Archive for the 'normal tuning' Category

Martin Simpson Youtube - Fingerstyle Guitar

Posted by plantrubba on Aug 14 2008 | acoustic guitar, normal tuning, youTube

Martin Simpson is one of the legends of contemporay British  acoustic open tuning guitar.  His roots are in folk but extends way past that.

 Martin Simpson is one of the most beautiful sounding acoustic guitar players you’ll ever have the privelege of hearing.

This Youtube Video is exceptional.  I’m humbled when I hear and watch him play.

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Eric Clapton Youtube Blues - Outside Woman Blues

Posted by plantrubba on Aug 08 2008 | acoustic guitar, blues guitar, normal tuning, youTube

My introduction to the Cream featuring Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker was in 1969, I was 13 years old and just discovering music.  By 1970 I had inherited four albums, Jimi Hendrix  - Are You Experienced, John Wesley Harding by Dylan, Hurdy Gurdy Man by Donovan and Disraeli Gears by the Cream.  To this day I’m still spooked by the Tales of Brave Ulysses of the Gears album, but another song that really caught my ears back then was Outside Woman Blues.  So to get hold of a version by Clapton doing the tune on acoustic, really brings the tune into context and shows the underlying thinking behind the song.  This is a tremendous song to add to an acoustic blues repertoire and it’s reasonably simple …if you can already play.

 For other blues check out Stefan Grossman Blues showing how to play a slow blues:

 http://acousticguitarist.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/acoustic-blues-guitar-youtube-stefan-grossman/

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Guitar Chords - How to Make E chords Part 5

Posted by plantrubba on Jul 28 2008 | acoustic guitar, chord playing, normal tuning, rock guitar

Guitar Chords - How to Make E chords

This is Part 5 of the 6 part series in Guitar Chords - How to Make E chordsAs stated in the other articles on Making Guitar Chords ,  
chords generally have a 3rd, 5th and 7th.

So to make an E Major Chord we need the first third and fifth of an E scale

The first of E is E, the third is G# and the fifth is B

For the E minor, we flatten the 3rd (one fret lower), so the G sharp becomes G, we still use the 1st and 5th.

An E 7th chord is the same as an E but we need to take the 7th note of E and drop it one note. 
That will be a D natural, not a D Sharp.

So an E7th has a st, 3rd and 5th

For the printable TAB and Notation Click the link
Guitar Chords - How to Make E chords

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How Guitar Chords are Made - Part 4 of 6

Posted by plantrubba on Jul 23 2008 | acoustic guitar, chord playing, guitar, normal tuning

 How to make guitar Chords - A

These Chords are based around the Key of A.  The Key of A has 3 sharps (#) C sharp, F sharp and G Sharp.   As before in the last article, if you look at the music stave above, you’ll notice that I have numbered each note and also given it an alphabetical name.

I’ll also remind you once again that the way chords are made is generally by taking the 1st, 3rd and 5th of a scale.

If you look at the top line of music above, you’ll see it is A, C# and E, this is called an A major triad.  You could also play a couple of A’s C#’s or E’s  instead of just one, it’s still a A major chord.

If you look at the second line of music above, you’ll see it is A, C natural and E, this is called an A minor triad.  Also, just like the major chord, you could play a couple of A’s C’s  or E’s instead of just one, it’s still aa A minor chord.

The seventh chord consists of the 1st, the 3rd, the 5th and also the 7th note, but this is IMPORTANT. Once again, as in previous article, look closely at the note though, in truth what is known as a 7th is really a flattened 7th, it is one note lower than the seventh note of the normal major scaleTo download the Free High Quality Printable version Click the following Link:

To download the Printable ‘How Guitar Chords are Made’ article, click the link:

How Guitar Chords are Made - A pdf notation and TAB

 For the previous article click How Chords are Made - Key of D

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Tommy Emmanuel youTube Video - Classical Gas

Posted by plantrubba on Jul 21 2008 | acoustic guitar, guitar, normal tuning, youTube

