Any ideas on how to advance?

[AirHendrix]

So, I've played in my college's Jazz band for the last 3 years, and can easily do most Jazz chords in the 6th and 5th string barre chord fashion, and can play rhythm on the 1st and 3rd beat, or 2nd and 4th (whichever you prefer, Conan lol)

Anyway, so I'm still trying to learn a new jazz standard every week by learning a new measure a day, and slowing it down to where I can play it. I first put the song into Notepad Finale, the free version, and listen to it and play along with it.

What I get pressured in is where to go with everything now. I'm still making demos, and I sort of have a backing band aka two buds that play guitar and drums, but the distance is an issue at the moment (hopefully will be cleared up soon with a new place)

What I want to get better at is to learn notes on the staff in other positions than the 1st position and all up the high e string lol. Its such a bad habit, but I'd love to get better so I guess this is one place I lack at.

Another thing I want to get better at is hemiola type tapping with two hands, but haven't had the dedication to go past the first few pages of the book on the subject on my dieing laptop (it literally will only last 5 minutes, IN SAFE MODE WITH NETWORKING haha)

Last thing I want to get better at is just simply soloing in general. My approach to this whole scale shit is still flawed, I need some direction so book links would be nice because I'm still pissed that I'm trying to cling to the ****ing Grimoire scale book + Finale Notepad approach because obviously, the scales aren't sinking at all in any of my solos anyway, and I resort to pentatonic and just weird shit sometimes...

So I feel a bit stuck. Should I work on a new exercise per week / song per week and speed em up?

Any tips on speeding things up as in using the metronome as well?

Thanks for reading dudes!

 

[AirHendrix]

I play math / post rock type demos, so I might not be as pentatonic orientated as some dudes on here, so forgive me for thumbing down pentatonics and being pissed at myself for resorting to it.

Its just I don't know what to do honestly. I really want to advance from intermediate in terms of theory and soloing.

 

[mcmurray]

Ear training.

And take a break from Jazz

 

[AirHendrix]

Good point lol.

I only keep up the Real Book stuff so I don't lose my sight reading ability, plus putting it in Finale really forces me to know the staff, and also when I put the chords in for the electric guitar rhythm part, I really would have to know the whole step vs half steps for each chord, aka Major: I II V, stuff like that given the Key Signature.

Anyway, I just want to know how to become a better soloist. I don't want to keep giving up stuff, but **** I know I'm better than a couple years ago haha.

I'm still creating at least though. I just want to solo on the spot using theory and technical mathy licks to progress my playing haha.

Believe me, I'm an overthinker. My guitar prof for a small while would always tell me that all the time. I really really think about what I'm going to play even though I do have a lot more frills than before. Maybe I should get a lead playing book. ****...

 

[mcmurray]

How's your ear/fretboard link for simple diatonic stuff?

Can you play things like "happy birthday", "jingle bells" or even "the simpsons theme" anywhere on the neck in any key and nail it the first time without mistakes and without thinking about it?

 

[AirHendrix]

I can probably do it damn easy honestly, riding up one string, or in the 1st position.

Hate to brag though, I just know I could definitely do that.

I just feel like I'm making ready for Chord Melody / Chord Tone stuff, but feel so scared to try it out or really dedicate towards it.

I even have this tapping book pdf for two handed tapping that I mentioned before, but I really only resort to the basic exercises. I just wish I could take shit from books and apply them to my songs honestly.

I'm still having fun with it, but on a real real real deep down level, I'm frustrated on where to improve.

My vids thus far, but honestly looking at them now, I hate to say but I'm even better than those now haha.

https://www.youtube.com/my_videos?o=U

 

[AirHendrix]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L87zbfwbjDk

Just click on my YouTube name and you'll see my other vids too.

I really should make a separate account for my band stuff though haha.

This tag is getting pretty lame.

 

[mcmurray]

I can probably do it damn easy honestly, riding up one string, or in the 1st position.

What about the other 11 positions?

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

Learn your arpeggios all over the neck in every inversion.

Take a break from jazz

Take a break from the books

Start using your ears and play along with backing tracks.

A book wont tell you how to play or how to use your ears and keep rhythm.

If you don't know all your notes and chords all over the neck, 2 hand tapping is just going to be a bunch of 'shapes' you're throwing at the neck,..you wont learn anything from it.

Learn all your major/minor chords, in every inversion, up and down the neck.

...then you'll start to see how the scales and the chords are mated together, and what the 'sweet' notes are.

and hopefully with your ear training and rhythm/improv training,...you'll start making melodies and telling 'stories' with your notes.

