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Guitar Daily Practice and Musical Vocabulary

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guitar practice

Part 2 of Developing a Daily Practice for Guitar

To become a killer guitar player, you should memorize a few chords ( four, for example) and then simply practice playing them in the order they come in the song. Do this at least ten times slowly from memory before moving on to the next set of changes ( chords). Once the complete passage or song is memorized, play it slowly twice a day for a week or so. Then you can practice “ locking “ in with your metronome or drum machine and then cranking up the tempo! Go to Metronome Online and learn the following:

  1. How to use a metronome
  2. Tempo markings
  3. How to practice music
  4. It’s all about timing

Learning new chords on the guitar or banjo and memorizing progressions can be tiring work, so don’t spend too long on this assignment- ten or fifth teen minutes a day will soon yield a considerable amount of new chords and repertoire. Chord books I recommend are

Playing the Guitar Techniques – should again be combined with the new musical vocabulary wherever possible. String bending, for example, can be nurtured by practicing licks involving this technique. Do this chromatically up and down the neck so your fingers become used to bending in tune all over the fret board.  More info on string bending.

Vocabulary – is the most important area of all your practice program. If you don’t  know any music on your guitar or banjo, then you have nothing to play! Who wants to hear scales or exercises, no matter how well they are played! Sure, scales etc.… are important, but only a means to an end. Guitar technique, in my opinion, should subordinate to music.

There are a number of ways for guitar and banjo students to learn musical vocabulary. Friends, books and videos can be one source. However, the best way to learn a new solo, lick, intro or tune, is from working things out by ear. Perhaps a friend or teacher can help you over any bits, but at least try working on your own as well. A great device to purchase is the Tascam Portable CD trainer which helps by slowing down speeds of songs but keeping guitar in same pitch, excellent for all levels of students.

Under the vocabulary heading, you should write down each item you’re attempting to learn. There’s no need to rush, just spend your assigned time limit on each item every day and do your best. Eventually you will have it and can start practicing up to speed. Once you’ve worked out the particular example (from the recording) you should play it over and over for the entire time allowed. If you do this every day, you will soon build up a vocabulary of musical phrases that will become second nature and easy to recall when needed.

This whole approach to practicing guitar & banjo may seem a little clinical to some of you, and if you’re happy with the way you practice now, that’s fine. If you feel your practice time could be more effective, however, it is worth trying these methods for a month or two, Remember, above all, keep your guitar practice as musical as possible and have fun!

Guitar Practice Homework:

  1. Decide on a musical goal that you feel would be realistic to achieve in one month.
  2. Following the procedure outlined above, write your own game plan with steps and times mapped out for each days practice.
  3.  Have fun and listen to all styles of music from 1940’s up to current.

Guitar & Banjo Lessons
Dublin – San Ramon CA
(925) 695-7060

Music Helps Our Children Develop MORE of Their Potential

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East Bay Guitar Lessons Help to Develop Better Brains & People – not just rock ego-maniac stars!

I’ve been studying and teaching music for over 40 years. Today, I teach guitar and banjo lessons throughout the East Bay in communities like Danville, San Ramon, Concord, Walnut Creek – the whole East Bay.

I teach guitar students much more than simply how to strum a few chords on a guitar. Reading music, variations on a theme, scales, composition, orchestration, road skills, playing with ensembles, soloing… it’s a long list! The more we learn about the brain, the more we discover about how music lessons and education help brains & people development in wonderful ways.