Tommy Emmanuel, the brilliant Australian guitar player playing Classical Gas on his Maton acoustic Guitar, quite a good combination.  A couple of days ago I posted about  Tommy Emmanuel’s youtube version of Amazing Grace.   This youtube of Tommy has him playing Classical Gas his style, a dynamic rhythmic intro and then it gets the Emmanuel steel String acoustic.  It’s great to hear different players of Tommy Emmanuels standard versions of such well known tunes.  Common song that we know so well in our heads that we’ve head numerous versions make it easy for us to notice the unexpected.  I love the percussion he creates on the guitar in this version, and the arpeggios around about the 4 minute mark.  This intensity that he expresses when he plays acoustic is rare.  Hats of to to Tommy Emmanuel, he keeps getting better and better.

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Tommy Emmanuel Youtube - Acoustic Guitar

Posted by plantrubba on Jul 18 2008 | DADGAD, acoustic guitar, guitar, guitar site goal, normal tuning

It’s pretty hard to have an acoustic guitar site or blog without mentioning Tommy Emmanuel at some point.  Over the years I’ve seen him play many times in different settings, both acoustic and electric.  Although I’ve never been fortunate enough to play guitar with him , I did have him play one of my guitars one day in a shop when I was buying a Polytone Amp, he played some George Benson on my Gold Top Les Paul.

I find that solo acoustic guitar is on of the best ways to really hear a player, so I’ve posted this youtube blog article with Tommy playing solo guitar, the reason I chose Amazing Grace is because it’s a very common turn that most peple would know.  When you hear a player play a common tune it’s a great way to hear own personal musical voice.  Enjoy it.

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How Guitar Chords are Made - Part 3

Posted by plantrubba on Jul 16 2008 | acoustic guitar, chord playing, guitar, normal tuning

Here is the 3rd article in the series of How Guitar Chords are Made, in this one I am covering D chords. 

How Chords are Made in D

Note how in the first article C Chords, the Key of C has no sharps (#)or Flats (b) , wheras the G scale has one sharp.  The key of D, you may or nopt know has 2 sharps, F and C are both sharp..this means one note or fret higher up the fret fretboard.
As before in the last article, if you look at the music stave above, you’ll notice that I have numbered each note and also given it an alphabetical name.

I’ll also remind you that the way chords are made is generally by taking the 1st, 3rd and 5th of a scale.

If you look at the top line of music above, you’ll see it is D, F# and A, this is called a D major triad.  You could also play a couple of D’s F#’s or A’s  instead of just one, it’s still a D major chord.

If you look at the second line of music above, you’ll see it is D, F natural and A, this is called a D minor triad.  Also, just like the major chord, you could play a couple of D’s F’s  or A’s instead of just one, it’s still a D minor chord.

The seventh chord consists of the 1st, the 3rd, the 5th and also the 7th note, but this is IMPORTANT. Look closely at the note though, in truth what is known as a 7th is really a flattened 7th, it is one note lower than the seventh note of the normal major scale. Because of the construction of the guitar fretboard, guitar players often leave out notes of a chord, in the case of the D7, I have omitted the A note, but as before in the previous articles listen and you’ll notice that it still sounds right.

To download the Free High Quality Printable version Click the following Link:

How Guitar Chords Are Made - D Chords

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How Guitar Chords are Made - Part 2

Posted by plantrubba on Jul 14 2008 | acoustic guitar, chord playing, normal tuning

 This is part 2 of a 6 Part series on Chord Construction for guitar.

In my previous article on How Guitar Chords Are Made I covered three basic C chords.  In this Article I shall cover three basic G chords.

 How guitar Chords are made TAB and Dots

As before in the last article, if you look at the music stave above, you’ll notice that I have numbered each note and also given it an alphabetical name, no big deal, no rocket science here.

Chords are grouped into three basic categories: 

Major, Minor and Sevenths. However I did have a very long discussion once with the great guitar player Ike Isaacs and he was leaving the question open ended about whether there was a fourth type.  But I’ll keep it simple here and agree with most of the planets musicians and say there are three.

