Guitar Trainer

I posted a while ago about learning the notes of the fretboard, if you haven’t already read it I suggest you learn the notes on the guitar here. I also talk about the fretboard diagram accessible from the right sidebar (on the main site).

Once you reckon you’ve got a pretty good grasp on the layout of the guitar fretboard, it’s time to test yourself- and I’ve found the perfect program to help! If -and only if- you think you’ve really mastered where the notes are on the fretboard, go to this site and test yourself.

Different Ways to Learn the Notes

Ultimately, you want the method that works best for you, and finding that path might require a bit of experimentation. So what I’ve decided to do is: tell you about several different options that may or may not help (depending on how you learn). This is how I always teach to my students, because everyone learns slightly differently and what works well for you might not help the next person. You really want to find the learning style that suits you.

Memorising the Notes

First, flat out memorisation: you sit there, with the fretboard diagram and attempt to memorise every single note. No playing the notes, no relating to chord progressions-  just pure memorisation.

I really wouldn’t recommend this method (unless you happen to have an amazing memory!), because your brain (everyone’s brain) works better if you can combine two different types of information at once. For example: on the .pdf fretboard diagram I’ve coloured each note differently (all the A’s are one colour, all the B’s another etc,), and this helps you because then your brain is combining one type of information (note names) with another (colour). You might try the same thing with a mnemonic (a stupidly spelled word, not to be confused with pneumonic- also a stupidly spelled word that’s pronounced the same!).

Playing Songs

The second method is one that I use very often and would definitely recommend it. Basically, you play the chords to songs as barre chords (which sometimes means re-arranging them from being open chords). This method requires you to be familiar with the CAGED system, but is much more effective that just trying to straight-out memorise the notes!

Again, it’s linked to the processes in your brain. If you combine knowledge of a song (or the sound), with knowledge of where the notes are, you’ve got the two pieces of information you need. Using A and E shape barre chords you can play pretty much any song, and practicing this way will get you learning the notes on the A and E strings (where the root note of each respective chord lives).

Guitar Trainer

Oh yeah, this is what I was writing about originally! The guitar trainer is an online program that you can use to test yourself on your fretboard knowledge. It basically shows a dot on a picture of the fretboard and gives you a selection of notes to choose from. You simply click on the correct note for the position on the board.

Honestly, I found this method a bit odd, because seeing a picture of a fretboard on the screen is not the same as playing the note with your own two hands. So I would advise that you have your guitar on hand should you need help recognising the notes.

Above all, have fun!

If you find this blog helpful, please don’t forget to subscribe.
Rob.

April 20, 2010 at 11:00 pm | How to, Practicing and Practice Routine | No comments

Potential Energy…in Music

If you’re like most of my readers, then you’ll want to make sure your guitar technique is as effective as possible. This means ironing out all the tensions and extra movements and making sure we’re always moving efficiently. This applies whether you want to play solos at 200bpm, or if you just want to switch between open chords cleanly.

Playing By Chillaxing

…er…that’s both “Chilling out” and “Relaxing”, but why so much talk about removing tension? Well, I came across an equation the other day that should help explain it. Don’t worry, this isn’t a maths lesson! What it is, is a way for you to use the minimum effort to create the maximum results. You know how some guitarists seem to be able to play quickly and cleanly all over the neck with no real effort? How do they do that?

It may, at first, seem like brain science, but when you break it down, it’s really not rocket surgery! The equation goes something like this:

Your Potential = Your Potential – Interference

Now, lets look at each of those factors individually.

Your Potential

This is something that everyone starts out with. If you’ve been reading my other posts on this site, you’ll already know that I don’t believe in “talent”. Anyone can learn how to become a great guitarist (this also goes for other things in your life too).

I like to think of your potential more like “potential energy” in physics. I don’t want to give a physics lesson either, so I’ll simplify things a bit. “Potential Energy” is what a toy car has at the top of a ramp- when you let go of the car it uses this energy to “drive” down the ramp (does a toy car “drive”?!). It’s like stored energy in a spring that gets released when you let go of the spring.

