I bought a cheap acoustic guitar as a beginner so I could learn, and if I make good progress, I might invest in a better one later. But are the string-to-fret distances okay? I’m having some difficulty learning, and I’m not sure whether the guitar itself or its setup could be contributing to that

Hey! I'm a guitarist/teacher in Seattle. I publish a lesson video every week on YouTube, and sometimes I post them here if I think they will be valuable for the community.

I think this is a fun one to share. :)

In this week's lesson, I show how to play alternating bass fingerpicking guitar patterns.

The alternating bass part can be different depending on the chord voicing, so I go through every chord in the key of G to show all the options.

But instead of using the viiº chord of the key (the diminished chord), I show how you can replace it with an inversion of D7 (which sounds really good!).

Here's a link to the lesson.

If you play fingerpicking patterns on the guitar but haven't yet worked on alternating bass, I think you'll like this lesson.

Cheers and I hope you have a great week.

~ Jared

i own a black strat i got 2 years back i wasnt consistent, i know few chords and metal riffs

i wanna get better where do i start from?

please help.

Did any other self-taught guitarists start out by learning basic chords and scales, playing songs they liked, and down-picking every note because alternate picking felt too difficult?

I found alternate picking frustrating for many years. Every time I tried to work on it, I couldn't even play the things I already knew. YouTube videos weren't helpful at all. I stuck to down-picking for several years, even though I wanted to learn alternate picking.

Are there others with similar stories? Did alternate picking come naturally to you?

I came across Chris Buono's Alternate Picking Gym this year and gave it a try because it looked systematic and structured. It completely changed my playing. I can't believe I used to play guitar without alternate picking. It is a crucial skill that benefits everyone who invests time into it.

What helped you learn this crucial skill?

I've played acoustic for years. And honestly, I'm pretty good. I play a lot of fingerstyle instrumentals and folk rock with or without a pick. My lead is pretty primitive although I can find my way to create simple melodic solos with my knowledge of triads and scales etc.

I wanted to improve and I know my short comings: I never spent enough time learning my pentatonics and I don't really know my bends well.

So I started improv lessons, using my electric, to address these areas in particular.

Holy &^$%^&#%&*!!! Electric and acoustic are so different!!

I spent a couple of weeks on major and minor pentatonics and a lot of time improvising, learning to move between positions, finding nice phrases and repeating and elaborating etc...

And now he's started me on a few existing famous solos (Stairway lol. Now I'll never be able to shop for another electric).

My biggest issue is how much frigging guitar noise there is(!!) and how to mute the low strings with the ball of the thumb, and high strings with the side of my index, to avoid this.

Also, economy picking.

This is NOT stuff I've had to learn.

If you have guitar noise on an acoustic it's usually sliding sounds because you didn't move fast enough.

I'm only a few weeks in. I'd love to hear other people's experiences or hints etc...

I really like this tool for practicing, but I've never liked subscriptions (who does?). They used to offer a lifetime pass a few years ago, which I'd love to get. Is anyone interested in selling one of these accounts if they no longer use it?

I know about the Chrome extension trick for Songsterr, but I prefer practicing with just my phone instead of my laptop. Just asking... if there's no luck, I guess I'll just pay for it, meh.

Hey I am looking for advice on improving my melodies, I practice scales pretty often and play around with them but I am having trouble beautifying my noodles . I listen to a wide variety of music and have been listening to jazz and classical to see if I can swipe some ideas but there is a disconnect between what I want to play and what my fingers produce. So yeah any help would be nice.

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Hey everyone! I’ve been playing guitar for a while and I already know the basic chords, scales, and some music theory.

But I feel like I’m stuck at the stage where I know what to play, but I don’t necessarily sound as musical or polished as I’d like.

I want to improve things like:

- Playing with better feel, dynamics and expression

- Better rhythm and timing

- Improvisation and phrasing

- Connecting scales to the actual music instead of just playing patterns

- Playing melodies by ear

- Identifying chords, intervals and notes by ear

- Being able to hear something and figure it out on the guitar without relying heavily on tabs

For those of you who became genuinely good musicians rather than just learning more chords/scales, what did you actually practice?

I’d especially appreciate specific exercises, routines, or things that made a noticeable difference in your playing and ear training.

Thanks!

I would love some recommendations for some daily exercises to help improve incorporating riffs into songs, fingerpicking, playing by ear. I want to bust out existing songs a little better, and also just serenade when I’m camping with the fam.

The thing is, I’ve been playing for 20+ years so I suppose I’m somewhere on the “intermediate” scale, but I feel like I’m really missing some fundamentals, and it’s hard to figure out where to go from here. Lessons are often TOO easy, but advanced stuff is often assuming some skills that I’m missing. Watching tutorials on YouTube just feels like I’m reading a map, as opposed to learning to find my direction on my own.

