| Learn To Play Guitar (Tips) - It is important to find a good guitar teacher who, ideally, is able to play all guitar styles including rock, classical, blues, jazz, ragtime etc also, both fingerstyle and plectrum style.
- It is important for you, as a student, to learn these styles in the early stages of learning how to play the guitar, to help you to become an all round musician. This will also help you to appreciate different musical influences which will enable you to become more creative in your guitar playing in the future.
- In a recent survey it was discovered that 95% of guitarists do not read music and merely play by ear, compared to 95% of piano/keyboard players who do read music.
- To develop as a competent guitarist it is vitally important that you are able to read both Tablature and music notation as well as developing a good ear for music.
- Do make sure that your guitar teacher can teach music notation and is able to instruct, teach and give you good advice on the grade examinations for guitar in both classical and rock styles.
- Whilst it is possible to develop an ear for music to such an extent that you are able to listen to most songs, establish the key and the relevant chords within the key, for more complex music it is important to refer to the music to ensure that you are playing precisely the music you are listening to – most classical guitarists such as John Williams and Julian Bream can read guitar music extremely fluently, their strength is in their reading – other guitarists such as Tommy Emmanuel, Jimmi Hendrix, Eric Clapton have developed their style(s) of playing purely by ear and rarely read dots. Ideally you should try to develop both reading and listening to improve your guitar-playing and musicianship.
- As you progress with your guitar-playing, always try to keep an open mind to different types and styles of music. Go to see guitarists playing live in your area – note the range of styles from classical to rock, both Fingerstyle and plectrum styles. You need to be exposed to as many musical influences as possible so that you are able to develop your own unique guitar style in future.
- On the subject of practice between your guitar lessons, try to practice as frequently as possible. Ideally two 30’ guitar practice sessions per day will help you make the best progress. The worst scenario would be to put down your guitar for 3 - 4 days and pick up your guitar for 2-3 hours. This does not help you make progress. Remember frequent and often will get results.
- Try to discipline your practice sessions so that you work through all the songs and exercises that you are learning in a structural way. Keep saying to yourself – ‘How can I improve this song or exercise compared to the last time I played it!’
- Set yourself realistic time targets for learning songs and exercises and work towards achieving them. I would recommend that at any one time you are working on perhaps five or six songs or exercises and learning perhaps five or six bars of music at each practice session. Try to ensure that the songs you are learning at any one time are of contrasting styles and above all ensure that you are aware and are developing your sense of time, beat and rhythm.
- Always refer to the time signature before you commence a piece of music and feel a good sense of rhythm and pulse before you start. Timing and feel is everything – Jimmi Hendrix had perfectly natural time and feel and played instinctively with natural rhythm.
- Try to make the guitar an extension of you and make those riffs and licks sing out.
- Once you put together a repertoire of songs try to perform initially in front of close friends and family to gage a reaction and help you gain in confidence. If you start to get positive feedback then consider playing with like-minded musicians who are at a similar level of competence.
If you play with other guitarists take it in turns to play ‘lead’ guitar and rhythm guitar. This will help to develop your guitar playing and you will quickly learn other riffs, licks, scales, chord sequences and other styles and influences. Playing with other guitarists can be invaluable and most well-known rock groups are formed initially by the lead guitarist and the singer. They have the biggest influence in the style of music played.
Alternative Tuning
Most songs for guitar are played using standard tuning. However more and more guitarists are looking to discover new sounds and harmonies from alternative tunings. The most common alternative tuning on the guitar is probably
‘Dropped D’ where the E 6th string is dropped two frets to D
This means that when the D major or D minor chords are played in the first position or at the first fret the sixth string can be included in the chord and gives a drone effect. This is particularly effective when Scottish/Irish folk type songs are played.
In my Series IV Classic Collection DVD Lesson 5, I tune the sixth string to D from E (2frets). This enables me to play guitar arrangements of Harry Lime Theme’, Easy Winner (Scot Joplin and a country blues arrangement.
If you do not have a precise ear when tuning down these strings then use an electric tuner.
Always check the tuning of the other strings on the guitar as the tension of these strings is always slightly affected by tuning down adjacent strings.
