1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
| Q | I'm just "beginning again" after a layoff of 20 years. I played a bit in college by learning a few chords from my friends. I never took lessons then, but would like to learn more now. I like many styles of music.
I've been reading many reviews of teaching aids and books and read good remarks about several of your books. Thus, I ordered your "First Steps" book and "Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume 1" from Amazon. My question is this - Are these the right books to begin with? Is there a logical progression you recommend to your books? Do you also recommend any teaching aids from other sources? (In particular I read good comments about "Fretboard Logic". Do you recommend this along with your books? |
| A | Thanks for contacting me and buying the books. Usually for someone who is just starting guitar or coming back to it after many years I recommend the following
1st Step for Beginning Guitarist Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One or Two Ear Training One Note Beginning The fact that you got the Chord Workbook is OK too. I would just work out of the 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist first. You should get through 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist in a month or two practicing 1 to 2 hours a day. The next book for chords would be the Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume One so, you will be ready to learn more difficult chords and chord progressions. As far as the other books, I recommend the Music Theory Workbooks because they help you to learn the building blocks of music. They also give you a lot of exercises to help ingrain the music theory knowledge in your hands and in your head. The ear training book is to help you develop your ear so you can pick stuff off from records and in general be more connected with music because you can understand it from an aural perspective. As far as having time to work out of three books I usually recommmend a beginning student spend 15-20 minutes a day doing the Music Theory work. The ear training is a CD that you listen to every day. I recommmend doing that while walking (use a discman), driving, taking a train, waiting in a the dentist office or anywhere where you have some time to burn. I recommend listening to this ear training CD 4 to 5 times a day in 5 to 15 minute segments. You should work out of 1st steps for a Beginning Guitarist 30 minutes to an hour a day. By using all the help files on the muse-eek.com website you should find yourself progressing quickly. You don't have to use the help files on the internet but many of my students find it is a lot more fun when they do, because it's like having a friend play along with you who never makes a mistake, or gets tired or pissed off. One thing I would recommend is that you check out in depth all the technical information on how to play the guitar. Examine closely the pictures in the book and the videos on the website. If you start with the proper technique on the guitar you will find your progress to be much faster. The Music Theory and Ear Training are not easy but if you can get into a habit of doing a little each day you will be amozed at what happens over the next year. As far as other sources of music education I would recommend you download the major scales from the music workshop at www.arnoldjazz.com. Start learning the C scale from every position. (there are 7) I would learn one position a week. After you get two or three positions together e-mail me and I give you some suggestions for implementing the scale through improvisation. In order to develop a working knowledge of music theory you are going to first need to learn the foundation, or building blocks. Fretboard Logic along with most other guitar methods give you a quick one or two pages of theory and that's it. While their information is helpful you really can't expect that you will have a working knowledge of music theory that will actually help you learn and play music with this amount of attention given to the subject. It takes more than just telling you the information to make it useful in your musical life. You need to apply the music theory you learn to the point were it becomes a second language. Music schools commonly teach you the basics of music theory and then spend a couple of years giving you assignments which require you to use it so you know how all this information applies to real life playing, composing, and performance situations. The Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One gives you exercises to improve your knowledge of music theory. Specifically it helps you develop an ability to know what notes are contained in any chord. This is done through a series of exercises which have you write out what the notes would be for each chord using both the music staff and a guitar neck diagram. The Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One also gives you information in the theory section about how chord progressions are commonly put together but this is not the major direction of the book. This book's goal is to give you a working knowledge of the nuts and bolts of the notes contained in chords so you will then be able to move on to understanding more complicated subjects in music such as why one chord moves to another or why a certain scale works over a chord. Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two does the same thing but with scales. You learn 22 different scales in 12 keys across and up and down the neck by writing them out using staff notation and on a guitar neck. Both Music Theory Workbooks give you the answers to all the exercises in the back of the book. Therefore you don't need a teacher to correct your answers. I tell my students that working through this book is like learning the alphabet. You need to know that information before you can start to build words and then sentences. If you feel you would have a problem telling me straight away what the 5th of Gb would be or the flat 6thof Db then this book would be for you. It contains 100 pages of exercises. It is not particurly fun to do, but with study, the rewards are immeasurable. I think that as far as having a working knowledge of music theory that you can use to help yourself with understanding the more complicated aspects of music, this book is where you should start, While developing a working knowledge of music theory through the Music Theory Workbooks will definately help you understand how music is put together it will not help you "hear" music. I would highly recommend you also purchase Ear Training One Note Beginning so you can begin developing your ear. While theory is very important to understanding the inner workings of music ear training is very important because it develops your ability to understand music through listening. When both work together you will find the magic of making music. I hope I have answered your question to your satisfaction. Let me know if I can be of any further assistance. |
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| Q | Can you suggest a great working guitar (or setup), make and model in the $300 - $400 range, for a beginner. I have never owned a guitar nor even know how to play one but now ready to learn though the use of the various books produced by Bruce E. Arnold. (I found you through Amazon.com) Is there something available that is a merge between acoustical and electrical. At this time a feel I should begin acoustical, but would like a full sound. We have various music shops, I would appreciate your thoughts and reply on help with my purchase. |
| A | I recommend two guitars. For electric the Fender Stratocaster. Fender has a Mexican and Japanese model that are around your price range. Seagull acoustic guitars are excellent, they have a entry level guitar that is so good I'd buy one without playing it. I've had many students purchase both of these guitars and all have been very happy with their sound and playability. |
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| Q | I purchased your book from Amazon and had a couple of questions in the music theory section, specifically regarding key signatures and the key signatures you present using the cycle 5 progression.
Since the chromatic scale consists of 12 tones, why are there 15 key signatures? My confusion arises from a couple of sources namely 1) the inclusion of a Cb (C flat) signature when there are no flats between B and C and 2) the inclusion of 2 sets of enharmonic signatures (C#/Db and Gb/F#) while the other sets of enharmonic signatures are omitted (for instance, only Bb is shown while A# is omitted). These occurrences puzzle me. Using the cycle 5 progression (C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, B, E, A, D, G) would again yield only 12 key signatures, as per above, but why are the flats chosen instead of the sharps (i.e., if we took the chromatic scales written using the sharps rather than the flats, deriving the cycle 5 progression would yield C/F/A#/D# etc.). My confusion started when I sat down and started mapping out all of the major scales in each of the keys simply as a paper exercise. After doing A, B, C, D, E, F, and G I started to have questions on why the flats were chosen, then had the questions on why 15 rather than 12 signatures. I hope I'm not getting too caught up in the minute technical details but it was somewhat puzzling to me. I have learned much about the technical side from your book, now I need to get more proficient on the artistic side. Many thanks for sharing your knowledge and for your answers in advance. |
| A | The extra key signatures you are running into are caused by the enharmonic spelling of notes. For example the enharmonic spelling of C# is Db. They are both the same note on a piano or guitar but use different names for a bunch of different reason mostly having to do with notating music, but there are other more involved issues that also apply.
So really there are many more key signatures that 12 or even 15 because all 12 notes have enharmonic spellings. For example a C could be a B# or a Dbb (double flat.) Obviously you can see that this would quickly get out of hand trying to memorize all these different enharmonic spellings. I have only included the common enharmonic spellings that you will find in most music. This will help you so you won't be surprise to find for example the key of C#or Db. When looking at cycle 5 progressions there are two common ways to build a cycle 5 progression. The way I presented in the book is the most common way you will find chord progressions moving in contemporary music. C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, B, E, A, D, G In this cycle 5 progression each chord is moving down a 5th (7 half steps) C down to F is a 5th, F down to Bb is a 5th etc. You could also create a cycle 5 progression by move up a 5th. This would create the following C, G, D, A, E, B, Gb, B, E, A, D, G or sometimes written C, G, D, A, E, B, F#, B, E, A, D, G keep in mind you could have spelled this cycle 5 progression C, G, D, A, E, B, F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, C It's the same progression just using different enharmonic spellings. I think what you should learn from this is first there exists in music enharmonic spellings. I don't think you need to memorize all these different possibilities at this point. But a basic understand can really help when you run into C# major when you are only use to Db major. This will help so you don't panic and realize it's just a different way of writing the same thing. Getting these notes and key signature names flowing through you without having to sit down all the time and calculate note relationships, key centers and enharmonic spellings is not easy. I recommend to students they get "Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One" and just spend a year gradually working through the exercises. You will find that after a year you will really know this music theory stuff both on the music staff and on the guitar fretboard. Once you have gained a working knowledge of music theory you will find your understanding of music will improve immensely. But, you must balance this with the creative side of learning chord progressions and other music. Along with playing songs be creative by try to improvise and create little melodies and chord progressions. This along with doing the ear training I recommend in the book (for you Ear Training: One Note Beginning) will give you a balanced approach that will pay off big time in a few years. Any other questions let me know |
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| Q | I am very new to playing the guitar and I'm just beginning chord progressions. Many chords don't require all the strings be strummed. I'm finding this really difficult to concentrate on as my attention is given to my left hand. My friends use their thumb to mute the top one or two string, but this doesn't follow your technique and I find it harder to switch between chords with the guitar all the way against my palm allowing me to mute strings with my thumb.