It sounds very much like you're learning mechanically and not really learning to create music. It also doesn't sound like you know your guitar very well.

You should be able to point to any spot on the neck and know what note that is without really having to think about it. ( Is the area in between frets 9 and 12 a mystery? ..lots of people seem to have a hard time with 9th to 12th fret and knowing what all the notes on all the strings are.)

..those are my suggestions, for what it's worth.

 

[AirHendrix]

Learn your arpeggios all over the neck in every inversion.

Take a break from jazz

Take a break from the books

Start using your ears and play along with backing tracks.

A book wont tell you how to play or how to use your ears and keep rhythm.

If you don't know all your notes and chords all over the neck, 2 hand tapping is just going to be a bunch of 'shapes' you're throwing at the neck,..you wont learn anything from it.

Learn all your major/minor chords, in every inversion, up and down the neck.

...then you'll start to see how the scales and the chords are mated together, and what the 'sweet' notes are.

and hopefully with your ear training and rhythm/improv training,...you'll start making melodies and telling 'stories' with your notes.

It sounds very much like you're learning mechanically and not really learning to create music. It also doesn't sound like you know your guitar very well.

You should be able to point to any spot on the neck and know what note that is without really having to think about it. ( Is the area in between frets 9 and 12 a mystery? ..lots of people seem to have a hard time with 9th to 12th fret and knowing what all the notes on all the strings are.)

..those are my suggestions, for what it's worth.

Good idea about arpeggios, now I use the maj 7 and min 7 arpeggios from Justin Sandcroe's site, but any ideas on where to get arpeggio based charts for free or maybe what books to get?

Now plan my practice routine then if you will, cause I'm ****ed I guess.

This is what I currently have been doing since my laptop has been going bonkers.

I'll put on my metronome on my phone, and play the 1st position of C Phyrgian starting at the 8th fret from start to finish, then I'll go to tapping the scale on each string, alternating the right hand tapped finger (pointer, middle, and pinky for different strings)

Then I'll do the Justin Sandcroe arpeggios, do some quick strum practice, do my open chords REALLY ****ing quick in a stupid fashion I've been always doing, and then end by hitting C minor.

I'll then do play one of my demos, and then work on a new demo I'm making. And then work on something new like from that Real Book, and then quit for the day.

Literally, just tell me what to do with my guitar, and I'll give it a shot to learn more theory.

I honestly just want to keep adding a new chord to that demo I'm working on using Mickey Baker's Jazz chord book since his first lesson goes like, here's these chords, learn them so we can transpose them for later use, so I made a song utilizing the majority of the chords I learned from these positions, which actually sounds pretty good.

Anyway, I'm only keeping up that book because I hate being confined to those 6th and 5th string barre jazz chords I still know, and what to know ones with roots on the 4th string and stuff.

Anyway, like I said, lemme know what to do since I like your approach to guitar.

 

[AirHendrix]

What about the other 11 positions?

That's exactly the problem, I don't know the basic staff notes in other positions. Any ideas on how to fix that?

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

Good idea about arpeggios, now I use the maj 7 and min 7 arpeggios from Justin Sandcroe's site, but any ideas on where to get arpeggio based charts for free or maybe what books to get?

Now plan my practice routine then if you will, cause I'm ****ed I guess.

This is what I currently have been doing since my laptop has been going bonkers.

I'll put on my metronome on my phone, and play the 1st position of C Phyrgian starting at the 8th fret from start to finish, then I'll go to tapping the scale on each string, alternating the right hand tapped finger (pointer, middle, and pinky for different strings)

Then I'll do the Justin Sandcroe arpeggios, do some quick strum practice, do my open chords REALLY ****ing quick in a stupid fashion I've been always doing, and then end by hitting C minor.

I'll then do play one of my demos, and then work on a new demo I'm making. And then work on something new like from that Real Book, and then quit for the day.

Literally, just tell me what to do with my guitar, and I'll give it a shot to learn more theory.

I honestly just want to keep adding a new chord to that demo I'm working on using Mickey Baker's Jazz chord book since his first lesson goes like, here's these chords, learn them so we can transpose them for later use, so I made a song utilizing the majority of the chords I learned from these positions, which actually sounds pretty good.

Anyway, I'm only keeping up that book because I hate being confined to those 6th and 5th string barre jazz chords I still know, and what to know ones with roots on the 4th string and stuff.

