Being able to focus on a project sounds like a good quality to have, [...]]]> One thing that really bugs me about myself is my ability to get drawn into a new task and become so completely immersed in whatever it is, that I do nothing but that for weeks at a time.

Being able to focus on a project sounds like a good quality to have, the problem is when I do it, it’s normally at the expense of everything else. Even if I’ve spent months building up to something, it all seems to go straight out the window when a new challenge arises.

Not quite that bad !

There’s normally a pretty good reason for me to do this and in the end it all contributes to my life’s final master plan, but I can’t help thinking if I’d just stop getting into all these other projects and concentrate on one main goal, then I’d probably have got there by now and achieved much more success in one particular area than constantly trying to achieve success in lots of different ones.

We all try and fit too much into our lives and when we get it right we can achieve great things, but sometimes the pressure and work loads we place upon ourselves stifle other areas of our lives that we should really be concentrating on. With work commitments, family and the normal strains and stresses of everyday life, there are only a certain amount of hours in the day we can put aside to achieve these new goals.

One thing you’ve got to watch out for, especially if you are trying to achieve and keep a certain standard as a musician, is not to let these new workloads infringe on your practice. Time management is vital if you are to keep your head above the fret board.

For the last few weeks I’ve been concentrating on building my new artisan business and also getting an online presence with an e commerce shop/blog. The whole thing ties in nicely with Street Musician and as I mentioned before, selling instruments is something I’ve always wanted to do. But I’ve been so immersed in what I’ve been doing that my guitar practice and vocal routines have gone completely down the pan.

It happens every time I get into a new project and even though I promised myself I would keep my practice up this time, I’ve let it slip as I knew I would.

I didn’t mind too much until a few days ago, the whole thing blew up due to numerous issues with the commerce script I’ve been using. I’ve spent days messing about with this thing only to find that I’m having to wipe the whole site out and start again.

So not only has it been a waste of time and I’m now back to square one, but I’ve also thrown my practice out of the window for the last few weeks, rendering me temporarily useless on the guitar and croaking like an x factor wannabe when trying to sing.

It’s been so long since I put in some decent practice, all those songs that were so easy and pleasurable to play not so long ago, now sound terrible. My voice is weak with no presence and after a couple of hours on the guitar my fingers hurt like hell and I feel like a beginner again.

Once your fingers go soft and your throat becomes used to the easy life, your brain still thinks you are capable of pulling off loads of wicked songs but your body just can’t handle it.

If I hadn’t got so involved and obsessed with what I’m doing and spent practically every moment of my waking hours thrashing out this new business and just kept my eye in for an hour or two a day, then when every thing comes crashing down around my head as it usually does and I find I am back where I started, then at least I could say that I’m still pretty good on the guitar and when all else fails I could go out and do a few gigs or a bit of busking to relieve the stress.

There is nothing better than to be able to perform any song in your itinerary without screwing up and nothing worse than knowing you should be playing well when you sound bloody awful.

I go through these phases a few times a year. I play like hell for anything up to 8 hours a day and get myself up to a standard where I can kick out a three hour nightmare set with my eyes shut, and then I get involved in something completely different and throw it all out the window for weeks at a time.

Letting Your Practice Slip

The simple formula about playing the guitar is the more you play, the better you get. Then the easier it becomes and the more you get the urge to play. It becomes an addiction, a really good addiction. Picking up your guitar and knowing you are playing well because you’ve been putting in the time gives you a real buzz and when you practice like hell for weeks on end, your playing gets to levels that blow your own mind. You find you can’t wait to pick the guitar up and wonder what new levels you will achieve each day. Just the thought of how fast you’ll shred as you break down your own barriers is enough to keep you coming back for more.

Once you you let it slip for more than a week or two, the thought of practicing becomes much less appealing and getting back to the standard you were achieving becomes a lot more of a hassle and a real up hill struggle.

Miss two or three weeks and you then have to go back through the pain of re-hardening your fingertips, strengthening your muscles and stretching your fingers, just like you did as a beginner. Everything you achieved when you were putting in the time is more or less wasted.

Missing Opportunities

The summer is almost over and I reckon because I took my eye off the guitar, I’ve missed out on a good few gigs and a lot of busking. With a little effort I could have easily maintained what was already in place. I wouldn’t have had to practice much, just enough to keep it together.

If a record producer came up to me now and said, ‘Play us a few songs and let’s see what you can do’, I’d probably blow it and put in a useless performance, simply because I haven’t put in the practice. Nobody is interested in the excuses and reasons why you sound bad.

I know it won’t take long to get my skills back, probably about two or three weeks, but by then it would be way too late to grab any chance thrown at me. Opportunities don’t hang around for long and you have to grab them while you can. That means you need to be able to play at your best at any time and have the skills to put on a good show whenever and wherever the chance arises.

This guy’s got it covered !

The moral of this story is the decline in my guitar and vocal skills could have easily been avoided if I had just put in an hour or two every day to keep up what I’ve been working towards for years.

I’ve taken many long term brakes from the guitar in my life and every time I stop playing I feel like something is missing. But when I achieve a standard I’m happy with, I seem to take it for granted and am all to easily distracted.