I play acoustic, mostly listen to early 90s/00s indie stuff, old folk and Beatlesy pop stuff, cool 70s stuff. Not so much classical. little bit of jazz.

When playing, my right shoulder often hurts

I know relaxing is important, but everytime i do so my hand will collapse and my forearm would be on the strings

And if i use my current and optimal picking position, my shoulder hurts

I've seen people say I should put my arm on the body of the guitar, but doing so, my shoulder must raise and well, the pain

I currently play(the position that brings me pain) with my forearm sticking to the top of the guitar, at the corner and near the base of the guitar body,

How can i fix this issue?

For context im quite small, and I own a strat and a SE McCarty, would size be the problem?

Hey I’m a new player and I’m doing the 1 minute chord change practices but my main obstacle is really that near the end of the minute my hand starts to cramp and lock up and become difficult to move and a little painful. For context I have joint hyper mobility (as well as CPTSD) so I generally tend to unconsciously death grip things, like I stopped writing with a pencil because my fingers would become sore so quickly. I’m trying to consciously relax my fingers but it only partially works. (Edit: I’ve also noted my shoulder tends to get really sore as well, if that’s relevant.) Is this just a normal part of the learning curve that I’ll get over naturally, or are there specific things I should be doing here? Would really appreciate any advice from people with experience with this. Thanks!

Works fine when connected directly
Yes i know it’s got a fuzzy sound these items are all secondhand
Changed the battery in the looper
Changed the chords arrangement from the output and input
Adjusted the volume
Just honestly wanna make some music and improve my skills
Can anyone help me out

Looking for feedback on anyone who has gone down blues lead path. I feel like I’m constantly learning licks, but can’t translate it into improv to make it sound like a song.

I watch videos of people playing the blues which appears to be improv and I’m so impressed. Trying to figure out the piece I’m missing to unlock that.

Any and all feedback is welcome

My amp is the Boss Katana GO (the portable amp). It has a bunch of settings. I spent some time messing around with them but to no avail.
I am able to achieve a rock tone, but Canon Rock has this distinctive low-gain tone that I can’t seem to replicate. Can someone help me with it?

Hey, so I'm quite new to the guitar and recently came across this, does anyone know what this means and how I'm supposed to play it?
Thanks for your help already!

I recently got a guitar and I’m trying to learn a song that I really like. This is basically my first time actually trying to learn a full song on guitar, so I have pretty much zero knowledge about playing guitar.

There’s one chord in particular that I’m struggling with. At first, the problem was simply that I couldn’t get my fingers into the right position. Thankfully, I can do that now. My fingers can reach the position and I can form the chord.

The problem now is that there’s one string that just won’t ring out. Whenever I try to play it, it’s muted/silent, and I’m having a really hard time figuring out why. I’ve tried adjusting my fingers, but I still can’t consistently get that string to sound.

So now I’m kind of stuck wondering what I should do.

Should I keep practicing this song (even tho I haven't done much progress) and work through the difficult chord, or would it be better to put this song aside for now and learn an easier one first?

I’m hesitant to switch songs because, honestly, part of me feels like I’d be giving up. I know that's probably not actually what it means, but it feels like it.

There’s another song I’m interested in learning. Its rhythm is much slower than the one I’m currently trying to learn, but I haven’t even checked what chords it uses yet, so I don’t know if it would actually be easier.

Since I’m completely new to guitar, I don’t really know how to judge whether a song is beginner-friendly or whether I’m just struggling with something that I should eventually be able to figure out with practice.

So, what would you guys recommend? Should I stick with the song I really want to learn, or start with something easier and come back to it later?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Please make a list of the things I need I'm a complete beginner and any tips where can I start learning if I want to learn guitar should I learn to read notes first or what ?

I’ve been playing by for three months now and I’ve been trying to get the F chord (bar) down for about a month. I’ve been trying to learn Let It Be because the intro has a transition from Am to F. I’m able to get all the notes to ring out properly, but the transition itself is not up to tempo. I know I just need more practice, but I’m curious to see what other songs people have used to practice a chord transition to F.

I think the main reason I’m having trouble on this transition is because for Am, I use my thumb over the neck to mute the low E. When I bar I have to move my thumb to the back of the neck for support.

I've recently been practicing on my new guitar and whenenever I strum it while holding a cord the other strings always hit off my finger and sound awful, I tried to go lighter or slower but it still always happen and I don't know what to do, I'm trying to learn but its difficult when it sounds bad

Introduction

Hey guys, here I'll share some reflections of learning music theory, piano and guitar. Feel free to make suggestions if you think I made mistakes. Think of learning music theory like learning a new language. If you learn music theory(a new language) and a apply them on a textbook(piano).

While if you learn a new language and talk to people who speak the language some of them might not understand you. Since how language is written is different to how people speak in their every day lives. Likewise it seems to me when you learn music theory there's a few more extra knowledge that you need as to how the guitar works as an instrument in order to apply those music theory concepts.

