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Does anyone in here play classical? I've been on a long journey starting with the Berklee book (https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Method-Guitar-1/dp/0876390130/ref=sr_1_3) for jazz, eventually moving to classical because I wanted to learn fingerstyle and improvisational chord melodies. I'm still a beginner but my right hand strokes + left hand technique are finally getting solid enough that I'm confident I can progress and build on them. Playing on an unamplified nylon string will reveal...lots of problems, haha. Learning to read music did far more for me than anything else in improving my technique and sound. I eventually hit a wall in the middle of Modern Method Volume 2 that I couldn't get past due to pain in my left shoulder and back. Jamie Andreas' "Principles of Correct Practice" for guitar is the bible of technique that finally got me sitting and holding the guitar correctly, without tension. I'm old fashioned, but after trying all the different methods, the one that worked for me was a book and a metronome. (And a few different teachers along the way.)
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Apr 12, 2018 22:16
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Stringent posted:By the way, if you are in any way feeling stuck on the guitar, go find a classical teacher that will teach you some Bach. No matter what the instrument Bach is the answer. from a while back, but thank you for this. i got out a bach thing i hadn't played in about a year and had a lot of fun with it. bach is the GOAT for sure. i have been playing classical guitar for about 5 years at this point and only as of this year am able to consistently make decent sounds out of it. the biggest motivator has been recording myself improvising EVERY DAY for, at this point, a few months. i recommend doing this - you will quickly learn your own habits and get so bored by your own playing that you'll start learning new stuff.
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May 12, 2021 23:34
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Gramps posted:I can only play guitar for short bursts anymore. Pretty sure I have early stages of arthritis or repetitive stress injuries. poo poo sucks. alexander technique is worth trying. you shouldn't be in pain while playing
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May 13, 2021 01:12
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landgrabber posted:lots of for too many years, i disregarded chord inversions. i assumed "meh, it's the same triad, same sound, who cares?" only when i started doing a systematic study of triads on guitar did i see how many different sounds you can get out of the basic diatonic triads. this gives you a LOT of material to work with for songwriting (and is really just the beginning of exploring harmony on guitar). it's worth doing this in a complete way, for instance: take a key, say G major, and start writing down triad movement for every diatonic triad in rows. it's good to write the notes out at first so you can see the different ways of moving from chord to chord. first row: G major root position closed triad (G-B-D) write how it moves to Bm, Em, C, D, Am, F#dim (if you don't already know, you'll quickly see that some triads are "closer" than others and this order reflects that) second row: G major first position closed triad (B-D-G) chord movement to Bm, Em, C, D etc (snip) fourth row: Am root position closed triad (A-C-E) chord movement to C, F#dim, D, Em etc. then you play through these on guitar and see how they make different sounds. a side benefit: playing through the rows for non-tonic chords will teach you the feeling of each mode. here's an example of doing this in A major from my notebook, it seems insane but is extremely worth the time because once you see the patterns, you'll just "get it" from then on. 
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May 13, 2021 12:59
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about songwriting
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modes are fun and useful, and you don't even need to write your whole song in the same mode! you could be in a major key progression, doing normal major key stuff, then boom, play the bVII from mixolydian to get a dark, rock vibe. if you know the important chords in each mode (the ones centered around the defining tones of that mode) you can throw in borrowed chords for a quick unexpected effect that's a lot of fun for the listener in fact, that'd be a great way to take one of the weezer chord progressions you like and make something really different out of it. i kinda want to try it now
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May 13, 2021 17:51
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the way i like to approach music and theory can be summed up by a Nabakov quote about writing: “I know more than I can express in words, and the little I can express would not have been expressed, had I not known more.” it's good to cultivate a surplus of knowledge, both technical and theoretical, because you never know how or where it will come out of you. i like surprising myself, which happens more and more as i learn more about the guitar fretboard. it also helps me not overthink things: if i need a power chord, i'll use one because that's what the music calls for and i won't worry about it being "too simple". something cool has been happening lately, resulting from lots of visualization practice (specifically visualizing the notes i'm playing on a staff). i am finally finding it easier to figure stuff out by visualizing the staff rather than doing the note math in my head. instead of thinking "okay, i want the 6th of A, i know the 5th is E from A-C-E so F# is the 6th" i just picture an A on the staff and know that the 6th is a third down from it. this way is much faster, and an unexpected benefit from doing lots of reading.
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May 13, 2021 19:39
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PatentPending posted:I have a medical condition which means I’m only ever going to play guitar left handed (I can’t twist my left arm to have the hand facing ‘up’). So sidestepping the ‘just play right-handed you fool’ argument, is there any pressing reason why a left-handed gs mini mahogany for $500 is a bad idea for a bored WFHer who wants a guitar to mess around on? i've had the same $300 takamine acoustic for like 12 years now and i've never felt the need to upgrade. can't say anything about that specific guitar but it's probably just fine!