I’m all my years of playing, if I’d never stopped, I’d probably be touring the world by now and be pretty loaded. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about being a success, I could just enjoy all the cash I’d have earned.

You often hear of musicians ruining their jobs, family lives and everything in favour of their music as they put it in front of anything and everything else in their lives. I think that’s taking it too far and I never would as my family is the most important thing to me. But I’m going to make sure that in future, I put my playing in front of all the other less important things in life so I don’t keep throwing away all the hard work and practice I’ve done every time I try and achieve something new.

I think from now on, I’m going to make a promise to myself to never, ever let it slip again – whatever the reason.

We’ll see how it goes.

Posted 27.08.09

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The most common method of fingering an average bar chord is to stretch your first finger across all six strings and finger the chord with your remaining 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers.

An age old problem encountered by beginner guitarists battling with bar chords is which way to finger them.

The most common method of fingering an average bar chord is to stretch your first finger across all six strings and finger the chord with your remaining 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers.

1st Finger Bar Chord

However, you’ll often see gigging guitarists performing them another way by wrapping their thumbs over the top of the neck and barring the 6th or 5th and 6th strings with their thumb whilst covering the rest of the strings with their remaining digits.

Thumb Wrap Bar Chord

There is a huge difference both in wrist positioning and finger technique between these two methods and any beginner taking on any one of these will realise they are both extremely hard to master. You’ll need to know which method you should learn and practice as a permanent technique and conquer the one that will be most useful to you in the long term future.

As is everything with music, it mainly comes down to the style of music you are going to be playing, the instrument you play, i.e acoustic or electric and how good you intend to get.

Good or Bad Technique ?

Many teachers of rock or classical styles will tell you it is bad practice to wrap your thumb around the top of the neck either when soloing or playing bar chords. With these particular styles, the method is considered bad technique solely because of the limitations it places on the style that is being played. The pioneering players that lead the way in the progression of these particular styles use techniques that often cannot be achieved using the constricting thumb wrap method.

Blues, Funk, Soul and Indie

With different styles such as blues, funk and soul etc. using the thumb wrap to play bar chords actually enhances the players ability to play the riffs and techniques that create that particular style.

You’ll find that many of the world’s most famous blues, funk and soul players like Mississippi John Hurt, Hendrix, Clapton etc. right the way up to modern day guitarists like John Frusciante from the Chili’s have used the technique to great extent in their styles of playing and in doing so have achieved incredible results that could not be reproduced using any other method.

Jimi Hendrix – Machine Gun

Every style in music places different requirements on the player and when covering songs and trying to achieve a certain feel, although you can often achieve a similar sound to the original using the same notes but different fingering techniques, you may never truly mimic that sense of feeling instilled by it’s creator unless you play it in the same way as performed by the original artist.

In other words, you won’t crack a Satriani song by wrapping your thumb over the top of the neck and you’ll never play the Chili’s – Under The Bridge and get all those little hammer on’s and pull offs that ring throughout the song sounding right without using the thumb wrap to give your little finger the freedom it needs to move.

How It Works For Me

In my personal experience and after years of playing rock and thrash metal with the electric guitar and also rock and popular with the acoustic, I find that I don’t need to play bar chords using the finger wrap method that often, and when I do it can be easier for me to play these songs still using my first finger and the full bar method.

Often, when you cover a song by an average band who’s guitarist uses the thumb wrap method, the song won’t necessarily be so difficult that you have to play it in the same style to get that similar sound. It is only on occasions when you are trying to mimic the playing style of a legend that you will have no option but to switch.

I also play a number of songs that comprise completely of thrum wrap chords which gives me good reason to play them and keep in practice.

For me I would say the ratio of songs I play using the two methods is about 80% – 20% in favour of the full 1st finger bar.

For you it could be the complete opposite. I usually only play rock, pop and in the past a lot of thrash metal. If I started to play a lot of blues and funk, I’m pretty sure I’d be saying the exact opposite and most of my playing would encounter thumb wrap chords and melodies on a regular basis.

Another thing about the thumb wrap method, is it’s a damn site easier doing it on an electric guitar rather than an acoustic. If you do play the acoustic and are required to adopt it as you make your way through a song, then don’t let the thicker neck of the guitar stop you from achieving your goals. It may be more difficult, but the more you practice, the easier it will become.

Take a look at the acoustic version of Under the Bridge played by John Frusciante on this post to see this method applied on an acoustic.

More Ways Than One

The cool thing about playing the guitar is once you get past a certain standard and can handle the basics, there are no dead set rules about how you should play something. Every artist plays in a way that feels most comfortable to them, which gives their own material a particular style and feel.

There are certain paths you can take to make life easier as you tackle different areas, but these are designed to be strayed from and experimented with in order to achieve new sounds and techniques.

As long as you don’t pick up too many bad habits that render you incapable of playing to a decent standard and you avoid doing things that are likely to cause damage to your tendons or ligaments, you can pick and choose how you develop your own style.

As you progress as a musician, you will undoubtedly cross into new genres of music which will require you to learn new skills to cope with the new challenges you are given. You will see that learning to play something one way is never enough to see you through to the end of your days as a guitarist. Sooner or later you will learn how to play things not just one way, but many ways.

