Electric Guitar – Playing With Distortion

Can you guide me a little regarding controlling distortion?
Actually I find it almost impossible to play with distortion, except when playing power chords. When I try to play a few lead notes (melody) the distortion just becomes uncontrollable and it sounds really very bad. It’s like the notes sound bad together with each other (when they mix or sound together).
I really want to practice a few leads, scales, etc., with distortion to learn to play a bit of rock and metal, but I just can’t figure out what to do. I tried to mute every note before going to the next note, but it sounds very ‘broken” and non-continuous.
How do people play such beautiful and smooth solos with distortion ? Thanks.
Try this experiment. On your distorted electric guitar I want you to wrap a soft hand towel or a big tube sock around the first few frets of the neck. It should be tightened just enough to completely damp the sound of the strings. If you strum this guitar, it will just go “thunk” and then stop.
Now try playing on the frets above this “damper.” If your playing sounds much better than it did before, then you need to work on damping the unwanted noises with your fretting-hand fingers and your picking-hand palm. Instead of completely damping each note before moving on, you should practice an overall mentality of keeping a close grip in either hand, where you are almost muting the note that you are actually playing (or maybe even so that you are muting it, a little) so that all the other strings are definitely damped.
If, on the other hand, it still sounds pretty messy even with the cloth there, then you may have a problem with the number of strings you are pressing down at the same time, or picking accuracy. Practice slowly, making sure that you’re lifting your finger off one string just as you depress another, and that you’re only picking the one string at a time that you want. Eventually this will become a habit, and you’ll have cleaner execution without thinking too much about it.
It is also possible that you are simply using too much distortion. Many beginning players use more than is needed. Try setting it so that a cleanly played note stays at the same apparent volume for about 3 or 4 seconds before it starts to decay; in other words, about twice the subjective amount of sustain as your clean tone.
Try turning down the tone control on the guitar itself. The more “in your face” (bright and trebly) the tone is, the more details in the guitar’s sound will be heard, including finger noise, fret noise, and incidentally-sounding strings.
I often play leads with my tone control set at nearly zero when I’m forced to use a solid state amp with a built-in lead channel. There are also many possibilities for improving the tone by turning down the volume knob on the guitar itself. It does many more things than just make it quieter or louder. Depending on the pickups you are using, restricting the guitar’s dynamic range by lowering the volume knob can act as a sort of compressor, again smoothing out the sound. Compensate by adding a little more gain at a later stage, like on your distortion pedal.
Finally, consider that your guitar sound is going to be eventually fit into an overall mix that includes drums, bass, and maybe another guitar or keyboard part. While I do recommend learning to play cleanly as possible, a _small_ amount of extraneous guitar noise will not stick out as much in that situation as it does when the guitar is listened to alone.
Barrett’s extensive performing experience includes tours of Asia and Europe. In Los Angeles, Barrett has appeared on every stage from the Whiskey-a-Go-Go to the Viper Room.
Barrett has written four instructional books: The Guitar Fretboard Workbook, Chord Tone Soloing, (both MI Press/Hal Leonard), Music Theory: A Practical Guide for All Musicians, and Play Ukulele Today! (Hal Leonard). Classic Rock Guitar Soloing is his DVD, also available from the Hal Leonard Corporation.

