Great video, Rhett! One thing , I personally would add, to this list. Is LEARN FULL SONGS. So many of us guitar players either always noodle on the instrument or just focus on soloing and sections of songs. But if you can play a full song top to bottom and build a repertoire of your favorite songs. You will see vast improvement! It doesn't have to a virtuoso songs, but learn songs by The Beatles for example! Your harmony and chords knowledge will be much better in the long run!
Agree, it helps a lot and gives you motivation plus an excuse to play in front of your friends. It helps also to add backing tracks when performing your repertoire. From there, I try to understand the theory behind each part of these songs. Basically, you kind of prepare for "busking" while expanding your theory knowledge.
Hi Rhett, great video. First a bit of background: I'm 81, and I've been playing guitar since about age 19, which makes over 60 years. Yeah, really. Most of that time I'd been playing cowboy chords on my old acoustic. Along the way I learned some good things such as Travis picking or open tunings, which are good. But most of that time was also spent woodshedding, alone. Woodshedding is useful, but the "alone" part is not necessarily so good, particularly when I developed a fear of performing in front of people. Several years ago I finally went electric, starting with an Epiphone Les Paul model and a cheap SS amp. Later I gave that to my son and bought a PRS hollow body and a serious amp after I started playing rhythm in a local big band. I love big band jazz, from the time when I was a teenager playing trumpet in my HS jazz band. Playing rhythm in a group with other musicians has been extremely challenging, and it has expanded my abilities exponentially. It also informs several comments and suggestions I'd like to offer in response to your video: First, you didn't mention the importance of PLAYING WITH OTHER PEOPLE. Just the act of making yourself vulnerable to others who often are more accomplished, and communicating musically within the group is invaluable. Next, and this is related to your comment about limiting one's use of tab notation, LEARN TO SIGHT READ STANDARD MUSICAL NOTATION. This might not be universally important, depending upon the genre of music you're playing. But for a guitar player, as with any stringed instrument, sight reading is more difficult than with other instruments because you have several choices as to where to play any given note. Mastery will include knowing the fretboard well enough to develop a sense of how best to play a set of notes within the context of the piece you're playing. That's called "voicing". Perhaps you've heard the old joke: Q: How do you make a guitarist play softly? A: Put sheet music in front of him. That was me until I realized it was up to me finally to learn how to sight read on the guitar. It's a struggle, although I'm getting better at it. And I recently realized that the tab notation I'd been using was becoming a crutch that was getting in my way of playing with fluidity. Finally, your comments about learning new things out of your comfort zone is right on. Learning guitar is a journey, not a destination. Don't sweat the rocks in the path along the way.
I’m 14 and I have been playing guitar half of my life. For years all I could do was chords but since I was 11 I’ve been obsessed with everything guitar. Your videos have helped me a lot with my improvement.
that's great because they are complete nonsense to me as they are upside down. Im aware the high e is the "top" string but my brain wont let me use them. Only way is if i redraw them rightside up.
I don't need tabs but I will say this. The majority of guitar players have no intention of trying to be a pro or even very good. A lot of players out there will never be in a band. They just want to play the songs of their favorite artists.
Agreed, knowing chord tones and how your ear leads you is liberating and makes playing a lot more fun in general. Its a good reference point for unique licks.
I don’t recall how many times I sweat to transcribe songs and thought I was doing ok, till I opened a tab and understood how hard I had done it for myself and how simple that actually was. This trial&error eventually helped me understand & find the proper position on the neck to play things, recognize by the sound nuances what strings are used … and also find out at a glance how lousy so many tabs are ! 😅
Thanks for the ideas, I think after 37 years of playing I’ve learnt to just be okay with where you’re at. Sometimes just hanging out playing songs you know isn’t a bad thing. Ive definitely returned to stuff I was trying to learn regularly after putting it away for a while and it seems way easier than it did when I put it away. It’s not a race it’s just your journey and getting your head space out the way also helps.
I feel like it's been a while since we've seen this Novo guitar on the channel. I remember your story about it, and I'm glad you still enjoy playing it :)
Great advice - I also recommend playing with a metronome. Pitches / tones are only 1/2 of the equation. Playing with good timing is so important, especially if you’re hoping to play along with other musicians!