Joe Satriani

As your knowledge and experience grows you will no longer dread these new challenges but will actively embrace the thought of learning something new and difficult to make you a better player and more of a guitarist as a whole.

How to Choose and Implement Your Bar Chord Method

My advice would be to start by learning the full 1st finger bar method across the 6 strings. You’ll always need to master this in whatever style of music you play. Then check out your favourite guitarist’s live music videos on You Tube and examine their styles and chord playing techniques.

If it is obvious that thumb wrap chords play a huge part in their playing, then get to work as you will have to adopt these methods to enable you to play in a similar way.

In my case, chord style consists of mainly playing chords barred using the first finger method with the occasional switch to the thumb wrap, but if you predominantly stick to one method, make sure you also practice the other regularly in your your daily workout. This will keep your hands and fingers prepared and give you the ability to switch easily if the need arises.

Let us know how you fret your bar chords in comment in the form below.

Other Posts of Interest

The Open G Chord Problem
Thumb Wrap or Finger Bar Chords
Guitar Practice – How Much ?
Conquering Bar Chords
Guitar Chords Made Easy

Posted 20.08.09

I used to get my D’Addario electric and acoustic strings locally for £5 [...]]]> All the guitar shops in my area have shut down. So Instead of travelling miles to the nearest store every week to get new strings, I now buy mine online and in bulk to save a load of cash.

I used to get my D’Addario electric and acoustic strings locally for £5 a set, but with nowhere left to buy them I got stung £9.50 for one pack in a shop out of town.

I thought enough is enough. Time to get organised, go online and get in a good few packs at much cheaper prices.

I just bought 3 sets of the same strings for £12.50 with no P&P charges. Ordered them on Sunday night with standard free delivery and got them through my front door on Tuesday morning. That’s pretty quick for a free delivery.

Cheap Strings

Click your country icon next to the string makes listed below to get your favourite make of strings at good prices. If your local shop is competing at reasonable rates then buy them there and support your community, even if they are a little more pricey.

If like me there are no decent guitar shops near you or the ones that are are taking the mick, then click below for some great deals. If you can’t see your favourite make click the text links at the bottom of the page to see more.

D’Addario Strings

In my opinion D’Addario’s are the best. I use them on both my electric and acoustic guitars. Standard EXL 110’s on my electric and EJ26’s on my electro-acoustic.

Elixir Strings

Expensive, but really nice strings if you want to splash out.

Ernie Ball Strings

Martin Strings

GHS Strings

Rotosound Strings

Stagg Strings

Augustine Strings

Savarez Strings

La Bella Strings

Adagio Strings

Gibson Strings

Dunlop Strings

Fender Strings

I hope you’ve found some good bargains.

Click here to search for other popular strings from the UK or strings from the USA.

Leave a comment below and let us know which strings you prefer. Your opinions will help others decide which make to choose.

Posted 24.06.09

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Being musicians, we can be forgiven for thinking we should be [...]]]> We are constantly hearing in the news about the current global economic downturn and how every day thousands of people are loosing their jobs and local shops and businesses are being forced to shut their doors and close down for good.

Being musicians, we can be forgiven for thinking we should be immune to the normal strains and stresses of everyday life, as all we have to concentrate on is whether we hit that pinched harmonic at the right pitch or whether we screwed up that solo at the beginning of the song. It’s a nice thought and life would be great if it were that simple but the current economic crisis is affecting us all in many ways from the bedroom player to gigging musicians, right up through to the high street guitar shops and manufacturers.

Over the last year or so the knock on effects of the outrageously greedy and irresponsible behaviour of our banks, lenders and stockbrokers have started to appear much closer to home, not just on the news or in some far away country, but in your own high street, in the pub and on your door step.

In The Red

I remember when I used to go out and socialise, I’d rarely hear anyone stressing about loosing their job or how their company is struggling and laying people off, but over the last few months on just about every occasion I’ve been out, I’ve witnessed people telling me they have actually lost their job or are just about to get laid off from the company they have been working for and relying on for years.

Local high street shops are closing down in droves and even the most sturdy of high street stores like Woolworths who’ve been trading for over a hundred years have already fallen foul of the current climate. In my own area along with many other stores, both guitar shops have now closed leaving me with a ten mile trip to the nearest store in an adjacent town, and a 30 mile trip to the next one if they haven’t got what I need.

Guitar Sales Drop

Over the last year or so reports have shown new guitar sales have suffered not only a decrease in sales from the same period in the previous year but also a decrease in average purchase price of guitars right across the board. Although the music business seems to have been hit much less than many other industries, the down turn shows no real signs of ending and only time will tell as to how bad it gets and when it will improve.

With uncertain times ahead people just don’t have the security or money to splash out on luxuries like new instruments and those that do are tightening their belts and going for cheaper models as opposed to splashing out that extra few quid on buying the next model up.

There has also been a considerable shift in the market regarding the types of guitars being sold.

A downturn in the number of electric guitar sales has been counter balanced by a large increase in the number of acoustic guitars sold, which save the cash conscious buyer the need for expensive effects pedals and amps. I imagine the huge television emphasis on big prize talent shows and singing competitions like Britain/America’s Got Talent and X Factor have also had something to do with this as scores of young hopefuls go out and buy acoustic guitars in the hope of strumming their way to stardom.