Play Guitar – What To Do Before You Go To A Pro Music School

Is it time to get serious about playing guitar? Could I make a living as a ‘pro’ guitarist? Music school is a lot more than I can afford right now, but perhaps something I ultimately want to do–how can I get ready for it? If you’re in your late teens or early twenties and playing music for fun, you might be asking yourself these sorts of questions.
Young guitar players seem to fall into one of two camps. There’s the ‘I want to play in a band on the Van’s tour and that’s all I really care about’ crowd. And then there’s the, ‘I’d like to be a studio musician making a good living recording records for people and doing the occasional tour if the money’s right’ group. If you fall into the second category, you’re going to need another level of skills than you can get reading tab and learning tunes off records– you’re going to have to get serious about studying music.
But before you take out loans or talk your parents into shelling out upwards of $18k a year for a pro music school, I advise acquiring a strong set of basic skills. Before you arrive at school you should be able read and write 1/4 and 1/8th note rhythms. You should be able to recognize by ear major scale intervals up and down. You should have at least a beginning understanding of music theory and have memorized the order of sharps and flats and key signatures. That may sound daunting, but actually, a few months practice with the right private instructor, community college class, or home/internet guitar course is all it will take to master those skills.
Most community colleges will offer a fundamentals of music course, sometimes combined with fundamentals of piano. Larger schools will also have guitar classes. If you have the time this is a great way to get started acquiring theory basics.
A private instructor is another way to go, but it can get expensive–with the average guitar lesson now costing around $40 an hour. If you can afford it AND you can find an instructor who’s a good match, this is a terrific way to advance your guitar playing. One problem you’ll run into though is that it’s hard to maintain the discipline it takes to plod through the music theory and reading part of the lesson when you’re having so much fun learning licks and tunes.
Of course these days you can find a lot of information online for free. Perhaps my favorite free music instruction site is Ricci Adam’s MusicTheory.net. Ricci’s online lessons in music theory are excellent. But the ear trainers are my favorite. Like playing a game, the trainers keep score. You can turn intervals on and off in order to focus on the ones you’re having trouble with (i.e. turn everything except the 4ths and 5ths off). You can have the intervals played low to high, high to low or harmonically. There are also chord and scale ear trainers.
Another option is the Learn and Master Guitar course by Steve Krenz. For about the cost of 3-4 private lessons you can own your own in depth home study course. Learn and Master Guitar consists of 10 well-produced DVDs, 5 Jam Track CDs and a lesson book. Twenty very well planned guitar lessons are presented in a natural learning curve. I’m impressed with Steve’s clear presentation of the information. I appreciate the graphics and cutaways. His examples are well chosen. Each lesson builds on the previous one. I could compare Learn and Master Guitar to a semester of college level guitar curriculum.
Learn and Master Guitar introduces you to written guitar music in the second lesson and that remains a part of each of the subsequent lessons. Along with the meat and potatoes- chords, power chords, jazz chords. fingerstyle guitar, pentatonics, blues progressions etc. Steve includes enough extras to keep things spicy including, for instance, sliding, bends, hammer-ons, chicken pickin’ and jazz octaves. The Jam Along CDs provide a great way to master each lesson before moving on to the next.
However you decide to master guitar and theory basics before heading off to music school, you’ll be glad you did– with that out of the way, you’ll be able to concentrate on the playing (fun) part.

Jamorama Guitar Lesson

 Too busy to read the review? Download a free 38 page Jamorama Guitar Lesson eBook (pdf) and get started.
As a long time guitar instructor I can tell you that one of the most frustrating aspects of teaching new players is seeing them waste money. Where I feel I earn $50 an hour is in my ability to provide a student with the exact information they need to get from where they are at this moment to where they want to go. But do you really want to pay someone $50 to show you how to hold the guitar? To teach you how to play an E chord? When there are excellent low cost education products out there that will help you quickly master the basics? If you’ve got deep pockets, sure, it can’t hurt, but if you’re on a budget, why not get started with some DIY lessons first- before you make a large investment in pro private or music school instruction. Put a couple of months in on your own, then when you do move on to private lessons you won’t be wasting time or money. I’m currently recommending Jamarama. I’ve checked out the package and find it to be an excellent start up guitar lesson program. (I’m not recommending the other Jamorama products- Jamorama Lead, or the Acoustic Guitar program at this time.) The lessons are clear and the information is packaged very well as far as internet download products go. In a very short time you can go from 0 to playing songs.
The package comes with an assortment of ‘bonuses’ designed to make learning easier, including Jam Tracks, Guitar Tuning software, and a software Metronome. There’s an ear training program as well called GuitEarIt, which is useful and kind of fun. There’s also a sight reading ‘game’ called Jayde Musica which is interesting although I think it would be more useful in conjunction with sight reading lessons from a pro teacher. (That is, if you have an interest in learning how to read musical notation). However the bulk of the instruction is in the form of two pdf books and a LOT of audio and video files. Read the rest of the review…

