webhank

Wow I am not sure where to start on this one – we covered a bunch of stuff tonight, I’ve really got my work cut out for me. I guess I will start with pentatonic scales since that is the bulk of what we covered. There are really only 5 shapes that cover all pentatonic scales – learning them will be the tough part.

Tonight we covered starting with an E root note for the scales – acknowledging that simply shifting the root note up or down the neck totally changes what scale you’re playing – and based on where you start the shape changes weather it is a Major or Minor Pentatonic…fun stuff even though a bit heady.

so 5 shapes.

Shape One: (for the E pentatonic the root notes on this are simply the open strings)

Shape 2:

Shape 3:

Shape 4:

Shape 5:

The sixth shape to complete the octave is really just the first shape played again.

A couple of noteworthy things here.

1. The back notes of one pentatonic are the front notes of the previous – they all fit together much like a puzzle (a really really complicated puzzle)
2. Here’s where it gets really heady – the root note separates the major from the minor so on shape one for example – playing the open E string first makes the scale an E Minor Pentatonic – Playing the G note on the E string (3rd fret) first makes it an E major pentatonic

We also dealt with writing the scales out tonight – all 12 of them – but I need to wrap my head around that one a bit more before I dive into trying to”explain” it.  So stay tuned for the “Guitar Lesson 3a” post.

Ran across this link after posting – worth checking out.

This week I am to build on the C-Major Scale that we addressed last week.  Last week was to be played in quarter, half, and full notes – this week we add eighth notes via “perfect alternate picking”.  The pick is to continually move up and down – never up twice – never down twice.  By the end of the week, I should be able to tap my foot, keep rhythm and have the pick move up as my foot moves up – the pick move down as my foot moves down.  Sounds easy…it’s not!

In addition we covered the G Major Pentatonic scale:

|----------------------0-3--|
|------------------0-3------|
|--------------0-2----------|
|----------0-2--------------|
|------0-2------------------|
|--0-3----------------------|

And how based on which root note is started with (the 0 or 3 on the low E string) this pattern can either be a G Major Pentatonic or an E minor pentatonic scale. I believe that it has to do with the notes that are played and how they correspond to the notes played within the chord (G Major or E minor). I will find out next week for sure.

Tonight I had the privilege of seeing Grammy Nominated artist, the Zac Brown Band and their Breaking Southern Ground tour perform for the KYGO Christmas Show at The Fillmore Auditorium in Denver….

Initially, I figured I’d post a review and set list here – but after seeing this show, that really wouldn’t do it justice.  This was hands down, the best show I have seen in a really LONG time – possibly ever.  The Zac Brown band is a roving cast of characters who all play multiple instruments at times there were as many as 12 people on stage, once as few as four.  Each artist is a master of their instrument – many are also fantastic vocalists.

Somehow, as a group they manage to blend this musical perfection with the ambiance of a house party.  I felt like I was Zac’s personal guest, invited to witness he and his friends having a good time.  We might as well have been hanging out in his living room with a keg in the corner.

The Zac Brown Band is definitely the draw, but the show is called the Breaking Southern Ground tour.  As such there really isn’t an opening act, but more like guests that show up to play.  Sometimes they play alone, sometimes with members of the ZBB, sometimes as part of the whole ensemble.  Tonight’s first musician was a guy named Levi Lowrey, a big bearded dude who, as Zac put it, has a gift for taking the most awful situation and making it sound good in a song.  His tune “All American” was my personal favorite – thumbing its nose at anything politically correct.

Next a lady named Sonia Leigh played – she’s hard to classify.  If you were to take some Tanya Tucker, mix in some Sheryl Crow and a bit of the Cowboy Junkies, you might get close.  She’s an amazing song writer and some of her writing will evidently appear on the upcoming ZBB album.

The last “opener” was a guy named Nic Cowan who’s evidently a Texan who’s been transplanted to Georgia.  Nic has a funky beat maybe a bit G Lovish.

Any of these amazing musicians’ sets would have been well worth the price of admission but the show had barely started.