Can you give me any advice? |
| A | Many students have a problem strumming only a few strings when they are starting out. Over time your right hand will develop more control and you will be able to strum only the strings you want. But there are also a couple of muting things you can do with your left hand to help out.
If you play a C major chord _ E|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| _ B|c|-|-|-|-|-|-| 0G|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| _ D|-|e|-|-|-|-|-| _ A|-|-|c|-|-|-|-| XE|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| Your ring finger will be playing the C on the A string. By slightly sliding your ring finger over so it touches the low E string you can mute it. Some people with bigger fingers find this to be easy while other with smaller fingers find it takes some time to readjust your ring finger so it plays the C on the A while at the same time slightly touching the low E string to damp it, thus stopping it from sounding when you strum all 6 strings. This technique will work for many chords. But some chords like F: _ E|f|-|-|-|-|-|-| _ B|c|-|-|-|-|-|-| _ G|-|a|-|-|-|-|-| _ D|-|-|f|-|-|-|-| X A|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| X E|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| Have two strings that you don't want to play (A and E) The aforementioned technique will only mute the low A. So in this case you just have to gain right hand control so you don't strum the low E. You also run into a problem when using a chord like D because the low note of the chord voicing (the D string) is played open. Once again in this situation you have to gain control over your right hand so you only strum the 4 upper strings. _ E|-|f#|-|-|-|-|-| _ B|-|-|d|-|-|-|-| _ G|-|a|-|-|-|-|-| 0 D|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| XA|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| XE|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| Most professional guitarists use this type of left hand muting technique when they play. It's hard for a student to see this when they watch a guitarist because it is so subtle. Developing your right hand strumming technique will take some time. If you take 5-10 minutes every day and practice strumming it will help a lot. I would recommend you practice in the following way. 1. Strum only the top four strings (D,G,B,E), you can play a D chord if you like. Place your pick on the D string and strum down. Make sure you limit your motion as much as possible By this I mean don't strum way past the high E string. Only allow your right hand to go an 1/8 of an inch pass the high E string. (also remember to remain relaxed as you do this. The worst thing to do is tense up. Keep in mind this will take some time to develop.) Also strum lightly, don't dig the pick into the strings. Continue going back to the D string and strumming down. After a week or so you will see that you are starting to be able to move your right hand back to the D string and strum down without looking. Be patient; this could take 2-3 weeks before you have any sort of consistency. 2. The next step is to repeat this process strumming up on the D chord. Place the pick on the high E string. Strum up with an up stroke with the pick. Try to only strum the top four strings (D,G,B,E). This will be much harder and usually takes a month or so before you feel like you are gaining control. (again try to limit the motion, remaining relaxed and don't dig into the strings with the pick). Keep in mind that once your right hand learns to feel the upper 4 strings you will have many chords besides the D that you will be able to play without hitting the lower strings. For example D-, F major etc. The other nice thing about practicing like this is that when you start to work on strumming other groups of strings the facility you have gained with the upper 4 strings will make progress quicker. 3. There is also another type of muting that guitarists use when strumming the inner 4 strings (A,D,G,B). For example if you play the C chord many professional guitarists will mute the high E string. (although it is fine to play this note because it's in the chord.) The muting in this case is done by using whatever finger is naturally falling near the high E string. _ E|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| _ B|c|-|-|-|-|-|-| 0 G|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| _ D|-|e|-|-|-|-|-| _ A|-|-|c|-|-|-|-| XE|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| In the case of the C chord your first finger can easily mute the high E string string because it is right there playing the C on the B string. I should also mention that in extreme cases you could use your thumb to mute the lower strings but as you mentioned this makes switching between chords much harder and does a job on your technique. I have used this technique before in live performance situations where the low strings of the acoustic guitar were feeding back because the guitar was so loud. This is a rare situation though and I would only recommend this if you are forced to do it. Also by the time you get to the level of being in a performance situation you will have enough ability to do something like this on the "fly." Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. |
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| Q | I have been a classical guitarist for 3 years, then I started with Jazz one year ago (and with your books one month ago). I have a Spanish guitar and now I want to get an electrical guitar. My problem is I have no clue of which one buy. I want a guitar which allows me to play all kind of modern music, Jazz, Rock, Blues, Funk, Latin Jazz, ....
I thought to get a Les Paul because I think it will allow me to play more or less everything. I will appreciate your thoughts. |
| A | A Les Paul would be great. Keep in mind that it is a very heavy guitar so definitely try holding one up with a guitar strap to make sure you can stand to hold it up on your body for hours on end. The other guitar you might consider is the Fender Stratocaster. This guitar is very versatile and light. Either guitar will work for all modern styles.
The best amp to get is a tube amp. Fender make great tube amps especially the old ones pre 1965. These would probably be very expensive in the UK. You might look for a small Marshall or Vox tube amp. Once again the old ones are great. You might pay a little extra for the vintage but the nice thing is the amp's value will increase each year. |
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| Q | I'm just starting to teach guitar to a couple of students (a few adults and a son of a friend) and was hoping for a little direction. I took lessons from a few folks, but got more learning from 5 minutes/gig with the bass player and guitarist from my previous band than I got from "professional instructors".
My goal with the folks I'm teaching is to get them to a point where the understand the fundamentals well enough to learn on their own, which I'm figuring a fairly dedicated student can reach in 3-6 months. I'm planning on starting with your 1st steps book and helping them learn theirfavorite tunes from tab from books or the web. Any next steps would be welcome. Thanks and have a great day! |
| A | Well my philosophy is that if you learn the basic foundations of music you will be able to develop fully on your own without a teacher. 3-6 months would work for a very dedicated student who can be shown the proper path and then continues to pursue it.
I usually start beginning students with 3 books: Music Theory Workbook for Guitar 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist Ear Training One Note Complete The music theory book will give them experience learning intervals and chords in their head AND in their hands. It is also a deep enough book so that if they really keep at it, they will continue to find it useful as the years go by. "1st Steps" will give them the proper technique, an intro to reading rhythms and the "open chords" on the guitar with progressions and strumming patterns. The ear training book and CD will begin to teach them how to understand Western music from an aural perspective, with hopes that in the long run they will be able to transcribe music from recordings or from just hearing a friend play something rather than always learning by "sight." I also have them download scales from "arnoldjazz.com I usually have them start with a major scale in C and learn one position a week. After they have completed all positions I move on to the Dorian mode in C etc. With everything I teach I always try to relate it to real music either through showing examples or by having them bring in recordings and transcribing bits of their favorite tunes or solos so they can see why it's important to learn theory, scales, chords or rhythm. I also try to get them to improvise as soon as possible. I commonly make little vamps on cassettes so students can practice their scales creatively. For the ear training I stress using a discman and spending spare time listening to the ear training CD. Although usually a long process to develop, this ear training will greatly enhance anyone's ability to get to the point where they can "learn on their own." Hope this helps! If you need any more clarification let me know. |
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| Q | I started learning guitar this year (march 2001). I have never before played any instrument (except for flute at school, the little wooden one, I don't know the english name for it). I take guitar lessons every week from a professional guitar instructor. (30 minutes per week).
I have a full time job. (11 hours a day). Question: Are you're books also ment for someone like me? Or are they for people who want to go to a music college? Or professional musicians. If not, what can you advise me? What is reachable for me? What can I learn? Hope you find the time to answer my question. |
| A | Thanks for your interest; I think there are many of my books that would be good for you. Although my books prepare a person to become a professional musician, they are geared to start someone from the very beginning of the process. The important thing is to learn music and guitar the right way. Whether you are a novice or a budding professional playing the guitar and approaching the guitar with the right focus will allow you to improve at your maximum rate.