Your potential energy (for guitar playing) is stored in you like a coiled spring. Everyone has it, you just need to know how to unlock this energy and power your own improvement on the instrument. This is where having guitar teacher can help.

Even when it’s been unleashed, your potential energy in this case only means how fast you can progress, not how far you will go.

Interference

So, lets go back to our car at the top of the ramp. You let go of the car…

…what happens? The car runs down the ramp. Now, the only thing that is really stopping that car and affecting how far (or how fast) it will go is the smoothness of the ramp/surface the car runs on. That’s it. If there was no friction slowing the car down, it would travel on and on forever. So this “friction” is the interference.

The same applies to guitar playing. Each distraction you add slows your progress, whether that be a mental distraction (like when you’re worrying about stage fright) or a physical one (like when you have bad posture). This is why posture and hand position are so important.

So, remember:

Your Overall Potential = Your True Potential – Any Interference You Introduce

…and don’t forget to keep updated on this blog with more tips on guitar playing
Rob.

April 14, 2010 at 11:00 pm | Guitar Technique and Exercises, How to, Practicing and Practice Routine | No comments

Memorising the Fretboard

While I don’t think that totally memorising the guitar fretboard from scratch is a useful thing to do (you’re much better off learning where to play chords and scales), it’s sometimes helpful to have a reference when working out the notes. This is why I’ve created this .pdf file and made it available on my website.

There is a link to the file in the right sidebar in the main site (i.e. not the blog). The idea is that you can use it as a guide when trying to figure out the notes on a guitar for sight reading. I don’t recommend using it all the time, however, as you really want to be learning where the notes are for yourself.

Finding Your Way Around

The diagram is basically a picture of the fretboard, with the nut at the top and the 12th fret at the bottom. This should be all you need to work out all the notes, as the pattern repeats after the 12th fret. So if, for example, you wanted to find a note on the 15th fret, all you need to do is take away 12 (15 minus 12 is 3) and that fret (in this case, the third fret) on the diagram will give you the note name you’re looking for.

I’ve also colour-coded the notes, so each note of the same name is the same colour, because I find this helps with remembering.

To get the file, you can click this link and save it to your computer. You can then print it out.

If you like my blog, please don’t forget to subscribe.
Rob.

April 12, 2010 at 11:00 pm | Practicing and Practice Routine | 1 comment

That Annoying, Clicking Box…

Again, metronomes…are they important?

I’m constantly trying to emphasise how vital these devices are when working on your timing, yet I still find people who refuse to use them! Are you one?

Common complaints about metronomes include:

• “The constant clicking “throws me off” when I try to play in time!”
• “I have great timing when playing on my own, but I can’t play with others!”
• “The clicking is so annoying, I would rather not have listen to it!”
• “I don’t understand how to use the thing!”
• If you feel there is anything I’ve missed off this list, there is a comment section below…

Well, I’ve already answered the last point in my previous post “How to Use a Metronome”, so if you haven’t read that yet I suggest you do that first. Now, lets tackle each complaint individually.

The Constant Clicking “throws me off”

While I would agree that the clicking on it’s own can get pretty annoying -but that’s on it’s own! What you should realise is: the metronome isn’t just some random, inane click; the metronome is keeping a constant beat- which means you’re playing WITH it, not just at the same time with the click in the background!

Try this as an exercise: put the metronome on and count the clicks. You should be counting like this “1…2…3…4…1…2…3…4…etc…”, each number is a click. Can you keep in time? When you say each number it should be at the same time as each click- just as if you were counting beats. Is the metronome click just something happening “in the background”?

Your answer should be: “No, the click is the thing I’m counting”. It’s actually a part of what you’re doing. In fact, to take this further, when playing your guitar to a metronome and you’re perfectly in time, you won’t actually hear the click at all!

I cannot play with others

Have you ever thought this? You feel fine and “in time” when you play just by yourself, but when you try to play with others you can’t seem to fit in with them? Well, I’ll give you a clue…it’s never the case that “everyone else in the whole world must be wrong!”.