I’ll also reiterate that the way chords are made is generally by taking the 1st, 3rd and 5th of a scale.

If you look at the top line of music above, you’ll see it is G, B and D, this is called a major triad.  You could play a couple of G’s B’s or D’s in it instead of just one, it’s still a G major chord.

If you look at the second line of music above, you’ll see it is G, B flat ( the little b = flat) and D, this is called a G minor triad.  Also, just like the major chord, you could play a couple of G’s B flat’s or D’s in it instead of just one, it’s still a G minor chord.

The seventh chord consists of the 1st, the 3rd, the 5th and also the 7th note, but this is IMPORTANT. Look closely at the note though, in truth what is known as a 7th is really a flattened 7th, it is one note lower than the seventh note of the normal major scale. Because of the construction of the guitar fretboard, guitar players often leave out notes of a chord, in the case of the G7, I have omitted the D note, but listen and you’ll notice that it still sounds right.

To download the Free High QualityPrintable version Click the following Link:

Basics on How to Create guitar Chords

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Guitar Chords

Posted by plantrubba on Jul 11 2008 | acoustic guitar, chord playing, guitar, normal tuning

In my previous article I wrote about guitar chords consisting of a 1st , a 3rd, and a 5th. I thought I’d write a short article to reinforce the learning.

The key of C consists of the notes: C D E F G A B and for those that live in Europe, the B is often called H.

We established that a C major chord consists of C, E and G notes, which are the 1st, 3rd and 5th of C. Using that principle,  to create a C6 chord, we would add the 6th note of the scale of C, which is A.

We arrived at that because C = 1, D =2, E = 3, F =4, G =5 and C = 6.

A C6 chord = C E G and A.  The notes don’t necessarily need to be in that order when you play them.

Working out a C6 chord is quite easy, however some of the other chords such as C9, c13 etc gets a little more complex.  Whoever wrote the rules originally didn’t write in a very user friendly manner.  I will be writing more in depth information about chords in the very near future, as I said this is just a short refresher article…with a little more info.

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Guitar Chords - How They Are Made

Posted by plantrubba on Jul 08 2008 | acoustic guitar, chord playing, guitar, improvisation, normal tuning, rock guitar

This is part 1 of a 6 Part series on Chord Construction for guitar.How Guitar Chords are Made

How chords are made is not that difficult to understand.  You will require a tiny bit of patience and the ability to count up to 13 and also know the alphabet from  A to G.

Having a good understanding of how chords are made will help you with your guitar soloing and accompaniment, many guitar players bypass this type of information.  I would encourage you to get on top of the basics of this info and a whole lot of newe areas of your playing will open up.

If you look at the music stave above, you’ll notice that I have numbered each note and also given it an alphabetical name, no big deal, no rocket science here.

Chords are grouped into three basic categories: 

Major, Minor and Sevenths. However I did have a very long discussion once with the great guitar player Ike Isaacs and he was leaving the question open ended about whether there was a fourth type.  But I’ll keep it simple here and agree with most of the planets musicians and say there are three.

Major chords have a strength about them, they are reasonably bright sounding, I could say ‘happy’ sounding but it’s not quite correct. Examples would be C, D, G, A, E with no numbers written after them.

Minor chords are very sad sounding, the saddest of all being the D minor chord.  Many composers for films will write in the key of D minor T evoke sadness in a a film, think tissues and hankies. Examples would be: Dm, Em, Gm, sometimes written with a minus sign D-, E- or Dmin or Emin etc

Seventh chords imply movement.  They are just major chords with an extra note, their sound creates a feeling of wanting to go to another chord. The way that a seventh chord is generally written is:  G7, E7, A7 etc.  They are commonly used in Blues music and variations of 7ths are common in Jazz, they’ll often look like G7b5#9 etc but let’s keep it simple.

The way chords are made is generally by taking the 1st, 3rd and 5th of a scale.