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May 13, 2021 20:00
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landgrabber posted:it just always feels like there's something missing. i have a good part of a song, and i can't figure out what the next part should be. or i have a melody i like, but i can't think of any lyrics to go with it. or i have lyrics i like, but i can't find harmony that sits with them like i want it to. it's like in resident evil when there's a thing you want in a room you can see into, but it's behind a locked door that you don't have the key to yet lol, this happens to me every time i try to compose something. i really feel like i'm getting something good, and then...it just flattens out and i don't know what to do. it's part of the creative process and something that you can only conquer through lots of practice. some advice i read a while back: why would you try to write a good song? that's too hard. now, writing a bad song? anybody can do that. and if you try to write a bad song, you might realize it's harder than you thought - you'll probably end up with something good by mistake.
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May 13, 2021 21:10
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GreenBuckanneer posted:Of course, most of that strain is alleviated if I bring the neck up so much I may as well be holding an upright bass. angling your neck up is a big help, learn to play that way as soon as possible. it'll help you avoid injuries in the future you shouldn't have to press down on the frets very hard at all. make sure you're fretting right at the back of the fret (takes less effort), and that you're using the weight of your arm to do most of the work rather than gripping between your thumb and fingers like a vise.
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May 13, 2021 21:16
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Mozi posted:I got one of these to use when playing sitting down and I don't think I could play without it now. Or if I did, it would wreck my wrist. hell, yeah i use this one https://www.stringsbymail.com/ergoplay-troster-guitar-support-3737.html quote:i actually feel less strain with the neck more closer to perpendicular to the floor when im playing sitting down. aka the only way i play. it could be my extreme lankiness or i am just confused and actually doing irreparable damage to my wrist and hands. after almost a year of getting way back into the guitar im finally not feeling sore after practicing for the most part. as long as you aren't in pain, that's good, there's a lot of variation. just make sure you haven't gotten used to pain and learned to ignore it
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May 14, 2021 01:29
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GreenBuckanneer posted:I just feel like I'm struggling more than I feel like I should? honestly. i have been playing consistently for a good 15 years and i still find the C chord difficult. for anyone who thinks they've mastered it, try the Guiliani right hand studies (https://www.classicalguitarshed.com/sm-giuliani-120-right-hand/). it's all C to G7. when you actually need to make sure every note in the chord rings out, things are a LOT harder.
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May 14, 2021 15:59
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here's a tab version if that's easier: https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/mauro-giuliani-giulianis-120-right-hand-studies-tab-s32808t0 they're mainly used for developing fingerstyle right hand technique, so playing them with a pick might not work so well
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May 14, 2021 17:08
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Stefan Prodan posted:classical guitar tension stuff hell yeah. us at home classical guitarists gotta stick together. i have those moments a LOT now that i’m incorporating alexander technique. it’s simply the best for me this usually manifests with a realization of something i’m doing like: “wait, why am i jerking my whole body to the left whenever i fret with my pinkie? that seems dumb. can i just stop doing that? okay yes that feels way better”
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May 15, 2021 12:56
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Stringent posted:Often maligned, but actually awesome especially for guitarists Bossa Nova deserves a look if you've never messed with it. Jobim wrote some of the coolest chord progressions you'll ever hear and they fit the guitar like a dream. jazz samba is one of my favorite records, this is also fantastic
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May 15, 2021 14:03
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ColdPie posted:One thing that has surprised me as a beginner is the quantity of typos in the fret numbers. Both the Parkening book and York's scores are absolutely full of typos, including really bizarre stuff like two different frets indicated in one piece for the same note, both incorrect. It's especially surprising given these are pieces for beginners. I really thought I was going crazy at first, but no, I'm not. Trying to play an A♮ on Fret 1 just isn't possible. Honestly I'd rather the fret numbers just weren't there, rather than having to go over the whole piece and correct or scratch out the typos before I can even start. huh, i have that York beginner collection but haven't played most of the pieces (just Snowflight and Spider Dance). curious where you're seeing the error. very confusing when that happens if you haven't checked out leo brouwer's series of simple etudes (Estudios Sencillos) definitely pick those up. they're absolutely fascinating pieces of music. they're all excellent, i particularly like studies 1 and 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdue3k_YPXQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rD43TReEV4 for other new music, the Royal Conservatory series of classical guitar books have a lot of great stuff: https://shopus.rcmusic.com/products/preparatory-guitar-repertoire-and-etudes and https://shopus.rcmusic.com/products/guitar-repertoire-and-etudes-1 are the first two levels. has stuff by reginald smith brindle, shawn bell, julio sagreras, among others.