If you find that you have trouble staying in time with others then it’s more likely that you’re timing isn’t so great. Of course, it could also be their fault…but- guess what? It’s never going to be the metronome going out of time. A metronome can’t have a bad sense of time (by design). So, when you play with that metronome and “one of you” is out…it’s you…sorry

I can only play in a musical situation

Ha! Now, this one is interesting. Many people believe they can’t play in time to a metronome because it’s “unmusical” or “unnatural”. Well, did you ever think that when you play with others, they are actually also playing to you?

That’s right! When you play with someone else, they are also adjusting to your timing- therefore it’s much easier to keep in time with each other. One of you speeds up slightly, the other speeds up also; one of you slows down, so does the other. The metronome, however, cannot and will not adjust to you- it can only stay perfectly in time.

Listening to the Sound of a Kit…

Usually, this is a great sound to hear, because it means something (you or anyone) is about to rock! For practice purposes, however, it’s not so useful.

For one, the sound of a kit ads in a natural resonance (which can cover up any slight mistakes). When you’re playing to a click you only have the one “click”- no reverb, no tone, nothing else, just a “click” exactly on the beat. This is why, when you play exactly on each click you don’t actually hear the noise from the metronome at all. This is known as “burying the click” (kind of a funny expression that…)

Learning to Count

So, as I’ve explained: metronomes are a great tool to help your timing, and (if you get the ones with just a simple “click”) you have to actually count in your head (rather than just relying on the snare/high hat/bass drum that’s being played on the beat you’re listening for…). I’m sure you’re able to count, right?

If you like my blog, please don’t forget to subscribe. Any comments? Please leave them below
Rob.

April 5, 2010 at 11:00 pm | Guitar Technique and Exercises, Music News and Opinions, Practicing and Practice Routine | 2 comments

Why Playing Bass Helps My Guitar Playing…

At first, the title of this post might cause you some anger, depending on who you are. If you’re a stereotypical bassist, I bet you’re thinking “Oh, just another guitarist who thinks he can play the bass and has no real knowledge of how to construct basslines- he will probably just try to do a guitar solo on it anyway…” because that’s what guitarists do, right? If you’re a stereotypical guitarist, you most likely have a different view and are saying to yourself: “of course I can play the bass, its just a guitar with less strings- which actually makes it an inferior instrument. Why do you think guitarists always get the solos anyway?!”.

Guitarists- Don’t do Guitar Solos on Bass!

Sadly, this is how many guitarists attempt to “play” the bass- they think that if they just widdle away (with a pick!) on the bass with a few guitar solo licks everyone will worship them and hail them as the next Cliff Burton or Jaco Pastorious…which, to be honest is what some guitarists try to do with the guitar alot of the time…( replace Cliff Burton etc… with Steve Vai etc…).

Firstly, I have to point out that when I say it will help your guitar playing, what I really mean is it will help your guitar technique- you won’t get anything remotely musical from using a pick and transferring your guitar solos on to the bass. Its just not the same instrument.

Strengthen Your Hands

So how can playing the bass improve your guitar playing? Because to play the bass you use the same muscles in your hand, but it uses more strength. If you play the bass it will strengthen your hands and fingers, so that when you go back to playing the guitar it will feel even more effortless! Just think about it, you will be able to play larger stretches and faster lead lines than before, all with almost no effort or tension in your hands! You could play seemingly difficult songs while looking totally calm- and no doubt “wowing” whichever audience you choose!

Lets Forget Elitism

So that’s great, but I can still hear you bassists screaming out “…but guitarists can’t play bass, that’s our job!”. Now, I want you to think about this: its also beneficial for you bassists to learn the guitar. That’s right, you heard me. Why? How can that be the case? See this is where the heart of the problem is, we get so caught up in “I’m a bassist” or “I’m a guitarist”, that we can never fully appreciate what the other instrument is doing. I’m suggesting that we forget this “instrumentalist elitism” that seems to plague many of us, and take the change to learn what exactly the other instruments are doing.

