Remember in 'The Matrix' at the end when Neo is trying to escape the agents after saving Morpheous? He stops all the bullets and looks up and he can see the green code of the matrix for the first time? That's what it's like when you start hearing and understanding the intervals and intervalic functions in music, it's game changing.
This is a fantastic video it is nice to see advice from pros that is not way over my head. Also, the professionalism of Joe and Ariel really comes out in the way they communicate to the viewers and to each other. Thanks so much for this one!!
Nice one! I love the open approach without sticking to these muscle memory exercises.. If you can, go do this with Julian Lage sometime, I'd really love to see and hear his approach :)
This series is phenomenal, thank you! Such a great idea. Seeing how pros with different specialities put theory into practice really brings it to life - taking notes and getting busy. Fantastic work breaking things down too Joe
this was so encouraging and helpful. I try not to get my expectations too high when watching these because everyone potentially sees things differently when playing and artistic expression is so subjective, but man is it rewarding when someone is able to explain their process in such a relatable way. great series so far!
Thank you Joe. Good to hear the important things to practice and ways to practice without the instrument. Appreciate you putting in the time in this series. Very helpful.
What a tip! I think scales should be taught MAXIMUM 1 octave at a time. You get used to the start and finish notes (tonic) rather than just a staircase of notes that you're not even thinking about. Conscious playing > muscle memory.
That's the way it is in the conservatory. For all the faults the conservatory has, there's wisdom in that approach, and the fact that it's tied to ear training off the bat.
Better to just start with the chord tones of major and minor all over the neck and then add the 7ths and then continually add 5ths, 4ths, 2nds. Then you get all the "little" chords for free while learning in bite size. Then you only have to learn the recipes for scales and screw the fingerings.
routine is something that took me way to long to realise how important it is. it really gets you to teh next level sine you can apply it to anything and not only scales but expanding licks and arpeggios over octaves. very important as a guitarist to really know where you are with all teh repeating notes. to stop your fingers from playing and get your ear and brain back behind the wheel
I've been getting into making my first warm up practice about bending in tune. I play a simple lick like picking two or three notes and then sliding up and maybe back down. Then I repeat the lick, but using bend instead of sliding. Then I do variations of that all over the show and use different style of bending. Then I move on to scales and arpeggio stuff with a click. If I am lucky something clicks and I get into the zone jamming out for an hour or two -- with bends all nice and in tune. P.S. On other days I do not get past trying to dial in a tone I like. Those are the days I am grumpy. Bad tone day.
We always get hung up on soloing because its a blast. But being a good rhythm player is most important imo. Take Van Halen for instance every1 knows he was an incredible shredder. But listen to the isolated tracks. The whole song is rhythm with 1 solo part really. Rhythm is gonna make you good at soloing and give you better feel in the pocket.
Such great, useful and focussed stuff!!! But man! I’m gonna get a global law passed: No guitar instructor gets to doodle/play fast/add embellishments when teaching. When teaching ANYTHING. As in: It will henceforth be considered a punishable offence, should a guitar instructor illustrate a basic skill, harmony, lick, practise exercise, fingering, or any such topic for that instructor to then play an example and either: a) Add extra notes beyond those needed b) Speed up past the point where the student can’t follow
0:55 there is one cheat code that made my playing better figuratively over night - tuning in all-fourths. i still don't really know the notes on the fretboard (especially not since i have multiple guitars tuned differently - all-fourths but in e, e flat, d, b, f# etc), but the intervals are all clear as day, the consistent rule removes the need for any unnecessary memorization. most of all it helps psychologically i guess, but never bumping into the G-B break of pattern and losing track works wonders nonetheless. of course, you lose some chordwork posibilities, but you may not need that much for your style of playing, so i definitely recommend trying this out for a week. look for stanley jordan's work and writing on this tuning.
When I was 16 I got a guitar, at 17 I was programming a boss drum machine and writing drum tracks for entire songs and recorded them in my bedroom in a tape deck . Then took it to band practice. A metronome is a waste of time, expand your thinking. But this will not happen for you unless you are obsessed and know what kind of music you want to make, and you need friends that want to play. If not, get a DAW and learn how to use it.
What are you on about. You don’t need to make a drum track unless you have an application for it. A metronome is a useful way to make sure you’re keeping time while isolating individual sections and phrases. No need to make a drum track just to do that when you can pull up an app in a second.
