Guitar Tips and Little Secrets

There are little secrets that can't be taught with tabs, notes or while playing. Here are some of them:

The Seventh and the Second	Virtuosi and Musicians
Improvising On Dominant Chords	Rhythm Changes
The Fourth and the Fifth	Scales. When and Where.
Dedicated Technique	Memory and Relative Hearing
Modal Improvisation	The Best Guitar Player in the Universe
The Third	Daily Progress
How to Listen	Playing in a Group
Singing Instruments	Speed Again
Speed and Technique	Get Ready!
Old Songs, New Solos	Professionalism vs. Art
What to Play	The Tone
Focus

Guitar Tips - What to Play

Many players are surprised when, in spite of the fact they make music exactly like the last hit on the market, nobody wants to hear them. Let's say you love Children Of Bodom, you made some songs in their style and your band plays like them. Still nobody wants you. Why? Because there is already a group called Children Of Bodom. Or, let's say you spent a lot of time to learn to play like Yngwie . Still nobody wants you because there is a Yngwie and nobody needs a second one.

Virtuosi and Musicians

In the 19th century, the violin world was dominated by virtuosi. The overwhelming impact Paganini made on anyone who attended his concerts, convinced many violin students to follow his style. The trend crossed the strict domain of the instrument and more and more pianists tried to reach a certain level of virtuosity that will fascinate audiences.

Guitar Tips - The Tone

The first thing we hear when we listen to music is not the melody, not the rhythm, not the harmony – but the sound.

Great guitarists are great because they are innovators. They invent new music and new ways of guitar playing. But every one of them has his own sound.

The Third

The third spans three diatonic scale degrees, the minor third contains 3 semitones, the major third contains 4 semitones. The pitch ratio of the minor third is 6/5 or 7/6 and of the major third is 5/4.

Chords are formed as succession of thirds. When the interval between the tonic (first degree) and the mediant (third degree) of a chord is a major third the chord is a major chord.

Daily Progress

Many musicians enjoy playing and that's it. They take their instrument and play again and again what they already know well enough. This will take them nowhere. They'll get bored fast and will play less every day. Yes, it's important to enjoy playing and it's fun to play again what you already acquired but this is not enough.

The Fourth and the Fifth

The perfect fourth spans 5 semitones and has a pitch ratio of 4/3. The perfect fifth spans 7 semitones and has a pitch ratio of 3/2. They are called "perfect" because they occur in both major and minor scales and were always considered as consonances.

We hear the fourth in the opening of a lot of tunes before the root on the strong beat. The anthems are the best example. La Marseillaise starts with a fourth.

On the other hand, a lot of guitar solos start with a fifth. The solo of Stairway to Heaven is a famous example.

The Best Guitar Player in the Universe

There is not such a thing. People vote usually guitarists that revolutionize the guitar technique. Jimi Hendrix and Eddie van Halen occupied the poll position. What about Roy Buchanan who invented no less techniques than Jimi Hendrix ? Maybe he lacked charisma and was never interested to become a pop star. What about Sylvain Luc and Tuck Andress nowadays?

Speed and Technique

While trying to teach vibrato, one of my students said: "I don't care about these things, just give me some fast licks!" There are many guitar beginners that don't care about making music. They just want to impress their friends. Technique is not only about speed and tapping, it's also about vibrato, hammer-ons and pull-offs, slides, bends, harmonics, muted notes, tremolo bar and so on.

Speed Again

In order to be able to play real fast you need a lot of practicing. There's a certain barrier that you surpass without being aware of it and, from that point on, nothing can slow you down.

Almost anything can be played fast if you practice correctly: begin slowly, then increase the speed gradually.

But there is also another little secret: the efficiency of your moves. Press the strings with your left hand with the minimum power that gets the right sound. You can even practice this technique. Let's take two simple chromatic runs:

Singing Instruments

Historians believe that Music was born out of speech and in the beginning there was singing. And indeed, singing what you play is an obligatory exercise when learning to improvise. For instance, George Benson sings and plays in perfect unison (this is also his trademark). Listen to Keith Jarrett's indistinct hum (he's not the only one, you may see in live performances players singing while improvising but the over-all sound covers their hum)! Is it a reminiscence of his improvising practice or does he want to add more phrasing to his playing?