Guitar Major Scale Fingering Patterns

If you’re a guitarist moving into the area of scales and fingerings, chances are you’ve acquired a few books on the subject. Sometimes this can be confusing because different authors use different scale systems. Some use a 3-note-per-string/7-position system. Another book uses three patterns for diatonic scales (and two patterns for pentatonics), while my own Guitar Fretboard Workbook recommends five positional patterns. Should you learn them all? Here’s my take on it.
The short answer is that the five-pattern system is most important, but I do also practice the popular 3-note-per-string/7-position scales, along with other patterns. They are all useful in some way.
The five-pattern or CAGED system is easiest for relating melodies to the underlying chords, which you’ll find out more about when you look at Chord Tone Soloing. You’ll probably agree that melody should take precedence over physical concerns.
That said, the 3-note-per-string scales have a certain symmetry that makes them easy to learn and practice. They also let you economy-pick and use lots of hammer ons and pull offs, so they’re good for playing fast.
Take your time and really learn the five patterns. After the five patterns of scales are ingrained you will know where the notes are, so then it’s not so hard to connect one pattern to the next. While playing pattern 1, you have to be visualizing pattern 2 so you can move up into it without a glitch. The 3-note-per-string patterns do exactly that: cross from one root shape to the next.
D Major Scale Patterns Pattern 1 -----------------------------2-3-5- -----------------------2-3-5------- -------------------2-4------------- -------------2-4-5----------------- -------2-4-5----------------------- -2-3-5-----------------------------Pattern 2-------------------------------5-7-------------------------5-7-8------------------------4-6-7-----------------------4-5-7------------------------4-5-7--------------------------5-7-------------------------------Pattern 3--------------------------------7-9--10--------------------------7-8-10----------------------------6-7-9-------------------------------7-9------------------------------7-9-10---------------------------7-9-10---------------------------------Pattern 4---------------------------------------9-10-12----------------------------------10-12----------------------------------9-11-12--------------------------------9-11-12--------------------------------9-10-12--------------------------------9-10-12---------------------------------------Pattern 5--------------------------------------------12-14-15------------------------------------12-14-15------------------------------------11-12-14-----------------------------------11-12-14---------------------------------------12-14---------------------------------------12-14-15--------------------------------------------
I like knowing where the root is, keeping track of it when playing any pattern. Try yelling out the word “root” whenever you hit that note. Remember, the root is not the lowest note in the pattern. It’s the note that is circled in the diagrams, it’s the point of musical resolution, it’s the “bits” in “Shave and haircut, two bits,” and so on. I’m sure you knew that, but I’m playing it safe here.It’s also cool to (later) work out some 4-note-per-string scale fingering patterns. These use all 4 fingers on each string and move through most of the guitar’s range. You could crudely call this “Holdsworth” fingering.
Another thing that’s useful (but somewhat counterintuitive) is to start high up on the neck (say F on the 13th fret with your 2nd finger) and then play up a major scale using two notes per string only. This forces your hand to move away from the body as you ascend, moving you down from pattern 4 into pattern 3, and so on. You could crudely call this “Django” fingering.
As the patterns become memorized (master the five-pattern or CAGED system first), make small variations in your approach, like starting a scale from each of its possible notes, starting from the high notes and descending, using different tempos, different rhythms like triplets, applying it over chord progressions, and so on.
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Barrett has performed extensively in the US, Asia, and Europe. In Los Angeles, Barrett has appeared on every stage from the Whisky-a-Go-Go to the Viper Room, and has been a Musicians Institute instructor for 18 years.
Barrett’s books include The Guitar Fretboard Workbook, Chord Tone Soloing, and Music Theory: A Practical Guide for All Musicians. Classic Rock Guitar Soloing is his DVD, published by the Hal Leonard Corporation.