This is huge! The amount of players with great chops or harmonic knowledge that can’t play to a click is astounding. In terms of harmonic knowledge though, learning modes (at least the most common ones) can take your playing to another level
The only issue with playing with a metronome is that while it's good to start, eventually you want to start practicing to an actual drum track, potentially a full backing track. If you ever intend to play with others, you need to get used to hearing the entire band behind you, and being able to follow the rhythm based on what you can hear. There's not always going to be an in-ear monitor, and you're not always going to be fed a click track, even when there is one.
I love the advice in this video. I have a lot of all of that I could be doing more of. One thing I picked up from an interview with Richard Thompson many years ago was to learn from musicians who play instruments other than your own. For example, if you're a guitarist, steal from a sax player. So much of the phrasing and melodic form of an instrument comes from its native mechanics, and you can break out of old habits and clichés more easily this way. Keep the great videos coming, Rhett!
Practicing to a metronome, especially scales, technique etc. And learn horizontally and diagonally, not just vertically on the neck, they're both the fastest ways to create speed and accuracy as well a linking the whole thing together. Once you see it, you can't un-see it, and you'll see it everywhere, chords, triads, scales, arpeggio's are all linked all over the neck, everywhere. Make yourself 5 little 3 minute exercises each week and do those daily for 15 minutes to a metronome increasing the speed each day. You'll be amazed how quickly you progress.
This point about using ear has been incredible for me. I've recently started doing this over random songs. It has opened up my mind to the entire instrument in a way ive never seen it. 🎉
Thanks, Rhett. Great tips! I agree with all you said. I started playing in about 1977, all by ear, the occasional magazine article and asking friends. I still play in covers bands and can learn a new song in a few minutes, solos can take longer especially if it’s Schenker or Gary Moore :)) I use YT vids or tabs just to find the annoying elusive chord (there’s always one) or riff that I need. Learning something new also helps to develop your playing eg. stop using a pick, try finger style, slide, open tunings etc. I’ve been in open D on my reso for a few months and now when I go back to the electric I find I play with better tone and vibrato (and faster). I wish I had had the patience when I was younger, but there you go! Cheers ✌️
Very useful tips ! At some point anyone of us guitar players can find to play repetitive and feel stuck. Any or all of the 5 methods you describe are great. Just find something new to learn is always rewarding. Thanks !
Great video. Lots of advice in this video I haven't followed, BUT triads is something I have learned. Has given me the biggest improvement since it also has some great side effects: makes learning all notes on the fretboard easy, much easier to understand how chords and scales fit together, improved improvisation.
Big yes to recording yourself, voice memos is really clutch when spur of the moment stuff happens in your head and you need to get it out. To your point on doing stuff outside your comfort zone, I really love doing that. Some days I’m listening to some Tom Quayle and wanna work on my legato (which is horrid) but other days I want to work on my bluesy feels and watch people like Julian Lage dance with his tele. Great video man
I play guitar for almost 20 years, and just now I got to study musical theory, and I've gotta say, it blown my mind when I understood and when I am improvising. It's a complete new world!
Wow, fantastic video. Everything you said has resonated with me. I played finger picking blues guitar for years, but had a 20+ year hiatus until about a month ago when I picked up the guitar again. And, apart from the total train wreck my playing had become, I realised I was a guitar operator. I was not a guitar player. All I could do is read tab So I started learning music theory, learning the fretboard, playing by ear, trying different styles. All the things you mention. I hadn't thought of recording myself on the phone - great idea. Your video has shown me that I'm going in the right direction. Thanks, mate.
Everything I learn I tab out. I figure the stuff out by ear and then write it down. I also use tools to slow things down, loop phrases. I watch videos and listen to live recordings. But I started writing out tab because I’m only as good as my current handful of songs I’m working on. Because I take the time to figure out the all the nuances of a classic song, I always have my notes to refresh my memory or relearn the cut. I use tabs to practice not when I play. Am I less fluent and creative because of it? Sure. But it’s my way of figuring out the riddle of a song. I’d love to be a jamming kind of player that understands all the rules of music but I’m just not. But I developed my transcribing skills along the way and it keeps me centered when I practice.
It doesn’t seem like your use of tab is a way that causes problems. You did learn the music by ear first, so you’re in the clear. If you can’t read or write standard notation, that’s fine, you’re using tab to document what you’ve learned by ear.
Another thing that helped me tremendously with regard to learning the notes on the fret board was learning how to play bass guitar. Using that "octave mapping" technique also opens up the bass to newer players as well. At least that was something I found really useful to my guitar playing and moved me along much more quickly than tabs ever did.
