Feb 29
2008

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Seen the new pictures of guitars on my website? Refreshing this page will change the picture at the top right, or you can look here for more pics.

If you would like to see a custom picture of your own guitar on this site, contact me and I will create one for you. You can have your own pic as a small thumbnail on the page as you can see at the top right, and the full resolution version will be available for download in the artwork section.

This is a FREE service, as everyone is a winner. I get nice guitar pics on my site, of more than just my own guitars. And you get your guitar on my site, plus a full res version to print, make your desktop wallpaper or have turned into a poster.

Contact me if you are interested, and I will get back to you and ask for your guitar photo.

Lead time is approximately one week at the moment, as this is a personal manual service.

Awesome.

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Feb 28
2008

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Black Guitar

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Feb 27
2008

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Videos currently available on this website:

Music
Instructional
Amusement Centre
Inspirational

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Feb 26
2008

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This is an introduction to the major scale and how to build chords.

The C major scale

The major scale is all important in music, in particular, the c major scale. Practice the tab to get an idea of what it sounds like and how it is played on the guitar.

The major scale is used to build up chords in that particular key. The major chord in that key is built up of the [ 1st, 3rd and 5th ] notes in the scale This produces a c major chord.

Other chords in the same key (useful to know when composing) are built up of the:

[ 2nd, 4th and 6th ] notes (making a Dm chord)
[ 3rd, 5th and 7th ] (making an Em chord)
[ 4th, 6th and 1st ] (making an Fm chord… notice how we’ve looped around, because the 8th note is the 1st)
[ 5th, 7th and 2nd ] (making a G chord)
[ 6th, 1st and 3rd ] (making an Am chord. This is special…. the 6th chord in any major key is called the relative minor)
[ 7th, 2nd and 4th ] (making a B diminished.. Also special as moving this chord down three frets produces the same chord, with a different root note, hence the chord can be named after any of it’s notes, sounds freeky as well!)

Remember that all of this applies to any major scale / key. All you need to do is adjust your starting point accordingly. And, the chords in the key of a minor key are exactly the same is it’s relative minor. So you could write a song in the key of C, but it could be in Am, depending on the root note of any melodies you are playing. There will be more on this soon, when I talk about modes.

The c major scale is important because it contains no flats or sharps. So if you need to, you can use the c major scale as a means to find the name of any note on the guitar by starting on the nearest C and working up or down the c major scale to find the name of the not you are looking for. If it is not in the c major scale, then you can name it either “sharp” (#) if it is one semitone higher than the c major scale note, or “flat” (b) if it is one semitone lower. I will cover this in more depth when I talk about the chromatic scale.

You can learn the major scale in many different shapes to cover the whole fret-board. But I think it is easier and more fun to begin with the minor pentatonic. This is used in many rock and blues riffs and solos.

You can then discover that the major pentatonic as the same as the minor, but just three frets down. AND THEN you will find out that the major pentatonic scale is in fact the major scale with the half steps omitted. So all you have to do is find out where to slot them back in, and voila! you have the entire major scale covering the whole fretboard.

Stages of Mastering the Guitar

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Feb 25
2008

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Here are some links to basic (Major and Minor) chord shapes for the guitar. Inversions of these and other chords (sevenths, diminished, etc…) will follow in time.

note: the C major chord is actually a C/G which means that you are playing the top string as well. A normal C major would be with the top string left unplayed.

A
Am
E
Em
D
Dm
G
C
F
B
Bm
Bar Chords
Inversions

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Feb 25
2008

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There is much to learning any instrument, and each will have it’s own logical path(s) to follow through in order to become proficient in both the playing of the instrument and the theory of music. This is a set of steps, or rather tick boxes that guitarists should aim to practice and master.

You may find that you have completed only some of these steps and in a different order. Well that doesn’t matter. All you need to do is go back and fill in the gaps. Doing so will answer many questions for you and make many things become much more clear.