If you look at the top line of music above, you’ll see it is C, E and G, this is called a major triad.  You could play a couple of C’s E’s or G’s in it instead of just one, it’s still a C major chord.

If you look at the second line of music above, you’ll see it is C, E flat ( the little b = flat) and G, this is called a minor triad.  Also, just like the major chord, you could play a couple of C’s Eb’s or G’s in it instead of just one, it’s still a C minor chord.

The seventh chord consists of the 1st, the 3rd, the 5th and also the 7th note, but this is IMPORTANT. Look closely at the note though, in truth what is known as a 7th is really a flattened 7th, it is one note lower than the seventh note of the normal major scale. Because of the construction of the guitar fretboard, guitar players often leave out notes of a chord, in the case of the C7, I have omitted the G note, but listen and you’ll notice that it still sounds right.

In these examples I have used only three note chords, for some situations, using a thrree note chord can be better than a full chord.  Regardless what you use, it’s still valid, three, four, five or six.

To download the Free High QualityPrintable version Click the following Link:

How Guitar Chords Are Made TAB

NOTE: Part 2 will be available within four days.

For Blues Scales go to the following link at my other blog/site:

http://acousticguitarist.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/blues-scales-learn-guitar-tab-and-dots/

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Guitar Scale Pentatonic Major in B Flat - Part 6 of 6

Posted by plantrubba on Jul 01 2008 | Scales, acoustic guitar, blues guitar, improvisation, normal tuning, rock guitar

This guitar scale is the final one in may six part series on Pentatonic Scales.  As you my remember from my previous web blog posts, I decided to do a short series because many players have difficulty following through if there is too much information.  To work steadily through a half a dozen scales won’t hurt too much but the benefits will be many because a little self-discipline goes a long way.  And the way I have written most of these scales is a little unusual to try and prevent players monotonusly running their fingers up and down the fretboard, but the fingerings are interesting and I know from experience that they will force you to think a little when you play them.

Most guitar players avoid the flat keys, they stick to C, D , A , G and E, because they are guitar friendly.  So let’s break the habit a little with this one and do a B Flat.  The key of B flat includes the notes B flat, C, D, E flat, F, G A  and B flat. 

But the Pentatonic I’ve used (penta being 5) is Bb, C, D, F, G .  Note the fingering of the exercise, I jump to the 5th fret after playing the open G and a few of notes later I jump up a fret.  And then decscending I move back to fret one.  Playing this way will force you to think.

Guitar Scale Pentatonic Major in B Flat

To download the printable guitar scale in TAB and music notes click below:

TAB and Music Notes Guitar Scale Pentatonic Major in B Flat

My next set of six short tutorials will cover Chord Construction Made Easy

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Lightning Hopkins youTube Blues Guitar

Posted by plantrubba on Jun 27 2008 | acoustic guitar, blues guitar, guitar site goal, improvisation, normal tuning

Todays video youtube post is Lighning Hopkins, the classic acoustic blues guitar player, he has influenced thousands of players across the world.  He was a Texas Blues player and was inspired by Blind Lemon Jefferson. His music holds an important part in Blues Guitar history. There are two songs here, they speak for themself, in it you’ll hear where many of the riffs and guitar lines that are played across the world have come from. Hopkins often included the talking style of vocals. It’s a music lesson in itself.

Enjoy!

It was about 35 years ago when I first purchased a Stefan Grossman guitar book on blues, in those days, very few music books had guitar TAB. That may sound odd to a lot of people now. The books back then were generally arranged for Piano/ Vocal, that means they had little to do with the guitar and were really just a piano arrangement of the tune. Here’s a few Acoustic Blues Guitar Books worth exploring to help you be a better blues player.

