Trying to learn guitar

[tommac]

I am trying to learn guitar along with physics. Do any of you play musical instruments?

If so what do you think was the most useful use of practice time to help you learn. Currently I can play chords and a few songs ... some easy soloing.

[danscope]

Hi, One of the best teaching aids you can get is a simple rubber stamp made in the shape of a guitar chord patter, 6 lines across, and three frets, top line a little darker. Keep this in a zip lock bag in your guitar case along with extra strings, picks, finger ease, and a moisture source ( a film can with a sponge inside ...damp....with holes in the can will do.
Also, a small bottle of stmp pad ink, and a stamp pad. Don't go crazy with the ink. Enough will do.
Also, get and keep a large spiral bound sketch pad.
As you are working on a song or chord progression, you can simply stamp your chord pattern and use a felt tip pen to denote your finger positions and fret position . Helpfull when you teach others as well.
The pattern is the message,
Write down the lyrics and place the chords where they go.
Change the key to suit your vocal range.
Write down chord harmonies at a different fret w/ capo.
Many advantages.

The book becomes a valuable diary of your musical progress and becomes a great tool for learning. As you meet other musicians, you can record what you pick up more esily. This works.

Best regards, Dan
I have been playing and teaching for 50 years.

[Gruesome]

As far as practice time goes, it is better to practice 10-15 minutes everyday than an hour once a week.

[A.DIM]

I am trying to learn guitar along with physics. Do any of you play musical instruments?

If you drop them they can break.

:D

If so what do you think was the most useful use of practice time to help you learn. Currently I can play chords and a few songs ... some easy soloing.

Finger picking, classical guitar style is an excellent way to vary the sounds of your major chords - P I M A

Alternate picking with a plectrum - up down up down - with a simple scale like the pentatonic is most helpful building speed and fluency for both hands.

[tommac]

I know the major and minor chords fairly well.

What I have been working on is soloing or rather fitting in fills with the 1,3,5 of the scale in different positions.

One debate that my friend and I have is about soloing. say you are doing a typical I,IV,V 12 bar blues progression ....

when you solo can you just solo in the key of the I ? Or when the chord changes do you need to change to solo in that chord? I believe the latter he argues the former ( I think because it is easier ). However he has an interesting point of view although at first I think it is wrong but I cant prove why ...

He says that all of the notes in the I,IV,V chords ( that is the 1,3,5 of their scale ) all fit into the key that the song is in, in this case the I. My argument back was that the root changes so the way you play each note will slightly change as some notes are more important and others can be used as pass through.

[Gruesome]

when you solo can you just solo in the key of the I ? Or when the chord changes do you need to change to solo in that chord? I believe the latter he argues the former ( I think because it is easier ). However he has an interesting point of view although at first I think it is wrong but I cant prove why ...

First off, there is no right or wrong. It's all subjective. Picasso painted noses on the side of the face and look where it got him. So..rule #1: If you like it, do it.

One of the problems with changing the scale to match the chord is that you might come across a note in the IV or the V that is out of the scale of the I. However, that may be the desired result. Six of one....

[tdvance]

I'm an amateur saxophonist, and took a classical guitar class once. For practice time---

I've found you have to practice something "right" repeatedly to do it, not "wrong" 99 times then finally get it right the 100th time, and stop--your cerebellum will remember the 99 wrong times!!!! Ideally, once you get it right, you practice it right more than you had practiced it wrong. That often means practice slowly--only build up speed when you do it well at the slower speed. In fact, I've often found if I get it down perfect at a slow speed, playing it faster is almost no work at all--since every flaw multiplies as you speed up, no flaws when slow mean no flaws when fast, very few flaws slow mean a bit more of flaws when fast. Significant flaws when slow mean you can't play it fast at all. So, get it perfect slow, perfect rhythm, perfect attack/release, perfect hand position (if you feel carpal-tunnel-like pain, you've got poor hand position! I strongly recommend a guitarist show you how to do this--you don't want carpal tunnel--and you can't ever play fast if your hand position isn't pretty much just right)-- perfect sound in every way.

(e.g. I'm told the best way to learn tremolo on a guitar--where you play the same note in succession at a rate of 16th notes or even 32nd notes, is to practice it very slowly)

In my clasical guitar class, the first week's homework (once-a-week class) was "use your middle finger on the B string, and pluck it once every couple seconds, constantly watching for perfect hand position and listening for a good, solid, resonant tone with a strong but still musical attack and that lasts--you should do a total of 5000 plucks between now and the next class"--it was boring as heck, but I did it, and boy what a difference in sound I had between the first class and the second class! After that week, it got more interesting and fun (though I think we lost a few students by then).

[Fazor]

I am trying to learn guitar along with physics. Do any of you play musical instruments?

If so what do you think was the most useful use of practice time to help you learn. Currently I can play chords and a few songs ... some easy soloing.

I started teaching myself guitar about a year and a half ago. I guess the answer to your question would, in my opinion, be to always start off (each day) by practicing fingering, scales, and chords before moving on to anything "fun" like songs.

But I don't follow my own advice, which is my my technique is lacking. It really depends on what your goal is... I don't really have any ambition to go on tour; but since I grew up playing piano, playing an instrument is very theraputic.