Some, if not all of these tasks will take you a long time to master (months and years rather than days and weeks) if you are a beginner, unless you are incredibly smart or a true virtuoso. Here they are:

  1. Learn the basic chord shapes, A, D, E, C, G, Em, Am, Dm and practice changing between them quickly. I will make a list of songs that use the chords for you to practice. For now though, you can get these chord shapes from here
  2. Learn how to bar these chords and play them at different places up and down the neck of the guitar. You can also play the whole bar, just the top 2 or 3 strings, the bottom 2,3 or 4, or whatever. There are no rules, just find out what sounds good. This has been referred to by some as the “CAGED” system.
  3. If you know whether you wish to become a finger-picker, then practice some finger picking techniques. If you are only interested in using a pick, then practice alternate picking and jumping between non-adjacent strings.
  4. Learn the minor pentatonic scale. It sounds good when played over songs in the key, or over the top of a song in the same named key, but major for a blues type effect. Also, the major pentatonic scale is exactly the same shapes as minor, but shifted down 3 frets.
  5. Learn a basic major scale in any position and practice it to see what it feels and sounds like. It will then help you to know that the pentatonic scale (which you’ve already learned…!!!) is just the major scale without the semitones. It is a major scale in 5 tones (hence “pentatonic”).
  6. Learn how chords are constructed, of the 1st, 3rd and 5th tones in a major scale.
  7. Build more chords from the [2nd, 4th and 6th] notes, [3rd, 5th and 7th], [4th, 6th and 8th] etc… until you have looped round and are playing the 1st, 3rd and 5th again. Play each of the chords you have constructed in order and this is the Major Scale Using Chords. An absolutely invaluable tool. Learn how to play the chords in order using various open and bar chords to progress through the scale. Then try playing the chords in different orders to start to discover how many songs are written in a particular key. That key is the root note of the scale.
  8. Minor keys are built up of the same chords as the major keys, but starting from the 6th degree of the major chord progression. Which is, wait for it, 3 frets down from the 1st. See Relative Major and Minor Keys, Chords and Scales
  9. Learn how to create jazz chords, such as major and minor 7th’s, 5th, diminished chords, sus4′s, etc…… You will start to find that some of these chords can be used interchangeably with major and minor chords that are similar. So a minor 7th can be played of the root major chords, or the 6th degree minor (relative minor).
  10. Learn the circle of fifths. This will help you from a theory point of view if you need to learn about key signatures. But it is also a great tool for figuring out how to change key during a song. It may also help you to learn and understand the concept of modes. Modal playing and scales are valuable to understand as you will begin to understand how different modes sound when used as a melody, lead riff or solo.
  11. Work on more specialist techniques such as sweep picking, tapping, flamenco rhythms, open or modified tuning etc…..
  12. By the time you get this far, you will have learned a lot of music theory, I’m sure. Here is a list of some common musical definitions to help clear up any confusion (work in progress)
  13. Also, I hope you would have gained some interest into why all of this is the way it is. As I’m sure you can imagine, this is a very difficult subject to sum up in a small space of time, and as in good scientific practice, every answer simply raises more question. But here is my feeble attempt at beginning to explain some of the science behind all fo this. Introduction to the physics of music theory
  14. You will never stop “learning” the guitar. There will always be something else to discover or learn or improve upon. So you may as well accept this and just enjoy the adventure!

    15. This is another article that will be improved upon over time. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. I will expand upon all of the above and create more specific resources for learning as time goes on.

    The Guitar Master

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Feb 25
2008

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The minor pentatonic scale is really good fun and relatively simple to learn. It is used in loads of riffs and lead patterns and also as the basis of writing many songs.

You can learn the first shape and start having fun with it straight away.

I often teach this scale first because there is so much fun to be had with relatively little requirement for practicing scales. And once you have learned the minor pentatonic, it is a very simple and easy jump to learn the major pentatonic. And once you know the major pentatonic, you are only a couple of notes short of learning the entire major scale.