Agreed. I played a lot of instruments in all kinds of bands and classical groups (where we actually read music!). There were some really good players when they read music but they were lost when they had to play by ear. Having a command of scales and chords and how to hear them is essential to being a complete musician.
Small short practice sessions are more effective than long practice sessions. Even when you stop practicing your brain keeps working on it in the background. Then when you come back, it’s easier to play what you were practicing before.
I started with reading music. I had already been playing piano, trumpet and French horn so learning to read on guitar was fairly easy. Made it easier to learn theory when trying to learn jazz. Still learned some things by ear.
I started learning songs by ear this year, because of a band that I got really emotionally attached to. And there is pretty much no tabs for their songs (partially cause their music is quite hard and complicated), so I had to figure it out myself. I really struggled in the beginning, spending half an hour trying to find the specific chord that is being played, spending a month to write down my own tabs just for one song. But in the end, the satisfaction you feel after finishing a song, worth all the struggle.
Rhett, which of your courses do you recommend for someone who has been playing (well, noodling) for years but still sucks? I need to finally get serious. Help me out here. Thx.
Great advice mate, I'd add don't be afraid of sucking at learning a new skill .with time and patience people will improve. As purely a rhythm player for the past 15 years I've just started learning to solo. Good things come to those who wait. Keep on ticking Rhett
Yeah, move the needle...move the needle...move the needle...move the needle...move the needle...move the needle... good times. I don't do tab, slows me down!
I think something that will help beginners and intermediate players is to break the fear of alternate tunings. Understanding that string players change their tunings to make their life easier, not harder, should be the first step in breaking a fear of alternate tunings. I currently play an acoustic bass guitar which I tune up a half-step to F standard. I use this tuning to play Bb and Eb. While it may seem a little odd to tune a bass higher in pitch to F, doing so I can play in the those keys using the same patterns and techniques I use to play A/D in (E) Standard tuning. Bb and Eb are great keys to play rock/blues, and while many will tune down to Eb standard, tuning to F standard adds tension to the strings giving the notes a snappier, punchier sound than I'd get from reducing the tension. Also, my open strings are the 5ths of the I and IV chords ;)
I bought a mini tripod for my iPhone and I also bought a Roland mixer. After practicing something new for a few days, once I got it I’ll video record myself. I’ll notice where I’m rushing or dragging or if I’m still clunky on a particular transition. Also memorizing the structure of a song has been helpful, makes you realize most popular music isn’t as magical as one thinks 😆😆
I've been playing about as long as you, Rhett (started in 2000). I really agree with a lot of this advice, but for the visual learners out there, I strongly recommend starting with sheet music. It also helps immensely with learning all the notes on the fretboard. "Crap, this piece needs an A in 5th position. Where the heck is that!? Oh, HERE." Satch's "find the note" game also helped immensely. I can figure things out by ear now, but that was crazy impossible when I was coming up. I just couldn't fathom how it all worked without a visual guide.
Agree huge on recording yourself. Also, record yourself playing along other tracks, and with your band members at a practice session if you're in a band. It helps you identify not only timing and general music stuff, but also how your sound balances out with others.
Great advice! Personally, I don’t think in terms of „ear is better than notes/tabs“, since I need both. For communication in the band, I find it super helpful to know the notes and be able to sightread a new piece. And for my improvisation, especially in call an response pieces, I find in invaluable to pick up melody lines by ear and play them on the fly. In other words, learn and exercise both! 😀
I have a library of tab books going back nearly 30 years - maybe that’s why I’ve not really improved in this millennium! Having said that, through Billy Strings and channels like Lessons With Marcel, I’ve also found that Doc Watson and other bluegrass is a great way to step out from blues & rock and really try to develop a cleaner (and faster) technique - it really helps when I then go back and try to apply it to playing Page/Clapton/ABB stuff.
Recording myself has been a big one. Yes it allows me to be critical but often times I’ll surprise myself with something pretty good and it’s a confidence boost.
Get out there and play with a band of course. If you don't know anyone. Go do an open mic they are sprouting up everywhere. Some with full bands some just individual. But this will take you out of your comfort zone when, your ready. The amount of preparation you'll have to do will make you a better musucian and if you screw up so be it it's part of the learning process. You'll really learn how you sound and you can make adjustments from there.
