Session 15 - Electric Guitars - The Heart of Rock & Roll

[NeilES335]

A Forum for Learn and Master Guitar Students to ask questions, make comments, receive advice and encouragement, and post their progress.

 

[flobbadob]

Hey, just onto session 15 now (been going about 2 years, pretty slow I know).

TLDR: With exercises like the chicken pickin and power chords if I should be able to read the sheet music?

My single note reading is decent in the first position but I am very very slow with the rest and it seems a bit too challenging to do it here and I'm not sure it is worthwhile.

I can name the note fairly quickly (still working on flash cards to be instantaneous) but finding it on the guitar takes a second or two. I added a little exercise where I use flash cards to identify a note then find it on every string - is this an okay idea?

Advice would be great!

[matonanjin]

48 minutes ago, flobbadob said:

Hey, just onto session 15 now (been going about 2 years, pretty slow I know).

You are on session 15 after 2 years and consider that "pretty slow"?!?!?!??!?!?!??  Compared to some of us that is breakneck speed!!??  Congratulations on making it to 15.  I'll let others address you questions about note reading.

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

Steve doesn't hand the info over in the higher lessons like he did with sessions 1 to 9.

Session 11 Pentatonic and Session 13 would have covered most of the notes above position 5.

Why . They are more than just memorize these 5 patterns. Catch is to say the note played while playing the pattern

And Steve does say play those in all the scales as well not just his C scale example.

Can I do this no...  but it will come.

As for power chords riff. It's all about doing that 5th up to the 6th "standard " power chord shuffle. 

I'd have to relook at the lesson to see what you're referring to on reading the notes

[NeilES335]

3 hours ago, flobbadob said:

Hey, just onto session 15 now (been going about 2 years, pretty slow I know).

TLDR: With exercises like the chicken pickin and power chords if I should be able to read the sheet music?

My single note reading is decent in the first position but I am very very slow with the rest and it seems a bit too challenging to do it here and I'm not sure it is worthwhile.

I can name the note fairly quickly (still working on flash cards to be instantaneous) but finding it on the guitar takes a second or two. I added a little exercise where I use flash cards to identify a note then find it on every string - is this an okay idea?

Advice would be great!

@flobbadob Welcome to the Guitar Gathering Forum & Congratulations on your progress!

As others have said, 2 yrs is pretty quick by most standards (I thought originally I'd be done in a year...woah was I wrong; that was about 5 -6 yrs ago... )  I'm currently studying S14 and S15 as well.  

I like your flash cards idea and i use that too sometimes as a refresher. By the time you get to S15 I think (as @Eracer_Team-DougH says) Steve assumes that you know how to read notation fairly well, and therefore you're left to read and know where the notes are on the fretboard too.  I admit this is still a work in progress for me, but as they say the more  you use it, the better you get.   

Short answer, yes its a okay idea; any trick that helps you learn better is certainly "" okay"

(BTW..S14 is an important introduction to arpeggios, and soloing, incorporating early lessons on triads. I plan to spend some time there ( I can already play and have done most of S15 which is quite fun) to memorize these shapes (along with hammer on's and pull offs) so I suggest if you havent, dont rush it... )

[flobbadob]

19 hours ago, NeilES335 said:

@flobbadob Welcome to the Guitar Gathering Forum & Congratulations on your progress!

As others have said, 2 yrs is pretty quick by most standards (I thought originally I'd be done in a year...woah was I wrong; that was about 5 -6 yrs ago... )  I'm currently studying S14 and S15 as well.  

I like your flash cards idea and i use that too sometimes as a refresher. By the time you get to S15 I think (as @Eracer_Team-DougH says) Steve assumes that you know how to read notation fairly well, and therefore you're left to read and know where the notes are on the fretboard too.  I admit this is still a work in progress for me, but as they say the more  you use it, the better you get.   

Short answer, yes its a okay idea; any trick that helps you learn better is certainly "" okay"

(BTW..S14 is an important introduction to arpeggios, and soloing, incorporating early lessons on triads. I plan to spend some time there ( I can already play and have done most of S15 which is quite fun) to memorize these shapes (along with hammer on's and pull offs) so I suggest if you havent, dont rush it... )

Thanks for the reply.

I'm keeping the arpeggio's and little skill stuff from S14 in my warmup so I'll hopefully refine them.

So you think at this stage I should be able to read the sheet music and play at any position? I did try as Steve suggests with the pentatonic scales to learn every note across the whole guitar but I was finding it so laborious to go through all 13 keys and wasn't retaining any of the notes in my head.

I probably sound very lazy but can't decide if it is worth the hassle or my time is better spent refining other techniques.

[Wim VD]

When working on a new piece of music or an exercise, I use 3 information sources.

The 2 main ones for me are the audio file and the tab. I do know all the notes on the fingerboard, but still the most efficient way for me to learn a melody is to look at the tab. The tab tells me where to play a note, whereas the sheet music leaves this open.

I only use the sheet music, as third source, to identify the key and for the info on rythm and lenght of notes and breaks.

Please don't get me wrong here. I do think it is important for me to understand and know what notes I am playing and how they relate to the key and to the chords they are played over. But I rather derive  this from the position of my fingers on the fredboard than from the sheet music.