For beginning students I recommend they study in the following areas: Music Theory Ear Training Chord Study Scale Study I have books that cover each of the aforementioned topics. For Music Theory there are two which build a student's ability to understand music theory both in their head and in their hands. These books are "Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One and Two." For Ear Training you need to work on both Listening and Singing. There are two books I use for this process. For listening there is "Ear Training One Note Complete" or "Ear Training One Note Beginning." For singing I recommend "Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training." For Chord Study I have a beginners book called "1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist." This would be a good book for you because it gives you some good chord progressions along with information on proper playing technique. After you feel comfortable with the 1st steps progressions it's time to move on to "Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume One." This book will give you all the chords you need to know to play in any professional situation along with chord progressions to apply the chord voicings. For Scales I would work out of "Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two" along with learning how to play all scales on your guitar. You will find a list of these scales at www.arnoldjazz.com You can download these scales and start learning them on the guitar. As previously mentioned learning the right stuff in the right way will help you understand music on a deeper level. From this understanding you will find you have a much more diverse ability to play different styles of music along with an ability to improvise. In the long run learning the information contained in these books will allow to gain the ability to teach yourself. Because of your limited practice time I would recommend you work on the ear training and the music theory book in short periods throughout the day. Basically anytime you have a few spare moments. I would try to find one hour a day to practice with the guitar and would recommend dividing that up into the chord progressions in the 1st Steps book and the Scale Study. Try to also leave a little time to mess around and just have fun on the guitar. This is just as important as the technical study. Let me know if you have any more questions or if you want me to help you with a more specific practice schedule once you get the books. |
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| Q | I am planning to start your 1st steps for a beginning guitarist book. When skimming through it, I noticed that on page 17 a "C" is placed next to the treble clef, but I could not find an explaination anywhere. Also, on page37 you start using special symbols on the staff that look like vertical lines connected to tilted squares and vertical lines connected to slanted lines. I could not find an explaination anywhere. Now as I said I just skimmed, but I would hate to get to that point and find that there is no explanation. |
| A | The "C' on page 17 stands for "Common Time" which is 4/4. You can find an explanation of 4/4 on page 32. The "C" is not explained in the book and I thank you for noticing that omission.
The tilted squares and vertical lines on page 37 are right hand strumming symbols. You will find an explanation of those at the bottom of page 36. You can also take a look at the video clip #9 on the muse-eek.com website for a visual aid. With anything in the book that you are not sure of or don't understand I'm here to help you. My goal is for you to be educated properly and not to misunderstand anything that may cause you problems in the future. I hope you find the book to be a helpful aid in the learning of the guitar. |
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| Q | I have been playing guitar for several years now, but I have good bit of trouble keeping in time and I forget where I'm at in the tune that I am playing. What books will help me with this? |
| A | "1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist" should help you with the time and counting problems. Students frequently have problems with rhythm and coordination. A combination of understanding rhythm, applying it in a real music situation and working on exercises to develop an ability to play various rhythms can help a lot. Therefore along with "1st Steps" I would recommend "Rhythm Primer." If possible spend 20 minutes on each book each day. It's very important that you use the audio files for both books found on the muse-eek.com website. By hearing the sounds you see on the page it will give you an aural memory of the sound. It will be tough going for a while but if you stick with it you will see improvement. |
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| Q | I recently bought your book 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist (Volume 1) and I'm having difficulty with the Barre Chord section of the document. On page 29, I understand why C Major starts on fret 3. What I'm having trouble understanding is why the second C Major (at the bottom of the page) begins on fret 8. Should I just assume that that is the way it is or is there something I'm missing? The fret position of the second C Major doesn't seem to be consistent with the diagram of the guitar fretboard on the top of page 12.
Please help clarify this. |
| A | The second C major chord on the 8th fret on the low E string is another way to play a C barre chord (notice the fingering is different). You will notice with all the barre chords you play that the "root" of the chord is the bottom (lowest) note. If you were to count up the low E string starting from the open string i.e.
E F F# G G# A A# B C 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 you would find that the 8th fret of the low E string is a C. So if you play the chord form I have listed at the bottom of the page you will be playing a C major chord. It is a good exercise to figure out what each note is of this chord. You will notice that all the notes are either a C E or G. These are the 3 notes that make a C major chord. The diagram of the guitar on page 12 gives you the notes on the A string and not the low E string therefore the C chord you need to play doesn't have a barring on the low E string. If you need a diagram of all the notes on the guitar there is of course one on page 8. There is a far more comprehensive diagram in the "members area" that may help you see where all the notes are on the guitar and their relationship to the music staff. Overall be patient when learning the barre chords they are hard on your hand especially if you are playing an acoustic guitar. I usually give my student a couple of months of working on the barre chords before they start to use them efficiently. |
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| Q | I am a total beginner when it comes to music and guitar-playing. I just recently purchased my first guitar and have invested a lot of time into looking for the best self-instructive material around. When I came across your books, I heard great things about them, and it has really made me interested in the information you have to offer. Just to give you an idea of my limited knowledge when it comes to music, I do not know how to read notes, I don't know music lingo, and embarrassingly, I don't even know what the function of a chord actually is. However, I am very dedicated to learning this instrument properly and effectively. A lot of guitar books I have seen only show you how to read tabs, and those that teach using notes don't actually teach you how to read them because they assume you already know how to. Additionally, most books toss around jargon with the expectation that you already know what the author is talking about. However, I do not enjoy that luxury. What books would you recommend for someone who knows absolutely nothing about music and guitar-playing like myself? What progression of material and books would you suggest I follow in order to maintain steady and effective musical development? |
| A | I would recommend the following books:
1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One Ear Training One Note Complete These books all take a student from the very beginning and don't use any words that you wouldn't understand. The nice thing about my books is you can contact me if you don't understand something and I can further explain it. Also after you receive your books you can join the "member's area" on the muse-eek.com website were you will find a lot of additional free information. |
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| Q | I'm waiting to receive some other books of yours (Rhythm Primer, Rhythms vol. 1, 1st steps for a beginning guitarist, Chord Work book vol. 1, Music Theory Workbook vol. 1, Lines vol. 1, A big Metronome, Single string studies vol. 1, Ear Training One Note Complete Method). What plan would you suggest? Also, please take note that I'm studying music from the beginning (I use Mel Bay Guitar method vol. 1, A Modern Method for the Guitar by W. Leavitt vol. 1, and the Guitar Principles by J. Andres). |
| A | I would organize your practice time as follows:
1. Sight read out of Rhythm Primer, Lines, Rhythms Vol. 1 and Single String Studies. 10 minutes out of each book everyday. Try to do this first in your practice sessions. 2. For Chord Workbook and 1st steps learn 2 to 3 new chords each week. When you feel your ready start on the chord progressions in the back of the book. I would learn one chord progression a week. 3. Try to do a page a day in the Music Theory Workbook. If that's too much try to build up to doing that much work each day. 4. I would use The Big Metronome in conjunction with Rhythm Primer and then move on to Rhythms Volume One. You can find a few measures from Rhythm Vol. 1 in the book on page 13, 51,52, 91,92. Find a track on the second CD, probably tracks one or two, and use it with one of the 1st few pages in Rhythm Primer. Play the Rhythm Primer exercise. You will hear a count off from the CD and a click every two measures. I'd like you to take a chord progression from a couple of songs you play well. Find a track preferably on the 2nd CD and play the song to the appropriate track. Try not to count but to start to feel the longer sense of rhythm. This could take a while to master so give yourself a week or so to start to play it correctly. Next I would learn one of the chord progressions on page 35,75 or 115. These are progressions from the Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume One. I would again use a track from the 2nd CD -- between track 9 and 12 would be a good starting place. The rhythmic feel for the chords should be strum on 1 and the "and of 2." Let me know how that goes and we will take it from there. |
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| Q | First I'd like to say that I find your books very informative and put together just right for a beginner like myself. I have a quick question. I'm having some trouble playing the F-Major Chord and I was wondering if it is possible that the strings on the first fret of my guitar are too tight preventing me from sucessfully holding down the 1st and 2nd strings for that Chord. I know the book says that it will be difficult and to give it weeks...so I am doing that. Often I can manage to hold down the 2nd string, i think because it is at the tip of my index finger...but the first string falls on a soft part of my index finger and so I have trouble pressing down fully. Any advice would be appreciated...thanks in advance! |
| A | Take a look at picture 11 at:
http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/media_pictures/ smallphotos/index.htm The ability to have a flexible 1st joint in your index finger will help you play the F major chord. Because this is a physical thing it's going to take some time of playing the F major chord before your 1st joint will become flexible. The best way to practice this is to play the F major chord about 10 to 15 times a day. Just pick up the guitar try to form the chord for a minute or two then put the guitar down. If you do this consistently you should be able to play this chord in a week or two. |
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| Q | I am a beginner and I've just started learning my first cords. I have large hands and fingers and am having trouble getting all three fingers on the second fret to play the A major cord. I can use my index finger and my #2 finger fine. Is this ok or will I run into problems in the future if I don't learn how to use all three fingers on one fret like this? |
| A | Playing the A chord with your index finger and your 2nd finger is fine. You may find other chords that you need to change the fingering for too. In most cases this will be fine. If you are shopping for a new guitar in the future you might want to look into guitars with a larger scale neck. For instance Fender Stratocasters have this larger scale along with some Gibson and Ibenez guitars. This larger scale would give your fingers a little more room. |
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| Q | I recently purchased you book 1st Steps For A Beginning Guitarist. It's a great book, but I have one question. On page 38, Chord Progression 2 Example B, it says: "When a chord is tied over from a previous measure the chord symbol is placed on the 1st beat of the following meaure." I'm a little confused over this. Could you please clarify this for me. |
| A | It is not uncommon to find musical situations where the chord symbol is placed above the 1st or 3rd beat of a measure but an underlying rhythm indicates that the 1st or 3rd beat is anticipated by an eighth note(s). When seeing this written you should also anticipate the chord by an eighth note. This system was developed to supposedly make it easier to write and read music. The jury is still out on that but always watch when you are reading something and you see an anticipation it may also indicate that you should anticipate the chord you are playing. There is no standardized way to write many aspects of music and in particular, contemporary music with it's high use of syncopation. I wrote 1st steps for a beginning guitarist for beginners but also wrote it in a way so that if someone puts a professional chart in front of you you will be much more prepared to recognize some of the idiosyncrasies of writing contemporary music. |
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| Q | I know some guitarists say to hold the pick however you feel is comfortable, and I wanted to try several different ways to see which one I like the best. Now, I have problems when I try to hold the pick the "standard" way, with the pick between your thumb and index finger tip. After a few up and down strokes, the pick ends up tilting clockwise and if I don't stop, it'll go completely sideways and that doesn't sound too good or feel too good either. I asked a friend of mine and she said she had the same problem and just holds a pick with a loose fist, with it between the sides of the thumb and index finger. I really do wish to figure out what's wrong with my technique and fix it. One issue I thought that MAY be the problem is I'm using a medium pick and thought of going to heavy gauge. Would that make sense?
