How to get better when just beginning part 2

Okay, in part one(How to get better when just beginning) I outlined what you’ll need to do in order to make that very first step towards becoming a fully fledged axe man, and now I’m going to help you make the next step.

One of the most noticeable differences between someone who has been playing for a while and someone who has just started is how they can reach the notes they want quickly and smoothly without that noticeable “judder” the new guys/girls have. There is a reason for this. Because they’ve played different notes and riffs and licks all the way up and down the fret-board, their hands have become used to changing position a lot more frequently than most other people’s hands. The way for new players to learn this is simple but as any guitarist who’s learnt it will tell you, it is not instant and simple has one word as its name: Practice.

There are certain things that you will need to practice though if you want to be able to play all over the fret-board. First of which is getting between chords. The reason that I’m putting this before practicing soloing is that chords require more than one finger on the fret-board, and most of the time if you don’t practice them then your fingers are likely to get tangled up in each other. If you can switch between chords without that much hassle then it will be that much easier to get between single notes as well. I also will be addressing that later.

Here are some basic chord shapes that I have written out for you. You can play them in any order that you like but the thing that you should focus on when practicing is getting between each of the chords smoothly. You can practice getting from a C to an A to a D, but that’s almost useless if you’re asked to get from a D to an A to a C. Instead, try to see how quickly you can get chords again once you’ve taken your fingers completely off the fret-board and relaxed your hand. This way, you should be familiar with the shapes before you come to play the chord, so your fingers will know where they’re going even if your mind is still trying to keep up. The whole point of doing this is that your guitar becomes a natural part of you, so that you can express yourself through it in the same way that an artist expresses himself through his pencil.

E||-0----------------|------------------||-2---------------1----------------|
B||-0----------------|-1----------------||-3---------------1----------------|
G||-0----------------|-2----------------||-2---------------2----------------|
D||-2----------------|-2----------------||-0---------------3----------------|
A||-2----------------|-0----------------||----------------------------------|
E||-0----------------|------------------||----------------------------------|
    E minor            A minor             D major         F major

E||-0----------------|------------------||-1---------------1----------------|
B||-0----------------|-2----------------||-3---------------1----------------|
G||-1----------------|-2----------------||-2---------------1----------------|
D||-2----------------|-2----------------||-0---------------3----------------|
A||-2----------------|-0----------------||----------------------------------|
E||-0----------------|------------------||----------------------------------|
    E minor            A major             D minor         F minor

E||-3----------------|------------------||----------------------------------|
B||-3----------------|-3----------------||-1---------------1----------------|
G||-0----------------|-4----------------||-0---------------0----------------|
D||-0----------------|-4----------------||-2---------------1----------------|
A||-2----------------|-2----------------||-3---------------3----------------|
E||-3----------------|------------------||----------------------------------|
    G major            B minor             C major        C minor

Now here are some power chords. Technically these are three note power chords as they contain a root (the note that give the chord it’s sound, for example the note this chord uses as a root is A so it’s an A chord, but remember that while the lowest note in a chord is usually the root, it isn’t always the root) a fifth (this means it’s the fifth note in a scale, but for those of you unfamiliar with this, the note is seven frets higher than the root on the same string, so find this note then put it onto the next higher string to get a basic power chord) and an octave root (the same note as the root but higher or lower on the guitar). Power chords are neither happy nor sad sounding but sound thick. Because of this rock, metal, punk and progressive rock musicians use them frequently to fatten the sound that the chords make without changing the basic sound.

E||------------------|------------------||----------------------------------|
B||------------------|------------------||-3--------------------------------|
G||------------------|-2----------------||-2----------------9---------------|
D||-2----------------|-2----------------||-0----------------9---------------|
A||-2----------------|-0----------------||------------------7---------------|
E||-0----------------|------------------||----------------------------------|
    E power chord      A power chord       D power chord    E power chord

If you can grasp these chords then you are already well on your way to becoming a good guitarist. The only other tip that I can give to you beginners out there without going into too much confusing detail is this: once you’ve practiced them, practice them again using different rhythms for different feels.

Now for the soloing part of this lesson; for this I will use one of the most basic but also one of the most widely used scales that exist in music, the minor pentatonic scale. To make it easy I will start this scale in E and I will write out how the scale looks on the fret-board, and some basic info on who to use in soloing.

Here is the minor pentatonic scale in two octaves starting from an E. Notice that when it reaches an octave I’ve written the note twice so that you can easily see when the scale starts over again.

E||------------------|-------------10-12||12-10-----------------------------|
B||------------------|-------10-12------||------10-12-----------------------|
G||----------7--9----|-9-12-------------||------------12-9-9-7--------------|
D||------7-9---------|------------------||---------------------9-7----------|
A||-7-10-------------|------------------||-------------------------10-7-----|
E||------------------|------------------||----------------------------------|

You will probably find this gives a slightly blues-like tone to your playing when you use this. Remember that so long as you use the same root of a song, and that song uses the notes in this scale in whatever pattern is present in that key, then you can use this scale to solo over it. This is a good scale to start soloing with as it has similar qualities to power chords in the way that it has neither a happy nor sad character to it, making it also quite a versatile scale to use. You could easily use this exact scale in the key I’ve shown to solo over “Rocky mountain way” by Joe Walsh as the same scale and key is being used. Also “whole lotta love” by Led Zeppelin and “paranoid” by Black Sabbath are also in the same key and since they use minor thirds (the third note in the scale or mode being used is minor, or sad sounding) then this scale can be used to solo over them.

Obviously I can’t tell you how to play in every key in every scale for every song that’s ever been written. However there are some things you are going to want to practice in order to get better. The first is finger stretching. Hit one note on your guitar on a fret (it doesn’t matter where but it’s probably a good idea to keep it close to the head of your guitar at first to get used to stretching your fingers out as the frets are closer together higher up the fret-board) then while your finger is still on that fret hammer on/place one of your other fingers on another fret higher up the string. This will help you get used to using different fingers as you go up and down the neck rather than just using one or two. Really try and stretch your fingers as far as they can go without it becoming painful. By doing this you will be slowly building up the elastic tissue in your hands to the point where someday you may be able to stretch them in ways that you couldn’t before. I strongly recommend that you also practice this in the scale that I have just mentioned as well; you can vary techniques and scales and key and modes and styles all you like, in fact it’s a very good idea to, but remember that to do anything in music requires knowledge and practice.

Finally I will say this. I will be posting a third part of this little lesson series, and in it I will show you how I would go about practicing soloing, rhythms and other techniques. If any of you out there have any specifics that you don’t feel that I’ve covered, or have any serious problems with your playing that you can’t quite understand then let me know. I’m not the smartest, I’m not the wisest, I’m not the richest, but I’m happy to help where I can. If you want to keep expanding your playing I would recommend searching this website, as there are very good quality lessons on this site (mine aren’t that professional but they seem to go down well as they haven’t been removed yet).

Peace and harmony to you guys out there, see you later!