best learning tool for being in a band?

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oh_the_blood

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i want to be a better player with my band like maybe throwing in some solos here and there, knowing the notes where my other guitarist is playing and then playing a variation of it so it sounds great.
which would be better

getting a book and teaching myself all the note names on the fret board

a guitar teacher

or anythign else you guys can reccomend?

thanks.
 
All of them can be useful, depending on how quickly you want to progress, your ultimate goals, your financial situation, and your learning style. My advice is to learn a few basic scales and then jam along with your favorite CDs. Some basic music theory of chord progressions and scales will get you there faster.
 
A teacher, without question. From your question, you don't even know where to begin (this is not an insult, we all start there). If you want to learn to play harmony parts, you are going to need a pretty decent grounding in theory. A teacher can give you that much better than a book ever could.

More to the point, a good teacher will fit the leason plan to your needs. No book could ever do that.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
thanks a lot.
ha your right i dont know what i want, but im sure a teacher could tell.
So just tell the teacher i want a nice solid foundation of chord theory?
 
oh_the_blood said:
So just tell the teacher i want a nice solid foundation of chord theory?
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Chords are built upon scales.


95% of all music on the radio (and punk for your interests) is going to be the Pentatonic scale.


Google that and you will see how a lot of chords are sitting inside of it.

Just so you have a place to start, learn the patterns of the Minor Pentatonic scale and then after you memorize it or start memorizing parts, have your friend play something simple like A -> D -> E over and over in a nice rhythm and you play one of the patterns a little until you figure out where that pattern fits on the fretboard. You can then take the rest of the patters and play them too since they all fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Once you figure out where one of the patterns go, you can play the rest of them.


http://www.cyberfret.com/scales/minor-pentatonic/index.php

Take note at the bottom how they fit together like a jigsaw.
 
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when i was in this situation i bought the guitar grimoire books....they gave me more knowledge...but what really made me a more imaginative player was recording my bands songs..then hitting repeat on a song a soloing until my fingers couldnt move anymore (a little exagerration)...that helped my ear so much ...and the ear is the most undemphasized part of playing guitar
 
I got lessons from a kid less than half my age last fall. He plays with the Indiana Bible College Choir and is a music major so he knows a thing or two. He taught me a few solos, and I was kinda forced to practice. The whole thing helped a bunch.
 
Outlaws said:
Chords are built upon scales.


95% of all music on the radio (and punk for your interests) is going to be the Pentatonic scale.
Click to expand...


While that may well be true for guitar leads, harmonically, no one works from the penatonic. I mean, there are only two chords in a penatonic scale, one major, and one minor. Well, there is that augmented in there, but people don't use THAT one much. Well, except for George Harrison.

The vast majority of music comes from simple major scales, with some stuff in minor keys, and the way minor harmony works in the real world has little to do with any one scale you will ever learn. When you are dealing with minors, you are really just dealing with the relationships between the chords relation ship with the next chord, and with the tonic.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I had a friend who knew nothing about guitar when I met him, but he owned a Les Paul Studio Custom....

He didn't even have an amp, and had developed some bad habits from trying to learn on his own. I forced him to learn by making him learn what I was doing, not playing the parts slowly, and rarely repeating what I did. It's not a good way to teach someone, but in his case it was necessary because he had the desire to learn, but was lazy with practicing. I got him up to snuff, but what put him over the top (he is better than I am now) was going to a teacher. He learned scales, technique and feel from the teacher. I too, recommend you find a good teacher, it's the best (though not the cheapest) way to learn correctly IMHO...
 
oh_the_blood said:
i want to be a better player with my band like maybe throwing in some solos here and there, knowing the notes where my other guitarist is playing and then playing a variation of it so it sounds great.
which would be better

getting a book and teaching myself all the note names on the fret board

a guitar teacher

or anythign else you guys can reccomend?

thanks.
Click to expand...

Check your local communty college. The ones in my area have many music theory classes including a Music Theory for Guitar class. That should get you started, plus you will get 16 weeks of instructions, granted it's not one on one, for the price of one or two private lessons.

-bradly
 
I've been a musician for 17 years (violin for those 17, a guitarist for the last 7 or 8). The one thing I'm still struggling with, in my infinite power of procrastination, is scales and technical theory ('course I'm only 20, and have been 'serious' about music for just the last 8 years or so). It's a weakness I'm working on, but apparently I'm a slow learner at it...

