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I totally understand the point about only playing songs. I spent all my younger years playing/learning songs. And although I gained the ability to play, I never understood any theory or my instrument. So eventually I came to this conclusion .. without understanding and only playing songs, Music is like doing Maths with only a calculator (the guitar). I can give you the answers no problem, but i cannot ever tell you how or why.
As I stated in the video "Learning" from a song is perfectly fine. However, endless "Practicing" of songs (only playing them like a robot), while their theory and composition gets ignored, isn't very good for you.
creativeguitarstudio it’s good advice I did enjoy your lesson and it has helped me. I used to practice 8 hours a day when I was younger for many years , but then eventually drifted away from guitar due to stresses of life , family and work commitments, I have started playing again and really want to dedicate myself the best I can , so your lesson is very useful however with the limited time I have now I’m older I won’t be able to practice like I did before so I will need to start playing more for enjoyment and set a realistic target . But I still find myself practising more than actually playing tunes which with limited time on your hands can sometimes be offputting because its hard work so I’m trying to find a balance of practice which I enjoy but also enjoying playing .
Much of what I do is on faith that the fingers will eventually remember, and another piece of info causes something to click that wasn’t before. Hasn’t let me down yet. You’re right on.
Playing music is like cooking. At first U follow recipes(cover songs) to learn how to incorporate ingredients to make dish (genre of music). After a while u notice a trend where certain ingredients are needed to make a dish taste a certain way. The ingredients in music are the styles, instruments used, and techniques needed to make that song. Every song requires different elements. Once you can play a variety of different genres, you can apply those elements to the song you're creating. This has made me a versatile player and a great cook lol. Now I dont even follow the recipes. I can see the dish I want to cook and manipulate the ingredients needed for it. Same in song writing.
Maybe u should cover more genres. The technique and sounds needed to cover a certain genre will always make u a versatile player. I can literally play everything with my gear, from sliding dobro, to country chicken pickin, and Spanish guitar corridos, and heavy metal riffs. What ever the song needs i can apply the flavor and style to it. All learned from having a good ear and covering a variety of genre songs.
I started to teach myself guitar about 5 years ago. I did not know what a Fret was. As usual I take the problem apart, learn music theory and everything about the electric guitar and how they are made including the physics behind it. Went through the tutorial book and video stage and came to the conclusion that we learn guitar to play the songs we love. Some of the stretches are impossible at first but your technique gradually picks up. I find this more satisfying at the end of the day as at least I can play some songs, not just noodling to learn combinations of notes which don't apply to anything.
Andrew, this is very Sound teaching! I'm 62 and started playing guitar around 13 years old......got a book of 1,000 chords and had a music theory class in H.S.. i AM not a professional player but I have played steady intermittently over the years. these exercises are great! thank you
I played in a rock band, a blues band, and then in my church. I learned a lot more about music playing church music due to the chord structures not being typical.
I was one of those children that were only given songs to practice. My classical educated teacher started out by teaching me playing notes. You all rember "Greensleeves" 😕😁 but I wanted to play rock'n roll. I wasn't able to put that in to words as I was eight years old. I was bored with this and instead he started to give me songs and chords to play. That went on for nine years and it did not make me a very good guitar player. I had another gift from that poore method instead: it made med a great singer. Thanks Jørgen (even though you didn't know what you was doing) I'm 53 now and have just learnt the five boxes of minor pentatonic scales - and I am thrilled 😁😍😁 thanks to all you great sharing people out there. Finally I know which path to take 🙏🙏🙏♥️♥️♥️ Of course some of the stof comes easier because I'm not a complete beginner. That's a big help! Thanks again Jørgen.. 😕😍
Nice discussion but I think learning songs of different genres is a very important way to develop a lot of technical stuff all in all.. and let us not to forget the fun that motivates us to play more and more..
I suspect a good balance is best. I do think that playing songs gives focus and reward to the student. However, without the underlying technique and familiarity of the instrument, the ability just stops at playing songs. The greater goal is to take songs to another level, that only you will be able to create. Our guitar heroes are the ones that did just that, not just played the songs written and performed by others. Go create is my philosophy.
Brian Mason Agree with you to a lot of extent . The greater goal is to create our own sound in the best possible way .. but it's a journey and we need a lot of dedication and patience to proceed . Having fun and gradually building milestones makes a lot of sense. The bigger picture expands and solidify gradually over time.