  • music brain training East BayThe Brain –  Research has shown that both listening to music and playing a musical instrument stimulate your brain and can increase your memory. Research suggests that regularly playing an instrument changes the shape and power of the brain and may be used in therapy to improve cognitive skills. Hearing it and especially playing it. Music affects mood, creativity and a wide range of synaptic activity in the brain – many areas of your brain start firing and communicating with other parts of your entire nervous system.
  • Cognitive Development – Children exposed to a multi-year program of music tuition involving training in increasingly complex rhythmic, tonal, and practical skills display superior cognitive performance in reading skills compared with their non-musically trained peers.
  • Neurological multi-tasking – Moving and playing at the same time is challenging. Whether you are in a marching band or creating choreography for your rock band – playing and moving with the music develops body/mind coordination.
  • Discipline & Time Management – Practice, practice, practice = discipline development. When we practice with our band mates, team discipline enters the equation. Developing discipline is key to developing personal integrity.
  • Teamwork – From the hassles to the high-fives. Learning how to collaborate and work as a team is just good human development!
  • Music Lessons Danville San RamonCamaraderie & Sacrifice – Good friends are just one of life’s “must have” experiences. Sharing dreams, disappoints and accomplishments help to extend emotional range and maturity. Putting self aside for the greater good of the band is invaluable for personal development.
  • Resilience, Flexibility, Creative Problem Solving, Manners, Respect, Trust, Self-Expression, Social Skills, Listening Skills – A few of the character traits that music students work with on a daily basis.
  • Music Broadens Horizons – Musicians get passionate about all things music – instruments, composers, poetry, history… music touches every part of life through time, thus it can be a doorway into almost any area of human experience and development. Studies have shown that students who play instruments or study the arts are often better in math and achieve higher grades in school than students who don’t.

Guitar & Banjo Lessons
Concord – Danville – San Ramon – Walnut Creek
(925) 695-7060

 

Soloing Guitar Lesson

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Make 2013 YOUR Year to be a Solo Guitarist

Soloing is working on art of doing lead patterns over a group of chords also known as riffing or adlib. Guitar players must know there basic 5 pentatonic scale patterns both minor and major.

A pentatonic scale is a five note scale based on major scale. The minor pentatonic scale is Root, b3,4,5 and b7th degrees of major scale. It really gives you that blues feel and works great over dominant 7th chords and 9thys and minor chords with 7ths or 9ths .

You can use for example an A minor pent scale against A minor, A minor 7th or Aminor9th and also A7, A9 or A13th chords. Also you may use half step displacement in which sax players and piano players use all the time. That means while the rhythm section is in A minor tonality center u can start on A  minor pent and then slide up half step to A sharp minor pent scale and then slide down half step to Ab minor pentatonic but for very short durations and then resolve back to A minor pentatonic scale.

First before jamming with other guitarists, u should lay down a rhythm jam track of u playing just a 12 bar blues in A or a jam based on A minor 7th chords.

Also, check out my Pentatonic warm ups in 1st, 5th, 9th, 13th and 17th positions. I recommend using a metronome which u can download for free on your cell phone or free on computer. Start on highest note on string 1 and work your way descending to string 6 known as a descending pattern and then practice opposite ascending lowest finger to highest on each string lowest to highest and do  not stop when you arrive to string one just shift up to 5th and then 9th and then 13th and then 17th. On acoustic guitars just do 1st and 5th and 9th positions.

Its very important to use alternate picking at single meter first meaning quarter notes and then duple meter meaning 8th notes and then skip to quad also known as 16th notes.

Guitar & Banjo Lessons
Concord – Danville – San Ramon – Walnut Creek
(925) 695-7060

Guitar Lessons – Mission Possible!

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Learning to play a guitar like a pro is not Mission Impossible!

My friend, John Harper, who does the online marketing for The Harper Team Realtors in San Ramon CA, created this great promo for me using a sound track that I recorded with my RGS Ensemble.

Whether you live in Concord, Walnut Creek or Danville, or San Ramon – I can help you take your guitar playing to the next level.  I provide guitar lessons for all ages and levels of skill.

Enjoy the promo – playing guitar like a pro is Mission Possible!!!

I notice the stores are already putting out the Holiday displays. Keep your eye on this site for upcoming gift specials.

Guitar Lessons – Fretboard – Danville – San Ramon CA

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Importance Of Knowing Your Fretboard

I was giving guitar lessons the other day in Danville & San Ramon CA. I had my students working out with fretboard exeercises because before you are ready to start jamming with other musicians, you should really know your guitar  fretboard inside out, every fret including sharps and flats.