Second, I have put in a lot of practice working on your progressions but whenever i change from any open chord to a G... my ring finger never seems to make it quickly enough to the string. The same goes with C (although it's three different steps... seems like the more frets i work with the more I have this problem). I know it has to do with independence but there seems to be no end in sight. Do you have any exercises or tips that would really help me focus my muscles and concentrate on being able to do that better? |
| A | You can hold your pick either between your thumb and your 1st finger or between your thumb and 1st and 2nd finger combined. Either of these ways will be fine and shouldn't cause you any physical trouble. It's common to have the pick slide around a bit especially when your just a beginner on the guitar. The pick has to be held firmly enough so that the pick doesn't slide around but not so firmly that you are overtaxing your muscles. Try to find a happy medium. I use Extra Heavy picks and find them to be great. Each person usually finds overtime the gauge pick that fits their style and sound. I usually find that heavy to extra heavy picks work best but I'm sure there are people that swear by medium and light picks.
For developing chord playing I would practice just switching back and forth from one chord to the next and slowly speed up this process. Overtime you will find that your fingers educate themselves on exactly were they should be. You could also practice some scales to get your fingers more limber. This will also help them to have more control. Download some of the scales from the "music workshop" at www.brucearnold.com. I would play scales for 10 to 15 minutes a day to start with. A combination of the scales and chord work should have your moving between the chord easily within a few months. Be patient with yourself. Depending on the guitar and your fingers this process can take some time. Everyone gets it sooner or later and then it's like riding a bike...you will never forget it. |
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| Q | How do I use your web site to tune my guitar? |
| A | If you go to:
http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/lower.html choose tuning files from the left column or go directly to: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/tuningfiles.html You have the choice of downloading two different types of files. Both types of files can be play with your browser but you can also use other programs to play these files. All files will play the a note for each string. You will then need to tune the string up or down to match the pitch. If you have problems with this I also suggest you do a search for guitar tuners and either buy one or use one of the many free on-line guitar tuners now available on the internet. Obviously owning a "real" tuner makes it so you are not relying on being near a computer to tune your guitar. |
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| Q | Thank you for your wonderful texts. I have "1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist," "Music Theory Workbook for Guitar (Volume One)," and "One Note Ear Training". I have made significant progress in the two months that I have started playing the guitar (with virtually no previous music experience). I am now working on the moveable chords, specifically page 28 in 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist. I am unable to physically play the A and Ab chords in the C Major Cycle 5 on my guitar. Although not said in the book, I am assuming that the bottom of these two chords are played on the 11th and 12th frets, respectively. It seems that my hands get overly cramped up against the body of the guitar and that these chords could be easily played with a cut-away. If this is true, do I just leave these two chords out when practicing Cycle 5 progressions? I imagine I would have this same problem with all Cycle 5 progressions. |
| A | It is OK to skip the chords that are unplayable on your instrument. In the case of the A major chord I would suggest that you play the chord as an "open" voicing. You may not have the same problem with every chord that you take through the cycle 5 progression. Some chords may be playable, you will just have to check to make sure. |
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| Q | I bought an acustic guitar about 2 years ago, and like every beginner I was very frustrated. I stopped playing for a while and picked it back up and have been practicing as much as I can the last few months. I have a couple of beginner books, and they helped some, (with configuration of chords etc.) but I didn't know why. I found your book on amazon (1st steps) and a lot of people who reviewed it said it was great. I bought it and I love it. My problem is, I tend to jump around too much, from reading theory, to chord progressions ,to barre chords, back to theory, etc. I want to be able to play songs on the guitar, so I was wondering if it is ok to try some songs on the guitar before knowing most of the fundamentals from your books? I want to purchase "Music Theory Workbook Volume One" and also "One Note Ear Training," should I wait till I'm knowledgable enough with 1st steps before buying the other two books so I don't jump around and get involved with these books prematurely? |
| A | I think it is fine if you learn other songs while you are studying the 1st Steps book. From your description of your situation though I think what you really need is a regimen of practice so you get to the things you want to do and the things you should do to improve your musicianship. If you could religiously practice one hour a day with some other extra time thrown in while commuting or use anyplace where you have some down time to do some other music work. Here is what I'd do;
1. For 15 minutes practice the chord progressions from the 1st steps book. Make sure you can play the progression in time and that you get to each chord when you need to. Use the midifiles or audio files to check your progress. You should try to master one progression every other week. 2. Download scales from http://www.arnoldjazz.com/workshop/index.html Download the major scales from the music workshop. I want you to learn the C major scale in 7 positions on the guitar. Make sure you are learning this by either saying the note names or degrees. Do not learn the scales by fingering patterns. I want you to do a new scale position each week. So week one you will learn the C scale starting from F. The next week you will learn the C scale starting from G. When you finish the C major scale you should then learn the C dorian scale then C phrygian etc. Practice this for 15 minutes. 3. Spend the last 1/2 hour learning songs you like or improvising with the scales you have learned. Muse Eek will have a "site license" available to you in a few months. By paying a modest fee you will have access to 100's of mp3 files that I've recorded. You can use these as backing tracks to improvise over. 4. Ear Training One Note Complete. Do 5 times a day for 5 to 10 minutes. This is best done while commuting or lunch breaks or before you go to bed. etc.. 5. Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One. Do one page a week so about 3 to 4 exercises a day. You will have to work up to this because the first ones will take you awhile to figure out. Once again this is a excellent book to do if you commute by train or have other times when you are sitting with nothing to do. I should also mention that you should get the e-book Guitar Technique so you learn your scales with the proper technique. Make sure to check out the pictures and videos on the website so you see exactly what you should do. You should take the next couple of months to work into this kind of schedule. It takes time to rearrange your life to include music. So be patient and look at this as a long term process. |
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| Q | I was just browsing through the internet on guitar techniques and I noticed your webpage. I was just wondering if perhaps you can give me some short advice if you have the time. I am a 19 year old 5'3" female with not only really small hands, but short fingers. Some would say "average" sized hands that are proportionate to a girl of my size but I am extremely frusterated. I started guitar about a year ago with a great teacher but I am so frusterated because of my hand size. He always gets annyoed when I bring up hand size and states, "It has nothing to do with it" but of course it does. I never struggled with piano because I am double-jointed in my pinkies, thus I can reach a ninth which is good enough for me. But I am realy having problems playing the guitar. The thing is, my horizontal reach is pretty good (five frets). It is the actual vertical chords that I am having trouble with. My little finger barely reaches the top string! I was wondering if you can give me some advice because it really upsets me that I should have to quit something that is in my heart, my mind, and my ears, just because my genetic makeup is that of small hands. Every musician constantly brings up hand size and finger length, and what can I say, I dont have Jimi Hendrix hands! |
| A | Sorry to hear you are having difficulties with your hand size in relationship to the guitar. I think you should go to a local guitar shop and see if you can find a guitar that has a smaller scale (distance between the frets), a thin neck both in it's thickness and fretboard size along with strings that are closer together. If you can find a guitar like this you could see if the smaller size helps you to play easier. I would recommend finding a guitar like the Steinberger GM Series go to:
http://www.customselect.com/guitars/steinberger/guitars.html to see a picture. Don't be put off by the price if you go to ebay you will see these guitars used sell for much cheaper and there are also a few companies like Hohner who make copies of this guitar. Anyway this is what I would recommend first to see if a different guitar might help. Just tell a guitar shop salesman your looking for a small scale guitar like the Steinberger or even one of the mini guitars http://smallsizeguitars.the-mall.net/ These guitars are half and 3/4 sized. I actually have one they are very cute. Some of them actually sound pretty good too. Check your local stores and see if they have any of these models advertised on the site. |
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| Q | I've noticed that many guitarists when they play hold the guitar in such a way that their thumb actually hangs over the top of the neck. Is that the proper way to play? Because I have modified my playing where I keep my thumb at the back of the neck somewhere in the middle, thus giving me more leverage so my not-so-long fingers have more freedom. Is that ok? |
| A | In general it's not a great idea to put your thumb over the top of the neck. There are some instances when this is OK. For instance, when you bend strings it is common to have your thumb over the top of the neck. You will be much better off if you put your thumb in the middle part of the neck when playing scales. |
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| Q | I would like to teach myself to play the acoustic guitar. I have knowledge of the basic chords and can switch between them fairly well. I enjoy songs that include fingerstyle playing along with songs that include just your run-of-the-mill strumming and chord switching. I know how to read tab and have studied note reading on the first three frets. I don't want to buy a book that will teach me these things all over again. Which beginner book do you recommend? Please keep in mind my ultimate goal is to play current popular music and country. Your response would be appreciated. |
| A | Thanks for contacting me. First let me say that I'm not sure my books would be good for you based on the information you gave me. Overall my books are designed to raise up the basic musicianship through the understanding of proper technique, ear training, and music theory skills directly applied to your instrument. Furthermore these books are written in a way to prepare a student for a professional career in music or the ability to play and understand like a professional musician. It is my belief that in order to play music well you need a combination of all the previous mentioned basic musicianship skills in order to really play well. Many students really have no interest in truly developing their musical skills to this depth so I would say that would be your first consideration before buying into my course of study. Many aspects of learning in this style are not particularly fun and sometimes it's hard for the student to see how some of these things like music theory are going to be useful in the future. For instance if you just want to play current popular music and country and you can switch between chords fairly well then you would be better off buying books with the chord progressions for this music and just play it.. If on the other hand you want to:
1. Understand why these progressions make sense. 2. Have knowledge of what key songs are in based on more than a key signature. 3. Develop guitar technique that will allow you to play progressively much more difficult music than strumming easy chord progressions or simple finger-picking. 4. Be able to transcribe music directly from CDs then you would be going in the right direction to purchase some of my books. Let me know what you think. If this seems like something you want to do then I'll help you reach these goals. Keep in mind to do this type of work will require an hour to an hour and 1/2 study each day. |
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| Q | I browsed your site and read about several of Bruce Arnold's books on amazon.com. I've been playing the guitar for a little over 2 years. I took lessons for about 8 months, but my teacher left the state and I've been floundering since then. Your books look interesting and get rave reviews, but I don't know which one to try.