Classical Guitar Technique
Left and Right Hand Co-ordination:
We now need to discuss co-ordination between the hands. If you have implemented the methods and exercises, taught in my DVDs, into your practice schedule I hope that it has benefited you and that you are now ready for this next stage.
The Tremolo Technique (Tremolo = p a m i right hand finger combination.)
Firstly we need to familiarize ourselves with the tremolo technique. If you know the piece ‘Requerdos De La Alhambra’ by Francisco Tarrega, you will obviously understand what this technique is all about. The Tremolo gives the impression of a long sustained note created by the rapid succession of continuous strikes on one string, apart from the thumb, which is providing the accompaniment in an arpeggiated form.
Try this exercise on the open strings to get a feel for the tremolo. N.B. Only use Free Stroke in the right hand.
1 .Strike string 3 with the thumb ‘p’ 2. Immediately after the thumb strike string 1 with the ‘a’ finger
immediately followed by the ‘m’ finger and the ‘I’ finger. 3. After a few repetitions swap your thumb onto another string. 4. Make sure you practice this with a metronome.
The exercises below utilize the tremolo technique, but this time the thumb strikes the same string as the other fingers, therefore using (p a m i) on one string at a time. I would suggest that you have a goat the tremolo on one string before you start to incorporate the left-hand sequence.
Tremolo/Co-ordination Exercise
This is without doubt one of the best exercises for right/left-hand finger
co-ordination. As well as improving your tremolo, it will improve your co- ordination and heighten your sensory awareness.
There are 24 left-hand finger combinations in total. As you can see from the exercises (Tremolo Exercises A and B), the descending combinations (4321, Exercise A) and (4231, Exercise B) are different from the ascending combinations, in fact they are the reverse combination.
Whatever combination you decide to do beyond the exercises above, be sure to always do the reverse combination as well.
e.g. 4312-2134 2431-1342
1243-3421 3214-4123
Play the sequence until you reach position IX , and then work your way back down to position I. Follow these steps:
1. Start the tremolo on the open string first to kick-start the right hand.
2. Begin with a very slow tempo and always work with a metronome.
3. Only have one left-hand finger on the fretboard at any given time, but 4. 4. keep all the other fingers in very close proximity to their correalating
frets.
5. Use as little pressure as possible in the left-hand fingers.
6. Keep the left-hand parallel to the fretboard and play on the tips of the
fingers.
7. Return each right-hand finger before striking with the next.
8. Build up the tempo very gradually.
9. Try not to think about the individual strikes of the tremolo pattern in
your mind, but just use the thumb as a sensory marker when the tempo
builds up.
10.You can alter the right-hand combination if you so desire, but I think
you might have your hands full for a long time to come with just this
one.
Arpeggio/Co-ordination Exercise.
This is very similar to the Tremolo/Co-ordination Exercise, utilizing all your fingers, and left-hand combinations can be changed to create any chord you desire.
Make sure when you change position to keep finger 1 in IX position while obtaining position VIII with finger 4,ie the left-hand position diminishes by one fret and then returns to normal position for the next sequence.
Start this exercise in position IX and work your way down to position I and from position I back up to position IX Repeat this as many times as you like, it’s great fun. Follow these steps:
1. Keep the left-hand very relaxed.
2. Use as little pressure as possible.
3. Only have one finger on the fretboard at any given time ie you should only hear one note sounding, do not overlap any notes.
4. Keep the left-hand fingers close to the strings when not in use, always located above the correalating fret.
5. Only use Tirando (Free Stroke)
6. Play as metronomically as possible.
7. Listen to the quality of your tone.
8. Observe your left-hand, use a mirror if need be.
9. Try not to bend your left-hand wrist.
If your hand starts to hurt, stop immediately and relax it for a few minutes.
As with any exercise, start very slowly and build up the tempo very gradually.
Whatever you do, do not get disheartened if after a few days you are finding them difficult, they are difficult. Take your time, practice them slowly and in short bursts until you are satisfied that you have mastered them at slower speeds. I can guarantee that most professional guitarists have used these exercises, and probably use them as part of their warm-up routine.
Good luck with them.
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