Look inside this title
Stefan Grossman's Early Masters of American Blues Guitar: Mississippi John Hurt - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Stefan Grossman’s Early Masters of American Blues Guitar: Mississippi John Hurt Music by Mississippi John Hurt, transcribed by Stefan Grossman. Guitar tablature songbook and examples CD for acoustic guitar. Series: Stefan Grossman’s Early Masters of American Blues Guitar. 96 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing. (AP.F3176GTA)
See more info…
Complete Acoustic Blues Method: Beginning Acoustic Blues Guitar - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com Complete Acoustic Blues Method: Beginning Acoustic Blues Guitar By Lou Manzi. For Guitar. Guitar Method or Supplement. Acoustic; Blues. Book & CD. Published by Alfred Publishing. (22866)
See more info…
Look inside this title
Stefan Grossman's Early Masters of American Blues Guitar: Blind Blake - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Stefan Grossman’s Early Masters of American Blues Guitar: Blind Blake Music by Blind Blake, transcribed by Stefan Grossman. Guitar tablature songbook and examples CD for acoustic guitar. Series: Stefan Grossman’s Early Masters of American Blues Guitar. 96 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing. (AP.F3432GTA)
See more info…

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Milton Nascimento Gilberto Gil youTube

Posted by plantrubba on Jun 25 2008 | acoustic guitar, guitar, normal tuning

Milton Nascimento and Gilberto Gil are both legends in Brazil, I think it’s important to hear the great players from other cultures and not get locked into one style.  I became aware of Milton in the mid seventies when he appeared on a Wayne Shorter ( weather Report) album.   The song Raca, appeared on one the easrlier Milton solo albums.  It’s another way of expressing music with a guitar.  Both these two musicians are known for their songwriting. There rhhym playing is excellent…try playing it.

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Pentatonic Major Scale for Guitar in D - Part 5 of 6

Posted by plantrubba on Jun 22 2008 | Scales, acoustic guitar, guitar, improvisation, normal tuning, rock guitar

This Pentatonic Major Scale in D is very useful on acoustic guitar. Note how I’ve used the open E string to create a bit of time to jump up the fretboard to the 7th fret.  This scale is very suitable for improvising over a D chord, it doesn’t include the Blue Note of the Country Blues scales.  The Blue note would be an F at the 3rd fret on the 4th string. 

 The notes of this scale are D E F sharp A B and I’ll include the next D so it sounds complete. Leraning simple scales like these are very usually for acoustic players, a lot of acoustic players when they are jamming will just all play the same chords.  A little aresnal of scales will enable you to create a bit of interest in a tune by using simple improvisation.  When two guitar players play the same thing at the same time,  then tend to squash each other.  Look for ways of creating space, the ‘Less is More’ principle is very useful in music. 

Ok, how to play the scale:  Start in the 2nd position, this means the first finger lines up at the second fret.  Ones you play the open E on the high string, move up to the 7th fret.  When descending, once you hit the high E note again on the open E string, move back to the second postion.  

Enjoy it, once you know the scale start to break it up into little melodic musical phrases.

 Pentatonic Major Scale for Guitar in D

To download the printable version click the link:
Pentatonic Major Scale for Guitar in D

This is part 5 of the 6 part series of Pentatonic scales, Part 6 will be uploaded within the next 5 days

To view part Part 4:
http://the-guitarplayer.com/2008/06/12/pentatonic-major-scale-in-a-part-4-of-6/

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Stevie Ray Vaughan youTube Acoustic Blues Guitar

Posted by plantrubba on Jun 15 2008 | acoustic guitar, blues guitar, guitar, normal tuning, rock guitar

If you love acoustic guitar and also Blues, the chances are you’d like Stevie Ray Vaughan playing acoustic blues.  I saw Stevie Ray play years ago with his trio, sensational.  But I never saw him play acoustic guitar, unfortunate.  I did get to see him play that beautiful white strat, possibly the sweetest slow blues guitar I ever heard. 

On this youTube video he is playing a twelve string with his lazy strum (said in an affectionate way) , it’s in E and is called ‘Pride and Joy’

For some simple Country Blues scales to help you improvise go to: Country Blues Scales

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John Mayer youTube

Posted by plantrubba on Jun 11 2008 | acoustic guitar, guitar, normal tuning

John Mayer is still very young but in a few short years he’s been able to gain the respect of guitar players across the world.  This youtube video on acoustic guitar is called Heart of Life; he manages to to mantain a a solid vocal part while having rather interesting rhythmic guitar parts.  This is less frantic than some of his other material, it has a reasonably simple underlying chord pattern.  It’s extremely musical.