Finding a Private Guitar Instructor

Do you ever teach long-distance private lessons via webcam, emailing files, or anything along those lines? I’ve been frustrated by a few recent experiences with teachers in my area whose method or temperament didn’t suit me.
This is just my opinion, but in spite of your difficulty in finding a satisfactory instructor, I still think a few one-on-one lessons are the way to go. If you live near any medium-to-large-sized city, there must be a teacher with whom you would get along. Maybe it’s just a matter of looking in the right place. Try asking around at your local music stores.
Especially for working on rhythm guitar playing, as you mentioned, you need immediate feedback from the instructor—saying “No! That’s not it! Stop rushing! Tap your foot, damn it!” or “Yes! That’s it!”—as he watches your hands, feet, and body, and plays along with you in real time. It’s hard to make that happen online.
Look for somebody who has most of these things:
-is formally educated in music with at least a year at Berklee, MI, or a university,
-is articulate and a good listener,
-is drug-free,
-has played lots of different kinds of gigs,
-is commercially published, or has some charts and/or handouts that he’s accumulated for teaching purposes. This shows a commitment to teaching.
-keeps track of your lesson activities
-gives homework, especially when he sees you lack focus.
It’s not really necessary that he’s an astounding player, unless you’re desperate for that kind of inspiration.

MP-GT1

I’ve been waiting for something like this for a LONG time. Yes there is excellent software out there for your computer that will basically accomplish most of what the MP-GT1 will, but I wanted a stand alone contraption I could take on the road with me. I also use it teaching and would rather carry this around than my laptop. I can plug my guitar right into it and the built in effects make practising with it tolerable. But what I’ve mostly been using it for is to transcribe solos. Typically I can skip the VSA (variable speed adjust) and simply drop the pitch and octave and the speed by half, to work on a solo. The sound quality is excellent using this method. I can set an IN and an OUT point and loop that part of the phrase I’m working on. How cool is that?! After I’ve got the solo together I can gradually up the speed- now at the original pitch using VSA. Build up speed and bring it up to tempo! It’s so much more practically easy to do that I’m actually doing it instead of having those solos on a list I’ve been meaning to get around to.
Read the rest of the article…

Ultimate Christian Guitar Course. Learn And Master Guitar.

Steve Krenz and company kindly lent me a copy of the Learn And Master Guitar course. It’s an impressive package consisting of 10 well-produced DVDs, 5 Jam Track CDs and a lesson book. Twenty very well planned guitar lessons are presented in a natural learning curve. As I watched the videos and read through the lessons, I was impressed with Steve’s clear presentation of the information. I appreciated the graphics and the cutaways. I thought his examples were well chosen. But I felt that this course wasn’t for everyone. This course is perfect for someone I was thinking, but who? Then it dawned on me! This is the ultimate guitar course for someone whose goal is to play in the church band.
Learn And Master Guitar is for serious students. There’s easily a year’s worth of study material here. It’s going to take real discipline and stick-to-it-ness to get the most out of this package. Steve introduces you to written guitar music in the second lesson and that remains a part of each of the subsequent lessons. Upon ‘graduation’ as it were, you would be ready to join a band on stage and feel comfortable reading charts. You would be able to represent different styles on the guitar including Jazz. You’d be able to take a solo and have an idea of why it was a good one.
If you knew now, that someday you would become a session guitarist- accomplished in a wide variety of styles and able to read music- then Learn And Master Guitar would be an excellent choice to get you started.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that this isn’t your ‘Get me to the Van’s Tour’ guitar course.
Learn And Master Guitar would also be an excellent choice for anyone teaching group guitar lessons–watching a lesson as a group and then having the instructor help the student’s get through it. The course is thorough and well thought out. Each lesson builds on the previous one. I could compare it to a semester of college level guitar curriculum.
Along with the meat and potatoes- chords, power chords, jazz chords. fingerstyle guitar, pentatonics, blues progressions etc. Steve includes enough extras to keep things spicy including, for instance, sliding, bends, hammer-ons, chicken pickin’ and jazz octaves.
The Jam Along CDs provide a great way to master each lesson before moving on to the next.
If your approach to guitar is to become an ‘all around’ guitarist, capable of handling just about anything that could be thrown at you on the gig, Learn And Master Guitar is just what you’ve been looking for.

