guitar and more often than not, at some point, want to record themselves. There are different motivations for this, to record a song to share with a friend, to share with an instructor for critique, to post on a forum such as this. If for no other reason, I think most will agree it is educational For me that first self recording was that, educational. And every bit as depressing but we are not going to go on that tangent!
Whatever the reason may be, a post usually follows asking how to get started. And one of the revelations during that conversation is usually that one needs two things: an audio interface and a digital audio workstation (DAW). Hopefully this will help the new student to recording find the first half or this equation, the audio interface.
Sweetwater just published:
9 Best Audio Interfaces Under $500 Shootout – Take a Listen!
Hopefully, in the not too distant future perhaps someone will find and post a similar "shootout" comparing the DAW's.
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Deano7, I'm not familiar at all with this and so will be absolutely no help, sorry. Since it's a Behringer product can you try their web page to try and download a manual with perhaps hook up diagram?
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My 10 year old grandson has decided he wants to learn guitar!!! Woo hoo! It is really going to be fun to work with him.
What do you think about using L&MG guitar for him? I know almost all of us here are adults (and more😉). Those of us that have been through L&MG, what do you think? Is it more-so for an adult? Or does anyone know of a beginning guitar course for youth?
We did go through a TrueFire course, First Steps for Beginners, and it was fine. But it was purely chord based. He learned a few chords and a few strumming patterns and strummed to a couple songs. But I know we need something else.
Suggestions?
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@Limatje, thanks for starting this thread. I'm looking forward to the responses. I have considered myself a Martin fan. But my reason for this is, I regret to say, more out of laziness than actual logic or tone or other preferences.
I've taken some lessons from a guy that is a Martin Artist and he has made some recommendations. And he came to Omaha with MArtin's Road show and I got to speak with him about Martin. Plus I've been a long time Clapton fan and largely decided my next guitar is going to be a Martin 000-ec Clapton signature. So it isn't so much preferences for the Martin as much as ignorance about the competition.
So I am very open to hear what some others have to say about Taylor and Gibson and other brands. I'm looking forward to an education.
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@NeilES335 This thread is just begging your participation!!! 😉😎
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@Gran Gran, welcome to you and no one, I believe, thinks your question is a joke. It's a valid question. We often see some form of "Will a better, i.e. more expensive, guitar somehow improve my guitar learning experience". You have received two thoughtful, considered answers and I am probably going to do little to add to those other than just reiterate.
There are probably a lot more of us senior learners, of great grandpa age, on these forums than most realize. I am conceivably (pun intentional) of that age. I have two grand-kids in their upper 20's😉. So biologically it's possible.
I was slightly younger than @Oldjock when I started. Santa brought me a nice "starter" kit. It was a Yamaha Pacifica guitar and a little practice amp. Shortly after I, fortunately, and I don't remember how, found Steve's Learn and Master Guitar. And my journey began.
But it wasn't long afterwards, 5 or 6 months perhaps, and I recognized a problem. I had been now dutifully practicing every day, for months, and I am not playing like Carlos Santana yet! There had to be a problem. And I knew what that problem was! I have a cheap guitar! I very convincingly explained the problem to my wife. She had, after all, delivered the Yamaha to me in Santa's stead and I didn't want to seem unappreciative nor offend her or Santa.
And then off to the local guitar store we went. And when we returned home I had a new Gibson Les Paul and a Fender Blues Jr. 3. And practice I did. And I made more progress. Although Carlos was not yet looking over his shoulder.
After a few more months with the new Les Paul I was sitting in my music room and there was that poor, dejected, lonely Pacifica sitting in the corner. Something prompted me to pick it up. And play it. And guess what?! It played great!
I had made progress and it was due to the fact that due to the excitement of the new Les Paul, I was practicing more. With retrospection, I had made it through the dreaded L&MG session 4 with that Pacifica. @Gran Gran, you're not there to session 4 yet and probably don't know what that means. You will. Session 4 around here is badge of accomplishment.