ZBB rocked it – every song was near perfection even though Zac was recovering from a cold and apologized several times for the state of his voice.  Notable highlights included (but weren’t limited to) Free, Into the Mystic, The Devil went Down to Georgia, The Night They Burned Ol’ Dixie Down, Who Knows and Toes.

For anyone who has heard the song Chicken Fried and decided that you weren’t interested in ZBB because they are a “country band” – you’re really missing out.  That song sounds country, this band is not.  I felt like I was at a Widespread show, with fewer dirty hippies.  If you get a chance, check out these bands – you won’t be disappointed.

I’ve spent a lot of time on the ‘net over the past month or so reading, watching, and listening to tutorials on how to play the guitar.  I though that I’d post these “How to play the guitar” links for others out there that may be searching.  Let me know what you think.

Videos

Marty Schwartz from Guitarjams.com has a great channel on Youtube.  He goes over how to play songs of all levels and he updates frequently.  Check him out here.

Aaron Gallagher is almost entirely self taught (and he’s not even been playing all that long) he runs a great site called Free and Easy Guitar that has a HUGE how to video library.  Pick a song from the drop down list, and Aaron will teach you how to play it.

Justin Sandercoe is a London based guitarist who runs the site justinguitar.com.  His site differs from the others in that he has highly structured lessons that you can follow along with.  The site is donation based.  I’ve been spending a good bit of time making my way through his Basics Course.

I also just stumbled upon a site called Guitar Noise.  I’ve not used it too much yet, but it has many tutorials as well as guitar related news.

Tabs

The best site i have found for guitar tabs is hands down Ultimate Guitar their index seems to be near bottomless, so much so that I feel no need to reference any other.

Other Resources

• Online metronome
• Guitar Scales & More Scales
• Guitar chords & More Chords
• All about the fret board

And just to humble everyone out there – remember kids – John Mayer plays better than you with only one hand.

My first guitar lesson was last night.  I am getting over my issues with taking a “class”, having “homework”, and feeling like a dork since I have no earthly idea why I want to play the guitar in the first place.  – Enough about all of that, done venting.

So obviously the best place to start any journey is at the beginning – and I am not very good so baby steps suit me just fine.  Last night we went over the C Major Scale

|------------------------------0-1-3--|
|------------------------0-1-3--------|
|--------------------0-2--------------|
|--------------0-2-3------------------|
|--------0-2-3------------------------|
|--0-1-3------------------------------|

My challenge this week is to:

1. learn the scale (doing alright on this)
2. learn to play it on the whole, half & quarter notes
3. learn to play it to a metronome – optional (who are we kidding – - I’ll make myself do this)

So as usual I have neglected the blog for quite some time – I have promised to do better and failed – and have a new interest in making this blog cool – so here we go AGAIN.

Only god knows why, but for some reason (seriously, for reasons unbeknown to me) I have decided that after not playing in over 15 years, that I really need to play the guitar again.  This all stared about a month ago – I found an old friend who had a Seagull S6 at a very nice price so I picked it up and spent a month playing every night.  Things sounded awful at first – and through repetition and callous development have progressed to tolerable.

I can admit my faults – and when I get into something, I get into it.  So it wasn’t too long before I decided I needed an electric guitar to accompany this beautiful little Seagull.  I played as a kid (not well) and have always thought that a Fender Telecaster represented the near perfect guitar both from a sound and aesthetic standpoint (followed closely by Strats).  I started poking around on eBay and found a really nicely priced Nashville Tele – she arrived last Wednesday and she’s BEAUTIFUL.  Such a work of art shouldn’t be owned by someone who can’t play it properly, so I am working on making the situation right.

I figure at 35 that if I just floundered my way through the natural progression – that by the time I am 50 I should deserve to own such an instrument.  The thing about me though is I’m not patient – at all.  So, I took my first guitar lesson last night.  My teacher (that just sounds weird) assures me that with dedication I should be able to play the way I want to in a year.  We’ll see.

Incidentally – taking lessons from someone who is at least 10 years younger than me – just feels odd.  He has a sweet Strat though, we like the same music, and I had a good time hanging out with him – so we’ll see how it goes – stay tuned for this journey (no pun intended).