I know lots of chords, can play a few barre chords--not well, but can play them, and I have a great memory for chords and little pieces I learned in lessons. I know nothing about theory, and can't figure out the strumming patterns of songs even when I know them like the back of my hand, can sing them, and have the tabs for them - I can play the chords, but that's it. I love music and playing is a joy, but I have found myself very unmotivated the past 6 months or so and hardly playing at all (even losing my calluses). So, to summarize: not a rank beginner, know lots of chords, great memory, no music theory, no "ear", no sense of figuring out strumming patterns, sad because I have lost direction and motivation. What book would you recommend I buy? |
| A | Thanks for contacting me. I would recommend you work in 3 different directions. My recommendations would be based on a 1 and 1/2 hour practice time per day. Hopefully a little more on the weekends. It would also be figuring that you have time to do ear training or music theory when commuting to work/school. This could also take in to account other small 5 to 10 minute time intervals throughout the day that you could do a little music practicing without the guitar.
First, I think 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist will be a good starting place for you. This book will show you the proper technique you need to use when playing the guitar but will also help you with your rhythm and chord changing problems. Second I would recommend Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One. A completely "not fun" book, but is a very valuable book to work through. This book will help you memorize all chords both in you head and your hands. This will be very useful information when you start to process and understand the music theory aspects of each scale or chord progression you might learn. This is a workbook where you fill in answers to music theory questions. It is an excellent book to work on when you have breaks throughout the day or when commuting etc. Last, I would recommend Ear Training One Note Complete. This will improve your ear so you are more "connected" with music and will in the long run help you to learn music directly from CDs and to hear and understand what others are playing. Once again this book and CDs are excellent tools to practice when commuting or during any 5 to 10 minute down time throughout the day. |
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| Q | I am very new to playing the guitar (I've been playing about a month). I am working through your 1st steps book, which is great. I have most of the open chords down, and am starting to work on the barre chords. I am having a difficult time getting my index finger to lay across all the stings the way that it is shown in the picture while at the same time fingering the other notes, most likely because I don't have long fingers, and I can't get my fingers to spread apart enough. The only way I am able to play a barre chord is if I overextend my index finger, which will extend about 1/4 beyond the edge of the neck, and utilize the extreme lower part of my index finger to hold down the high E. It seems very awkward, is a bit uncomfortable right now, and does not look right, but it does allow me to play it correctly. I know I may not be describing it very well, but do you have any ideas on what I can do to overcome this problem, or is the technique I'm using still acceptable, and allow me to progress correctly.
2nd question, unrelated to my progress: I am starting to play and am coming across a notation that I am not familiar with yet. I am sure it is addressed in one of your other books, but how do you interpret a chord listed as "B/D#" or "A2/C#"? I know the "/" is sometimes used to show equivalent notes, such as "c#/Db" but I can't figure out the interpretation of these combination chords. Can you give me an abbreviated explanation, tell me how to play these, and tell me which book, if any, will address these types of chords. Thanks for your help. |
| A | Thanks for contacting me. It's OK if your index finder extends beyond the neck. Overtime you will find your hand will adjust as you learn to play more barre chords. In order to help in this development I recommend you work on the exercises described on page 28 and apply it to the chords found on pages 29 to 31.
B/D# or A2/C# are called "slash" chords. In most cases the 1st letter refers to the chord and the second refers to which note you will place in the bass (lowest note). So B/D# would be a B triad (B, D#, F#) with the D# in the bass. I would play this chord with your 3rd finger on a D# on the A string (6th Fret) and your first finger across the D, G, and B, string at the 4th fret which will be the notes F#, B and D#. The A2/C# contains the notes (A,B,C#E). There are two common ways you could play this chord. 4th finger on the C# on the A string (4th fret) 1st finger on the E on the D string (2nd fret), 2nd finger on an A on the G string (2nd fret) and the B string played open. This will be kind of a hard chord to play for most people but is a beautiful sound. You can also play this by placing your 3rd finger on the C# on the low A string (4th fret), your 1st finger barres across the D, G, and B string at the 2nd fret and your little finger plays a B on the G string at the 4th fret. All of these chords I have described are really what you call inversions. In this case you are playing the 1st inversion of a major chord. By this I mean you can play a chord in root position (root note of chord in the bass) 1st inversion (3rd of chord in the bass), 2nd inversion (5th of chord in bass) and if it is a 7th chord like the C7 chord found on page 31 you can also have a 3rd inversion with the 7th in the bass. I should mention that you might occasionally see a chord like C7/D7. This means to play and C7 chord (C,E,G,Bb) and a D7 chord (D,F#,A,C) at the same time. Many of these chords are impossible to play on the guitar or if they are possible don't sound very good. If you run across something like this I recommend you play the 1st structure (in this case a C7 and just place the bass note of the other chord in the bass in this case the D or you also can just play the C7. One last thing when you do run across these "slash" chords and you find it to difficult to play you can always just play the top part of the chord, (for instance the B/D# just play the B chord) this will at least give you the basic sound needed in that instance. |
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| Q | I am greatly inspired by finger-stylists such as Don Ross. What series of books would you advise me to follow in order to progress into modern finger-style? |
| A | I currently don't have a finger picking book out but I have begun working on one. I have to say I don't have a good one to recommend to you. I think one thing that is important to consider when finger picking is that your arpeggiate of the notes is actually creating a melody with the chords so keep this in mind as you string chords together. The different form of chords (voicings) and the finger picking pattern you choose will greatly effect the musicality of your music. |
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| Q | Would Guitar Clinic be a good supplement to the following titles: 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist, Music Theory Vol. 1 and Vol. 2? |
| A | Much of the information presented in 1st Steps, Music Theory One and Two is in Guitar Clinic, so I don't think that would be a good choice. Guitar Clinic does contain some advanced techniques for improvisation such as Modal Sequencing, Approach Notes, Superimposition and Hexatonic Scales. All of these are quite cool but are more advanced concepts.