Now this is what works for me, but there is a big disadvantage. I am not able to read sheet music or tab at playing speed. So basically, I have to analyse and study a piece of music and then completely memorize it.

Unlike myself, my 13 year old daughter who is learning to play violin, has gone through 4 years of studying music theory as part of her classical music education. She does not have to fully memorize the music she is playing, because she has learned to read and play notes simultanuously at the required tempo. That's a nice pay off.

Now tab would not work for violin anyhow ?

Wim.

[NeilES335]

So after a couple of months in S14, I'm ""officially" starting S15. It should be a fairly brief session. I've already been through the playing exercises, with mostly the Harmonized Major Scale worksheet to absorb and write out a dozen or so times...  

Now if I could just crank up the amp sometime for those Power Chord Rock songs!   (maybe if i went to the local music store under the pretense of auditioning amps? ;-)

Edited September 17, 2018 by NeilES335

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

Yeah I dabbled a little as you know in S15, don't think you'll be in S15 long @NeilES335 

[matonanjin]

Neil, I hope to join you there soon.  I'm looking forward to power chords.  I will crank up the amp when my wife is out of the house?

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

On 9/17/2018 at 2:09 PM, NeilES335 said:

 

Now if I could just crank up the amp sometime for those Power Chord Rock songs!  

I wouldn't mind cranking the amp up so I could hear my mistakes more, but not being in a detached house with next door with a 1yr old doesn't help.

[NeilES335]

7 hours ago, Eracer_Team-DougH said:

I wouldn't mind cranking the amp up so I could hear my mistakes more, but not being in a detached house with next door with a 1yr old doesn't help.

 

On 9/17/2018 at 2:09 PM, NeilES335 said:

So after a couple of months in S14, I'm ""officially" starting S15. It should be a fairly brief session. I've already been through the playing exercises, with mostly the Harmonized Major Scale worksheet to absorb and write out a dozen or so times...  

Now if I could just crank up the amp sometime for those Power Chord Rock songs!   (maybe if i went to the local music store under the pretense of auditioning amps? ;-)

So far, "Chickin Pickin" isn't really turning me on much... can you imagine Wes Montgomery or Joe Pass or Larry Carlton playing country?  I did'nt think so...

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

Can't imagine them playing power chord rock either 

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

5 hours ago, NeilES335 said:

Finding an 'appropriate' time for this is proving more of a challenge than the playing... I usually play clean warm tomes so loud gain isnt going over that well (even in a detached...) ?

Guess it's time to build a small insolated room in that basement of yours. 

[NeilES335]

For the worksheets what do you folks  think is an acceptable "pass" percentage ? (On the harmonized major scale worksheet I managed 95% first time, but less than perfect somehow seems like cheeting?)

[NeilES335]

On 9/25/2018 at 5:56 AM, Eracer_Team-DougH said:

Guess it's time to build a small insolated room in that basement of yours. 

One day not too far off I hope to build a complete soundproof studio/guitar lounge, maybe even a separate building. 

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

That's what my wife wants,,, me in a separate building 

Edited October 1, 2018 by Eracer_Team-DougH

[NeilES335]

Well I didnt rattle any windows trying to imitate AC/DC... but I'm satisfied I met the criteria , to complete S15 , so, I'm moving on to S16??.  

S15 was quite fun actually and not too hard.( I wish Id known about "power chords" in my teens when we were trying to play 60's rock in my friends basement)

I even made a decent showing of "Chickin' Pickin" !

Edited October 2, 2018 by NeilES335

[Tony cash]

Right behind you. Start s15 next week. Rock on.

[NeilES335]

7 minutes ago, Tony cash said:

Right behind you. Start s15 next week. Rock on.

Cool.. enjoy the Session??

[matonanjin]

Well, here I am!  😎

[NeilES335]

@matonanjin Congrats on your progress Ron! You're moving into the "Master" part of  "Learn & Master".  Be prepared to be more on your own with your studies; using "outside" resources is more of an option,

[matonanjin]

On 9/25/2019 at 12:17 PM, NeilES335 said:

@matonanjin Congrats on your progress Ron! You're moving into the "Master" part of  "Learn & Master".  Be prepared to be more on your own with your studies; using "outside" resources is more of an option,

Hey, Neil, thanks.  I definitely see what you mean.  But I have been complementing L&M for a few sessions now.  And most of the materials in 15, bending, H-O, P-O, etc. I've been working on for a while.  And the concepts of pick-ups, pedals, etc, I'm familiar with.  I've already spent lots on pedals! 😉😆😮

I'm finishing up the last couple exercises in 15B the next couple days and will be moving on to 16.

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

Wow just revisited S15 this week, forgot so much of this.

Wow S15 bonus is short compared to S15 main

[Triple-o]

“Smells like Teen Spirit”! This is a song I stayed away from years ago because of its name.

When I started working on power chords the song came up on a list of songs that use power chords, so I thought I would take another look. The first thing I learned was that the song was named after a deodorant called  “Teen Spirit” and not the body odor of teenagers at a football game. The lyric of the song are as confusing as the name and “I feel stupid and contagious”  for not knowing that the song’s name was referring to Colgate-Palmolive’s “cute girlie deodorant”.

Anyway Marty Schwartz at  Marty’s Music (YouTube) has a lesson on power chords using this song that’s pretty good.

P.S. After the release of the song deodorant sales spiked  up.