Imagine this: A group of mates decide they’re into all the same styles of music. One of them happens to be a bassist, another a guitarist, and another is a drummer (we’ll talk about vocalists another time…). Now, put yourself in the position of one of the band members (depending on which instrument you play). You’ve been working on your craft for years, practicing for hours, even days at a time- and this is going to be your chance to show that off to the world, your chance at fame. The problem is, everyone has arrived with the same mindset- the guitarist is going for a solo every other bar, the drummer is playing 20 notes in the space of 4 quarter notes with a crazy swing feel, and the bassist is flying up and down every scale and arpeggio he knows- because they all want to show off the best of their ability.

How do you think that band now sounds?

Each person is playing a different thing. Imagine being the listener, what do you hear? Trust me, unless you’re a fan of extreme Jazz- not much! Just a mixture of different noises which probably aren’t even in the same key!

Working Together

Lets be serious about this, bands need to work together, and if the guitarist has no idea what everyone else is doing, he is just likely to widdle over the rest of the band. So this is the other main way that playing the bass will help your guitar playing (or even that guitar playing will help your bass playing!),because you will actually learn what it is that a bassist is supposed to play in a band context- and trust me, it has nothing to do with alternate picking at 200bpm…*shock!*

If you like my blog, don’t forget to subscribe!

April 1, 2010 at 11:00 pm | Guitar Technique and Exercises, Practicing and Practice Routine | 1 comment

Guitar Lessons and Exercises

If you follow my blog, you may have noticed that I don’t post an article every day. That’s because I’ve been trying to get back to focus on why I created this website in the first place- why I do what I do, and why it can help you.

Guitar Tuition

So, I’m a guitar teacher, and I want to help you to get the same enjoyment of playing guitar that I do. That’s right, I said “enjoyment”; I really enjoy playing my guitar, and I wish everyone could. That’s why I created this site, to help you.

Teaching private guitar lessons is how I started out, and it’s how I earn my money. Of course, the money has never been my main concern (otherwise I wouldn’t be offering all the free advice on this site); my main concern has always been the music- and teaching others to enjoy that music!

The advantages of private tuition are clear: I can see you in person, face to face. I will be able to talk with you about the music you love, and teach you how to play it. Overall, you will benefit from having someone there who can guide you through exactly what you need to know to be the guitarist you want to be.

If you like the sound of this (and live nearby) then please, don’t hesitate to contact me and we’ll arrange something . I’m based in Hampshire, England (near Berkshire and Surrey), so I appreciate there are many of you who visit my site who aren’t within reach. If you don’t happen to live within traveling distance, then I want this website to help you too!

Technical Exercises

If you take a look around this site, it shouldn’t take you long to find the exercises section. These exercises have been selected by me to be most helpful in your progression as a guitarist. If you would like to read about my ideas on guitar technique, you can either click on “Guitar Technique and Exercises” under the heading “Blog Categories” (currently on the left), or read about my ideas on the workings of the hand and the prevention of injury when playing guitar.

I plan to continue updating this section, and as I add each exercise I explain how it is useful and why it’s good for your guitar technique (as well as hints on how to play it effectively).

Lessons Section

The lessons section is the most recent section of my site. At the moment it is a collection of all the pages of my site that will teach you about technique or music, but I hope to extend it into something more.

You see, my ultimate aim with all this is to help as many people as possible, and I feel I can best do that by teaching. I could write all the articles I want and give you lots of useful tips that could help your playing, but the best way I can help you is by giving you lessons.

Of course, -this being my job- I couldn’t offer these lessons for free (sorry!), but this is what it comes down to: I want to help you, as a guitarist and as a musician- in any way I can. I have been working on, and will continue to work on ways in which I can achieve this. Any suggestions or comments on how I can do this for you are welcome

Rob.

March 30, 2010 at 11:00 pm | Uncategorized | No comments

Classical Rock

Those of you have been visiting ChainsawGuitarTuition.net for a while now would have noticed a small solo side-project of mine. You may have also noticed that the music that used to play in a little player on the homepage has been removed (it’s only moved to the top left of the screen instead of the middle!).