Overall you are expected to augment your serious study in these books with long hours of applying this information to chord vamps, songs and jams that you create through the knowledge you gain in these books. If you approach these books like they are giving you the raw knowledge and then you apply your own creativity you will be greatly rewarded. |
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| Q | Ultimately I am looking for something with a Blues focus. I want to be able to learn to execute solid improvising over a 12 bar blues. Does 1st Steps provide for some tailoring of style? |
| A | 1st Steps contains a basic blues progression and other chord progressions that are in the rock or folk idioms. I would definitely say that 1st Steps is not focused solely on a 12 bar blues progression nor does it discuss the blues scale. You will find information on soloing and the proper scales for many chord progression including the blues in the Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two. Once again there are no hot licks in Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two just the correct knowledge of how to learn scales to become a great musician. |
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| Q | Do any of your books below allow one to apply each lesson to a recognizable contemporary song that is provided? In other words, I'm looking for instruction that has a payoff, namely motivation to complete a lesson by providing the student with a song that incorporates the theory and techniques of the previous lesson(s). Ideally this would be something that has a midi file available that could be used to play against. |
| A | Only 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist gives you the combination of either recognizable contemporary songs or chord progressions that sound cool. Each progression gets slightly harder and 1st Steps is a book to use for preparing for Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume One. The chord progressions in the Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume One gives you an in-depth look at the blues, minor blues and a jazz progression call "rhythm changes" with 12 different chord progressions for each along with all the chord voicing a professional guitarist must know to perform in any style. Keep in mind these progressions have a jazz flavor.
Along with providing midi and mp3 files of the progressions, 1st Steps contains video files to show you proper technique so you can develop to your full potential. Overall the entire collection of books by Muse Eek Publishing is for the serious student who is self motivated and wants to rise to their fullest potential within the amount of time they have available to practice. These books are not your latest cool lick, or hot chord progression but a step by step method to develop your basic musicianship through a combination of music theory, ear training, sight reading, time studies and chord knowledge. |
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| Q | I have been studying 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist. I am now studying the moveable chord forms. I have fat fingers and am having trouble positioning my 2,3,and 4 fingers on the D,G,and B strings on the same fret. I had the same problem when trying to play the A chord, but a friend told me to just use two fingers instead of three to play it. I tried to use the same technique for the moveable forms, but it just isnt working out. Any advice you could give would be fantastic. |
| A | There is an alternate fingering for the barre chords that could help you play them better. If you take the C barre chord which has the 1st finger on the 3rd fret of the A string and 2th, 3rd and 4th fingers across the D, G and B string at the 5th fret you could replace your 2th, 3rd and 4th fingers with your 3rd finger. Basically you are barring across the the D, G, and B string with your 3rd finger. This is usually a little more of a stretch between the 1st and 3rd fingers but it will get better the more your try it. Keep in mind that there will be certain melodies and chord combinations that will require the other fingering. Overtime most students find a way to play both fingerings. You may have to look for a guitar with a larger scale (Fender Stratocasters for instance have a larger scale), but many times as your fingers become more flexible you will be able to play both methods. |
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| Q | Hi, I'm a beginner so I want to know how to tune my guitar. |
| A | Well, you have a couple of choices. There are many free guitar tuning programs on the internet. I would just type "guitar tuning" into a search engine. The book 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist gives you a detailed explanation of how to tune a guitar. You probably could also find some other guitar sites that might give you a step by step on the proper way to tune the guitar. |
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| Q | I've been playing the acoustic guitar (a Tanglewood) for a few weeks now. I have found the tips of my fingers have hardened up from practicing, but I still find it hard to play the A major cord without getting a buzzing sound. This is caused by the index finger not pressing down hard enough on the string. If I press too hard my fingers begin to hurt. Do you have any suggestions or other ways of playing the A major cord? |
| A | Sorry to hear you're having difficulty with the A chord. It's very common for people to have buzzing and miss-fretted sort of sounds after only playing for a couple of weeks. Usually, I find that if you adjust your finger(s) you can find the right place to play in order to take care of the buzzing. This might not happen in one practice session but if you keep at it you usually can find the sweet spot. There are some alternate fingerings for the A chord, but in the long run you want to be able to play all of the various fingerings for the A chord because depending on the song you are playing different fingerings can sometimes make a passage easier. A couple of other fingerings would be:
Open A string D string 2nd fret 2nd finger G String 2nd fret 3rd finger B string 2nd fret 4th finger OR Open A string Barre the first finger across the 2nd fret on the D, G and B string That's pretty much it for common alternate fingers. Remember that you want to only press down the strings hard enough to get the note to sound. When you're starting out it's hard to know what is the optimum amount to press down. Just remember that by only pressing the least amount to get a good sound you will be able to be faster and more limber in your chording. This is a hard concept for someone only playing a couple of weeks. So basically, you should come away with the idea that you should pay attention to how hard you press and over time try to develop a light touch. |
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| Q | I noticed on your website that the chord diagrams for the A-form barre chord show the first finger barring the top 5 strings, with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers individually playing the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings, respectively. In other words, it looks like you are recommending that a player play this barre chord using all 4 fingers rather than barring the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings with the 3rd finger. Do you prefer fingering each string individually rather than barring using the 3rd finger? Would you recommend learning to play the A-form barre chord this way? Would you recommend this fingering even at higher frets? |
| A | You could play the A barre chord with either fingering, but it is definitely important to be able to play the A barre chord with the "all 4 finger" position. This is because there are many guitar parts to songs that incorporate playing melodies on the B string. In particular, accessing the 4th and the 2nd degrees of the chord is common and the B string is where these notes exist. Let's say you are only accessing the 4th to the 3rd (Pinball Wizard), then either fingering will work but it is extremely hard to access the 2nd without using the "all 4 finger" approach. Personally, I use both and depending on the situation will choose one over the other. I usually don't base the fingering I use on whether I'm in a higher or lower position, it's usually more related to the musical situation. |
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| Q | I am a small framed woman with small hands and short, fat fingers. I purchased an Applause minibowl cutaway acoustic with nylon strings. I also purchased your book, which was highly recommended in the reviews on Amazon.com. I seem to have trouble positioning my left hand on the neck of the guitar. I keep ending up with my wrist bent too much, which is very uncomfortable. I've re-read your text and studied the pictures. Any ideas on what I might be doing wrong? |
| A | It's times like these that I wish I had a video cam so I could see your hand on the guitar. My guess is that you are playing an acoustic with a classical size neck that is extra wide. For your hand size, this is about the worse thing you could have because you will have to bend your wrist to reach notes on the lower strings. There are a few things short of getting a different guitar that might help. Using the "classical guitar" position with your guitar may do it. The "classical guitar" position would be to put your guitar on your left leg and raise your left leg up a bit by placing your foot on some object. There are actually foot rests that you can buy for this if you find it helps. See
http://www.activemusician.com/market/items/AD_PGF1.asp You could also just use a guitar case to do this or anything that is about 4 to 5 inches high. By raising your left leg, the position should make playing a little easier though it may feel strange at first. Check out some of the pictures on http://www.mangore.com/rb2.html to see how you should hold the guitar. Remember that it takes time to adjust your hand so that the wrist doesn't bend too much. Try out the classical technique of holding the guitar and let me know what happens. |
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| Q | What books would you recommend for me? I understand that Music Theory, Chord Work, Scale Work, Ear Training, Technique, and Improvisation are all areas which need to be worked on to develop properly.
My main interest is in Jazz. I have been working through various standards (such as Autumn Leaves, All the Things you Are, Alone Together, etc ...), but I have found that I can only get so far when it comes to improvisation and harmonization, because my knowledge of music theory has lots of gaps and holes in it and also because of my weak musical ear. Your help on this would truly be appreciated. |
| A | OK so here are the books you should get. After you have them let me know and we will work out a schedule for you:
Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volumes One and Two Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume One Ear Training One Note Complete Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training Guitar Technique e-book Also download the scales from the music workshop at www.arnoldjazz.com This is going to be a lot of work but if you have 4 hours a day to practice you should be able to make a major dent in this stuff over the next year. |
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| Q | I am left-handed and a few years ago, I took guitar lessons from a teacher who told me to play right-handed. I found the going extremely difficult, either because I was playing right-handed or simply because I had no talent. Now I would like to try again, this time, playing left-handed. Would your book help? If not, could you please recommend some other book? Also any recommendations for a good left-handed guitar, or should I buy a right-handed guitar and reverse the strings? |
| A | I do have some books that I think would be good for you. It's really a matter of whether you want to spend the time dealing with the fact that they are written for a right handed guitarist. For Instance, Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One and Two are excellent for helping you build up your knowledge of Music Theory and the fretboard. All exercises could be filled in, it wouldn't matter if you were right or left-handed, but the answers in the back of the book would be shown for a right-handed guitarist. You could hold the back of each page up to your computer monitor and read through the back-side of the page to see the left hand answers. Most students only need the answers for the first couple of pages and then they understand the process and continue without constantly checking the answers so this book might work for you.