How To Think About Modes

Intermediate Level. This post assumes you have a basic understanding of major and minor scales. If the following information doesn’t mean anything to you, don’t sweat it. Read it over just to hear the terms. That way you start to know a little bit more about what you don’t know–and in any learning endeavor–that’s half the battle.
I can really say this in a few sentences. So I’ll do that first. Then I’ll explain myself in more detail.
A Phrygian mode is not E-E in the key of C.
A Phrygian mode is a minor scale with a flatted second. i.e a scale consisting of the tones 1,b2,b3,4,5,b6,b7.
Typically when someone first learns modes out of a book they’re taught that C to C in the Key of C is an Ionian mode. D to D in the Key of C is the Dorian mode, etc.
You’re often told exactly that- Ionian starts on the first degree of a major scale. Dorian on the 2, Phrygian on the 3rd, Lydian on the 4th, Mixolydian on the 5th, Aeolian on the 6th and Locrian on the 7th.
The problem with this approach is in how the ear hears the ‘modes’.
Because if you start with C and play a major scale/Ionian mode, and then progress to D Dorian etc, the ear is not hearing D Dorian at all. It’s hearing D to D in the key of C. The ear is still hearing the key of C Major.
And it’s the sound of a mode that makes it special.
So the first step towards hearing and understanding modes it to play them from the same root note.
Use your eyes to help you find the notes E to E in the key of C.
But play a low E to provide a strong root tone. Your ear now hears E Phrygian.
Now play a big fat C and then play E to E in the key of C again.
Hear the difference?
Pretty profound really.
I like to think of the modes as soundtracks for imaginary movie scenes. What does the mode sound like? What does it evoke?
When you play a Phrygian mode can you see the hordes of desert warriors coming over the dunes in Lawrence of Arabia?
When you play a Lydian mode, can you see the dancing girl at the victory celebration toying with that 7th veil?
Or.
Do you ‘hear’ Tool when you play Locrian?
Or ‘the funk’ when you play Mixolydian?
So here’s my recommendation:
Go ahead and learn the shapes of the modes by playing them as you see them in most books, in the key of C, one after another up the neck. Just know that you’re not really hearing the modes yet. Once you have some muscle memory of how the shapes feel in your hands, learn them again from E on your A string with a low E resonating underneath.
And then play them one at a time from E, thinking of them according to this formula which compares each mode to either a major scale, or the natural minor scale.
Ionian- 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, IS the major scale.
Dorian- 1,2,b3,4,5,6,b7 is a minor scale with a Major 6.
Phrygian- 1,b2,b3,4,5,b6,b7 is a minor scale with a b2.
Lydian- 1,2,3,#4,5,6,7 is a major scale with a #4.
Mixolydian- 1,2,3,4,5,6,b7 is a major scale with a b7.
Aeolian- 1,2,b3,4,5,b6,b7 IS the natural minor scale.
Locrian- 1,b2,b3,4,b5,b6,b7 is a minor scale with both a b2 and a b5.
Once you’ve got them, sing along as you play them. What sort of movie scene do each of them evoke?
NOW you’re hearing the modes.
To reinforce your understanding of modes, try this:
Play an E Dorian. Focus on what makes it special- the Major 6, especially with the b3. Now, play it again, counting the first note as 2 and counting up the scale until you get to 8. 8 will be the root of the key, or major scale that associates with the mode. If you did it right you should have ended up with D. With D in your ears, play the mode again, but now try to hear the notes as part of D major, not E Dorian.
See if you can teach your ear to switch between the two sounds.
Try that for all the modes.
Phrygian from 3.
Lydian from 4.
Mixolydian from 5.
Aeolian from 6.
Locrian from 7.
And finally… go to http://musictheory.net/trainers/html/id91_en.html and try to hear the modes away from your instrument. Note: You can turn a scale off by clicking on the check mark. If all the modes seem overwhelming at first, try to only hear the difference between Ionian and Lydian. Add Mixolydian when you’ve got that etc.
Hope that helps.