For those of you who don’t know, what I’ve been doing is arranging “classical” music in a rock style (i.e. playing it on guitars/bass/drums instead of orchestra/chamber quartet/piano). If you haven’t heard this already, here is the widget that used to live on the homepage:

I will be adding more songs (maybe even with a few of my own compositions), and eventually I may all you to buy the Mp3 files. The whole idea seems to be quite popular…

If there are any songs you would like to see covered in this way, please let me know- I’m ready to take any suggestions (but that doesn’t mean I’ll agree or record the piece :p ). Please leave comments below.

Rob.

March 24, 2010 at 11:00 pm | Music News and Opinions | No comments

How to Play Guitar: Finger Agility

Over the last few years, I’ve been teaching myself to sing; this requires learning to project your voice, and hit the correct pitches. Now, this may sound easy- surely using your voice comes naturally? Well, the truth is being able to sing is far from being a natural ability.

With some people, yes, it is natural to sing from a young age, with others it’s not so innate- either way, proper singing technique is not something that we’re born with. We have to learn how to use our voices properly- even though almost everyone is born with a voice! The same is true (for your hands) in guitar playing.

The Re-Learning Curve

It’s very difficult to suddenly have to re-learn how to use something that has almost become instinctual- like learning a new language- but this is exactly what I’ve had to do to learn to sing. In order to teach myself singing technique I’ve had to re-learn how to use my voice, and -trust me- I’ve been able to use my voice since I can remember!

So, in order to learn proper guitar technique it’s not totally crazy to expect to have to re-learn how to use your hands (at least while there’s a guitar in them…). This is where many beginner guitarists go wrong. I have to admit, it’s sometimes difficult to accept that a technique that feels “natural”, or “comfortable” may, in fact, be wrong and hindering your ability!

Try to see it from this point of view: playing guitar is not a natural action- not even as natural as singing! We didn’t evolve to play the guitar, we invented the guitar to be used by our (already evolved) hands. Yes, there is a correct technique for playing the guitar with economy of motion and speed, but it’s not always the one that “comes naturally” to us.

Hand Mechanics

If you’ve not already read my page on hand mechanics, then I suggest you do so; if you have, then you’ll know that I think of the hand as a mechanical device. Inside your hand are many muscles and tendons, but (for simplicity) I like to think of these as divided into certain groups depending on what they do.

Essentially, there are several different ways that your fingers can move (each associated with a muscle group). They can bend (go from curled up to straight), move apart from one another (as in the star trek “Mr. Spock” sign), or move backwards and forwards (bending at the knuckle). How many of those ways do you think are needed to play guitar?

Mechanical Motions

With the correct posture and hand position (and forgetting when you need to bend a note) you only need to use two of these types of movement to play the guitar. Can you guess which ones?

I’ll give you a clue, when you need to reach for wide stretches, you are moving your fingers apart- so you definitely need that motion. What about the other two? Well, what is left? Pushing the strings down to fret notes. Which motion do you use to fret notes?

I realise I’m oversimplifying a bit here, but the muscles required to curl your fingers, to form a fist, or to grip are directly linked to the muslces in your arm. Your arm muscles are designed for power, and heavy lifting- actions which need you to lock your wrist straight (you would never pick up a heavy object with bent wrists!). So what does that leave?

That’s right! The main muscles you should use to fret notes are the ones which move your fingers forwards and backwards (bending at the knuckle)- NOT the muscles you would use to grip or lift with!

Now, the whole hand and arm is connected, so it’s actually more complicated than that (like I said, I’ve oversimplified it to make it easier), but this is the idea behind economy of motion in guitar technique. Use only the muscles you really need- the rest are just creating extra tension and pulling your hand in different directions (actually making it harder to play).

The hand is like a machine, and it’s able to perform many functions. Are you using yours most effectively way for playing guitar? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.

If you like my blog, please don’t forget to subscribe.

Rob.

March 22, 2010 at 11:00 pm | Guitar Technique and Exercises, How to | 1 comment

Alternate Tuning Notes

As an addition to my last post on how to tune, I created another page with sound files of the tuning notes for standard tuning (accessible from the menu, above, under “TUNING”).