Guitar Lesson – Fretboard

Let’s begin with the 6 string guitar standard E tuning (String 6 to 1 or bottom to top in pitch are E, A, D, G, B and E ). 

First, let’s review your guitar lessons on basic music theory:

The musical alphabet is the first 7 letters of the English alphabet (A,B,C,D,E,F,G) and a whole step is the distance of two frets on the guitar.  A half step is the distance of 1 fret between two consecutive musical notes. Example of a whole step is F to g and a half step is F to F Sharp or B to c (natural half step). 

There are only two instances where there are “natural half steps”. Lets use common phrases to help remember what are called “natural half steps”.  B  to C is one of these which you can remember by the acronym used in calendar dates (B.C. which stands for “Before Christ”). The other natural half step is E to F which you can remember by the word EFFORT where the first two letters are e to f. 

To master the fretboard, practice the following guitar lesson exercise:

Start on lowest string 6, the open E and say out loud as you play on guitar  E open, F1 meaning fret 1, G3, A5, B7, C8, D10 and finally E12 and stop there because it is one octave above the starting note. Then proceed to do the same exercises on all remaining strings.

These simple little exercises when practiced consistently will produce amazing results in learning the fretboard. 

If you are looking for a guitar instructor in Danville or San Ramon CA who can create a step by step lesson plan that maximizes your practice time and gets you to the next level as quickly as possible, contact me and I will give you a free guitar lesson that will convince you that it’s just a matter of time before you will be performing and jamming with other musicians.

Guitar & Banjo Lessons
Danville – San Ramon, CA
(925) 695-7060

Dublin – Pleasanton Guitar Lessons

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Music Theory – Scales, Keys and Chord Progressions

Aspiring guitarists should know that every song is based on a major scale, usually referred to as the “key” you are playing in, which denotes the “key signature” (more on that later). The major scale consists of 7 consecutive tones or notes. For example, if you are playing in the key of C major, the notes are C,D,E,F,G,A,B (only major scale with no sharps or flats).

All chords are then constructed  on each of the 7 notes of scale. It’s easier for visualization if you look at the piano keyboard and start on the 1st note of the major scale (in this example C is the first note also referred to as the root).  Chords are referred to using roman numerals – the “I” chord in the key of C major uses the 1,3 & 5 notes of the scale to make up the chord.

Chords consist of at least 3 notes.  So, a C Major chord is made up of the notes: C,E & G known as the root, 3rd degree and 5th degree of the C Major scale. This is called a triad.

A seventh chord would be the root,3,5 and 7th degree of scale. A 9th chord would be Root,3,5,7 and 9th degrees (9th degree is the octave of the 2nd).

A popular rock and blues chord progression used in literally hundreds of songs is the I-IV-V pattern.  The I (C), IV (F) and V (G) are all major chords. All other chords built on the 2,3, 6 and 7th degrees of the scale would be minor chords.

When you are first learning a song, you should analyze the chords using the roman numeral system and get familiar with the progression.  For example La Bamba uses the I-IV-V pattern in the key of C Major. The chord progression would be C to F to G.

Why is it important to know chord patterns using roman numeral system? Because you can transpose to any other key instantly.  For more help on theory check out “ Music Theory For Dummies” and if you’re looking for an instructor in the San Ramon, Danville, Dublin, Walnut Creek or Pleasanton areas to help you take it to the next level, let me know

Taking Your Guitar Playing to the Next Level

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Amp Up Your Guitar Skills in Danville & San Ramon CA

Many guitarists at all ages and all levels search for help on the internet to improve their music knowledge and “hone their guitar craft“.  You can find lots of great information and even get free “lessons” online on subjects such as modes, scales, guitar riffs and theory.  But, how do you apply it?