Two words: LEARN PIANO 🎹 it may sound cliche-obvious to some and really strange to others but ever since I started studying classical piano, as a hobby, it skyrocketed my guitar playing/knowledge to new heights. Firstly classical piano forced me to learn how to read music (there’s no way to learn classical piano without it) and as a consequence it forced me to learn theory (Intervals, chord voicing, inversions, scales, scale degrees etc). Secondly, listening and analysing classical compositions brought a new level of understanding where many Melodie’s and harmonies come from in popular music (on any instrument) and turned me more to a musician than a ‘guitar player’ which in turn changed my approach of playing (to what u prefer). Finally all the theory and analysis habits of the piano creeped into my guitar and allowed me to expand more on techniques and skill territories that I was aware I wanted to in the past yet never got down to it. Drawback: after 30 years of passionate guitar playing I have fallen in love with the piano and I rediscover myself, a side of musicianship I never thought I had thus pushing slightly the guitar on the side. 😢 But I won’t give it up.
That's usually how I learn and transcribe a song. My brain can process the linear layout of a keyboard a lot better than the fretboard, even though I can locate all the notes on the fretboard. So I'll get it worked out on the piano first, jot it down, and then work it out on the fretboard.
@@perniciousreaper4393 there’s a reason why the piano is the king of all instruments and is primarily used for compositions. In classical music no matter what instrument you choose to follow you also need to learn the piano up to a certain level. All maestros compose on the piano or use the piano to visualise a composition, theme for an orchestra etc. Frequency wise it covers all instrumental bandwidths and as you pointed out it is ridiculously easy to visualise everything (chords, Melodies, scales, intervals etc).
I'm just a lousy "bedroom player" and I'm really really terrible at it too. Still, there's a small trick I accidentally picked up that goes in line with what you said about recording yourself. That is getting a looper, possibly a very simple one. I was recording myself long before that and yet, I noticed I'm still not really hearing that many mistakes and deficiencies because I'm too focused on the recording process itself and all the cool things I can do in DAW. But then I got myself a looper. Oh boy... that was eye opening experience. Trying to record even a simple phrase and then to play alongside myself - that really really is a whole different world.
Try Jamzone -- they have a ton of songs covered by a professional band with individual tracks for each instrument. You can adjust the volume with a slider or mute. Learn your part by isolating your instrument and then mute the instrument and you have a backing track. You can also adjust speed without the nasty digital drag and you can adjust the pitch! It's a little expensive, but worth it.
Would also personally include playing with other people, I've played guitar since I was 14 but only recently started playing with other people (I'm in my 40s now btw) and my guitar playing moved on more in the last year then at pretty anytime before. Doesn't have to be full band settings, even playing with another guitar player is incredibly useful!. Great video Rhett!
For me Truefire with tabs and decent instructor made myself a much much better player. Tabs also helped me to write my ideas down fast so I can replicate them if I want to. Sure all the things you named are valid but some sort of written music language, notes or tabs , made it so much more practically for me. Nowadays I've learned how to read notes and in a studio this a real advantage. They give me a piece of sheet music that I've to play in one or two takes. Job done, money in the pocket.
i am now playing for 15 weeks or so.. in my first 3 weeks i almost vould play anything i can play still now only it getting easier and smoother, and maybe some better technique.. but the first 3 weeks i learned more then in the other 12 i start doing what you say a little bit.. but small. i try to tune my guitars, by using open chords, E A D C and G.. to know exactly how they should sound all loose from one another, and look if i can tune it correctly.. (i am sometimes a bit off) but getting closer.. while in my first weeks i could not even hear if it was an d or an e at the moment.. but that gets better and better.. after watching this, i think that tuning still is a good thing to do, and i going to try what you said also with loose notes and then bends and so on..(i am still unable for this, but i now can sometimes find things if i cant follow videos by just trying somewhere in the erea they play and find it that way, so it gets closer everyy time)
Practicing isolated parts slowly in front of a mirror has helped me greatly to develop economy of motion in my playing. This is a tip I picked up from a Steve Vai video.
Awesome video Rhett!. I don't consider myself a guitarist, more a copycat. As a working mother my favorite thing to do to unwind is learn a song using tabs or TH-cam & I'm perfectly fine with it. I've zero interest in knowing where the notes & chords are. Have mad respect though for those that put a lot of time & effort into guitar ❤
A couple that have been very helpful for me: get a looper. There's nothing like laying down a basic structure (the bass notes), adding chords on top, and then soloing while following those chords. Bonus if the looper has a metronome or even better, drums built-in. Learning to play in time is so important when you eventually play with a drummer. You're going to need those skills, and without a metronome or drum loops, you likely don't have them.