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May 15, 2021 15:25
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ColdPie posted:Hahahaha oh my god you're totally right. Aaaaaaah this makes so much more sense lol yeah, i was looking at this like "seems fine, you're just in 2nd position??"
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May 15, 2021 18:46
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Helianthus Annuus posted:sup fellow classical players. anyone else ITT play nylon string guitar as their main? i started in 2016-2017 and have slowly transitioned to playing only nylon string. i just love the sound. it took me probably 4 years to consistently get a good tone with fingers+nails technique but now i never want to go back and yeah...i waffle between 'classical guitar' and 'nylon string'. needs a better name
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May 15, 2021 21:40
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i need to branch out into minor sounds other than Dorian mode. it's just right there, so easy to think in and find chords. and it sounds so cool! gotta spend some time in Aeolian just for variety. this is a post for accountability edit: might as well post one of these recordings. i pretty much don't plan these out at all before hitting record, so sometimes they're more focused than others. i need to work on creating a rhythm and sticking to it, but it's too hard with all the other things i need to think about. https://soundcloud.com/user-656458997/improvisation-5-16-21 a.p. dent fucked around with this message at 16:50 on May 17, 2021 |
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May 17, 2021 16:19
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nishi koichi posted:no, it isn't agreed, imo it's easier and better to listen, observe where the music wants to go, and follow it. another form of geting out of your own way
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May 17, 2021 21:01
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:does harmonizing in fifths mean the second guitar would just be playing what would normally be the second note of a power chord? i might try opening reaper up and trying it myself correct! you can do the note math if you want to work it out: fifth of A = E (A,B,C,D,E), fifth of G = D (G,A,B,C,D) etc. it's good to be able to quickly know your 5ths
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May 17, 2021 22:36
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:seriously theory is hard. i used to think i knew what a scale was - a particular collection of notes that had a certain sound/character to it but when I learned a major scale has a relative minor with the same exact notes i was very perturbed. anytime i read about theory it's almost always like a dull info dump that never comes with any kind of context to explain what's going on and my guitar teacher wasn't very helpful either so for now when i write music i just pick random notes. i wonder what key song5.gp4 is in, i'll never know i guess here's an exercise you didn't ask for!! it will help you connect the music theory you learn with their actual sounds. take a major scale, for simplicity let's say C major. play the scale up and down in 5ths: C-D-E-F-G-F-E-D-C. D-E-F-G-A-G-F-E-D. in notation it would look like this:  once you get to the top, do the same thing in reverse: G-F-E-D-C-D-E-F-G etc.  what's the point?? playing in 5ths outlines the triads of the key, which give it its characteristic sound. even though, for example, the runs starting on D and E both have minor chords, they feel different due to the different intervals in the modes. doing this just for a couple weeks really changed my perception of the modes and their sounds. highly recommended. if you start on different notes, you'll get the other modes.
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May 17, 2021 23:35
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:I'm sure that's cool but I don't know what any of that means to be honest, that's sort of the point I was making with everything I read just leading to confusion because I have no context. Even knowing what a 5th is now, I still don't know how it applies here. If I play C-D-E-F-G-F-E-D-C, I'm not quite sure how that's fifths or what you meant by playing in 5ths. Going from C to D is just a whole step, right? Or did you mean take the scale, play it down to the 5th and back up? And then triads, modes, I don't know what those are either even though I'm pretty sure I've googled "what is a mode" before. I think it's taking a scale and using a different root note? apologies, i was definitely using some shorthand. let me elaborate - you probably already know some of this stuff, but it's good to rehash cause it takes a lot of repetition to sink in. given a scale, we can construct various intervals by walking up and down the scale. if we have C major, C D E F G A B, we can construct intervals from C: 2nd: D (C - D) 3rd: E (C - D - E) 5th: G (C - D - E - F - G) up to 7th, B: (C - D - E - F - G - A - B) if you're wondering why an interval of a "2nd" takes only 1 jump, it's because 1 is considered standing still - the interval of a unison. we can also construct intervals starting on different notes in the scale. starting on G: 2nd: A (G-A) 5th: D (G-A-B-C-D) etc. all you do is count alphabetically, wrapping around at G. my statement about playing the scale in 5ths was not clear. in this case i meant playing up the scale linearly to the 5th of each note, then back down. so starting from C, play all the notes between C and its 5th, G. starting from D, play all the notes from D to its 5th (A). compared to playing the scales up and down in one position, this feels more "solid". it has a particular sound. playing the whole scale up and down sounds kinda dull and flat. the exercise is really just to get you HEARING the types of sounds in the scale, and music theory is just a convenient way to talk about sounds. it takes a while to become familiar with its language, but i haven't found a simpler way to talk about it, so this is what we got.