In my 40+ years as a professional touring musician and guitar instructor, the results I have seen from the hundreds of students I have taught has proven to me that students who learn to read music notation, in addition to playing by ear, have a better sense of keeping time, are able to more easily rehearse and jam with other musicians and are much better prepared to take their music playing to a more professional level.

My favorite instruction books for plectrum style guitar are published by Hal Leonard titled “Complete 3 Book Guitar Method Edition with CD’S”.  I also recommend “Music Theory For Dummies,  Audio CD” [Paperback]. This book shows you how to apply theory by writing music on standard music 5 stave line manuscript paper. 

I think self study is great, but I highly recommend hooking up with a private instructor that has a proven systematic approach to teaching the basics and then taking you to the next level. Taking a lesson on a weekly or bi-monthly basis so the instructor can check your progress, give you the things to focus on for the next couple of weeks and then inspire you to practice is what I recommend.

Several of my students in the San Ramon and Danville area who have a band have not only taken their guitar playing to the next level, but have booked paying gigs that has helped to take their performance to the next level as well.

Bass Guitar Lessons
Danville, San Ramon CA
(925) 695-7060

Danville & San Ramon CA – Guitar Lessons at Home

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Mobile Guitar Lessons in Danville & San Ramon California

Everything is going mobile these days thanks to smart phones & iPads. I think I was ahead of the curve with my mobile guitar lessons – meaning I will come to your house in Danville or San Ramon (or anywhere else in the East Bay) and give private guitar lessons. Or if you have a friend or brother or sister that also wants lessons, we could do a small group guitar lesson.

I teach  guitar, bass, uke, mandolin and 4 & 5 string banjo lessons – beginners to advanced. I have developed my own teaching style that makes it easy to learn to play guitar or any of the other instruments I teach. There is very little risk for my guitar students – I offer the first lesson FREE and also offer the first month of guitar lessons at half price. This allows my guitar students in San Ramon and Danville to see if my method is right for them and whether or not we are going to “click” as student and teacher.Another  big plus for my guitar students’ parents in Danville & San Ramon CA is that my lessons are month-to-month – no contracts.

San Ramon Danville Guitar instructorI am probably one of the most experienced guitar teachers in the East Bay. I have developed a unique teaching system. I have toured with many well known entertainers. I have studied at some of the most prestigious music schools and with some of the finest guitar players in the world (all styles). Over time, my guitar lessons will cover all the bases to help my students grow from a casual guitar player to a professional guitar player that will have an extensive understanding of music and what is involved in a professional music career.

My website is updated frequently with all kinds of tips on guitar playing, music theory, how to build guitar confidence on strum patterns and how to use modes, scales and chords.

There’s really nothing to lose – except the opportunity to become an awesome guitar player or professional musician. Call me now to book that first guitar lesson FREE of charge.

Guitar Lessons
Danville – San Ramon – East Bay Area
(925) 695-7060

Below is my version of Shakedown, a classic jazz fusion song by Spyro Gyra. All solos are transcribed from the original recording. I had a hard time transcribing the original recording organ solo but I did and Christopher Milne did a great job. My rock ensemble students did a great job in helping to pull this one off. I love the sax and guitar leads in thirds and I’m playing the guitar solo which took some practice.

 

California Church Blues & Music Notation

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East Bay Guitarists, Guitar Students & The Art of Music Notation & Composition

This post is like my Line 6 floor pedal (mentioned later) – crammed with features (things on my mind!).

A quick shout out to a student –  John Hill, who is a now a great blues musician. He plays at many churches in California: Oakland, Modesto, Antioch, Pittsburg, Fairfield, Vacaville and Sacramento.

Guitarists in bands like the Allman Brothers or the Gypsy Kings play in different notes – intervals of usually thirds or sixths or  5th’s or even octaves. For example in the key of C major if one guitarist is playing a C, another can play a 3rd up counting C as the tonic or the root note. That would be E. It adds rich tonal color to the music.