Couldn’t afford a guitar !

Robert Webb – Britain’s Got Talent

With every flip of the coin, where one business fails another succeeds and just like the smoking ban in pubs and restaurants, those businesses that change with the circumstances and adapt to the new climate often flourish where others fall. The one remaining guitar shop in our vicinity is now the only option within 30 miles and over the last few years has streamed into many other areas such as drums, saxophones, keyboards, violins and on site repairs. I’m sure their business is flourishing in the recession and the closure of the nearest competition has provided them with welcome new custom.

Is the Crisis Good or Bad For Musicians ?

Is the economic crisis affecting the average gigging musician in a positive manner or is it just bad news for everyone ?

The effects on gigging musicians caused by major social and economic changes like the credit crunch and the dreaded smoking ban can be seen from different perspectives.

On one hand, the fact that people are saving their money and keeping away from pubs and clubs in favour of staying at home to socialise means that many venues across the country are shutting down due to lack of custom. This leaves fewer establishments for musicians to play in but also seems to have prompted many remaining venues to provide new means of entertainment in an attempt to draw in crowds. Many of those bars and clubs that previously did not need to draft in musicians at the weekend are now doing so.

One look at the gig guide in my local paper definitely shows there is no shortage of new and established bands playing in venues all over town, and with a more healthy environment due to the smoking ban, perhaps those who wouldn’t venture near a pub in the past may do so now.

Surely these are good signs but with one more flip of the coin and an ever growing number of bands and artists to choose from, are musician’s wages in jeopardy of being lowered as pub landlords tighten their belts and new bands compete for their space in the spotlight ?

Competition and Variety

In my opinion, the more bands and musicians out there the better and healthy competition can only mean more skilled musicians and artists emerging from the mix. As long as we don’t forget that playing music to a live audience takes an incredible amount of skill and effort and should never be underrated, undervalued or undercut just to get that slot in a club.

It’s not just about the two or three hours you play for on stage, it’s about the thousands of hours practice you put in at home and in rehearsals to enable you to play at a decent standard to the audience for that time.

The moment we are told we have to gig for £50 and if we don’t like it there are many more out there to take our place, is the moment we loose our dignity.

Of course, playing for free is always good when it comes to mates and charity, as long as it’s for a good cause.

Beat the Credit Crunch – Pick Up Your Guitar & Earn Some Money

With cash in short supply, it’s no doubt many people with regular day jobs and those who have had stints in bands in the past are using the crisis as a great excuse to blow the dust off the strat, get back out there and get themselves back on the gig scene as a way of relieving the stress, raising a bit of cash and having a laugh at the same time. What better excuse to get out of the house and go down the pub to play guitar with your mates.

The need for a bit more cash is also a great excuse to start raising the bar on your playing. Going from messing around with a few stray pieces from your favourite songs to getting a proper set together in order to get out busking or book your self a gig is a great way of motivating yourself to play better and beat the depression.

If you get any grief from your other half cause you’re spending too much time playing your guitar, you’ve always got the excuse…’it’s no longer a hobby, it’s a job.’

The best part of being a musician and trying to earn some cash from your hobby, is it gives you the perfect excuse to go out and buy that guitar or fx rack from hell you have always wanted, because now it’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity.

Esp Custom

So stand up to the credit crunch…go out and buy yourself that instrument you have always wanted. You’ll be helping to combat the recession, motivating yourself, promoting local business and treating yourself at the same time.

Think of it as an investment, it’ll pay for itself within a few gigs anyway.

Posted 22.06.09

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Busking is a great way of getting your self used to public exposure and can be quite a scary experience for those not [...]]]> Attending jam nights, or come and have a go nights are without doubt the best way amateur musicians and new bands can prepare themselves for a first gig or stage performance.

Busking is a great way of getting your self used to public exposure and can be quite a scary experience for those not accustomed to it, but for a beginner, nothing can compare to the terrifying experience of getting up on stage with your guitar for the first time, in front of a live audience comprised mostly of other musicians and performing across the whole venue at hugely amplified volumes.

You might be able to play perfectly in the comfortable surroundings of your own home, but it’s a completely different ball game when you’re suddenly flung in front of the lights with an unfamiliar set up in front of a bunch of strangers.

If you are not used to it, the stress of performing live (especially on your own) can reduce a confident player to a nervous wreck and is probably about 10 times worse than standing up in the middle of a wedding and doing a speech.

The thought of speaking in public terrifies even the toughest of people, so imagine how it feels to sing and play the guitar in front of a bunch of musicians and punters who are all drunk and probably much better at it than you.

Jam night audiences are usually pretty supportive to novice players.

Luckily, most people who attend jam nights are pretty supportive of anyone that has the nerve to get up and play. You can bet they have also been witness to many players in the past who have been absolutely diabolical and much worse than you. They will also be used to seeing people screwing up big time and should have some sympathy for your first time nerves.

A supportive crowd does help but it doesn’t solve every problem. I was speaking to a guy a few weeks ago who told me he had been playing for 15 years and although he could easily play anything he wanted at home to his family and friends, he could never get the nerve to play on stage in public. He said he tried it once at a family function and completely froze. Since then he’s never been able to bring himself to try it again. This guys nerves must have been pretty extreme, but not by any means uncommon.