Play Guitar – You’re Never Too Old To Learn

Did you always want to play the guitar? Do you think it might be too late? I hope you don’t mind if I disagree. My name is Ed Nelson and I’ve been teaching music for over 30 years. It’s how I make my living. I’ve helped hundreds of people learn how to play the guitar, and some of my most rewarding teaching experiences have come from instructing older students. Why is that? Because they’re doing it for the pure pleasure of it. They really enjoy the experience. They’re not stressed out about being better than the kid next door or turning it into a career. For many older beginning students, learning to play guitar is the fulfillment of a life long dream–one that got tucked away because of responsibilities. If you’ve got even twenty minutes a day to spare, now might be the right time for you to get started.
You’ll need a guitar! Perhaps you can borrow one. Many people have a guitar sitting unused in a closet. Maybe a relative has an extra one. On the other hand, some people do better if they make a commitment in the form of buying one. You shouldn’t need to spend any more than $200 for a decent acoustic guitar from most any guitar shop. The best advice I can give about buying a guitar is to have someone who already plays come along and try it out. At the very least, find a salesperson who plays guitar and ask them to help you find the best one in your price range.
If you’re concerned about hand strength, you might consider purchasing a ‘classical’ or nylon string style guitar. They tend to be easier on the hand–easier to press the strings down. Steel string guitars vary in difficulty according to how high the strings are above the neck. Electric guitars, for instance typically have strings very close to the neck (low action), which makes them easier to play. Of course if you’re going to play electric guitar you’re going to need an amplifier too. Expect to spend at least $500 for an electric guitar and amp. If you go with a steel string acoustic, I do recommend that you ask them to re-string it for you with a set of ‘light gauge’ strings. Pick up an extra set along with a couple of picks while you’re at it.
It may be wise to purchase a tuner. This is a small electronic device that ‘hears’ your guitar and displays the tone in such a way as to make it easy to adjust the strings to the proper pitch. These typically cost anywhere from $10-$70. Make sure you get a demonstration in the store. You don’t require a tuner to tune your guitar. All beginner method books will show you how to do it by making reference to the guitar itself. But in my experience, this can actually be a little bit daunting, and if you’re just starting out, especially without a private instructor, the confidence factor a tuner inspires may be worth the price.
You do not need to read music to play guitar. You may choose to learn later but it definitely is not necessary. A simpler, abbreviated form of communicating guitar music on paper is called TAB. You can learn to understand TAB in about 5 minutes. It will help you, along with your ear and musical memory, learn songs very quickly.
While I obviously do recommend a private instructor at some point, the upwards of $40 an hour price can prove daunting to many a beginner. You don’t really need an instructor to teach you how to hold the guitar. There are many online resources to help you get the basics down. I recommend one product for beginners- Jamorama, by Ben Edwards. While I have not checked out ALL the online guitar courses available, I have looked at a lot of them, and Jamorama is the only one I’m currently recommending for beginning guitarists. The lessons are clear and the information is presented very well as far as Internet download products go. In a very short time you can be playing songs. It’s also very reasonably priced.

The Jamorama package comes with an assortment of bonuses designed to make learning easier, including Jam Tracks, Guitar Tuning software, and a software Metronome. There’s an ear training program as well called GuitEarIt, which is useful and kind of fun. However the bulk of the instruction is in the form of two pdf books and a LOT of audio and video files.
I would suggest you sign up for their free 6 guitar lesson eCourse. Yes you have to give them your email address (I used a discreet email address and can confirm that it wasn’t shared with anyone) but the free lessons are great and actually I remain subscribed to Ben’s weekly newsletter to this day. Ben turns out to be a real guitar lover and his newsletters are full of important and interesting info.
You can also download a free 38 page Jamorama eBook (pdf) to get you started.
However you choose to learn how to play guitar I hope you will feel encouraged by my article. Music is truly one of the most beautiful experiences life has to offer. There’s really no reason why you can’t make some of your own.