There's nothing wrong with Learning songs, but endless practice of ONLY songs without taking their basic elements of theory and re-applying that - is what I'm saying not to do. Constant "Practice" of songs without digging into their structure will cause your playing to flatline.
creativeguitarstudio totally agree with your point.. it' will be a big trap if we only continue to copy notes without seeing what is behind the lines .. but in the other-hand we can learn a lot of rhythm sections, chord arrangements and progressions, arpeggios , chord tones , practical scale shapes, practicing bends and slides... etc and having fun and feeling of accomplishment all at the same time.
I never learnt any music theory so lessons like this are good. I see the comments below and I think some of you take your skills for granted. However songs of tunes put it together. You cannot just teach one. Which I think he makes clear.
The right way to learn. A guitarist genius taught me the same stuff in a similar way, when I was a wee 'un. I don't learn songs that often, though, that is my failing.
learning songs is a great way to improve but you need to split it apart and get the fundamentals on why that song sounds like that. John Mayer said that's one of the best advices guitarists can follow. Once you get the fundamentals down steal the ideas you like the most and make it your own altering stuff here and there.
Yes, EXACTLY... That's the ticket! Learn tons of songs, take from them what you want and apply the various ideas across all forms of music using basic theory. Your playing will skyrocket from that work.
The long and short of major vs minor has everything to do with the human ear/brain. Human brains are conditioned to certain sequences of notes, and scales, and derive “pleasure” from them, and are repulsed by other, less orderly sounds, like car horns, etc, which use dissonance to create that reaction on purpose. Car horns , for example, are TWO horns, pitched in a way we find “disorderly.” Creative use of major, minor, suspensions, and modes (and sometimes dissonance) are what make music challenging and thought-provoking.
Nice videos. I never practiced songs. I only "steal" some beautiful riffs or licks from them and put it in my improvisation. Get some good ideas from those time honored pieces and rearrange them in your own comfortable way!
Great advice it sort of validated what I have been trying to do but was feeling guilty because I wasn’t playing whole songs but focusing on sections with different techniques etc😃 thank you👍🏻
The Hendrix technique was to play what you feel, emotion, skill, spontaneous. He wrote MANY Song's from Jamming Countless times. He was a Unorthodox Guitarist as was Cobain, Clapton, and Jimmy Page, to name a few. When you start following Rules in Any Art Form you lose Creativity, Inventiveness, improvising, and most of All unique Self expression of the individual.
lol practicing songs actually help you remember chords easier and recognize the fretboard and different octaves and keys. Well I guess it depends on your favorite artists, Pedrum from the Allah-Las taught me alot just by me watching their live videos, as well as Nick Waterhouse, but when I wanna spice up my chord and scale knowledge I just bump some chillhop artists like Ruck P or J'san who are REALLY articulate guitar players. But to each his own i guess, Take this video as a grain of salt, this is one perspective doesn't mean it works for errbody, take the ideas and add your own spice to it
I agree to a certain extent but if It wasn't for learning Gary Moore songs then my technique wouldn't be up to scratch and it also taught me new licks.
@@creativeguitarstudio yes very true plus I've noticed in a lot of musicians that they tend to noodle to much and forget what they have just played. Recording and playing back is one of the most important tools in my opinion.
So in the first part you suggested that one learns note placement on the neck. Do you mean that one should be able to know where every note is on the neck? That seems a little overkill.
Totally new to music theory. Can anyone explain how to identify what scales to play to a certain chord? Guitar strumming chords for a certain genre and you are trying to come up with lead melodies. Is there a course to learn that?
Just to be clear? suspended means: away goes the third, but does it also mean: in comes the second or the fourth, and are those refered to as the tones of of that scale?
In a suspended chord,yes you are doing away with the 3rd. Since that is the note that makes it major or minor a suspended chord is neither. In a sus4 chord the 4th degree of the scale replaces the 3rd and in a sus2 chord the 2nd degree of the scale replaces the 3rd. Hope this helps.
Many thanks for the clarification. I needed that to be sure. I now see the arrogance from the classical teaching I was brought up with. Fx.: In Europe we are tought that the B-note is called H because of some righting error back in the centuries. In the American way they cut through the chase and call notes: a,b,c,.. or 1,2,3.. all my life up until these last few months I was under the impression that the stof was simply to hard for me to comprehend. How stupid and arrogant to put that idea into a child human mind - thanks for helping me lifting the vale (?spelling). Much gratitude 🙏♥️
Again the keyword in your reply is "Learning." There's nothing wrong with "Learning" songs, the issue is endless "Practicing" of them while ignoring their details!
