November 11, 2021

Keeping Egos in checked with starting your own band

Getting your band together is tough… let’s have a look at some of the things you might want to think about..

Egos need to be checked in your new band

Bands often suffer from inflated egos. Bands break up for this reason often. You should check your ego at the door before joining a band if you want to be a musician. There is no need to impress anyone with your presence. It is important to put the audience first and create great music together.

You might want to consider finding another member if somebody like this starts to annoy you. Bands should be composed of musicians who can get along with one another and support one another. Problem members are not conducive to making good music together, so it’s best to avoid them.

At First, It Might Sound Bad

It is to be expected that the music you create in your first band will not sound perfect at first. As you learn how to work together, you should give yourself plenty of time.

The first few songs you should play should be familiar. You should make these songs simple and easy to understand. Prior to trying more complex arrangements, master the basics.

Learning guitar together is fun too. …

admin Guitar Lessons 0 56 sec read
September 7, 2021

Getting Your Own Studio Band Going

Maybe you should start a band after you have played guitar for a little while. Playing in a band has many benefits, so you should do so. The following are some tips for starting a studio band.

It Doesn’t Matter What Your Talent Is

The ability to play guitar isn’t necessary for starting a band. You can still join a band even if you know only a few chords. Playing simple songs together can be a good way of learning.

A good guitar technique can only be improved by doing this.

When you play music with other musicians, you learn about timing and rhythm. Songs with only three or four chords are some of the most famous. There are many songs you can play with other musicians without having to be an exceptionally good guitarists and musician.

Playing in your bedroom won’t give you this kind of training. As soon as possible, you should get together with other musicians.

Jamming together doesn’t necessarily mean that you should start a band. Nothing is certain in life. Your musical tastes may lead you to someone with whom you would like to form a band.

Friendships are fun

Get together with your friends who play musical instruments and ask if they would like to form a band. Having a successful band is easier when you know someone well. Many of the most successful bands are the result of friends from high school getting together to form a band.

Make sure the person you hire is a good fit for your band if you do not want a negative influence in your band. Take your time when looking for band members so that you can make your band the best it can be.…

admin Guitar Lessons 0 1 min read
March 24, 2021

Pat Metheny Changed my Approach to Guitar Playing Part 2

Hope you enjoyed part 1! Where I started to learn the jazz version of ‘Our Spanish Love Song’ performed by Pat Metheny and Charlie Hadden. And how through this experience, my guitar playing & approach really changed.

This is when I stumbled across this Metheny tune and the problems I faced when trying to learn it.

I was so used to playing power chords and simple progressions that my fingers were not used to these extended chords in the song. I must have spent about 2 weeks just trying to get a smooth transition between the first three chords, which were an Fm7, Gm7b5, resolving with a C7. This was my first time experimenting with barre chords which really emphasises the struggles I was going through with this song.

After a gruelling 2 weeks though, I managed to get the transition between these changes sounding relatively smooth.

When I got to the solo section of the song, I was in a state of total disbelief and awe of Metheny’s playing. His phrasing and understanding of the fretboard was something I have never seen in a guitarist and I just had to figure out what he was doing. After a bit of research and watching a few tutorial videos, I came to the realisation that he was using a combination of arpeggios, modal ideas, chromatic lines, whole-tone runs; amongst many other things I hadn’t heard of at the time.

The vocabulary of jazz guitar playing is so unique to each player that it can never be perfect. This is what I loved about listening to Metheny for the first time and why I still love listening to jazz. The intricacies involved can provide you with a constant urge to keep learning.
By stumbling across this one song, I was opened up to the many possibilities available on the guitar. No more was I stuck jamming along to classic rock songs, or recycling blues licks in the pentatonic scale. I have now been playing jazz since 2014 and the significance of it all dates back to expanding my horizons and learning something that was unfamiliar to me. Had I not Listened to Pat Metheny (and other jazz guitarists since), there is no way I would be as good a guitar player as I am today.

In the future, I will definitely try to draw from different genres and inspirations to help me become more competent and also an open minded guitar player.

Other genres that I would love to get better are like fingerpicking songs, like Tommy Emmanuel and even more pop genres like John Meyer.

Here is another Pat Metheny song for you to enjoy.

https://youtu.be/qx0uvCBu7TU

…

admin Guitar Lessons 0 1 min read
March 16, 2021

Pat Metheny Changed my Approach to Guitar Playing Part 1

As a guitarist from a blues and rock background who relied heavily on the pentatonic minor scale, I was really stepping out of my comfort zone when I first discovered jazz guitar.

The song that first sparked my interest in jazz was a version of ‘Our Spanish Love Song’ performed by Pat Metheny and Charlie Hadden, and I was blown away by Metheny’s approach to the fretboard. This tune is not too complex and fairly easy to listen to compared to other jazz tunes, and this is what dragged my narrow mind into this genre of creativity and expression. 

The simple yet dissonant melody captivated me, and I instantly set myself the goal of trying to learn it. I had been playing guitar for nearly 4 years at this point so learning the melody was not too difficult, however I experienced some problems when trying to figure out the accompanying chords which set the foundation for this hook. 

In my first 4 years of playing, I was only learning the songs that I enjoyed at the time and would very rarely experiment with new music.

This would include mainly classic rock songs, a few metal riffs and all the blues licks I managed to stumble across. This was fine and I was having a good time with my practice, but if I wanted to become a more well-rounded guitar player I knew I would have to venture into other musical avenues. 

Being able to play different genres for me, meant I was going to feel much more competent as a guitarist.

And with dreams and hopes of becoming of a professional musician, I felt that being able to play at least some jazz will be very useful. As it’s sampled and come up in many pieces of music.

Jazz is very different to other genres of music, and for many guitar players. They consider it to be a much more difficult challenge.

That’s why I wanted to try to play this song. But on top of that, I wanted to actually understand the music and what it meant for me.

Instead of just coping the music as it says on the page. Even though that was difficult enough. There’s a lot of tricky fingering in jazz. and some of the chords and their names are just bizarre.

Anyways it was a great challenge and a lot of fun. If you would like to hear more about it, then read my part 2!

…

admin Guitar Lessons 0 1 min read

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