re: Official: Guitar beginners question and answer thread.

quote:

---

( I had a dream once that Merle Haggard came to my house to kick my arse for stealing his tunes)

---

I’ve been playing Merle Haggard songs since the ‘70s. Always wondered if he’d approve of the way I played some of them. Still play a few, “Today I Started Loving You Again” is one of my all time favorite by him.
It’s a damn shame I never made it my business to see him in concert.

Was more curious if he'd gotten to what notes make up a chord?

example: a G-chord is comprised of the notes G,B,and D. And only these 3 notes. So if we're strumming all 6 strings for that (standard open) G some of these notes are going to sound more than once. In this case (listed from fattest string down) the notes are G-B-D-G-B-G. No matter where you later learn to play a G it'll always just have these 3 same notes. The number of times a note is repeated may change, as may their order, it'll just give the chord a different voicing . . . (yep - -another technical term). And each of these voicing add different flavors which you'll learn to appreciate.

And now for the clincher and why I asked: strum and listen while strumming only the (counting top down) the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd strings. This is a complete G-chord, one that happe'sn to have the D on top. Much later on you'll pick a chord by the order of it's notes... but don't worry now. Your goal at the moment is to simply be aware and begin ear training, which is also another technical term. Now strum the middle four ( or 5th, 4th, and 3rd) and objectively listen to other G chords. There'll be slight differences.

I'd suggest another good thing, to do at this point, is to listen as you slowly strum and determine which notes are being duplicated. So much right now is just learning manual dexterity. But there's no reason to not begin listening in a bit of a new manner. It's no biggie to not detect them now; however it'll help on down the line to be aware and listen. Even if you can never call a note by name, it'll still be of great value, and only help you later on down the road.

It helped me to progress.

eta: in the G example: While holding this chord try picking the top string (G), now the 3rd from bottom (G), and finally the bottom string (G)... they're all G's. ... now the lowest of these two simultaneously. Listen to see if you can detect any similarities. ... and yes... you are right they're different!

Sounds like he's good

not trying to overload... just always helps to hear things in another way... as is listening to yourself

quote:

---

Please stop. He’s trying to help and you are hindering that effort “Mr. Composer”.

---

That post was 4 days ago...

Curious, how does it "help" to provide factually incorrect information?

I am too busy listening to the track trying to hear the changes and my chords and strumming go to shite

quote:

---

Any tips for playing to a track?

Started playing just over a year ago. Working on two songs but when I try to play to the actual track it sounds like a monkey fricking a football. So damn frustrating

---

The first question I have is are you tuned properly? Not just that your guitar is in tune but that you are tuned to the track. A LOT of music released isn't standard tuning. Most KISS, a lot of Van Halen, Gn'R etc are tuned down a half step. So if you are reading a chord chart and it says "G", the sound coming off the track will actually sound as F# chord. Also, back when we had tape machines, the speed of playback might actually be slowed down or sped up for a better feel. This will make the music go flat or sharp respectively. So yes, if that's the case, it will sound awful.

What songs are you working on?

quote:

---

Dead Flowers
Can’t You See

I can play them pretty decent but put me against the track or on metronome it falls apart real quick.

---

Great, those are both in standard tuning.

A couple of things. Maybe you've tried these. First, practice slooooooowly. A lot of playing guitar is finger memory. Playing it slowly helps to ingrain that memory. Try to simplify the strumming at first. Just downbeats at a slow tempo. Really concentrate on moving from chord to chord. Try to visualize the chord you are going to move to before you have to. If you do this enough, it will become second nature.

If you play along to the recordings on youtube, you can slow them down to 75% or 50%. 50% gets pretty gnarly sounding but 75% often still sounds ok. Practice the songs at these slower tempos with simple strumming. Just work on staying in time and changing the chords easily. Then as you master that, in crease the tempo, but still with simple strumming.

Also, don't be afraid to record yourself playing along. I often use the voice memo on my phone to record myself. And listen to what's going on between you and the track. Try to identify what is and isn't working. Are you rushing or dragging? Are your chord changes not smooth enough? Isolate the issue and focus on fixing that.

quote:

---

When changing speeds.... don't you have to be careful with changes to pitch?


(at least back in the olden days)

---

Yes. There are many records that are slightly above or below pitch because of this. 867-5309 is off. Quiet Riot's Metal Health is slightly flat of standard.

Edit: and if you are learning guitar and trying to play along with one of these songs that "detuned", it can be a train wreck!

Nowadays, you can change speed without changing pitch, or pitch w/o changing speed. You can do all kinds of crazy stuff to make it easier, with the new studio software.

The other day, I didn't have the right harmonica with me. We changed the pitch so I could use a different one that I had, then changed it back. It seems to me, that I might be able to tell a difference, but I wouldn't swear to it.
Back when I was using an old 4 track recorder, I learned pretty fast to duct tape the hell out of the pitch control, to avoid disaster.

quote:

---

I often use the voice memo on my phone to record myself.

---

Recording original riffs is the only reason I've used voice memo on my phone

It helps me keep up with what I have in progress.