Muhtasim Fuad By playing the C major scale, but starting and ending with A, you get an A minor scale. To make it an A major scale, you would have to start on A, but play the notes in the “wholestep/wholestep/halfstep/wholestep/wholestep/wholestep/halfstep” pattern, as he demonstrated in the initial C major scale. In other words, The difference major and minor scales are that the halfsteps are in different locations, thus giving the scale a different “feel.” Minor scales tend to lend sort of an “Asian” feel to music, as minor keys are prevalent in much of the Asian music we hear.
gravl123 so A major would be A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A ? I thought all major follow the ABCDEFG pattern, but it looks like only C does that ... If i follow this ABCDEFG in A it would me A minor scale, right?
**VISIT MY BLOGGER PAGE**
This Lessons Post... creativeguitarstudio.blogspot.com/2020/06/stop-practicing-songs-do-this-instead.html
Help **SUPPORT** the Project... creativeguitarstudio.com/donations/
I totally understand the point about only playing songs. I spent all my younger years playing/learning songs. And although I gained the ability to play, I never understood any theory or my instrument. So eventually I came to this conclusion .. without understanding and only playing songs, Music is like doing Maths with only a calculator (the guitar). I can give you the answers no problem, but i cannot ever tell you how or why.
I usually practice scales technique exercises and patterns and forget to play music , sometimes learning a song isn’t a bad thing.
As I stated in the video "Learning" from a song is perfectly fine. However, endless "Practicing" of songs (only playing them like a robot), while their theory and composition gets ignored, isn't very good for you.
creativeguitarstudio it’s good advice I did enjoy your lesson and it has helped me. I used to practice 8 hours a day when I was younger for many years , but then eventually drifted away from guitar due to stresses of life , family and work commitments, I have started playing again and really want to dedicate myself the best I can , so your lesson is very useful however with the limited time I have now I’m older I won’t be able to practice like I did before so I will need to start playing more for enjoyment and set a realistic target . But I still find myself practising more than actually playing tunes which with limited time on your hands can sometimes be offputting because its hard work so I’m trying to find a balance of practice which I enjoy but also enjoying playing .
I just save all of Andrew's videos in my "Guitar" saved playlist, in the hopes that some day this will all make sense to me. ;-)
You and me both brotha
Well you're starting with the right mindset.
Much of what I do is on faith that the fingers will eventually remember, and another piece of info causes something to click that wasn’t before. Hasn’t let me down yet. You’re right on.
Keep practicing buddy
Watch..try...LEARN
Playing music is like cooking. At first U follow recipes(cover songs) to learn how to incorporate ingredients to make dish (genre of music). After a while u notice a trend where certain ingredients are needed to make a dish taste a certain way. The ingredients in music are the styles, instruments used, and techniques needed to make that song. Every song requires different elements. Once you can play a variety of different genres, you can apply those elements to the song you're creating. This has made me a versatile player and a great cook lol. Now I dont even follow the recipes. I can see the dish I want to cook and manipulate the ingredients needed for it. Same in song writing.
I agree completely. When I go full cover band, my guitar skill gets stagnant.
Maybe u should cover more genres. The technique and sounds needed to cover a certain genre will always make u a versatile player. I can literally play everything with my gear, from sliding dobro, to country chicken pickin, and Spanish guitar corridos, and heavy metal riffs. What ever the song needs i can apply the flavor and style to it. All learned from having a good ear and covering a variety of genre songs.
I started to teach myself guitar about 5 years ago. I did not know what a Fret was. As usual I take the problem apart, learn music theory and everything about the electric guitar and how they are made including the physics behind it. Went through the tutorial book and video stage and came to the conclusion that we learn guitar to play the songs we love. Some of the stretches are impossible at first but your technique gradually picks up. I find this more satisfying at the end of the day as at least I can play some songs, not just noodling to learn combinations of notes which don't apply to anything.
You can play some songs, but you can't jam
Ur information is priceless wish I had teacher like u years ago I always wondered what a sus chord was tyvm.
Happy to help!
I am one of those of whom you speak. I will be working with this vid for a while. Thanks for all you do.
Please do!
Andrew, this is very Sound teaching! I'm 62 and started playing guitar around 13 years old......got a book of 1,000 chords and had a music theory class in H.S.. i AM not a professional player but I have played steady intermittently over the years. these exercises are great! thank you
Andrew
You are a great teacher
I've learned so many things
That YOU made me THINK about
Keep up the great work.
I love your videos
I played in a rock band, a blues band, and then in my church. I learned a lot more about music playing church music due to the chord structures not being typical.
Its like when baseball players use heavier than usual bat while practising, to build stronger hit with the regular bat.
I was one of those children that were only given songs to practice. My classical educated teacher started out by teaching me playing notes. You all rember "Greensleeves" 😕😁 but I wanted to play rock'n roll. I wasn't able to put that in to words as I was eight years old. I was bored with this and instead he started to give me songs and chords to play. That went on for nine years and it did not make me a very good guitar player.
