learn-guitar.org

I am working on learning how to use my right hand on the guitar. For most folks, the right hand is the hand that you use to strum the guitar strings (while the left hand is the hand that you use on the fretboard to make notes and chords). As I mentioned in my last post, I have been working with the “Priniciples of Correct Practice for the Guitar” for the last week or two. This stuff definitely is NOT for everyone, but I think it is what I need right now in my path to learning to play the guitar.

In any case, I am working on my right hand right now. That is sorta wild, it means I am not even touching the fretboard of my guitar with my left hand. In fact… in some of these excercises I am not even making a sound with the guitar. How is THAT for a different way to learn guitar?

In any case, this right handing string shifting excercise is all about moving your pick (if you are playing pick style) or your fingers (if you are playing fingerstyle) to the various guitar strings in a very controlled manner. You do it painstakingly slow… and then you gradually get faster. But the real key is that as you move over the guitar strings with your right hand, you are alwasy focused on not having any tension in your body. That means in your fingers, your forearm, your bicep, your shoulders, your neck, your belly, your legs.

The key is you learn to play the guitar, and you learn to use your right hand on the guitar, without any undue tension in your body. That means your body will move more freely and easily as you play the guitar.

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learn guitar,
guitar

links: Principles of Correct Guitar Practice

OK, here is a bit more on the Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar“. As I mentioned in my guitar chair blog entry… this is some intense guitar learning instruction. It isn’t for the faint of heart.

This course starts off with coaching you on how to sit with your guitar, and how to hold your guitar. After that, ” Guitar Principles” you get into the right hand string shifting excercise, where you just work on touching the six strings.

In other words, you are going to spend a lot of time with this course before you even make the first sound with your guitar. The key point is that you are becoming something of a guitar athlete… training your muscles to make the correct movements. And the principles course emphasizes that you REALLY have to focus as you are doing these very simple excercises. That is how you train your muscles. The theory is that later on, when you get around to actually playing your guitar, you will have trained your body in the exact way it needs to move.

That means that you will be able to take those basic movements and incorporate them in your playing… at a much faster and smoother pace.

So far, I haven’t even gotten into the left hand. This is all right hand stuff. I think it will get a little more interesting when I start putting the two hands together. But right now, it is all right hand. Then it will be all left hand. Then you put them together.

Oh, and by the way… you might be wondering about that guitar chair. It is all about having the correct posture. So I had to find a chair that supported that correct posture and position for playing my guitar.

file under: guitar, guitar practice

OK, I just bought a guitar chair - I think I have fallen hook, line, and sinker for the Principles. What am I talking about? Well the “The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar“. Now I will admit… this is some pretty intense stuff, and it is definitely not for everyone.

Basically, ” Guitar Principles” is a course that teaches you how to practice guitar.

Now read that again… it isn’t about learning guitar, it is about practicing guitar. Of course, if you figure out how to practice effectively, and you follow through and do the practice… well then you will be learning how to play guitar. But this is a fundamentally different type of approach, and I have to warn you - it is pretty rigorous.

I bought the book first, and I was skeptical. But sometimes I am a glutton for punishment… so I decided to get the DVD. And did I tell that guitar principles was rigorous? I am 35 minutes into the first of the two DVDs, and I have basically learned how to hold the guitar properly and use my right hand to touch the strings. In fact, I was probably 30 minutes into the DVD before I actually made a sound with the guitar.

This is serious practicing, for the serious guitar student. Actually, I don’t know how serious of a student I am… but I am definitely hungry to learn. So far I have just scratched the surface with this guitar principles technique… and this blog post barely scratches the surface of what I have done so far. In fact, I haven’t even told you about my guitar chair and guitar mirror that I bought. Hopefully, I will find time to tell you more…

file under: guitar, learn guitar

I have really been happy learning guitar with Jamorama. Lately I just can’t seem to play enough guitar… I have definitely got the bug. If you have read any of my past entries, I just started getting into guitar a few months ago. And since I tend to be a “self-taught” kind of guy, I decided to try that route with learning guitar. So I bought a few books at the guitar shop when I bought my guitar. Unfortunately, they didn’t take me very far. So I started to search on the web…

That is when I found Jamorama - and I made a pretty quick decision to buy it. I was impressed with everything you get with (including an ear training game), and the price was super-reasonable. In fact, it cost quite a bit less than the quote I got for ONE music theory lesson from a teacher. And Jamorama isn’t about some dry music theory… it is all about starting to play fast.

Now don’t get me wrong, you aren’t going to be Jimi Hendrix in a week or anything. But the books and audios and all the bonuses you get in Jamorama set you up to learn quickly, and actually start PLAYING your guitar quickly. It has been tons of fun, and I my playing really sounds like music… and it wasn’t hard to get to that point.

Jamorama is HIGHLY recommended.

File under: Jamorama, learn guitar, guitar

OK, I am not the biggest country music fan… but Folsom Prison Blues is not your average country song. It is a really killer song, and I would love to learn to play it on my guitar“>. No problem… right? The guitar chords are super easy, even for a beginner like me.

The real problem is in the strum pattern, at least for me. However, I found a killer video online that shows a couple of different ways to do the strum pattern for Folsom Prison Blues.

This isn’t a professional video, it is just guy with a blog and a video camera. The video shows how to do the alternating bass picking strum style (also known as Carter picking). It is really cool, even though I am still struggling to really get the technique down.

In fact, there are really two videos… one that gives a pretty simple guitar strum pattern, and one that gives an even simpler pattern. Be sure to check it out.

OK, I just found another cool “learn guitar” resource… Guitar Lessons On Demand. What I really like about this one is that they have all kinds of video lessons for learning guitar. I like all the books and audios from the other sources I have been learning from, but I am running into a wall trying to get my strumming patterns down.

But the videos for Guitar Lessons On Demand clearly show the strumming patterns. Very cool. And one thing I really like is how they slow things down - in other words, they show the guitar lesson at normal speed, and then they slow it down so mere mortals can really see what is going on with the guitar.

Don’t take my word on it… go check out the free demo videos, they really show some great examples of how you can slow down the strum pattern and really see what is going on, both on the fretboard and with your right hand.

Another thing I really like with this guitar course is that it is really easy to join and quite inexpensive… and they give you lots of sample material and sample videos to check out before you buy. In fact, those sample videos have some great built in lessons even if you don’t buy the course.

File under: guitar lessons,
guitar