A few days back I posted about John Mayer playing with Eric Clapton.  A great combo. 
Click the link to see it http://the-guitarplayer.com/?p=185

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Jack Johnson and Ben Harper youTube

Posted by plantrubba on Jun 10 2008 | acoustic guitar, guitar, normal tuning, open tuning

Jack Johnson, the man that has redifined the word ‘relax’ and Ben Harper, a player that has always managed to player with a maturity way beyond his age.  To have them together is quite a treat.  For quite a few years during the eighties and nineties there wasn’t a lot happening in mainstream music regarding acoustic singer guitar players, YES, there were plenty of people playing acoustic and singing but it seemed very unfashionable for a long time.  In the 70’s we had, Cat Stevens, James Taylor, john Martyn, Nick Drake Seals and Crofts and others but as the other electric styles came to the fore, the great acoustic singer guitarists didn’t really get much of a mention.  Now there’s Jack Johnson and Ben Harper,  John Mayer, John Butler, Ash Grunwwald and others making people take notice of the singer guitar players once again, minus the Marshall stacks, being accepted as household names.  This will no doubt open the doorway for thousands of others to follow and take up the beautiful artform of singer guitarist.

Enjoy this video, it’s a song called ‘gone’ from the’On and On’ album . Sweey, very very Sweet playing.

Check out Harry Manx at my other guitar Blog Site - Harry Manx youtube

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Pentatonic Major Scale in E - Part 3 of 6

Posted by plantrubba on Jun 08 2008 | Scales, acoustic guitar, blues guitar, guitar, improvisation, normal tuning, rock guitar

This is the 3rd article about guitar scales, this is pentatonic major scale in the Key of E.  It’s very useful for improvising in the Key of E, it’s reasonably ’safe sounding’ and difficult to go wrong with it if you are soloing in E.  The notes are E, F sharp, G sharp, B, C sharp.  It would be useable over a standard sort of chord pattern in E which included E A and B.  Yes it is useable over other chords,  but if you are new to improvisation just get it down so it works over those chords.  You’ll notice there will be strong and weak tones.

As always, when I write scales I write them with a few twists to prevent you from becoming lazy and to help you focus on what you are doing.  The version I have written starts on the second fret, moves to the 4th, then the 7th and briefly to the 9th.

When descending, you’ll notice I’ve added some open notes on the first and second string.  This is a great way to play, because you’ll get a nice ringing tone of the open notes, almost bell like and it gives you a split-second to change frets.  The bluegrass guys are great at this. 

Pentatonic Major Scale in E Guitar Scales

 The printable version is available in pdf, don’t ruin your eyes trying to work off the screen, print them out and create a folder of them all so you can work through them away from the computer, minus the distraction of checking your email :-)

Click below for the Printable PDF TABS and Notation for guitar

Pentatonic Scales for guitar in E Tab and notation

Here is the link for Part 2 of the Pentatonic series http://the-guitarplayer.com/?p=181

Practice slowly

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John Mayer and Eric Clapton youTube

Posted by plantrubba on Jun 07 2008 | acoustic guitar, guitar, normal tuning

John Mayer and Eric Clapton, a nice combination.  It’s always great to see some of the older musicians playing with much younger ones.   It’s a reasonably simple song, John Mayer takes a short guitar break, he has a very nice sensde of melody and Clapton takes over quite seamlessly. It works very well, it’s music, both playing fingerstyle on acoustics, the balance of the two guitars is very good.  The song is called Broken Hearted.