If you read the previous post, or watched the video, you probably realised that in the video I talk about downtuning the low E string to D or B. Although I haven’t included these notes on the tuning page, I’m putting them here (as you wont need them as often as the standard tuning notes). Once you get the hang of relative tuning, though, you should be able to tune to these notes using other notes on the guitar (as you see me do in the video).

Alternative Tunings

So here are the extra notes that you might need if you’re tuning your guitar down (known as “downtuning”) lower. Links open in a new window. The most common alternate guitar tuning is “Drop-D” where the low E string is tuned down to a D, so lets start with that:

Low D String

Low D

…and the furthest you’ll ever need to downtune the low E string is to a low B…(although some guitars have 7 strings and so have a separate B string!). Here is that note:

Low B String

Low B

Finally, here are the notes in between (just in case):

Low C String

Low C

Low C# String

Low C#

I don’t expect you’ll be using those lower notes that often (unless you’re into lots of extreme metal…), but I thought I’d provide them just in case. If you want to experiment with other tunings, you’ll have to use a relative tuning method (such as the one I mention in my blog on tuning).

Finding these notes on guitar is pretty easy, the low B is actually an octave lower than the note on the second fret of the A string. The low D is an octave lower than the open D string (these are the notes that I tune to in the video).

If you want to stay updated on my blog, please don’t forget to subscribe.

Rob.

March 17, 2010 at 11:00 pm | How to | No comments

Guitar Lessons: How to Tune Your Guitar

I’ve just recently added a new tuning section to the site on tuning and to (celebrate?) this I’ve also recorded a YouTube Video on tuning your guitar.

Click here if you can’t see the guitar tuning video

In this video I take you through two methods for tuning your guitar, both of which come under the heading “relative tuning” as you are tuning each string off of the other strings (almost “tuning the guitar to itself”). Both methods do require that you fix some kind of note as a reference point; You can either tune the low E string exactly to an E, or start from a rough guess.

If you would prefer to be more “exact” when you tune, you’ll need to tune each string against a set pitch. You’ll want to head over to the tuning section of the website where there are sound files of the exact pitches you should tune to.

As you’ll be tuning each string relative to this starting point it doesn’t matter how accurate it is (unless, of course, you’re trying to play with other instruments- in which case you should tune to them). Lots of metronomes will give you 440 Hertz, which is an A note. If you have something like this then you should tune your A string to 440 Hertz as a starting point.

Open String Tuning

The first method I take you through in the video can be called “open string tuning”, as you are tuning the open strings. Once you have the E string tuned, you can play the fifth fret and produce an A note (which is the same as the A string). This will allow you to tune the A string. Alternatively, if you have used an A as a reference point, just do the same thing in reverse- play the 5th fret E string again, but instead tune the E string to match the A string.

Next, tune the D string to the fifth fret on the A string and the G string to the fifth fret on the D string. Next you’ll need to play the fourth fret on the G string- this is a B note so that you can tune your B string. Lastly, you want to play the fifth fret on the B string and tune the E string to this note.

Your guitar should now be in tune…at least with itself- which means you can play chords and scales and it wont sound “out of tune”.

Tuning to a Note

The second method I go through in the video allows you to start from any note as your reference point. I use an E in the video. Starting with the low E string, the idea is to tune all the “E notes” on the guitar compared to this. Obviously each note will be in a different octave (i.e. the E on the second fret D string is going to be higher than the open low E string), but it’s still possible to tune them.

The “E notes” I use are: the E on the open low E string, tune it to (but an octave lower than) the second fret on the D string. Then tune that to the fifth fret on the B string (also an E, but an octave higher). Tune that note to the open high E string (just as in the previous method). You can then tune the open low E to the seventh fret A string and the ninth fret G string.

Again, your guitar should now be in tune to itself. The advantage of this method is that you can use any note as your starting point, provided you know where the notes are on the fretboard. There is, in fact, a pattern to the notes and octaves that you will probably discover, and this should eventually help you learn where all the notes are.

So, don’t forget to look at the tuning section, and if you would like to stay updated, please don’t forget to subscribe.

Rob,

Staying in tune

March 16, 2010 at 11:00 pm | How to | 1 comment

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