The only way to beat this problem and deal with your fear of playing live is to get out there and do it again, and again and again. Until you no longer worry about it.

Don’t let this example put you off, I’m just trying to give those who think performing live is easy an idea of the obstacles an amateur musician must overcome to achieve a level where they can stand up and play comfortably in front of a live audience and look like they’re enjoying it.

Just like anything, if you want to be a success in your chosen field, you must be prepared to step out of your comfort zone and take a few risks to reap the rewards.

For most people their first few times on stage will be a very nerve racking experience. Watching other musicians performing well and knowing you’re up next up next can really set off the nerves, and when you get called up, your heart starts pounding, your throat dry’s up, your body gets really tense and your hands start shaking. You know you are in for a stressful few minutes.

Even people who have been singing and playing the same songs for years at home often completely forget their lines purely due to the stress of the situation. Those with perfect voices suddenly find their vocals quivering all over the place and struggle to stay in tune. It’s just something you’ve got to get used to and dealing with nerves and stress when you’re placed under pressure is all part of being a musician.

Nerves are not the only thing you’ve got to deal with. There’s no time for extensive sound checks every time a new player steps up to the mic so all you’ll get is a quick 5 second volume check to ensure you can be heard by the rest of the pub.

It’s only when you start playing you find that you can’t actually hear yourself sing cause you’re being blasted through the monitor with your own guitar set way to high, or that the mic volume’s been set really loud for the last band and now you’re being drowned out by your own vocal feedback.

To make things worse, the fact that your performance is amplified to a volume level that suits a large and crowded pub, means every little mistake, duff note and quiver in your voice and guitar playing is massively amplified.

You can never tell how good or bad you are going to sound but you can guarantee it’s not going to be the perfect set up you are used to at home.

Musicians often judge their own performances on what they can hear through the monitors or from behind the house speakers and assume that is what the rest of the pub is listening to. In actual fact, it is often the case that the monitor mix the performer hears sounds pretty awful but the P.A output across the whole establishment, will sound pretty good.

Hearing a performance from in front of the P.A provides a completely different experience to the listener than the artist receives when playing from behind the speakers hearing the mix through the nearest monitor. I’ve been told many a time by listeners at jam nights that a performance I’ve given sounded really good, when in actual fact from behind the mic at my end, I thought it sounded bloody awful.

Lighting is another problem you will most likely have to overcome as every pub or venue you visit will have a completely different lighting set up. At home you will be used to looking down at your guitar and finding your chords and fingerings in the certain ambience of say a 100w light bulb or side lamp.

In a venue or on stage, you could well find yourself in dim lighting conditions, virtual darkness, or with a number of large spotlights pointing straight at you. These can be shining in your eyes or reflecting off your guitar from every angle and can easily cause misplaced fingerings and fluffed solo’s because you can’t see what you are doing.

Gig lighting and stage setups can cause problems for novice performers.

The stage set up is also likely to be unfamiliar and you’ll probably have little or no room to perform or your mic height will be set to high or low and you could even be using someone else’s fx racks or pedals etc. All these unfamiliar conditions, stress and nerves amount to you having to deal with a lot in a very short space of time.

Don’t get me wrong, you will often find things sound great from all ends, everything goes well and the situation is familiar to you, but if you try a few different jam nights in your local area, you will find great variation in the way they are set up, the people that host them, the types of music played, and the audiences who come to watch.

It is being out of your comfort zone and coping with unfamiliar situations and surroundings while having to play through them that really helps you develop a strong core as a musician, and gives you the strength and confidence to go out and do a gig on your own.

Another thing jam nights throw at you that differs from a normal gig, is you are often forced to play straight from a standing start without any warm up or preparation.

If you perform a gig of your own or in private, you would generally give yourself ample time to warm up, tune your instruments and get a practice song in before you start. In a crowded bar, with the noise of a band playing, drinkers and instruments all over the place, it’s often impossible to do this, so when it’s your turn to play, all you’ve got time to do give it a quick tune, and off you go.

You will find that In any live situation, once you get through the first 3 or 4 songs, you will relax into a rhythm, your nerves will settle down and your playing improves as the gig progresses. The thing about a jam night is that you’ll probably only get to play two or three songs before you get kicked off anyway, so just as you start to get things under control and enjoy the experience, you’re off the stage.

If you are intending on becoming a serious musician, you can see this in a positive light as it forces you to get over your nerves as quickly as possible and not rely on a two hour gig to help you settle down.

The great thing is, just like anything, the more you expose yourself to these sort of situations the easier they are to deal with. Once you’ve got a good few jam nights under your belt, you will find getting up there in the spotlight becomes much less stressful, and as you learn to control your nerves and concentrate on your performance, you will really start to enjoy yourself and let your real potential shine through.

Even the most experienced and famous musicians still have to deal with nerves on a regular basis, and many never really completely conquer the problem, but constant exposure to the limelight in ever more increasing circumstances will teach you to relax, enjoy the experience and come up with your own ways of dealing with anxiety and the stress of performing.