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May 18, 2021 00:25
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:I just tried playing what you showed me, although I just used E major in 5ths, I even made a little metal riff, although it sounded like something you'd hear on a child's show lol. That was cool, more theory please. hell yes!! i was in the same boat forever, i took music theory in college and it was insanely hard and i didn't know how to apply it to my music. it only started to click when i sat down and played everything, and heard the sounds you could just take major scale harmony and come up with a million metal songs (though harmonic minor is probably better suited to metal and you could make ten million more with it!!)
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May 18, 2021 01:07
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Zaphod42 posted:
i know the key signatures cold at this point, but it's embarrassing how long it takes me to name 5ths, still
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May 18, 2021 01:09
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cheers to the theory knowers coming out to fill in the gaps. scales are something you can spend infinite time on - they give you a map of the fretboard and implicitly teach you harmony on the guitar if you do it right. currently i'm using this massive tome of scale studies, it's helping solidify my fretboard knowledge: https://www.amazon.com/Scale-Pattern-Studies-Guitar-Supplement/dp/0769212778 i would really love to learn some solo guitar popular song arrangements, something along the lines of john knowles's "Vincent". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EuFkL1hyBo i'm not technically good enough for something like this yet, maybe in a few years.
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May 18, 2021 12:49
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Spanish Manlove posted:I still have no idea what the use for the circle of fifths diagram is except for figuring out what key a piece of sheet music is in. it's that, but it's also a way to organize all the keys in your mind. instead of memorizing 12 different, seemingly random sets of sharps and flats, if you learn the pattern, you'll be able to derive any key without having to consciously walk through all the intervals ("okay, i want F major. major scale pattern is WWHWWWH so i need to go up a whole step to G, then another whole step A" etc.) very slow to do it that way. it also shows you how keys are related to each other for modulation. if you want to end in a key that's "close" to your current key, move to a key adjacent to your current one. if you want it to sound very different, move to the opposite side of the circle this is all stuff that doesn't really reveal itself until you spend a lot of time practicing scales in every key, at which point you're like "ohhhhh yeah, that's why this is important." it's not like you need to memorize this circle on its own, that's not particularly useful. the keys and key signatures aren't arbitrary: as you move around the circle, you're always either raising the 4th (clockwise) or lowering the 7th (counterclockwise) to get to the next key. edit: raising the 4th, not the 5th a.p. dent fucked around with this message at 17:34 on May 18, 2021 |
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May 18, 2021 16:57
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Spanish Manlove posted:Ah ok that's kinda what I figured was the case yeah, same here. i played for a couple decades not knowing any note names. you can go a loooong way with just patterns. but, if you want to start working with other musicians, reading any sheet music, or composing stuff outside of your pattern boxes, it's worth checking out. the guitar is a TREMENDOUSLY complex instrument that doesn't reveal its logic easily, so it can take a ton of upfront work before this knowledge begins to pay off
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May 18, 2021 17:16
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Thumposaurus posted:I'm better at fixing guitars than I am playing them but the discussion going on here lately has helped a bunch. that is beautiful. nicely done. my D string snapped out of nowhere today, so i'll be out of tune for the next few days. stupid nylon
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May 18, 2021 18:42
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Zaphod42 posted:Trying to learn a bunch of it at once is very overwhelming. Those of us in the thread that are spouting music theory likely all spent years studying it, so now its more second nature. Its nice to be able to look back and be like "oh yeah this stuff is pretty clear now" but at first its all very obtuse.  if anybody's reading the stuff we're saying and feeling totally confused and that you'll never grasp it, just know that i took my first music theory class in 2007. it takes a LOT of repetition, and i still watch rick beato's basic theory videos like every week.
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May 18, 2021 19:52
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GreenBuckanneer posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qp26KcDrGw this is cool. the CAGED system never clicked with me (admittedly i never tried to learn it). seeing how the chord shapes cycle in that particular order makes a lot of sense
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May 18, 2021 21:57
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ColdPie posted:Do you use a guitar support? I've just been putting my foot up on a box. already posted, but i use this support: https://www.stringsbymail.com/ergoplay-troster-guitar-support-3737.html i'm fairly tall so it's good for me to have a lot of height options on my support. tuning and nail care on classical are similar, you gotta do them constantly. i remember telling my guitar teacher my nails were always choppy and asking for help, and he just said "well, you're buffing them every day before you play, right?" ohh, uhh...no, that makes a lot of sense though.