I had another gift from that poore method instead: it made med a great singer. Thanks Jørgen (even though you didn't know what you was doing)
I'm 53 now and have just learnt the five boxes of minor pentatonic scales - and I am thrilled 😁😍😁 thanks to all you great sharing people out there. Finally I know which path to take 🙏🙏🙏♥️♥️♥️
Of course some of the stof comes easier because I'm not a complete beginner. That's a big help! Thanks again Jørgen.. 😕😍
Nice discussion but I think learning songs of different genres is a very important way to develop a lot of technical stuff all in all.. and let us not to forget the fun that motivates us to play more and more..
I suspect a good balance is best. I do think that playing songs gives focus and reward to the student. However, without the underlying technique and familiarity of the instrument, the ability just stops at playing songs. The greater goal is to take songs to another level, that only you will be able to create. Our guitar heroes are the ones that did just that, not just played the songs written and performed by others. Go create is my philosophy.
Brian Mason Agree with you to a lot of extent . The greater goal is to create our own sound in the best possible way .. but it's a journey and we need a lot of dedication and patience to proceed . Having fun and gradually building milestones makes a lot of sense. The bigger picture expands and solidify gradually over time.
There's nothing wrong with Learning songs, but endless practice of ONLY songs without taking their basic elements of theory and re-applying that - is what I'm saying not to do. Constant "Practice" of songs without digging into their structure will cause your playing to flatline.
creativeguitarstudio totally agree with your point.. it' will be a big trap if we only continue to copy notes without seeing what is behind the lines .. but in the other-hand we can learn a lot of rhythm sections, chord arrangements and progressions, arpeggios , chord tones , practical scale shapes, practicing bends and slides... etc and having fun and feeling of accomplishment all at the same time.
I never learnt any music theory so lessons like this are good. I see the comments below and I think some of you take your skills for granted. However songs of tunes put it together. You cannot just teach one. Which I think he makes clear.
The right way to learn. A guitarist genius taught me the same stuff in a similar way, when I was a wee 'un. I don't learn songs that often, though, that is my failing.
That song in the beginning is beautiful 🤤💜i wanna sample that 💯
learning songs is a great way to improve but you need to split it apart and get the fundamentals on why that song sounds like that. John Mayer said that's one of the best advices guitarists can follow. Once you get the fundamentals down steal the ideas you like the most and make it your own altering stuff here and there.
That's what he is saying, learn the fundamentals. Don't keep on playing the song over and over
Yes, EXACTLY... That's the ticket! Learn tons of songs, take from them what you want and apply the various ideas across all forms of music using basic theory. Your playing will skyrocket from that work.
Very informative and well explained. I will use this method for sure
Always love the heart of your music.
Great advise as always about learning songs. Also your explanation about sus chords is the best I've heard.
Awesome, thank you!
I actually came to this conclusion while teaching myself... glad someone articulates it for all the internet to see
The long and short of major vs minor has everything to do with the human ear/brain. Human brains are conditioned to certain sequences of notes, and scales, and derive “pleasure” from them, and are repulsed by other, less orderly sounds, like car horns, etc, which use dissonance to create that reaction on purpose. Car horns , for example, are TWO horns, pitched in a way we find “disorderly.” Creative use of major, minor, suspensions, and modes (and sometimes dissonance) are what make music challenging and thought-provoking.
thanks for that Andrew...much appreciated. shall continue watching your videos.. good vibes!!!
Awesome, thank you!
Great lesson, as always, Andrew, thank you!
My pleasure!
I can only hope to become a musician and not just a guitar player some day,I imagine it’s takes time,understanding, dedication,desire
Very informative - thanks a lot!
This was so helpful thank you !
Awesome Play and Tut again from India
Very nice guidance.
Thanks a lot Sir
Most welcome
Well done video - thanks
Glad it was helpful!
Nice videos. I never practiced songs. I only "steal" some beautiful riffs or licks from them and put it in my improvisation. Get some good ideas from those time honored pieces and rearrange them in your own comfortable way!
That guitar tone is beautiful, brothaman. I practice everything and still sound like crap, so it doesn't really matter what I do. -=80)
Great teacher
Glad you think so!
Great advice it sort of validated what I have been trying to do but was feeling guilty because I wasn’t playing whole songs but focusing on sections with different techniques etc😃 thank you👍🏻
The Hendrix technique was to play what you feel, emotion, skill, spontaneous. He wrote MANY Song's from Jamming Countless times. He was a Unorthodox Guitarist as was Cobain, Clapton, and Jimmy Page, to name a few. When you start following Rules in Any Art Form you lose Creativity, Inventiveness, improvising, and most of All unique Self expression of the individual.