So "will a more expensive guitar help in learning how to play"? No. But anything that encourages us to pick up the guitar and practice will.
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Great accomplishment Wim. X 4! Great accomplishment and dedication! And thanks for all the sharing that you do here.
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What a great source, Triple-o. With chord charts!!!!!
Thank you!
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On 10/10/2020 at 4:13 AM, Wim VD1 said:
Hey Mandy,
you got cat class and you got cat style!
That's a fun performance and you played it well. I was picturing the Aristocats dancing around on your tune 🐱🐱🐱.
Wim.
@Nutty 1, Mandy!!!! I had to use Wim's words because it describe your performance so well! "you got cat class and you got cat style!" And you played all the instruments?!?!
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On 10/7/2020 at 11:24 AM, Nutty 1 said:
This is but a minor setback on our journey."
Hmmmm. I'm guessing this is more of a major setback on their journey. I'm not trying to be just sarcastic and skeptical. (well, maybe a little sarcastic.) Anytime, someone brings an original idea from that idea stage to market product it's beneficial to many. I just remain doubtful of the size of a market fro this expensive of travel guitar. I hope I'm wrong.
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Eddie Van Halen, Guitar Hero, Dies At 65
"Eddie Van Halen, the guitarist and songwriter who helped give the rock band Van Halen its name and sound, died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. He was 65."
His music is a little too hard of rock for my taste but it's undeniable he was tremendously talented guitarist. My wife and I were in the car and she was reading a news bulletin on her iPad about his death. I didn't realize that he is a classically trained pianist. Interesting guy.
RIP EVH!
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Thanks, Mandy! The big difference between this one and the other one we discussed not very long ago is this one is at a LOT more attractive price point! for any of us on any sort of budget this one is probably going to be more realistic.
Thanks again.
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There are some............interesting?.... guitars in that collection. From the weird to the weirder. But entertaining viewing. I'm still not sure what a "steampunk" guitar even is. Guitordian? 😁
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On 6/19/2019 at 4:24 PM, NeilES335 said:
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I do have the patterns down pretty well in Key of F, and moving to Key of D and Bb does not seems to be that difficult. I'm trying to focus on saying and playing the notes to get the most out of the exercises, and I'm a lot more familiar with the fret positions above the 5th - 17 th position.
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I posted a while ago about starting this session and, quite honestly, got distracted. But I'm back. And now starting it with a vengeance.
But I got to going on the 3 notes per string, I'm just on the 1st form, F major scale, and trying to figure out what my goal/expectation should be here. I am focusing on saying and playing the notes with Steve. But is the goal here to actually memorize every note?! Or are we, as with the Pentatonic scale, just learning patterns? He does say that this is "a way...that help you learn the notes on the entire neck of your guitar".
I think I know the answer here but I just want to confirm the goal is to finally learn every note. @NeilES335 and the rest of you that have finished #17, did you memorize every note?
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I have been thinking about trying some really light strings. I mean really light strings. I am talking Billy Gibbons light. I am talking maybe 7's. I have been thinking about this for a while and only procrastination has kept me from it.
I was in my local store a couple weeks ago and they are nearly totally out of strings. And I don't see where they normally carry anything that light anyway. If you order strings online where do you recommend?
Just glancing there is Strings and Beyond.
And there is Just Strings.
Anybody had experience with either? Any other recommendation? -
@rockinrickard,great idea for the Challenge!
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Hello 👋🏽
in Gibson's Learn & Master Guitar
Posted
Yes, @Oasis. Exactly what @Wim VD1 recommended. The first 10 or so sessions of Learn and Master Guitar are the basics of learning guitar you will need for any type of playing you will do. Then with session 10 Steve starts to specialize. Session 10 is fingerstyle, 13 is blues, 15 is rock, 18 is jazz, etc. I would suggest you finish at least session 10. At that point you can decide if you 1) want to complete all of L&M G; 2) switch over to the Fingerstyle course, or 2) continue in L&M G and start on the Fingerstyle course working it concurrently (if you have the time to do both).
Good luck to you! Keep us appraised of your progress.