Recording yourself is a big one. Very often you hear yourself playing something and you think you're nailing it, then you hear it on a recording and it sounds so different. I also found that learning to use a looper and singing while you play were incredibly beneficial for me - they improved my rhythm playing immeasurably.
I completely agree with your views on tabs. When I'm trying to life a solo, I start first with my ear, then a video of the artist playing it, then somebody else playing it. And slowing the videos down if I need to. Only if all those methods have failed me, will I turn to tabs. Figuring things out by ear or eye embeds them deeper in the memory than reading tabs.
I'm a faithful sub! Been away from guitar playing altogether for a while, and I lay down my guitar for the day, it seems this video comes at the right time to get me going again!
Thanks for the advice , I have a collage note book folder for songs 🎵 I know how to play.. 50 or so campfire songs .. I love. Say I haven't played old man in 2 years it's just like a favourite brownie recipe , helps a lot as I'll forget some songs totally if I don't play them anyway.. thanks !
Learning the notes on the fretboard (after refusing to do so for 28 years of playing) has made a massive difference in my ability to improve. Kicking myself for not doing this decades ago.
Trying to learn finger style has really helped my playing. I literally quit guitar for almost 3 years because I was so sick and tired of my playing. I would pick up the guitar and do the same crap every time. When I tried to learn new stuff, I would have no idea how to use it this increasing my frustration. Now I start on acoustic and finger picking and reward myself with playing with a pick and shredding afterwards!
I also think trying to get good at some alternative tunings really can show you a lot about the notes you need because at that point they’re all in different positions so you have to kind of know what notes you want and why they’re there and what cords you’re trying to build and then you can really create any alternative tuning and get those same cords just some more easily reachable so once I put in like two or three different tunings like it just kind of like popped out to my to my mind, and I saw a standard tuning is basically like a big piano, and you’re kind of shifting where the keys are
Maybe for some, but I enjoy reading notation and tabs. The art of taking written music and transforming to great music is very popular with my students too.
I think that’s fine but if you audition for a band and I have to do a gig in two days, I mean, I don’t think that that will help you there. I think you just gotta be able to jump in and like grab the cords understand the cycles and just like feel the intervals and you get that through, transcribing by ear just feeling the interval jumps between the notes that you’re at and where you need to get. I never learned anything like that from notation or anything and plus you’re not gonna be able to use that at all when you play live so then you have that added skill of having to kind of I guess like memorize it or something? Can you do that for 25 songs, I don’t know I can’t. I’ve also sat in an open mic and live gigs and jam sessions, and you never get any paper for that stuff.
I’ve found that improvising/jamming with others has massively improved my abilities. Improvising forced me to not just learn triads, but learn how to use them to create bass lines that link with the chord changes and are more than just boring root notes. Playing with others also improves timing and is most importantly FUN.
Second on the new style. For several years I’ve worked on country/chicken pickin’. I’m still quite bad at the chicken thing, but the country style definitely has worked its way into my style, especially hybrid picking.
Great video as always, thank you ! Maybe a tip : go play live with friends, at church, in a bar gig or a jam... the more you do it the more comfidence you get on the instrument. And also you learn to listen to the other musicians.
Tabs are ok if you can’t quite figure something out by ear but I’ve noticed that they seem to impede you from actually learning to play the song without the tab. I can use tab to play something and the next time I try to run through it without the tab I’m drawing serious blanks. Great tips Rhett!
Learning the notes on the neck is extremely easy, especially if you do it in a way that overlaps with other knowledge. For me the best way was just learning the notes on the E string. Where it differs is in standard tuning one direction moves in 4ths the other 5ths exactly the same as the circle of 5ths so given (F C G D A E B). I can go to any note on high or low E and know the 2 notes directly above and below. So from D on low E, the notes below are G and C (reverse direction for D on high E) etc... When I started playing 7 and 8 string i immediately knew all the notes.
Awesome video Rhett, I totally agree ,and I would also recommend buying a looping pedal to practice and help to develop song ideas. Take the time to learn the pedal and its functions. You can create a complete arrangent with bass sounds, percussive sounds, chord progression, hooks. And then you can use that arrangement to practice scales, triads, improvise over a progression, create harmonies, on and on. Just seriously eat some $hite and learn how to use the pedal and Guarantee it will show uour strenghths and weakness. Especially timing. And using a metrenome with it to start your loop does help Sorry for the novella. Keep rockin Rhettt, this channel is righteous brother. -J
I agree, except... for notating pieces in open tuning! When one uses a lot of different ones, it gets to be a nightmare in standard notation. So what do I do? I write them in tab, and translate them into standard notation after so that I can truly understand what is in the piece musically. Best of both world!