Love that!
Hey,that is great to learn
7:20 SECOND IDEA ie LEARN A SONG THEORYTICALLY.
14:16 THIRD IDEA ie RHYTHM get the grove of a song.
The best way to improve yourself on a any instrument is to join a band and learn songs or write your own !!
The point you make is EXTREMELY important, but the concept of what you're trying to get across is different from the premise of this video.
damn, you are really good
I have to say this guy knows his stuff. I get a little lost. I’m going to come back soon.
Thanks!
Can this be practiced on an acoustic guitar or only on an electric guitar?
medicare should cover guitar lessons.I defin.feel better after this lesson thx bigly!
that could work as stress reducer
Practicing a song can ware you out which some people will give up
I really need this thank you. Now is this the same for the bass guitar 4,5 and six stringer?
Can this be applied to bass?
lol practicing songs actually help you remember chords easier and recognize the fretboard and different octaves and keys. Well I guess it depends on your favorite artists, Pedrum from the Allah-Las taught me alot just by me watching their live videos, as well as Nick Waterhouse, but when I wanna spice up my chord and scale knowledge I just bump some chillhop artists like Ruck P or J'san who are REALLY articulate guitar players. But to each his own i guess, Take this video as a grain of salt, this is one perspective doesn't mean it works for errbody, take the ideas and add your own spice to it
I agree to a certain extent but if It wasn't for learning Gary Moore songs then my technique wouldn't be up to scratch and it also taught me new licks.
Keyword in your reply was, "Learning." Nothing wrong with that, the operational word is "Practicing"
@@creativeguitarstudio yes very true plus I've noticed in a lot of musicians that they tend to noodle to much and forget what they have just played. Recording and playing back is one of the most important tools in my opinion.
So in the first part you suggested that one learns note placement on the neck. Do you mean that one should be able to know where every note is on the neck? That seems a little overkill.
Totally new to music theory. Can anyone explain how to identify what scales to play to a certain chord? Guitar strumming chords for a certain genre and you are trying to come up with lead melodies. Is there a course to learn that?
Just to be clear? suspended means: away goes the third, but does it also mean: in comes the second or the fourth, and are those refered to as the tones of of that scale?
In a suspended chord,yes you are doing away with the 3rd. Since that is the note that makes it major or minor a suspended chord is neither. In a sus4 chord the 4th degree of the scale replaces the 3rd and in a sus2 chord the 2nd degree of the scale replaces the 3rd. Hope this helps.
Many thanks for the clarification. I needed that to be sure. I now see the arrogance from the classical teaching I was brought up with. Fx.: In Europe we are tought that the B-note is called H because of some righting error back in the centuries. In the American way they cut through the chase and call notes: a,b,c,.. or 1,2,3.. all my life up until these last few months I was under the impression that the stof was simply to hard for me to comprehend. How stupid and arrogant to put that idea into a child human mind - thanks for helping me lifting the vale (?spelling).
Much gratitude 🙏♥️
"Suspended" means the chord is temporarily suspended from having a quality, (Major & Minor = Chord Quality).
First view, First comment, First like
Wow, That's was awesome A support from India😉😉. It is was mind blowing, simply superb
Thank you so much 😀
What track is that you playing on the beginning? And what guitar brand you playing on ?
It was an improvised melody played on a Fender USA Telecaster
a great master super music instrumental \,,,,/
This guy is the BEST teacher on UA-cam
to summarize, dont skip music theory
I’m not sure if I agree... I’ve been learning songs my whole life and I’m pretty sure I’ll be ready for my first gig on my 59th birthday 👍
Again the keyword in your reply is "Learning." There's nothing wrong with "Learning" songs, the issue is endless "Practicing" of them while ignoring their details!
6:30 why is that not A major ?
Because A major doesn't have the same notes as C major, which is the scale in question.
Muhtasim Fuad By playing the C major scale, but starting and ending with A, you get an A minor scale. To make it an A major scale, you would have to start on A, but play the notes in the “wholestep/wholestep/halfstep/wholestep/wholestep/wholestep/halfstep” pattern, as he demonstrated in the initial C major scale. In other words, The difference major and minor scales are that the halfsteps are in different locations, thus giving the scale a different “feel.” Minor scales tend to lend sort of an “Asian” feel to music, as minor keys are prevalent in much of the Asian music we hear.
gravl123 so A major would be A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A ? I thought all major follow the ABCDEFG pattern, but it looks like only C does that ... If i follow this ABCDEFG in A it would me A minor scale, right?