Getting used to playing live is one of the most important parts of becoming a musician, and the whole idea is that one day, you will be good enough and smug enough to walk out onto a stage in front of 20,000 people and not give a damn.

In front of 20,000 people.

As you can see, learning and being able to play a song is only a small part of a musician’s life and it is vital you explore the other areas involved and sample the stresses and strains that we have to deal with on a regular basis to prepare you for what’s to come. It’s not as simple as strumming a few chords and calling your self a musician.

If you’ve never been to one before, give it a try. Go and learn 3 songs, pick a jam night out of your local paper and make a promise to yourself to perform those 3 songs live in front of a real audience within a month.

It’ll scare the hell out of you, but you’ll love it and it’ll make you a better musician.

Posted 29.04.09

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‘Why do I need to learn scales and what are their practical application in music ?’.

Scales are like the maths of music, the main reason to learn them is to give your self a [...]]]> I was recently asked a good question by one of this sites regular visitors.

‘Why do I need to learn scales and what are their practical application in music ?’.

Scales are like the maths of music, the main reason to learn them is to give your self a basic understanding of the structure and the way a piece of music works to enable you create and understand your own pieces, and allow you to integrate with other musicians.

Now you don’t necessarily need to go out and learn loads of scales to be a good guitar player. I played the guitar for many years and achieved a reasonably good standard by playing other people’s music, making up my own riffs and songs, and generally avoiding anything to do with theory. On the occasions I did bother learning a scale or two, I got extremely bored very quickly and as soon as I got passed the first step, was swamped by a ridiculous amount of meaningless information which really put me off.

I avoided scales for many years and to some extent got away with it, but no matter how good my playing became, I always felt something important was missing from my routine and I’d see other musicians jamming around in pubs, playing the blues and improvising over anything that gets thrown at them, and feel that my knowledge of music wasn’t really up to standard.

When musicians jam, it’s knowing what key to play in and what type or style of music is being played that helps them work out the best musical paths to take i.e what chords, riffs or licks to play and what notes will sound best to improvise and solo over.

This goes for all musicians and instruments from bass guitars to pianos, harmonicas, violins, and trumpets. It doesn’t matter what you play, if you know a bit of music theory and a few scales you can connect to others through the universal language of music.

Scales help musicians improvise and connect with each other through the language of music

Most guitarists don’t know much music theory at all, but a little knowledge can take you a long way, as long as you know the basics of what scales are best suited to play certain styles of music and what notes and chords to play where and why.

I will be doing a guide on this in the near future, but here’s a quick example.

Say you were asked to play a typical basic 12 bar blues chord progression in E. If you know a bit of blues theory you would expect the chords to go something like this.

E – E – E- E

A – A – E – E

B – A – E – B

or

E – E – E- E7

A – A – E – E

B7 – A – E – B7

These are commonly known standard blues progressions built from pre defined formulas used in blues music. There are many variations of these formulas and they provide basic starting blocks to build from.

Blues Guide Coming Soon

Once you’ve got a chord progression to work with, you can be pretty sure that soloing over these chords using a Em Pentatonic or E blues scale will sound pretty good. But that is just one option, there are many other scales that would also sound great played over this progression, and your knowledge of music theory will define how you interpret and improvise over these chords and the complexity of your riffs and solos.

The same works in reverse. If you have a particular solo or lick you need to write a chord progression for then knowing the keys and scales used in that solo will help you form chord progressions that sound great around that piece.

Music theory is not a fixed code that you have to follow strictly, but knowing the building blocks of a piece of music and why it sounds like it does will allow you to integrate and deviate from the norm and create your own compositions and style.

Understanding scales and music theory will give you a freedom to express yourself in which ever way you feel as you learn how to express your thoughts and emotions through your fingers.

Jamming musicians at MerleFest in Wilkesboro

If you needed to create a moody piece of music, or something with a slightly spanish feel, then you’d be best off starting with minor scales or phrygian modes to help build chord progressions and solo’s. Major scales will often define happier moods etc.

Practicing scales is also a really good way of training your fingers and improving your strength, speed and dexterity across the fret board, and provides good practice when learning to improvise.

Along with chromatics, scales are also really useful when used as warm up exercises.

The one thing you must ensure is that you don’t get too obsessed with scales and following strict musical guidelines. It is those musicians who use theory to enhance their music but are not afraid to play ‘out of the box’ and experiment with new techniques and methods that really make the most out of knowing a few scales.

Learning scales will provide you with a solid knowledge base to work and learn from and will definitely enhance your guitar playing and make life easier for you in the future, but don’t let them stress you out or rule your life. They are just one element in a guitar players tool box, and although they are important, they are not the be all and end all.

If you feel you are ready to tackle the subject, take a look at my section on Music Theory and check out our No Nonsense Guides to Scales. These guides will help you learn the basics, slowly and step by step. If you are not up to it yet, go and learn a few chords and lyrics from one of your favourite songs and have a go at busking a tune.

Other Posts of Interest

Busking
Scale Runs and Exercises
Chromatic Scales and Exercises
How to Buy a Guitar – A Beginner’s Guide
Conquering Bar (Barre) Chords
Guitar Chords Made Easy

Posted 20.04.09

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Sitting is all very well if you just play the guitar as a leisurely hobby a few times a week [...]]]> How do you play your guitar ?