🎶🎵🎸⏳️⏰️ learning the language of the chords❤ putting in your time and Triads mapping depending on what level you want to be at mapping out all the fretboard where you can see all the chords 135 like the back of your hand wrinkly and old
That was a great video. It's interesting, all those things you said, i figured out like after 4 years of playing... good experiences. and one thing to get better is feeling all the tensions (in strings, fingers, hand, elbow... even amp and all those things). Guitar seems easy to play because if you pluck a string it would sound kinda decent (not very much), but to master that attack is what makes a guitarist sound great no matter how you play or what you play... i think everyone should work hard on that like a violinist tries to get a good sound out of a violin...
Begin with a Metronome.. and use a Looper with an integrated Drum , and look that the Drum patterns can be adjusted by +/- 1 Bpm. So you can do a lot of the things Rhett shows here in a good way with a lot of fun.
Another great video! I have been playing for over 50 years, and I agree with every point. I have to admit...I hate tabs. I have never used them, never will. Learn the chord shapes, and learn to train your ear. WAY more important!
I understood learn all notes in an other way. I was used to know all major scale notes but the in between notes I couldn’t hear because I never used them. So learn to use and listen to all notes is a good advice ;)
Learn to read standard notation. This will help immensely with learning pretty much everything related to playing, and make you a more versatile, and valuable guitarist. Learn the intervals in every chord you play and the surrounding intervals. As you learn music theory this will eliminate the need for chord charts/dictionaries. Being able to figure out a different voicing for a chord or how to play a chord you don't already know is a huge asset. It will also help with figuring out different ways to play scales and arpeggios.
let me start with i love your channel, understanding or { learning } music theory is no different then learning or { understanding } Quantum physics. it takes a certain type of person who's minds works differently then most people . i'm very simple minded and i except that. I love my tabs and enjoy playing simple songs and riffs. trying to process music theory just blows my mind like the thought of trying to understand the universe.
Great video, Rhett! One thing , I personally would add, to this list. Is LEARN FULL SONGS. So many of us guitar players either always noodle on the instrument or just focus on soloing and sections of songs. But if you can play a full song top to bottom and build a repertoire of your favorite songs. You will see vast improvement! It doesn't have to a virtuoso songs, but learn songs by The Beatles for example! Your harmony and chords knowledge will be much better in the long run!
Great suggestion! So important!
The bonus is when non-musical friends ask you to play a song, you can actually do that.
Agree, it helps a lot and gives you motivation plus an excuse to play in front of your friends. It helps also to add backing tracks when performing your repertoire. From there, I try to understand the theory behind each part of these songs. Basically, you kind of prepare for "busking" while expanding your theory knowledge.
Couldn't agree more! 👍
Do you have any song recommendation to learn?
Hi Rhett, great video. First a bit of background: I'm 81, and I've been playing guitar since about age 19, which makes over 60 years. Yeah, really. Most of that time I'd been playing cowboy chords on my old acoustic. Along the way I learned some good things such as Travis picking or open tunings, which are good. But most of that time was also spent woodshedding, alone. Woodshedding is useful, but the "alone" part is not necessarily so good, particularly when I developed a fear of performing in front of people. Several years ago I finally went electric, starting with an Epiphone Les Paul model and a cheap SS amp. Later I gave that to my son and bought a PRS hollow body and a serious amp after I started playing rhythm in a local big band. I love big band jazz, from the time when I was a teenager playing trumpet in my HS jazz band. Playing rhythm in a group with other musicians has been extremely challenging, and it has expanded my abilities exponentially. It also informs several comments and suggestions I'd like to offer in response to your video: First, you didn't mention the importance of PLAYING WITH OTHER PEOPLE. Just the act of making yourself vulnerable to others who often are more accomplished, and communicating musically within the group is invaluable. Next, and this is related to your comment about limiting one's use of tab notation, LEARN TO SIGHT READ STANDARD MUSICAL NOTATION. This might not be universally important, depending upon the genre of music you're playing. But for a guitar player, as with any stringed instrument, sight reading is more difficult than with other instruments because you have several choices as to where to play any given note. Mastery will include knowing the fretboard well enough to develop a sense of how best to play a set of notes within the context of the piece you're playing. That's called "voicing". Perhaps you've heard the old joke: Q: How do you make a guitarist play softly? A: Put sheet music in front of him. That was me until I realized it was up to me finally to learn how to sight read on the guitar. It's a struggle, although I'm getting better at it. And I recently realized that the tab notation I'd been using was becoming a crutch that was getting in my way of playing with fluidity. Finally, your comments about learning new things out of your comfort zone is right on. Learning guitar is a journey, not a destination. Don't sweat the rocks in the path along the way.
