Guitar Playing Revelation

the problem with that, it simply limits your ability to go outside the area of the norm that everybody else in town goes.

Its like being a painter and having a palette of only primary colors.

A working knowledge of at least some theory can only help. For songwriters, chord inversion books like Ted Green and Mickey Baker are fantastic for blowing new doors open.

I often wonder if this is why so many bands sound the same (at least on the radio). All the players never got beyond the basics.

 

acoustic maybe.

except for power-stripped-down versions of E, A, D and G, I rarely use open chords for electric. Even then, select strings are always muted, to prevent the unwanted frequencies from ringing out.

Altho Malcolm and Angus never seemed to have that problem, no matter how loud they played...

 

When i was young, single and working part time, I literally played 8 hours a day, and I got quite good. Now I'm older, married and work full time and I've lapsed back into mediocre with occasional flashes of competence! I don't practice as such at all, I usually sit and improvise chord progressions and melodies for a half hour or so. Some of it sounds great, but I never remember what I played so all my great songs get lost forever!

 

Hell yes.

I'm onstage, usually at a place I play all the time.

I dont recognize one or two or even any of the players.

The song starts and I dont recognize it, or worse, somebody is yelling at me to start a song I never heard of.

then I cant find my pick. then I notice my guitar is either not plugged in, or theres no cable, or its plugged into a pedalboard thats either wired all wrong or has a bunch of goofy pedals I've never seen. I cant get any sound at all out of the amp, which i usually dont recognize.

Its like I've been teleported into somebody else's band.

Then a cute girl in the front row says, hey, you're cute.

and I wake up... just when it was getting good.

 

So, you're saying that a non-jazz/non-classical guitarist who does not have more than a rudimentary knowledge of theory is "like being a painter and having a palette of only primary colors"? Really? My 45+ years of (off and on, admittedly) playing experience and a similar number of years of listening experience to both acoustic and electric players who had no formal training or more than a rudimentary understanding of theory says otherwise.

"Some theory"? Well, sure, but I didn't say otherwise.

I'm not familiar with those books, but I consider chord inversion to be rudimentary knowledge.

 

Yes, there are some people like that, those that are hung up on what they perceive as the rules and hesitate to do something that they think breaks them. I consider that attitude to be a stage that they can eventually pass through. A little knowledge can be dangerous. I've been there myself. My feeling now is that music theory is descriptive, not prescriptive. In other words, if something sounds good, it can probably be justified by some commonly accepted theorum. And there can be more than one justification/theorum that describes that situation. It's also perfectly legitimate to play something that clashes with the common solution to the situation-of-the-moment - that's a way to create tension, and is itself a legitimate technique. Music theory doesn't have to dictate what you can or can't do, but it can help guide you to get the effects you hear in your head.

I think that those that claim to know no theory actually do "know" it in the sense that they recognize common patterns by ear. They're not really flying as freely at they might think.

I'll say it in other words: "trained" need not equal "restrained". And knowing the reason why things sound as they do can open you up to other possibilities. And it's a good thing to have the vocabulary to have an efficient and meaningful conversation with other musicians.

 

Another area that makes the waters very murky in playing can be boiled down to a simple question; Whom do you consider a GOOD GUITAR PLAYER? If you were to put this question out to a vast swath of humanity, you'd get a thousand different answers. Take YouTube for example; some quote-unquote "experts" would say the vast majority of what's offered there is either bad, very bad or downright deplorable. But no one dares to try to take down anyone else, because a genuinely impressed supporter will be springing to their keyboard, ready to fight. And thereby hangs a tale; If someone is offering up a laughable video example of a "guitarist" in some veteran's eyes, and some supporter says "well, this guy/girl is making me take out mine again to practice!", who should get the nod??

 

Hello,

The most important "secret" about being proficient at your instrument, is believe it or not, your Musical Memory. Through years of practice playing through songs, chord cycles, scales & melodies etc, you "do" very much get to the point of hearing what you're going to play well in advance of what you're actually playing at that moment. This frees you up in your freedoms of note choices for solos etc since, your memory is already playing the tune in your head "in the future". The above quote hints at that, at least for a particular tune, & it "will" snowball over time as you learn more & more tunes !

Once again, all the theory does ( & you do only need a firm grasp of the basics ) is allow you to look at what your playing & break it down into simple information, so you can then make informed decisions about what will sound "correct" over a passage of music. It will also allow you to communicate this discovery with others, & it will allow you to discover more from others too.

It's also a lot like owning & driving a car for instance, where it's far better to know what the wheels are, & the motor, the battery, the drive belts, the brakes etc etc, than to know how to pump gas into it & turn the ignition key only ? Alternatively, isn't it better to be able to pick up a pencil & paper & be able to simply calculate out basic mathematics like addition, subtraction, multiplication & division, than to just number-crunch on the calculator ?

Other have mentioned Paul McCartney & his orchestral pursuits. Don't be too hard on him !!! A regular guitar is voiced & tuned to sound chords with what is known as the "drop-two" voicing...This voicing is typical of all chords used in orchestras & big-bands, & it's basically where the 3rd of the chord is the highest sounding note. ( The 3rd is the No.2 note in a chord ). Where he needs help is with the writing of the parts, since every orchestral instrument may vary in it's natural "in built key" in relation to the Piano. Here he has to transpose keys to gt the correct sounding notes for each instrument & their own parts.

eg, The note C on a piano ( concert pitch ) is played as a D on say a trumpet, as it's natural voice is pitched in the key of Bb ( One full tone downwards ). Re-writing parts to suit the many different pitched instruments is time consuming, & difficult ! A guitar is pitched / tuned in "concert pitch", as with many other instruments.

Cheers,

Gregster

 

Is it because you aren't practicing new things or do you feel like you just can't do it? I wouldvprobabkybhavevgivenbup by now had I not gotten as competent as I am, not that I'm that great but it gives me confidence and satisfaction to keep playing

 

I like this thread. I have been stumbling around the guitar since 1989. I cannot play even one full song. But I still like to noodle and make sounds. I got an electric, a PRS and a Roland Cube a couple years ago, which is fun. I've never gotten the rudiments and yet I still pick it up once in awhile. Lovely instrument. Respect for anyone who can play well.

 

I was all self taught. Literally went from no experience at all to teaching myself all the major/minor chords, bar chords, some scales, etc. I got to the point where I was not learning and to really get to the next level would require more time and resources than I was willing to give.