If you asked most amateur guitarists whether they tend to sit or stand when they play, I reckon about 95% of them would say they sit.

Sitting is all very well if you just play the guitar as a leisurely hobby a few times a week and have no real aspirations to take your music to a higher level, but if your goal is to join or start a decent band then you really need to start getting used to playing from a standing position.

If you do want to take your music to a semi or professional level at some point and would rather take the more relaxed approach and gig sitting down then that’s fine, there are thousands of brilliant artists out there who do just that, I’m not knocking sitting down in the slightest but for those of you who are thinking about putting in a more dynamic performance, you need to start changing your playing habits sooner rather than later.

Playing standing up places a lot more strain and tension on your hands, wrists and muscles than playing from a sitting position and it will take a long time for you to develop the extra strength and suppleness you will need to play effectively to a performance level while standing.

Relaxed Wrist Position – Sitting

Standing Causes More Strain Due To Wrist Angle

Having your wrist bent at greater angles to get round the fingerboard means every chord, lick, run and bend you attempt will be much harder to achieve than it would be in a sitting position.

I remember when I took the decision to start to play standing. Everything I’d ever learned and all my playing skills went down the pan, it was almost like starting from scratch again.

It’s not just the fact that your fingers and muscles ache a lot more and you can’t play as well, it’s also considerably more tiring and somewhat boring standing up all the time. I remember thinking this makes playing the guitar seem more like work than a hobby.

It was a bit of a hassle and for a while I’d play standing up for a few minutes each session and then go back to sitting down. I knew I would eventually have to get used to it if I wanted to play live, so I persevered.

Needless to say, I have been playing standing up for a good few years now. After a while, as does everything guitar related, practicing standing became completely normal and now feels totally natural. To tell you the truth, I play much better standing up than I do when I am sitting down.

Standing also shows somewhat of a commitment to your self in the fact that the reason you are standing is because you are preparing yourself to gig on stage and not sit around and jam in your bedroom for the rest of your life.

When I’m learning stuff or trying to get to grips with something new, I still sit around and slouch about as usual, but as soon as my practice time kicks in I get up and play standing.

If you’re feeling tired or couldn’t be bothered to stand up properly for two hours, it really helps to slouch on the nearest wall while you play. Make sure you don’t get to used to doing this as it tends to angle your guitar in a way that makes it much easier to play than if you were standing in front of a mic in a live situation.

Really, if you are intent on becoming a singer and guitarist, the best way is to practice in front of the mic. It’s just another way of preparing yourself for what you are eventually working towards, which is to go out and gig.

You don’t have to stand all the time, just try for 10 -15 minutes a day until you get used to it, then go for the half hour and build and up from there.

Give it a go and after a few weeks of getting into the habit, you’ll find playing standing just becomes the normal thing to do, you won’t even think about it.

So get off your lazy arse and start playing standing up.

You’ll thank me in a few months.

Posted 07.04.09

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Once proficient with these, many players tend to stay within the confines of these open chords at the lower end of the fret board and never venture past the [...]]]> Most new guitarists begin their training by learning and practicing the usual standard 10 – 20 open chords such as E,D,G,A, Am,F,Dm etc.

Once proficient with these, many players tend to stay within the confines of these open chords at the lower end of the fret board and never venture past the 3rd or 4th fret into the middle and upper sections of the guitar. This caged mentality effectively renders 3/4 of your guitar useless, stifles your creative ability and makes playing just about every song in the book extremely difficult.

Often the reason beginners find it hard to move beyond these open shapes is the fear of tackling the dreaded bar or barre chord.

When first introduced to the bar chord, most players find the actual concept of them very easy to understand and suddenly being able to create 15 different chords with one simple shape seems almost too good to be true. Changing that first E bar chord shape to an Am bar and then an A shape bar suddenly presents a beginner with a ridiculous amount of chords at their disposal in the space of three simple shapes.

E Shaped Bar Chord

Am Shaped Bar Chord

A Shaped Bar Chord

The versatility of these chords often prove to be somewhat of a revelation for guitarists but they also pose one or two problems that cause many people to avoid them. This can really affect a players progress.

To a beginner it is the actual hand strength necessary to fret and maintain these new bar shaped chords that pose the main problem. If you are inexperienced at fretting bar chords your hands will not be strong enough to hold them for more than a few seconds at a time and this can also be a painful experience. People instantly label them a nightmare after playing them for a few days and then give up, leaving them for the ‘experts’ and revert back to their easier and more familiar open chords.

This is not good. Probably 90% of modern songs contain some form of bar chord at some point in their progressions while many songs comprise either totally or mostly of bar chords. Not being able to use them will seriously affect your ability to progress past a very basic level of playing.

The simple fact is the muscles a player requires to fret a bar chord greatly differ from the ones required to fret your average open chord, so the fact that you are now straining previously unused muscles means that for the first couple of weeks when trying to get to grips with them, you will most certainly find very tiring on your hands and to a certain extent painful.

This new pain barrier tends to put off a lot of beginner players who simply back off from the bar chord and never progress any further.