I’m 14 and I have been playing guitar half of my life. For years all I could do was chords but since I was 11 I’ve been obsessed with everything guitar. Your videos have helped me a lot with my improvement.
good stuff dude, keep shredding!
Keep it up bud. Us older folks who never kept up with a discipline for an extended amount of time definitely regret it!
Yes! Getting off of tabs and developing your ear will completely transform your trajectory on the instrument.
that's great because they are complete nonsense to me as they are upside down. Im aware the high e is the "top" string but my brain wont let me use them. Only way is if i redraw them rightside up.
I don't need tabs but I will say this. The majority of guitar players have no intention of trying to be a pro or even very good. A lot of players out there will never be in a band. They just want to play the songs of their favorite artists.
Agreed, knowing chord tones and how your ear leads you is liberating and makes playing a lot more fun in general. Its a good reference point for unique licks.
@@zzCaptHowdyI’m left handed so they are upside down and backwards to me.
I don’t recall how many times I sweat to transcribe songs and thought I was doing ok, till I opened a tab and understood how hard I had done it for myself and how simple that actually was.
This trial&error eventually helped me understand & find the proper position on the neck to play things, recognize by the sound nuances what strings are used … and also find out at a glance how lousy so many tabs are ! 😅
Thanks for the ideas, I think after 37 years of playing I’ve learnt to just be okay with where you’re at. Sometimes just hanging out playing songs you know isn’t a bad thing. Ive definitely returned to stuff I was trying to learn regularly after putting it away for a while and it seems way easier than it did when I put it away. It’s not a race it’s just your journey and getting your head space out the way also helps.
I feel like it's been a while since we've seen this Novo guitar on the channel. I remember your story about it, and I'm glad you still enjoy playing it :)
Great advice - I also recommend playing with a metronome. Pitches / tones are only 1/2 of the equation. Playing with good timing is so important, especially if you’re hoping to play along with other musicians!
This is huge! The amount of players with great chops or harmonic knowledge that can’t play to a click is astounding. In terms of harmonic knowledge though, learning modes (at least the most common ones) can take your playing to another level
Timing is the most important! With great timing, you can get away with playing almost anything.
Music is melody, harmony and rhythm, after all.
The only issue with playing with a metronome is that while it's good to start, eventually you want to start practicing to an actual drum track, potentially a full backing track. If you ever intend to play with others, you need to get used to hearing the entire band behind you, and being able to follow the rhythm based on what you can hear. There's not always going to be an in-ear monitor, and you're not always going to be fed a click track, even when there is one.
I love the advice in this video. I have a lot of all of that I could be doing more of.
One thing I picked up from an interview with Richard Thompson many years ago was to learn from musicians who play instruments other than your own. For example, if you're a guitarist, steal from a sax player. So much of the phrasing and melodic form of an instrument comes from its native mechanics, and you can break out of old habits and clichés more easily this way.
Keep the great videos coming, Rhett!
Practicing to a metronome, especially scales, technique etc. And learn horizontally and diagonally, not just vertically on the neck, they're both the fastest ways to create speed and accuracy as well a linking the whole thing together.
Once you see it, you can't un-see it, and you'll see it everywhere, chords, triads, scales, arpeggio's are all linked all over the neck, everywhere.
Make yourself 5 little 3 minute exercises each week and do those daily for 15 minutes to a metronome increasing the speed each day. You'll be amazed how quickly you progress.
Great advice.
This point about using ear has been incredible for me. I've recently started doing this over random songs. It has opened up my mind to the entire instrument in a way ive never seen it. 🎉
Thanks, Rhett. Great tips! I agree with all you said.
I started playing in about 1977, all by ear, the occasional magazine article and asking friends. I still play in covers bands and can learn a new song in a few minutes, solos can take longer especially if it’s Schenker or Gary Moore :)) I use YT vids or tabs just to find the annoying elusive chord (there’s always one) or riff that I need.
Learning something new also helps to develop your playing eg. stop using a pick, try finger style, slide, open tunings etc. I’ve been in open D on my reso for a few months and now when I go back to the electric I find I play with better tone and vibrato (and faster). I wish I had had the patience when I was younger, but there you go! Cheers ✌️
Great message Rhett!!!
