Hey Friend,
Have you ever moved to a new place?
It could've been when you left your parents home, or maybe went off to college or the military. Perhaps you moved across the country (or to another one all together!).
Most of us have moved at least once in our lives.
What’s the first thing you do when you move into new area?
You get to know your surroundings.
First it’s the new home and neighborhood. You’ll have to venture out to find a grocery and general supply-type store to stock up on supplies.
Then maybe a pizza place (‘cos who wants to cook that first night in a new town?).
You slowly learn your way around, and before you know it, you’re a part of the community.
Getting familiar...
It’s the same when you’re learning guitar.
You pick it up for the first time, and it’s this piece of wood with some nylon or metal wires stretched across it that make sound.
First you make sure it’s tuned up (which can be an adventure unto itself - - get help HERE), and then you start figuring out how and where to press your fingers to bring out the notes you want to hear.
I know, a simplistic description of your first encounter, but if you think back to it, pretty accurate. I remember messing around with a full-size guitar back when I was eight or nine.
A neighbor had one and were gracious enough to let me make a little noise. It wasn’t until Christmas 1977 that I received a guitar of my own, a kid-sized acoustic that set my path…
What do I do next?
It’s at that point you quickly realize you need someone to show you a thing or two on this contraption.
One of the first things you learn is that by moving your finger up or down a string and pressing changes the pitch of the sound.
The frets make it easy to tell one note position from another (I didn’t have THAT luxury with violin), and we start to recognize relationships between the notes.
Some sound good… others, not so much.
If you noodle around long enough, it doesn’t take long to figure out some of the more important relationships (we call these intervals).
Like the octave - two notes that sound identical except that one is higher (or lower) than the other.
Patterns
An interval is just the distance between one note and another.
For example, pluck the sixth string (the thickest, lowest sounding string). That is an E note (assuming you’re in tune).
If you slide up the fingerboard to the space between the eleventh and twelfth frets and press your finger there, this is also an E note.
It’s a specific pattern on the fingerboard.
That interval is called an octave. The higher (or lower) pitch is the eighth scale note.
But here’s the cool thing - - you can play that same note on the fourth string at the second fret. No need to slide all the way up to the twelfth fret - - it’s right there! Another pattern you can use.
That's a super-simple example, but I want you to get the main point:
Learning to play music on guitar IS pretty simple - - it’s just a bunch of patterns that fit together like puzzle pieces.
All you have to do is:
memorize the patterns (yup, I said memorize). train your fingers to do what you want them to do with those patterns.
That really is it.
The work is in the practicing. Showing up, sitting down and doing the drills.
Even if you’ve been playing guitar for decades, reviewing the patterns you know on a regular basis is worth doing.
Like anything else, what we work on improves, and what we don’t work on fades away.
There is no stasis...
Have I beat that drum long enough?
Yeah, I agree, probably not.
Practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, PRACTICE!
See you next week!
Peace~
Dave
P.S. You been doing your daily practice? Are you stuck on something?
Shoot me an email, I’ll try to help.
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