The one thing a guitarist faced with this problem needs to know is that by sticking with them and practicing these shapes on a daily basis for 10 – 20 minutes a day, within a couple of weeks your hand muscles will rapidly grow to adapt to these new positions and what seems like a massive issue for you initially, will quickly fade into obscurity and become a complete breeze.

Remember how difficult fretting simple open chords were when you first started playing the guitar. After a while as your hand and finger strength grew they became second nature and so will your bar chords.

Once your muscles strengthen and become accustomed to bar chords you will have broken through a major guitar playing barrier and stepped up to a new level of playing from which you will never look back.

Within a month or so from learning your first bar chord and practicing them regularly you will be playing with ease, all over the fret board with absolutely no pain or strain whatsoever. This will enable you to reach out across the guitar and play just about any chord you want, wherever you wish with the minimum of fuss.

One of the best things about bar chords is the fact that when you are presented with a tab or song sheet that has some really dodgy chords in the progression like this C#m7 shown below.

or this C#m7 which you wouldn’t have a hope in hell of playing unless you were an experienced player

you can quickly and easily change the chord into something nicely manageable like this C#m7 bar chord.

This is simply an Am7 shaped chord with a bar in front of it, played 4 steps (semi tones) up . ie. Am7-A#m7-Bm7-Cm7-C#m7.

Most players with a bit of bar chord practice should be able to hit this chord with out too much trouble. Not so with the two above it.

You will often find that in most song or tab books, you will always be required at some point to pull off some ridiculously difficult chord by the guys who tabbed the song. They don’t care whether it is right or wrong or how the original artist would play the chord, they just stick any old shape down so they can finish the tab and get on with the next one.

You will generally find the original artist pulls off the chord in a much easier shape or position somewhere else up the fret board to enable the song to be played without too much trouble and in a live situation with ease.

Probably the most common bar chord application is the simple F chord.

F Bar chord

I have lost count how many times I have seen learner guitarists struggle with simple songs by trying to play chord progressions that contain the F major. The book or tab they are following will have shown the F chord as being an open F like the one shown below.

Open F

When in actual fact the correct F to play in the situation would be the F bar chord version.

The open F chord is much more difficult to play, sounds much lighter and is more awkward to reach than the bar chord F. The barred F chord has a much thicker more powerful sound, is easily accessible from the other chords in the surrounding area and is used more frequently in modern pop and rock songs than it’s twin.

If you try playing simple songs like ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ or ‘Sonnet’ from bands like The Verve and many others using the open F, you’ll find that the chord will not sound right and will just make the song much harder to play.

When you are confronted with a difficult chord in a tab or song book, most of the time you will be able to simplify the chord shown by substituting it with it’s alternative bar chord version. This is the way most musicians play and write songs.

Another great reason to learn bar chords is they are very useful when you’re trying to learn a song with complex picking patterns written by another artist. A player who is unaware of the usual bar chord patterns will spend hours working out fingering positions for the song when in actual fact the tune is often derived from picking different strings in simple bar chord shapes.

Take the Radiohead song Creep. The whole picking pattern throughout the main verses of the song although initially seems complex is simply 3 bar chords being picked across different strings and in different positions up the neck.

Huge numbers of songs rely on this technique and when you begin to understand how bar chords work and are used in song writing you will have a huge advantage over those who shy away from them.

If you really want to get ahead with your playing and make life easy for yourself then get stuck into your bar chords as soon as possible.

Start with your E and A and Am shapes first as shown at the top of this page, then move onto your minor, minor 7ths, 7th and 7sus4 shapes by simply removing a finger or two from each shape to create different types of seventh. Once you get the idea you will find hundreds of chords come easily.

The example below shows the F major bar chord and how easy it is to create minors, sevenths and minor seventh chords by removing a finger or two from the main F shape.

F Bar Chord

F minor Bar Chord

F minor 7 Bar Chord

F7 Bar Chord

These shapes can be transposed into any key by moving them up the fret board to any position you like.

Move on to the Am and A shapes after these and see how your chord vocabulary expands with no effort at all.

Implementing Bar Chords With Open Chords

Once you get the hang of fingering your bar chord shapes and moving between them it is important that you then become proficient at moving from open chords to bar chords and back again. Once you can achieve this there will be nothing to stop you and the fret board will become a place that you can truly express yourself. It will also get you thinking ‘out of the box’ and open up new dimensions to your playing.

Start slowly using chord progressions in close proximity to each other, eg. Open G, Open D, Bar Bm, Open A and repeat etc.

Finding an easy song that has good movement between open and bar chords in the main verses and chorus such as David Gray’s ‘Night Blindness’, which is full of B minors, or a song with loads of F majors in it like a typical Verve song will help you get your positioning right. Once you can hit F’s and B minors from any open chord you can then move up the fret board and become more adventurous between chord changes.

Try and hit the B minor (below) and F major bar chords from various different open chords

Just remember, once you crack this technique you will be well on your way to becoming a good solid guitar player.

Posted 22.11.08

Other Posts of Interest

Strum Like the Pro’s
Guitar Practice
The Correct Way to String a Guitar
How to Buy a Guitar – A Beginner’s Guide
Guitar Chords Made Easy

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