I think 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist would be good too. There are three important things you could gain from this book. 1. How to physically play correctly. There is a detailed explanation of how to use both hands with pictures and videos to help you understand. This information is crucial to developing proper technique, which will make all the difference in the world for your progress. 2. Chord progressions with rhythms written out for your strumming hand. This will help you develop basic strumming skills. For the chords you will have to once again look through the back of the page. For most chords I think it would be quite simple for you to figure them out quickly. 3. A detailed explanation of rhythm and reading rhythm. This will be important when you come across rhythms in music that you might need to read. It will also help you to gain a mental image of how music is organized rhythmically. Working through the strumming patterns will also help point out any rhythm problems you might have. This is very important to your rhythmic development and overall musicianship. There is one more book I would get that is an ear training book and wouldn't be affected by your left hand approach. This book is Ear Training One Note Complete. I can't stress how important it is to also develop your ear as you develop musically. It will make all the difference in the long run to your overall ability. |
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| Q | I recently purchased and am enjoying your guitar book - First Steps for a Beginning Guitarist. I have noticed a lot of references to music files in the book but wasn't able to find them on the website. Can you send me the appropriate URL? Especially, I'm looking for the files that provide rhythm samples and any that may help with chord progression. |
| A | There are quite a few help files for 1st Steps. I've listed them below. The rhythm file is listed last.
http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/lower.html If you click on Pictures you will be taken to http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/media_pictures/smallphotos/index.htm If you click on Videos you will be taken to: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/videos.html If you click on tuning files you will be taken to: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/tuningfiles.html If you click on chord progressions you will be taken to: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/chordprog.html If you click on rhythm files you will be taken to: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/rhythmfiles.html If you just need the rhythm files they are as stated located at: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/rhythmfiles.html If you find that you are still having problems either understanding or executing rhythms especially with your strumming hand let me know and I'll give you some more stuff to help you. |
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| Q | My son just started college this year and is taking music theory. This is the first interest in music he has expressed, besides having a car stereo that is rated on the Richter Scale rather than in decibels. Music isn't his major but he sounds like he wants it for a hobby. I'm overwhelmed because I see it as a blessing in that we can rebuild our broken relationship. We haven't talked so much in years. The real question is how can I direct him when it comes to ear training. I know that they will use interval training in the class. I have loaned him One Note Complete and told him that if he followed the method he would be able to hear much better than the interval method. I know that this will cause him confusion because when they test him on intervals he needs to be able to pass their test but using your method. What do you recommend? I loaned him a guitar and ordered him your First Steps book. |
| A | Well I think you did the right thing to give him the ear training book. At least now he knows there is an alternative. It really shows you care about him and he will realize that maybe not now but certainly later if he continues with music and realizes that the interval thing just isn't cutting it. First Steps also is a good choice because if he starts learning the guitar and follows even half of the information on proper technique he will improve quickly. Of course he could use Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One but you might want to wait until you are sure he is serious because that is a hard book and takes a lot of will power and determination. It's a great way for a guitarist to learn music theory. Applying music theory to your own instrument is the best way to make sense of your instrument and also a great way to help you remember all of the theory relationships because you see them on your instrument. Wishing you the best of luck with your son he's lucky to have a father who cares. If you need further advice let me know. |
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| Q | I have never played a musical instrument before and have decided to learn to play the guitar.
I started with Guitar for Dummies, because someone gave me the book. I still haven't mastered playing chords, which is the first part of the book. The problem here is trying to remember where to place my fingers on the fret board then changing to the next chord. I assume that trying this over and over 7 days a week will solve this problem. I had no idea if what I was playing sounded right, so I thought that Ear Training was the thing to do. I purchased One Note Ear Training Beginning Level. Do I need to learn something about music notation, before working on Ear Training? Should I be working with some of your guitar books before continuing with Ear Training? As someone with an electronics and mathematical background I have the inclination to go look up the frequencies and mathematical relationship between the notes. Would this help me any in learning to play an instrument? |
| A | Thanks for contacting me. I would recommend you get 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist. You first want to study the section on proper playing technique. Look at the pictures and the videos to make sure you are playing correctly. This will make a major difference in your progress. Second I would look at the chord voicing and start applying them to the chord progressions. These progressions have midifiles and mp3 files that you can download to help you hear what they should sound like which will help you learn quicker. Along with the 1st Steps book I would get Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One. This book will help you learn music theory and apply it directly to the guitar. This will improve your understanding of music and how it relates to your instrument. The other book I would recommend would be one of the Ear Training One Note books which you already have.
I would spend 30 minutes to an hour on the 1st Steps book. 15-20 minutes a day on the Music Theory and do the Ear Training book with a discman throughout the day when you have a break. Try to do the Ear Training 4 to 5 times a day for 5 to 10 minutes. If you have further questions let me know. I would also recommend reading the FAQs found for each of these books on the muse-eek.com website. I would also recommend you join the free member's area on the muse-eek.com website now that you own a muse eek book. There is a lot of additional information found in this section of the website that will be useful to you. I think Guitar for Dummies is a good reference book. It will help you with basic understanding of the guitar. I think the book falls short in that the chord progressions are not that hip and the explanation of how to physically play the guitar is not well developed. But I say over all of the books available it is a good purchase. I wouldn't particularly recommend you look up the frequencies and mathematical relationships between the notes. While interesting, it isn't the main thing that I think you need to learn right now. Having an electronics and mathematical background though may help you to relate music to a field you currently understand. |
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| Q | I have not played the guitar before and just bought your book 1st Steps... I have no idea what guitar to buy and where I can get it from. Can you please advise? (Acoustic/Electric? price range and type)
I do not want to go for a very expensive guitar right away. I live in Wisconsin and there is a Dave's Guitar pretty close to my place. |
| A | I recommend two guitars. For electric the Fender Stratocaster. Fender has a Mexican and Japanese model that are around 350.00. Seagull acoustic guitars are excellent, they have an entry level guitar that is so good I'd buy one without playing it. I've had many students purchase both of these guitars and all have been very happy with their sound and playability. You will also need an amplifier if you get an electric. I would get a Fender Princeton Amplifier. They have a few different types of Fender Princeton Amps any of them would be great. You will also need a patch cord to plug in your guitar into the amp and a strap to hold your guitar up when you play. Both of these extras are available at any music store. |
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| Q | I bought a guitar very recently and am very much motivated to play it. I looked around for resources and books and found your books on amazon. First I bought 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist and then Music Theory Workbook Volume One following some of your advice and suggestions from co-readers on the site. Soon after that, I saw your FAQ suggestions and strong recommendation on the Ear Training, so I got it too...
Looking around those 3 materials, I realized there is plenty to learn (actually overwhelming!) and the stuff you speak about in the workbook and ear training isn't going to be easy for a beginner like myself. I haven't played any instrument before. I work around 10-12 hours a day and additionally I have my language lessons, workouts, etc, etc that keep my day/weekends quite exciting and busy. I actually enjoy being busy. What type of a schedule would you personally recommend for a person like myself? I am a bit confused because my concern is - I want to spend optimum time on the right book/CD so that my progress is stable and keeps going on and on... at the same time it shouldn't demand any time more than what I really have. Although I am learning it to play it just for myself, I have some objectives: 1. Know the instrument properly. 2. Hear to any music (especially from my favorite rock stars) and play them. Do you think I made a wrong decision by getting all the 3 resources at the same time? Where should I exactly start? Should chords be part of my first lessons or is it the theory part? |
| A | You made the right decision to get all 3 books if you have the will power and concentration to fit them into what sounds like a very busy life. I think one of the key things here is do you have any spare time at work where you could listen to an ear training CD for 5 minutes maybe 3 to 5 times and/or do 10 minutes of music theory work. If you do then I'd spend between 1/2 hour and 1 1/2 hours a day playing guitar and do some extra practicing on the weekends. The important thing is to be consistent. If you can only practice 1/2 an hour a day then be consistent and always practice that amount. This is one of the main keys to becoming a good musician.
Of course you have to also realize that only practicing a 1/2 hour a day it will take longer to progress than if you practice more. But this is your situation now so work within your current situation and try to figure out a way in the future to devote more time to music. |
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| Q | I own your 1st Steps book as well as a couple of others... I am a bass player (well sort of) and I was told to learn how to play guitar. Fingering almost any chord (other than a simple two-finger one like Em) is impossible. There is no way that on a G chord the middle finger does not touch the string next to it with the strings so close together. (The entire width of the neck is only 1 11/16 of an inch!) And every other chord has the same problem. All the books say don't do it, but they really don't say how. If my fingers were as long and thin as Jimi Hendrix, maybe. But I have normal sized hands and it is impossible.
There must be some secret magic real guitarists are not telling the rest of us. OK, just tell me ... what is the secret ... ? |
| A | Playing chords so each note sounds correctly is a frustrating process that many beginners go through. The most common problem is that your fingers are not curved properly. I'm sure you have checked out the videos and pictures in the book and website so I have a few questions to help find the problem.
1st Do you feel you are applying all the correct playing techniques I show in the book and website? 2nd Do you find that chords like Am and D major are also hard? If so, why? 3rd If you have a digital camera and can take a shot of your hand and attach it that would be the best. |
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| Q | Funny you should mention trying a guitar with a wider neck. When I bought my first guitar (Epiphone acoustic) I didn't know that this would be an issue. Remember, I'm a bass player (sort of) and touching other strings was never a problem. Then I found out that my neck was 1 11/16 inches ... on the small side (but same size as electrics). There does not seem to be a wider neck guitar in my price range. Also it seems strange that the smaller the guitar (Martin's O and parlor guitars) the wider the neck. Well, one friend said electric guitars are easier to play because the strings are not so tight and therefore one does not have to press down so hard. That seems to be true but I'm still (as you saw in the photos) having the 'touching other strings' problem.