And the major scale is ALL POWERFUL!!!

So let us begin upon this journey with the minor pentatonic:

E Minor Pentatonic Scale.

Why E minor?

  1. It seems like a sensible place to start, as the very lowest note on the guitar is an E
  2. The lower notes of the first shape make a straight line of open strings, making it really easy to jump straight in and get started
  3. E minor is relative to G major. Why is this important? Well, the next scale I would suggest learning would be the G major scale. G major is relative to E minor, meaning that they comprise all of the same notes (see the articles on modes). The pentatonic is simply a complete scale, but missing two notes. As there are 7 notes in a full scale (8 including the root twice), this leaves 5 notes (or tones between top and bottom), hence “pentatonic”. So once you have the E minor pentatonic, you only have to add two extra notes for it to become a full G major, or E minor scale.

The first block of numbers below shows each of the actual shapes. There are five shapes in total (coincidence, eh?), so the last shape is just to demonstrate that when you reach an octave up (12th fret for the E scale) you go back to the first shape again.

The scales that follow simply show you how to play the notes from the first two shapes in ascending order, to help clear up any possible confusion on what to do with the shapes.

A scale like this is the most basic pentatonic scale. What you want to do is to play them in different and changing combinations of runs up and down. You will also want to listen to other lead guitarists use the scales and what they do with them. Only by listening to other musicians use the scales and playing with them yourself will you develop your own lead breaks.

Good luck!

|-0-3-5-7-10-12-15-----------------------0-3---------------------3-5--|
|-0-3-5-8-10-12-15-------------------0-3---------------------3-5------|
|-0-2-4-7--9-12-14---------------0-2---------------------2-4----------|
|-0-2-5-7--9-12-14-----------0-2---------------------2-5--------------|
|-0-2-5-7-10-12-14-------0-2---------------------2-5------------------|
|-0-3-5-7-10-12-15---0-3---------------------3-5----------------------|

Once you have learned these shapes (there are only five in total), you can play the scale in different keys by simply moving your starting point up and down the fret board.

See how you get on.

Stages of Mastering the Guitar

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Feb 25
2008

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A bar chord is normally an open chord shape, but fretted with slightly different fingers, and using your first finger on your left hand to “bar” right across a whole fret. This changes the tones of the “open” strings and allows you to easily play any chord by using one of the few simple basic shapes.

For instance, try playing an E chord, but instead of using your first three fingers, use fingers 2, 3 and 4. Then slide that whole shape up one fret and use your available index finger to bar across the entire first fret. This requires a certain amount of strength which needs to be built up over time and with practice. Once your in position, this is no longer an E chord, but an F.

Slide up one more fret and you have an F# / Gb. Slide up two more frets and you have an A, etc……….

For working out the names of chords and notes on the guitar, see the upcoming article on the major scale.

Stages of Mastering the Guitar

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Feb 25
2008

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Free online lessons, tips, and tutorials
Private Lessons

If you’re interested in my free online content, then a good place to start is here

I ultimately aim to make this the best full and free online resource for aspiring guitarists to improve their learning technique and increase the speed at which they learn. This encompasses most styles of guitar playing, including classical, blues, rock, metal, finger picking, lead solos, jazz etc….

Please understand that this will take time to develop. So come back often to see how the site is coming along. You can also subscribe to the site’s RSS feed to be kept up to date with new developments.

Hopefully others will be able to learn from the mistakes I have made and better direct own their learning process.

You will find tabs, videos, links to other great sites and utilities for helping you to get better at the guitar, qucker.

All I ask is that if you find useful stuff on here, remember to tell others where you found it!

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Feb 25
2008

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I teach private guitar lessons in Haverhill, Suffok, UK.

If you are in the surrounding area and looking for a guitar teacher, please go to my information request online form and contact me for more information.

I look forward to hearing from you!

The Guitar Master

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