Anyway, like I said, lemme know what to do since I like your approach to guitar.

Well if you were my student my first thing would be to tell you to quit using all those crutches. Books, sites, laptops, phones,...jesus man.

Play Your Guitar.

That's it. You have to put in the time to discover and explore your guitar. All those books do is show you the door, you've got to be the one to walk through it.

How else will you learn? Otherwise you're just mimicing what you've seen in books, you're not creating anything because really all you've learned are some physical exercises.

Your brain and ears aren't learning, only your hands are.

Here's a secret....hands are really, really dumb. They're like hyper puppies that just want to sh*t all over the place all the time. It takes your brain, ears, heart,...to reign them in. Put that choke collar on them and tell them when to STFU.

You know Am open chord? (don't look in a book!)
You know C open chord?
G?
D?
E?
..all your open chords?

...I bet you do.

Now close them off.

What notes make up Am? A, C, E - now find A, C, E in every position all over the neck. Explore your guitar,....find them.
C? C, E, G
G? G, B, D
etc.

Learn those triads all over the neck. That's the first big step to unlocking the guitar.

These first 6 examples will get you started, but the rest is up to you. (you can ignore the rest of the page, it was for a different lesson.)

In a nutshell my opinion is you need to stop the exercises and spend more time actually playing and exploring your guitar, creating music and flexing your ears.

...at least that's how it reads. Hope some of this helps.

(edit: this is just my style and opinion and the way I play. I play and teach a very arpeggio based style, not scale style. Others may have differing opinions and you should hear them all out.)

 

[mcmurray]

That's exactly the problem, I don't know the basic staff notes in other positions. Any ideas on how to fix that?

Well I didn't mean to sight-read standard notation, that's another subject. Playing by ear is just that - playing by ear. No sheet music required.

I'm by no means anti-standard notation though. Check out William Leavitt's bible on guitar playing: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Method-Guitar-Volumes-Complete/dp/0876390114]A Modern Method for Guitar - Volumes 1, 2, 3 Complete: William Leavitt: 9780876390115: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]

He covers the 12 positions and how to read them on the staff.

None of that will develop your ear though. I recommend using solfege (do-major/la-minor) to get a very solid ear in the shortest amount of time.

 

[mcmurray]

Your brain and ears aren't learning, only your hands are.

This x1000.

You're not alone, probably the majority of students do the same thing.

 

[AirHendrix]

Dude, as soon as I wrote that pissed off post, I found a ****ing gold mine, check this shit out.

Wow, in terms of my questions and your input to learn the triads, they go through regular triads, first and second inversions.

This book is layed out so nicely. What do you think?

beginning jazz guitar.pdf

I don't mean to mention this but my jaw dropped in terms of the fact that you said learn your arpeggios, and this style of book just blew my mind after reading just a LITTLE bit of it now. The layout is perfect...

 

[AirHendrix]

Well if you were my student my first thing would be to tell you to quit using all those crutches. Books, sites, laptops, phones,...jesus man.

Play Your Guitar.

That's it. You have to put in the time to discover and explore your guitar. All those books do is show you the door, you've got to be the one to walk through it.

How else will you learn? Otherwise you're just mimicing what you've seen in books, you're not creating anything because really all you've learned are some physical exercises.

Your brain and ears aren't learning, only your hands are.

Here's a secret....hands are really, really dumb. They're like hyper puppies that just want to sh*t all over the place all the time. It takes your brain, ears, heart,...to reign them in. Put that choke collar on them and tell them when to STFU.

You know Am open chord? (don't look in a book!)
You know C open chord?
G?
D?
E?
..all your open chords?

...I bet you do.

Now close them off.

What notes make up Am? A, C, E - now find A, C, E in every position all over the neck. Explore your guitar,....find them.
C? C, E, G
G? G, B, D
etc.

Learn those triads all over the neck. That's the first big step to unlocking the guitar.

These first 6 examples will get you started, but the rest is up to you. (you can ignore the rest of the page, it was for a different lesson.)

In a nutshell my opinion is you need to stop the exercises and spend more time actually playing and exploring your guitar, creating music and flexing your ears.

...at least that's how it reads. Hope some of this helps.

(edit: this is just my style and opinion and the way I play. I play and teach a very arpeggio based style, not scale style. Others may have differing opinions and you should hear them all out.)

Dude, you are so ****ing ace man.

Awesome, just awesome. This is exactly what I needed, honestly. A swift kick in the dick to seriously get my shit together.