A teacher will help, and will be a very good way to get into it, of course. But don't ever underestimate your own power of will and determination. All the knowledge is out there on the internet, in self-teaching books, etc, just waiting for absorption. If you're driven enough, you can very easily teach yourself everything there is out there that you'd pay for with a teacher.

Secondly, don't ever underestimate the power of your own ear. Theory knowledge will help you, probably immensely, but you'll still be listening to and playing what sounds good to /you/.

Also, i highly suggest finding music and solos you like, and then loading it on your computer, and using a program to slow down playback (Windows Media Player 9 will do it very simply, but you can also use something like SoundForge, or 'The Amazing Slowdowner' i think it's called, no experience with that tho), then work it out note for note.

As a classical violinist, the method of learning music was the same. Learn the notes slowly at first, going back and repeating what I fudged up, then as I got the passage down, playing it again a number of times a little faster, and again, and again. The advantage was I had sheet music, but the method applies for any and all instruments and styles. I've worked out Dire Straits solos by ear, and a Mozart Cadenza by sheet music, to essentially the same result.

Just get on and play. Most importantly, don't be afraid to fuck up loudly - during rehearsals, or just practicing on your own. The more you play, and the more experience you get with it all, the more you'll come to know what sounds good and what works, even if you don't know /why/ it works.
 
I'm self-taught and have played by ear for the past decade. If this is original music, I don't see how listening to other people's music is going to help. I would just practice with your friend and through trial and error, come up with something that sounds good.
 
through trial and error

I think the point is to avoid a lot of trial and error.
 
noodles2k5 said:
If this is original music, I don't see how listening to other people's music is going to help.
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I disagree. I think that jamming along with music you like will teach you about keys and scales as well as improvisation. I am also self taught and really learned to play lead guitar through hours spent jamming with B.B. King and Chuck Berry (many others as well). It's a great tool.
 
noodles2k5 said:
I'm self-taught and have played by ear for the past decade. If this is original music, I don't see how listening to other people's music is going to help. I would just practice with your friend and through trial and error, come up with something that sounds good.
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Have to disagree.

If you wanted to be painter, wouldn't you want to know what colours were available to you, how they worked (or didn't work) together - or would it make it impossible to be creative with the extra knowledge.

If you wanted to be a cook, would it help to know about tarragon, basil and cumin and how you use them?

My nephew held the same view as you do, and no matter what I said he wouldn't change his mind. Until he ran into a female electric violinist who absolutely kicked his ass on his tunes!

Then he came round and wanted to know about everything.

Several 'ahas' later, he started studying.
 
I'd go for the book. NO offense to any teachers out their but they might not help you that much. You could go to one or two lessons and be fine. How long have you been playing? (send me a private messgae or post it on here)

GOOD LUCK!
 
ive been playing for about 3 years and have played bass in a band before, and now implaying guitar in a band, but now i want to start a dancey kinda band, like hot hot heat, and i wanna know some good stuff to use.
 
noodles2k5 said:
I'm self-taught and have played by ear for the past decade. If this is original music, I don't see how listening to other people's music is going to help. I would just practice with your friend and through trial and error, come up with something that sounds good.
Click to expand...


Why is it that when ever I hear anyone say this they only ever play the simplest music possible? I IV V with maybe a vi thrown in from time to time.

An education is only a tool. It allows you to be MORE creative, because you have an understanding of how music works. What you hear in your head, you know how to play.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
While that may well be true for guitar leads, harmonically, no one works from the penatonic. I mean, there are only two chords in a penatonic scale, one major, and one minor. Well, there is that augmented in there, but people don't use THAT one much. Well, except for George Harrison.
Click to expand...

An AUGMENTED chord in a pentatonic scale? Please ... enlighten me! I don't know what you are talking about. Where is this augmented chord?
 
foo said:
My nephew held the same view as you do, and no matter what I said he wouldn't change his mind. Until he ran into a female electric violinist who absolutely kicked his ass on his tunes!
Click to expand...

I don't suppose a) she was fairly good looking, and b) lives in the Northwest, eh? Unless she was that blonde from ASU working as a demo model for Yamaha Electric violins (which I later bought, thanks to her)...
 
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