I have finally decided to buckle down and hire a teacher. My first lesson is tonight. Wish me luck. And another friend had this suggestion: Put a capo on further up the neck where it is wider and re-tune the guitar to the new position. What do you think of this idea? |
| A | Overall I'd say a bigger neck will help but I've also found that over time students with larger hands are able to adjust their fingers so that chords sound OK. Basically this is done by adjusting exactly where each finger touches the string. I should also mention that a typical classical guitar neck is much wider and there are tons of cheaper models out there that you should try. As far as electric guitars, sometimes Fender Stratocasters will have a wider string to string ratio. A strat certainly has a wider distance between frets because of their larger scale.
Your idea about a capo seems flawed because the frets get closer together as you move up the neck so theoretically it would be harder to play open position chords as you move up the neck. |
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| Q | I am a beginning guitarist and starting to work through the chord progressions in 1st Steps. My question is on the fingering for the G chord, which occurs prominently in the chord progression exercises. For all of these chord progressions the book shows the standard fingering for G where the index, middle, and ring fingers are used (ring finger on the bottom E); however, another book I saw recommends an alternative fingering for beginners using the middle, ring, and pinky (the pinky is on the bottom E string). This alternative fingering leaves the index finger free, making it much easie to do typical chord changes like from G to G7 and from G to C. It also seems to allows for easier changes for the first few chord progressions exercises in your book, such as G to A- and F to G. In fact, I believe you use this alternative fingering in the video that demonstrates Chord Progression #3.
I realize that different fingerings will be more appropriate for different songs; however, as a beginner with an immediate goal of being able to learn to play songs as quickly as possible, I'm inclined to just practice the alternative fingering for now. Do you think this is a good or bad idea? Furthermore, for chord progression #1, which is G to D to A- ; it also seems like using an alternative fingering for the D chord (using the pinky on the 2nd string) would also serve me well. I don't want to confuse my brain and my fingers too much right now with playing the same chords in different ways, nor do I want to start any bad habits, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. |
| A | Yes you can definitely use the alternate fingerings. The one you mentioned for the D is a little more unusual but it's just fine to use it. Make sure to check out the videos in the member's section for tips on playing the chords. The mp3's for the progressions will also help you slowly build up speed when you switch chords too. |
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| Q | A few days ago I ran into your books via Amazon reader feedback. I am 44, just starting with music (playing the electric guitar, reading, ear training) and struggling my ass off at Music School, where everybody is 18 to 22 years old, except the instructors, at 28 to 32 years of age. Hell, they could ALL be my children!
Well, so I saw the light late, perhaps I am slower, blinder and more stubborn than others, but I finally recognized (after a lot of self doubt) that I am not an Economist so here I am studying music. Weeeell, the reason I'm writing you is to say 'thanks for existing' and for writing all those wonderful books of yours, which the magic of Amazon is delivering to my doorstep in Buenos Aires. The love for music and for teaching is apparent in every sentence you write. You see, Argentina being one of those oral-tradition societies that don't really believe in books as applied to learning, all the stuff said in class is oral, write-it down in your notebook and then go home and practice. So I go home and try to practice, and miss not having my teacher next to me, because I sort of feel lost, trying to remember everything that was said in class but I couldn't jot down because I had a guitar in my hands, never mind that my brain seizes because even though it's beginner level, the guitar class is truly challenging for me. Now you come along, with your books, and work-books, and CDs, and midi-files, and for the first time I now get the feeling I can really do this, because I have all the material I need at home, as books, CDs, midi files from muse-eek, etc, that I can work at my own pace and not get stuck and de-motivated. Mostly I have been a self-learner all my life, so your books come hand-in-glove for my needs. :-) Oh, and I do have one question for you. As an ex-glider flight instructor, we were all aware that learning speed decreased linearly with age. As such that we had a golden rule for all normally-abled students, that required a minimum number of instructor-accompanied flight equal to the student's age plus 10 before the student was allowed to fly solo. The question then is: Is there any data on how music learning times are affected by age? Sort of like languages take longer to learn as you get older (and music is a language). PS: If I can pay you back with just two ideas... :-) 1. Get your stuff translated into spanish, that's a big market, and many other languages as well. Surely the text is easy as pie to translate, and you could get some languages grad students at Princeton to help-out. 2. How about some really simple software to track ear-training progress? (perhaps there's a pattern as to which exercises you hit and which you miss, so the software can play the ones you miss more often, and also tell you via a histogram chart how your doing. Again you could get computer science students to help-out. |
| A | Nice to hear from you and thanks for your kind words. I'm glad the books are helping you because you are exactly the type of person I wrote these books for. Mentally it has been shown through studies that a person does not learn less efficiently as they age. Of course physically people do develop arthritis and other ailments but the mind works just fine. I think one reason people feel that it's harder to learn as they get older is that they have preconceived ideas about what they are learning or they have to unlearn bad habits before learning the correct ones. Because of this learning can be more time consuming but this just takes dedication and persistence to overcome this hurdle. You should read Eric Kandel and Larry Squire's book 'Memory: From Mind to Molecules.' This book really goes to the heart of how we learn and is important to help you understand how to improve quicker with your music studies. I've taught and studied this way my whole life and it's great to have a Nobel Prize winner confirm what I've noticed in myself and my students. Link below for book.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/- /0805073450/qid=1068559715/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002- 4708838-3970425?v=glance&s=books Thanks also for your suggestions. I thought of both but haven't acted on either yet. |
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| Q | I recently purchased and am enjoying your guitar book - First Steps for a Beginning Guitarist. I have noticed a lot of references to music files in the book but wasn't able to find them on the website. Can you send me the appropriate URL? Specially, I'm looking for the files that provide rhythm samples and any that may help with chord progression. |
| A | There are quite a few help files for 1st Steps. I've listed them below, the rhythm file is listed last.
http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/lower.html If you click on Pictures you will be taken to http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/media_pictures/ smallphotos/index.htm If you click on Videos you will be taken to: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/videos.html If you click on tuning files you will be taken to: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/tuningfiles.html If you click on chord progressions you will be taken to: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/chordprog.html If you click on rhythm files you will be taken to: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/rhythmfiles.html If you just need the rhythm files they are as stated located at: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/firststeps1/rhythmfiles.html If you find you are still having problem either understanding or executing rhythms especially with your strumming hand let me know and I'll give you some more stuff to help you. In general if you find you are hitting a wall with your progress just let me know and I'll try to help. With any problem that you do contact me about try to be as specific as you can. This will help me to help you. |
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| Q | Thanks for your quick response (what I read in the reviews seems to be right). Well I'm learning to play Guitar and been learning some Music Theory myself from books and resources on the Internet. I'm familiar with the concept of Scales, Keys, Intervals and Chord formations as in I know what the different types of chords are and how they are formed (like triads, 7th, 9th, sus, etc). I've just ordered the 1st Steps book by you to help myself with switching between chords, barre chords and chord progressions. And regarding Ear Training, I should mention that I'm right now focussing on Interval based Ear Training for Relative Pitch by David Lucas Burge. What is your opinion on this??? Please let me know if you'd like to know anything more about my background in Music. |
| A | I would highly not recommend working on an interval based ear training method. In my opinion this is not the way to go about hearing music and will ultimately not work for you when you listen to music in real time. Therefore I'd recommend Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide because these books will teach you how to hear within a key center. I urge you to check out the FAQs for both of these books on the muse-eek.com website for further information and clarification.
I think 1st Steps is a good place for you to start. Definitely check out the way I suggest you play the guitar by watching the videos and looking at the pictures on the muse-eek.com website. Playing the guitar correctly will greatly speed up your progress. When you get into the chords and switching chords definitely check out the new mp3 audio and video files we have recently added to the muse-eek.com website for this book. They should help you a lot. There is a lot of additional help in the member's area so I'd join this free service soon so you can take advantage of the information found within this section of the website. Also if you are having any problems with anything let me know. I would recommend the Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One to really get your music theory connected with you guitar playing. This book isn't much fun but it will teach you the notes in every chord and get you to see them on the guitar. This is crucial information for you for playing in general and applying your ear training skills to the guitar playing. Once you get going with the chords, ear training and music theory I'd like you to start on a scale study. Let me know when your ready and I'll make some recommendations. Most of this information will be available as free downloads off the internet. |
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| Q | I emailed about 3-4 months ago and you gave me a little program. Well, good news... bad news...
I have made it through the Beginners book doing all 10 of the exercises along with the midi files from your Web site. I'm okay with most of them but struggle with 8,9 and 10. I am working through the cord book doing all the exercises up the 7#5 page so far. Not monumental but making progress. I am working through the single string exercises but have to admit they seem monotonous and don't seem to help. Not so good with the ear training. I do it |