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Guitar Scales - Pentatonic Major Part 2 of 6

Posted by plantrubba on Jun 03 2008 | Scales, acoustic guitar, blues guitar, guitar, improvisation, normal tuning, rock guitar

The Pentatonic Major scale

The Pentatonic Major scale is pretty common amongst rock players.  I’ve written it here in the key of G.  It consists of 5 notes,  G A B D E. If someone were to turn those notes into a chord it would be a G6 add9 , some might call it a G6 sus2.  It’s a fairly straight sounding scale, useful if you are reasonably new to guitar playing, it is a good foundation to work from when improvising over a G chord. 

I’ve added a little twist to it (as always) because I think it’s important not to become lazy.   The first part is very straight forward. Then once you’ve hit the top note on the high sounding E string, I’ve written it so it doesn’t descend directly, it steps down (lower sounding) by missing a note and then goes back up and down etc.  This exercise, when played like this will help you to learn to play across strings and it will help you to hear intervals (the distance betwen notes). Eventually you’ll play it automatically once your hearing has developed a little.

Here’s a great guitar tip:  Learn to hum your solos (to yourself if you like, not through the front of house PA speakers ;-) ). This will help you develop a great sense of melody, what you hear in you head you’ll eventually be able to play. 

The Pentatonic Major scale in G

To download the Free TAB and Notation of the printable Part 2 of the Guitar Scale series click the following link

Guitar Scales Pentatonic Major in G

Part 3 will be written within 3 days, come back and visit.

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Guitar Scales Pentatonic Minor - Part 1 of 6

Posted by plantrubba on Jun 02 2008 | Scales, acoustic guitar, blues guitar, guitar, improvisation, normal tuning, rock guitar

Are you feeling a little stuck and having difficulty organizing your practice?

 Well, I’ve decided to do a six part  series on scales to get the old fingers going, READ ON

 This is the first of a six part series on guitar scales. I’ve done them for both TAB and guitar music notation.

The Pentatonic scale is the most basic scale used for improvisation.  It is very useful and at the same time. probably the most boring scale possible. Useful because it’s easy to master

and apply, and boring because it is so easy and useful, it is possible to get stuck on it and not venture too far away from it.

I have named this scale the Pentatonic Minor because it is a five note scale, Penta meaning five and Minor because the relationship between the 1st and second note of the scale is a tone and a half (3 frets) apart, this is a minor 3rd interval.  But lets keep it simple for now.

The guitar lends itself to this type of scale, it’s easy to play, and play it can be played fast without too much sweat because there are only two notes played on each string, this enables the player to pick up and down and then move to the next string.

If you’re just starting out just play the first 3 bars, get it going nice and steady, play in time, relaxed and with feeling.

BUT if you can already play, you’re not getting off that easy.  I’ve created an exercise that moves up the fretboard.  It starts at fret one, then moves to fret four, then seven, then ten.  I prefer to work this way than just move robotically up the fretboard fret by fret.  It will force you to think a little more.

The chords behind each one of these sclaes would be:

F minor for 3 bars,  Ab minor for 3 bars, B minorfor 3 bars, D minor for 3 bars

Practice these scales smoothly.  This is not a race!  Oh yeah, turn the tele off.

Guitar Scales for Rock Guitar Pentatonic Minor

To download the 1st of the printable Guitar Scales for Rock Guitar Pentatonic Minor click the link below

 Guitar Scales for Rock, Pentatonic Minor Scale pdf

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Paul Gilbert youTube

Posted by plantrubba on Jun 01 2008 | Flamenco, acoustic guitar, guitar, improvisation, normal tuning

Paul Gilbert on acoustic guitar, you may remember him from Racer X and Mr Big.  In this youtube video he’s on a nylon string guitar.  He is quite clear about his abilities at playing something that resembles Flamenco.  It’s worth watching his fretting hand closely, I’ve seen very few guitar players with such long fingers. I like to see players take a style or a tune and make it their own, and this is a perfect example of it.  His right hand has a very ‘tight’ sort of technique, unusual but effective.  Watching him play it’s easy to see his dedication and commitment to guitar.  I’m very impressed, his music has a freshness to it.  And the fact that he toured in 2007 with Satriani is no doubt a certification of how good he really is.

