Lessons

If your like me; technical exercises and guitar method books probably bore you to death.

And until recently I turned that into a very negative thing, where I felt guilty or like I’d let myself down if I didn’t practice the way I said I should have.

A typical guitar teachers instructions to a beginning student might be something like:
“You should practice this chromatic scale every day for like 20 minutes, and then once you are done that then you move onto playing that same chromatic scale backwards for 20 minutes…”

Now I realize that this is a totally insane way to approach any kind of hobby; especially music. And I can see why some people don’t get past the beginner or intermediate stages; or when they do they play the guitar like it is a video game and they sound like the most boring guitarist on earth even though they are a technical virstou.

And, quite honestly if chromatic scales and exercises don’t bore you to death and you can spend 2 hours a day practicing technical exercises then, I am sorry to say, but there is something wrong with you – time to get off the Dexedrine.

The problem with learning guitar through formulas and ideas that are boring and repetitive is that eventually everything you play will sound boring, mediocore and repetitive.

So here is the best tip I think that I have figured out in my 16 years of playing guitar and it’s what I have always done anyways…

PLAY WHAT YOU WANT TO PLAY!

Here a catchy tune on the radio? Search for the guitar tab using a search engine. Were you playing around one day and accidentally stumbled into a little riff that you have grown fond of? Write it down for later so that you can practice and improvise with it more.

Now this was an idea I had thought of but recently I read an article where Johnny Marr was like yeah you should play whatever you have fun playing because that will make you play more!

Another occurence of this was from another musical hero of mine Doug Martsch, who I remember in an interview someone asked him how he was so technically good and he said he doesn’t ever think about technique he just sits with his guitar and plays what he wants too.

If I think about some of the best teachers I’ve had over the years, many will even just make up their lessons as they go along. They love what they do so much that there is no preperation for them. They just perform.

I wonder if any of you out there know of any other musicians or teachers that follow this same practice principle?

After reading this blog post called Acoustic or Electric Guitar – Which Is Best For The Beginner, I decided I’d offer my own take on what beginners should consider when they are going to purchase a new instrument. Of course all guitars are different, and it is much easier to play an electric guitar then and an acoustic and it is even easier to play a nylon classical guitar then an electric. But really I don’t think you should even thing about this.

Think about this: What music do you like? What kind of music do you want to play? Who are your favorite musicains and what type of instruments do they play on?

If you want to rock out like Nirvana or Metallica or whatever then you are going to need an electric guitar with an amplifier unless you are going to be in some weird unplugged metal band or something. Electrics are designed with low action to make left had finger movement fast and efficient. A steel stringed acoustic is much more difficult to develop the same type of mobility on.

If you are going to learn classical then you have to buy a nylon stringed classical guitar – it is easier to finger pick on because it is designed with a wider neck. Same goes for flamenco.

Some guitarists will tell beginners that they should buy a particular type of guitar because it is easier to learn on. The truth is you should buy the type of guitar that is going to bring you the most enjoyment and continue to motivate you.

Same goes for instructors and teacher. It’s alot harder to keep learning if you are playing songs that you don’t even like. If you are working with an instructor or a teacher who is a total metal head and what you really want to learn is classical guitar then you need to rethink things.

Pick your guitar type based on your musical tastes and it will be easier to stick with it. Guitar is a difficult instrument no matter what type it is – so having this extra edge of motivation will more likely take you further.

So buy whatever guitar you want – just don’t forget to play it.

And if you’ve never purchased a guitar before you may want to read this.

The other night I was reading a book and it had this quote in it which I thought was great and demonstrates a great attitude towards music:

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Then take a break…

For the last year I haven’t used a guitar pick at all, because I decided to learn with my fingers; which I have gotten pretty proficient at. But the prior 13 some odd years were spent with a guitar pick.

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As taught by Jim Morrison of The Doors. WTF?

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Here is a great video I found on Youtube this morning. It contains “Camp Fire” instructions to play: Wild Thing, Knocking on Heaven’s Door, and Hey Joe.

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Here’s a great tutorial on how to play Blackbird by the Beatles, an acoustic classic, and a very popular song to cover. Many guitarists learn this and practically everyone in North America has heard it, probably more than once. I’d say this song is intermediate to advanced, so if you are a beginner and looking for something to challenge yourself this would be a good place to start.

Keep in mind it’s finger picked as well.

Click here for the tab to Blackbird

This is a really fun song to learn, but it could be frustrating if you are a beginner and unfamilar with the chords and finger strumming style that Smith employs. There are alot of inaccurate tabs out there in “Internet Land” so here is a link to most accurate tab out there from SweetAdeline.net which I have learned from and believe is the most accurate tab out there for Angeles.

I spent quite abit of time learning this song and trying to find the most accurate tab, but what I figured out from learning this song is that it’s not only important to have a accurate tab to learn from but you must know how to execute the strumming technique.

He uses 2 techniques, and for the intro it’s straight up Travis Picking. If you can’t Travis Pick you should probably spend a few hours, sessions or weeks depending on your skill level learning this picking style before you even try to learn Angeles. If you study enough Elliot Smith songs you will find he uses this technique quite often; as well as other advanced strumming and picking techniques like appreggio.

Keep in mind that leaning Travis Picking will open you up to a world of other songs, as it’s a very popular picking pattern; and it has many variations.

Travis Picking is basically an alternating of the low bass note with a high treble note in between. Though there are alot of different patterns this is the general principle that underlies all Travis Picking. Click here for a Travis Picking lesson.

I am not sure if there is an offical name for the second style of strumming that Elliot Smith employs, but I think it is probably an arpeggio or flamenco-inspired technique. Basically he plucks the bass notes with his thumb and strums with his fingers. The first strum down is I believe with the thumb, then the others are alternating with the tip of his index finger and other fingers. And if you watch the video closely or slow it down you can see he rakes his finger upwards across the strings in some places. It almost sounds like fast finger picking. But he’s just brushing the strings with the tips of his fingers.

The best way you can see this is to watch the video that is posted here. Forward to 3:10 – 2:57 of the video and click the pause/play button rapidly so you can see Elliot strumming kind of in slow motion and you will see what I mean.

Another interesting clip is at around 1:58 to 1:55. I find this really interesting because although his back seems to be a little hunched the angle that he holds the guitar at and the way his arms and fingers are positioned are in an extremely relaxed and natural position. The basic fact of the matter is if you play with too much tension in your body then you will never learn anything.

You don’t have to have perfect posture to play guitar, god knows I don’t but I think it’s more important to relax when you play, rather than playing with tonnes of tension in your arms and hands…