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May 19, 2021 12:43
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Sarrisan posted:So I just made a poor financial decision but hopefully a good life decision and bought a Cordoba C5 along with the Chris parkening method vol 1. Any "wish I'd done this starting out" tips beyond find a teacher (in the plans but I'm not fully vacced yet)? awesome! i actually have a membership on https://www.classicalguitarcorner.com and that's how i do all my lessons. works out to be cheaper than i used to pay for an in-person teacher biweekly and you actually get a curriculum with videos you can revisit, etc. so if you're looking to do online education, that's an option (and i'm sure there are other good sites as well). use a metronome, don't neglect fundamentals like open string work. if i were to start over, i would have played only open strings for like two weeks before trying to incorporate the left hand. disclaimer: i haven't used the parkening book, but heard about the following from Christopher Berg's writing: parkening says he doesn't like to practice scales for technique, favoring repertoire, an approach i strongly disagree with (Berg writes about it here https://blog.christopherberg.com/2015/06/22/practice_05/, and in his excellent book "Practicing Music by Design"). don't neglect scales and arpeggio studies, they're the foundation for everything that comes after.
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May 20, 2021 15:31
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landgrabber posted:JK this ended up being a subconscious reharmony of a weezer song i hadn't heard in a while. different chords but similar function, same rhythm, same structure. i'm hopeless! sounds like you wrote a new song lol
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May 22, 2021 13:16
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when it comes to creativity, fighting against your natural tendencies is a recipe for frustration and low productivity. if i were you i'd lean into it and write an album of as many weezer clone songs as i could, cause writing something is always better than not writing it people really overestimate their ability to replicate someone, if you try to copy you'll almost inevitably end up with something unique to you
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May 22, 2021 15:16
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nishi koichi posted:you are a filter. all of your lived experiences, and the things you enjoy, everything that makes you you, are all part of your work when you create, and that is a beautiful thing
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May 22, 2021 17:25
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i'm seeing the benefit of conceiving stuff i play in notation. today i was playing this pretty little arpeggio with a 9th up on the 7th fret: B-F#-D#-F#-C#-F# repeat (if i knew how to write tab i would but i've never tried). i started playing it around the neck with the same chord shape, but then i thought about the notes and realized, oh, this is just a 1st inversion major chord so i can create this cool sound anytime i have one of those chords. now i've played it on different string sets and different parts of the neck and i'll never forget it
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May 23, 2021 13:59
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years ago i took berklee online's songwriting course. was an interesting experience. it was free at the time, not sure if they have that anymore. i'm not much of a songwriter now, and wasn't back then, but that course gave me a lot of tools for generating ideas - mainly, free writing in the morning and using Roget's Thesaurus and the Complete Rhyming Dictionary (the one arranged by syllables, not exact rhymes) to find interesting words that work with your song's meter. nothing that will force a good song - but if you have a sketch, these are the tools of the craft that you can use to shape a song sketch into something more polished. this is making me want to dip in again
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May 24, 2021 13:38
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HELL YEA!! that is extremely cool! that piece seems well adapted for bass with all the slow, low register notes. good on you for posting some music, also. i'll throw my hat in with this little etude for classical guitar. https://soundcloud.com/user-656458997/andantino this was an exercise, i took a simple guitar etude by Carcassi (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU3fXWwffAA), stole the structure, and changed the voicings / melody. was a lot of fun to write, but of course i took an easy etude and made it way harder to play. still don't have a take i'm super happy with.
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May 24, 2021 19:25
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Huxley posted:So you really have to experiment with which notes in there present the same idea without getting in each other's way. ahh yep, that's interesting. seems like you would need to approach it both from "which chord tones are most important", while also making sure the voice leading isn't horrible.
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May 24, 2021 20:14
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Mozi posted:To whomever recommended 'Scale Pattern Studies for Guitar' by Shearer, thank you! I picked up a used copy and after a couple of days can already tell it's helping my playing in general. Not the least because of the 'do it until you can do it three times in a row without mistakes' rule. I've been feeling like I practice a lot but aren't getting more solid or consistent, still making the same kind of mistakes, so I'm hoping by applying that more in general I can get onto firmer footing. whoa, that was me, and i was just debating posting about it here! i was just doing the open position F# major scales, tough stuff but great for pinky independence. i was also reflecting on how long this type of work takes. i'm expecting to spend a good 3-6 months on scales from this book before i see any sort of tangible improvement. it's so tempting to want to jump into more complex material, but better to stick with stuff until it's really mentally and physically solid.
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May 25, 2021 21:58
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