Enjoy. If you want to see some contemporay flamenco guitar, check out Paco de Lucia

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Kenny Rankin Youtube Peaceful

Posted by plantrubba on May 29 2008 | acoustic guitar, guitar, normal tuning

The Kenny Rankin youtube video is from the seventies.  While many other players were playing steel strings in the 70’s Kenny Rankin preferred to play nylon string instead, and realistically it suited his style and complemented his voice.  THe video is a song that he wrote called Peaceful, made famous by Helen Reddy.  A lot of players were turning towards punk while Kenny Rankin was doing his own thing, quite mellow.  I particularly liked his voice and his style was often flavored  with latin rhythms in songs like Haven’t We Met.  Kenny Rankin did covers of songs like no-one else.  I remember him also singing backing vocals on one of the Joni albums.  If you were around and listenening to music at that time and had encountered Kenny Rankins music you might understand why I have posted this youTube, it’s historical. 

I like music of all styles and don’t limit myself.  It’s inspiring to hear different players all expressing their own musical voice in their own personal way.

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Paco de Lucia youTube Flamenco Guitar

Posted by plantrubba on May 28 2008 | Flamenco, acoustic guitar, guitar, improvisation, normal tuning

Flamenco Guitar and Paco de Lucia for most of us are one and the same.  Paco and his guitar have been on the world stage for some years now.  His no nonsense approach has set the benchmark for other players to work towards. Many people became aware of him because of his playing in the trio with John McLaughlin and Al di Meola, or John McLaughlin and Lary Corryell.  I have a magnificent recording of him playing the music of Manuel  De Falla’s Three Cornered Hat.

This video was recorded just over 30 years ago, so keep in mind the standard that Paco is playing to now.  Another player that I also enjoy is Paco Pena, less fiery as de Lucia but still brilliant. 

Paco de Lucia’s music has transcended styles and has added a new dimension to Flamenco guitar by using elements of contemporary jazz.  Although this music is on nylon string guitar it is more than a worthy addition to this acoustic guitar site as many younger players may not be aware of Paco’s brilliance.

For transcriptions of Paco’s music, see below.

Look inside this title
Paco de Lucia Scores, Book 1 - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Paco de Lucia Scores, Book 1 La fabulosa guitarra de Paco de Lucia. For Guitar (Classical). Transcribed solos. RGB Arte Visual. Flamenco. Level: Intermediate-Advanced. Book. 160 pages. Published by RGB Arte Visual. (20983)
See more info…

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Norman Blake youTube Flatpicking Guitar

Posted by plantrubba on May 26 2008 | acoustic guitar, guitar, improvisation, normal tuning

This site is about Guitar Education,  if you don’t know Norman Blake, his playing is worth exploring, that’s why I’ve posted about him.

Norman Blake is a Bluegrass Folk Country legend.  He is highly respected amongst guitar players and has played back up guitar for Bob Dylan.  He has influenced more guitar players than you imagine.

Have you ever wondered why some guitar players are so good?

Simple, in many cases they have worked through a lot of the old bluegrass / Irish tunes

I have noticed that players that play tunes and have avoided hours of scales have a much better sense of melody than those that ’shred’ scales.  In fact I find scale shredding quite horrendous. 

This important: Once you get rid of ideas of being stuck in one particular style your playing will open up. Be open to learning, all the great players are.

To watch Norman Blake flat picking guitar is a guitar lesson in fluency of both left and right hands. This tune starts on an Em shape with a Capo on the 3rd fret, this means it’s a G minor.  The tune is full of guitar fills, guitar breaks full of lines and chords.  Note his use of open strings in his solos and how all of his breaks resolve nicely.  to play to the standard that he does is no small feat, just try it!

This blog/site is updated regularly. Drop back regularly for articles, youTubes, TAB, notation and other material to aid you on your musical journey.

So here’s Norman Blakes youtUbe video live in action. enjoy it!
I also author another blog site. The acousticguitarist, here’s the guitar site link.

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