Now, what key should i start with this week, and what speed on the metronome in terms of these arpeggiated triads all over the neck?

How long should I do this for too, and how do I know when to move on to the next thing? What is the next thing lol?

Anyway, awesome stuff man. Good idea to really know the notes in the chords I play.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

I'm going to say this the nicest way I know:

You're what I call a 'Baby Bird' student,..you want to sit in the nest with your mouth open waiting for someone to drop all the info down your gullet.

Doesn't work that way.

You've got to do the work, the exploring.

Ever hear the expression, "If I give you the answers you'll never learn?" ....there's truth to it.

Somethings you have to discover for yourself, or it just doesn't stick in your brain. Because you didn't actually figure it out on your own.

I keep telling you drop the books, crutches and gimmicks,...and you're looking up more books and asking what to set the metronome at.

You have way too many distractions.

Put all that crap in the closet for the next 6 months and spend REAL TIME with JUST YOUR GUITAR.

...put real effort into the next 6 months of learning your guitar and all the notes and shapes that the chords invert to, ... and you'll learn more in 6 months then you've ever learned in your life.

How did folks learn guitar before the internet, phones, websites, video lessons, blah blah blah....

We sat there,..and played and learned our guitar. Just guitar,...because that's all there was. (well,...records,..tapes,...playing along with the radio...)

More and more I see students wanting all the answers just handed to them. It just doesn't work that way.
Even if I gave you all the answers, all the modes, all the scales, etc etc etc,...they wouldn't mean anything until you discover them for yourself.

When you drill into yourself, (A C E is A minor) and you find all the little clusters of A C E and how they all connect,..basically what I've done on that page (Ex 1-6) when you find that stuff yourself,..it sticks. And it trains your ears.

Just like tuning your guitar by ear, trains your ears. I don't let students past ..say around the 3rd or 4th year mark (depending on their progress),...use tuners. It becomes a crutch.

So I force them to start tuning by ear. ...you'd be surprised how quickly they start getting sensitive to things. Suddenly they're bending in tune,...because they're actually listening. Not just mechanically pushing the string up and down.

It's a long journey man,..and you've got to do most of the walking and heavy lifting yourself. People can try and guide you and give you direction,..but that's all it is,..direction.

You've got to do all the heavy lifting.

 

[AirHendrix]

Kk, **** it. Will do tomorrow for sure.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

I really think if you put down the books and electronic toys and just spend some really good time playing and exploring your guitar, not only will you have fun learning your guitar, you'll really bond with it.

Hip-Hop btw is awesome for improving and jamming over. Because you get a good steady drum beat and very minimal harmony,..usually just a bassline.

Play some rock n roll and blues, (don't hate the pentatonic, it's hardwired into you whether you realize it or not)

Jam, have fun. Improv.

I think you're looking for a magic answer in a book,...when the answer has been in your hands this whole time. You've just got to give her the real attention she deserves.

 

[AngryHatter]

So, I've played in my college's Jazz band for the last 3 years, and can easily do most Jazz chords in the 6th and 5th string barre chord fashion, and can play rhythm on the 1st and 3rd beat, or 2nd and 4th (whichever you prefer, Conan lol)

Anyway, so I'm still trying to learn a new jazz standard every week by learning a new measure a day, and slowing it down to where I can play it. I first put the song into Notepad Finale, the free version, and listen to it and play along with it.

What I get pressured in is where to go with everything now. I'm still making demos, and I sort of have a backing band aka two buds that play guitar and drums, but the distance is an issue at the moment (hopefully will be cleared up soon with a new place)

What I want to get better at is to learn notes on the staff in other positions than the 1st position and all up the high e string lol. Its such a bad habit, but I'd love to get better so I guess this is one place I lack at.

Another thing I want to get better at is hemiola type tapping with two hands, but haven't had the dedication to go past the first few pages of the book on the subject on my dieing laptop (it literally will only last 5 minutes, IN SAFE MODE WITH NETWORKING haha)

Last thing I want to get better at is just simply soloing in general. My approach to this whole scale shit is still flawed, I need some direction so book links would be nice because I'm still pissed that I'm trying to cling to the ****ing Grimoire scale book + Finale Notepad approach because obviously, the scales aren't sinking at all in any of my solos anyway, and I resort to pentatonic and just weird shit sometimes...

So I feel a bit stuck. Should I work on a new exercise per week / song per week and speed em up?

Any tips on speeding things up as in using the metronome as well?

Thanks for reading dudes!

I wish I knew what that meant.