At Berklee College of Music, I performed as a guitar and music arranger major 3 days a week  with 20 piece guitar ensemble. Chair 1 and 2 were the most difficult charts with lots of syncopated notes and then chairs 10 – 20 were just simple half notes and quarter notes and chord charts.

We performed songs by Chicago and big band jazz charts. We performed with a 5-piece sax section, a 5-piece trombone section and a 5-piece brass section where each part played different notes as harmony. What a great sound. This is part of the inspiration behind forming the RGS Rock Ensemble.

Every month my guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin and uke student rehearse with celebrity friends from the Greater San Francisco Bay Area including East Bay communities like Oakland, San Ramon, Dublin, Danville, Walnut Creek and Concord  to jam ina big theater venue.

I score out three guitar charts, one for rhythm and beginner and one for intermediate lead guitar and one for advanced guitar along with music charts for drum, keyboards, bass guitar , percussion and saxophones. If you want to get into writing music for all instruments (over 650),  then check out “The Art Of  Music Copying “ and  “ Music Arranging “ by Don Sebesky (if you can find a copy!)

Below is the rock ensemble performing Hip To Be Square, a great Huewy Lewis and the News classic rock pop number which hit #1 on Billboard Magazine.

It features guitar solos by me and Adam Gabriel. Guitar students played the melody. The original soundtrack had no horns so I came up with horns using power  music arranging and composing software known as Sibellius. It allows you to type in a complete score and then have it played by other instruments. You need to be able to read music and know some music theory to use a program like this.

Our rendition of Hip to Be Square (at the end of this post) features Orestes Vilato, ranked in the top ten percussionists in the world for Latin Music. Listen to all the polyrhythms he does and how he uses stick dynamics. At the end of song Adam Gabriel does some great blues lead fills. I’m doing all the screaming rock fills using a Line 6 Spider Amp and Paul Reed Smith Guitar with whammy bar and Line 6 pro floor pedal with Volume Pedal as well as built in Wah Wah Pedal – ya gotta love all the add-ons!

Hip to Be Square performed by RGS Rock Ensemble

San Ramon CA Bass Guitar Lessons

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San Ramon CA Bass Guitar Lessons

Keeping the Bass Guitar Beat in San Ramon

I was giving a guitar lesson to one of my bass guitar students from San Ramon who has been reading Hal Leonard’s Bass Method Book I.  He had not been practicing his reading assignments regularly for two months because he was rehearsing a 35 song playlist for a paying gig and only had so much time for practicing.

So today, we were back to the work on reading music for bass guitar.  Bass guitar uses the bass clef as compared with regular guitar that uses the treble clef. We started where we left off two months ago on techniques taught to music majors at the college level where you practice sight reading daily.

Before you play a new exercise for the first time, make sure you speak it out loud without out picking up the guitar and say each note from left to right. You should say the name of the note and the fret location. For example, on a 4 string bass if the note was string 4 fret 1 you would simply say F1. This programs your built in computer that God gave you known as your brain to remember the note locations on the fretboard.

THEN SLOWLY AT ABOUT 75 B.P.M. on the metronome tap your right foot, if your right handed, or left foot if left handed and count out loud 1,2,3, and 4 and try to play the exercise without stopping. Try not to keep looking at your fret board and hand but keep your eyes on the music so you don’t get lost. If you are still not making it through the exercise without making lots of mistakes, try naming each note out loud as you play instead of counting each beat and just say the name of the note and not the fret location. More to come.

To get started with learning to read sheet music for guitar, I highly recommend Hal Leonard Method Books.

Learn to Play Guitar in the Privacy of Your Own Home

Our guitar instructors come to you to give you personal one-on-one lessons in the privacy of your own home. We cover Dublin, San Ramon, Pleasanton, Livermore and all cities in east and south bay

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Contact us for guitar lessons or more information at:

Guitar Confidence
4101 Dublin Blvd
Suite F, #537
Dublin, CA 94568

(925) 695-7060

guitarconfidence@gmail.com

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