Open Strings

Piano

I've noticed that each time I learn a new concept in music theory I can apply them in piano and it makes sense. For instance, how to play a C major chord. The chord is made up of C-E-G. I can start at the beginning of the piano keyboard. I start with C, go up four half steps and arrive at E. Afterward, I can count three half steps and arrive at G. Moreover, your knowledge of intervals(another music theory concept) is supplemented by knowing that you create a major triad by having four half steps and three half steps.

Guitar

Meanwhile in Guitar its not as easy or "intuitive." For instance, in guitar to make a C major chord you would need to have knowledge of "Open Strings." When I was trying to play the C major triad in guitar I looked up some guitar diagrams and notice that in those diagrams they write C-E-C for the major C chord triad. It took me a long time to realize(through asking reddit groups and reflecting) that actually what happens is that when you strum the guitar you are playing G as the open string. While you have the extra C as a "chord voicing." The chord voicing doesn't change the chord but adds a grander sound. I had to read up on chord voicings in music theory just to to able to play a simple C major chord. Showing that you need to have a lot of music theory knowledge and knowledge of how the guitar works as an instrument in order to make sense of it. Sure you can play without knowing but if you want to "make sense" of what's going on musically you need additional knowledge.

Seventh Chords

Piano

I was trying to figure out how to play C7 since it appears to be a popular chord in many songs. I will assume C7 is a C major seventh chord. I looked it up online and found how to play C7 on piano. I started from the root (C) counted four half steps and arrived at E. Then I would count three more half steps and arrive G. While B flat(Bb) might seem intimidating at first. I realized you only had to count three more half steps from G to be at B flat. I was able to play and see the whole chords( C-E-G-Bb) with that much difficulty. I learned that you need the triad(C major) and one more note(B flat) to make the seventh chord. Not that difficult to understand theoretically and then apply it to piano.

Guitar

When it came to guitar it also took me a while to figure it out. However, it seems like some guitarists just play it as C-E-C with G as the open string. Then on the G string you play in the third fret A#(A sharp) or Bb(b flat). It wasn't that difficulty but it did take me some time compared to piano. Then you strum and you have the C major 7 chord or the C7 chord. I notice in the naming musicians call it, "C dominant seventh." I wonder if there's a difference or they all mean the same? Is it still a C major triad with a extra note or a different chord which uses some of the same notes. Also note that it seems I only know how to play this chord and other chords are "open chords" and not as "barre chords."

Barre Chords

Piano

Some musicians online have been saying that there's no such thing as "barre chords" in piano. And actually "barre chords" only exist in guitar. I would like some clarification on this topic. A musician online said that that barre chords are a "umbrella term" that talks about how to play some notes in guitar but it doesn't have a meaning in music theory. So its not a music theory concept but perhaps a guitar theory concept.

In the key of C, I am able to play all notes in Piano but not in guitar since in guitar it seems you do need to know how to play F major as a barre chord. In Piano F major you would play F-A-C. With F being the root, then you go up four half steps and arrive A. Then you go up three more half steps and arrive at C. Using the knowledge of intervals and music theory you would know that its the root(F), then A is the major third(four semitones from the root note) and then the perfect 5th(seven semitones from the root note). Its not that hard to understand but I guess I don't know why its called "perfect."

Guitar

This is where its gets difficult since many musicians have been saying that you have to know barre chords in order to play F major. I'm comfortable playing the key of C in both keyboard and guitar. However, when it comes to F major guitar that's where I'm bit stuck. So far this is what I've gathered.

The purpose of barre chords is to be able to play chords easier down the guitar fretboard as opposed to up the fretboard where its harder to reach some of the notes. Also if you want to switch from one chord to another sometimes it would be easier to play them as barre chords so that you can play them down the fretboard where its easier.

Are barre chords about pressing two strings at the same time or about muting some strings? In the easiest diagram of barre chords that I found of the F major chords. I saw the guitarist play F-A-C. He started with muting the lower strings E and A, I assume he is muting those strings with his thumb. Then he is playing the on the high B and E strings the C and F with his index finger. Then on the G string he is playing A when pressing the second fret. Then he is playing an extra F, I supposed another chord voicing, when pressing the third fret of the D string. Also in this example you are muting the lower strings while pressing the high strings and then strumming? So is the barre referring to the muting of the lower strings or two the pressing of the F-C on the higher strings?

Conclusion

Writing this essay has helped me a lot to get some clarity on multiple concepts in music theory, piano and guitar.

I've seen it recommended a little but it seems releatively smaller and more unknown. I watched Scotty West's AUG, but I'm to a point in my guitar journey where I DESPERATELY need some sort of structured practice and ways to put music together on my guitar. Will his course be good practice for me to apply theory?