I love Traids. 6:45
Plaid traids?
Yes, learn a new style - learn to spell? LOL 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@guydouglas6094 He said "learn the fretboard," not the "keyboard!"
I grew up with Traids back here in Colorado
Thanks for this video, Rhett. It validates my philosophy in my approach to guitar learning.
Very useful tips ! At some point anyone of us guitar players can find to play repetitive and feel stuck. Any or all of the 5 methods you describe are great. Just find something new to learn is always rewarding. Thanks !
Great video. Lots of advice in this video I haven't followed, BUT triads is something I have learned. Has given me the biggest improvement since it also has some great side effects: makes learning all notes on the fretboard easy, much easier to understand how chords and scales fit together, improved improvisation.
Big yes to recording yourself, voice memos is really clutch when spur of the moment stuff happens in your head and you need to get it out.
To your point on doing stuff outside your comfort zone, I really love doing that. Some days I’m listening to some Tom Quayle and wanna work on my legato (which is horrid) but other days I want to work on my bluesy feels and watch people like Julian Lage dance with his tele. Great video man
I play guitar for almost 20 years, and just now I got to study musical theory, and I've gotta say, it blown my mind when I understood and when I am improvising. It's a complete new world!
Wow, fantastic video. Everything you said has resonated with me. I played finger picking blues guitar for years, but had a 20+ year hiatus until about a month ago when I picked up the guitar again. And, apart from the total train wreck my playing had become, I realised I was a guitar operator. I was not a guitar player. All I could do is read tab So I started learning music theory, learning the fretboard, playing by ear, trying different styles. All the things you mention. I hadn't thought of recording myself on the phone - great idea. Your video has shown me that I'm going in the right direction. Thanks, mate.
Everything I learn I tab out. I figure the stuff out by ear and then write it down. I also use tools to slow things down, loop phrases. I watch videos and listen to live recordings. But I started writing out tab because I’m only as good as my current handful of songs I’m working on. Because I take the time to figure out the all the nuances of a classic song, I always have my notes to refresh my memory or relearn the cut. I use tabs to practice not when I play. Am I less fluent and creative because of it? Sure. But it’s my way of figuring out the riddle of a song. I’d love to be a jamming kind of player that understands all the rules of music but I’m just not. But I developed my transcribing skills along the way and it keeps me centered when I practice.
It doesn’t seem like your use of tab is a way that causes problems. You did learn the music by ear first, so you’re in the clear. If you can’t read or write standard notation, that’s fine, you’re using tab to document what you’ve learned by ear.
Another thing that helped me tremendously with regard to learning the notes on the fret board was learning how to play bass guitar. Using that "octave mapping" technique also opens up the bass to newer players as well. At least that was something I found really useful to my guitar playing and moved me along much more quickly than tabs ever did.
Agreed. I played a lot of instruments in all kinds of bands and classical groups (where we actually read music!). There were some really good players when they read music but they were lost when they had to play by ear. Having a command of scales and chords and how to hear them is essential to being a complete musician.
Small short practice sessions are more effective than long practice sessions. Even when you stop practicing your brain keeps working on it in the background. Then when you come back, it’s easier to play what you were practicing before.
It’s like magic!
*Triads
You got anything against traids?
Lol I was just wondering who else noticed that
I'm wondering if the misspelling was intentional to see if we're paying attention.
That is just dislexia
@@maxturgeon89no matter how hard I try, I just can’t learn Traids lol
I love the octave approach! It quickly helped me navigate the fretboard in a fairly mind-blowing way.
This was a great list of things to work on!
I started with reading music. I had already been playing piano, trumpet and French horn so learning to read on guitar was fairly easy. Made it easier to learn theory when trying to learn jazz. Still learned some things by ear.
Love this feedback!!!
#3 so underrated. Great shout.
WELL DONE !! Great wisdom simple and true
I started learning songs by ear this year, because of a band that I got really emotionally attached to. And there is pretty much no tabs for their songs (partially cause their music is quite hard and complicated), so I had to figure it out myself.
I really struggled in the beginning, spending half an hour trying to find the specific chord that is being played, spending a month to write down my own tabs just for one song. But in the end, the satisfaction you feel after finishing a song, worth all the struggle.
I would add learn layering. It opens your mind a lot
Thank you, Rhett. I appreciate you posting this and sharing your knowledge.
Rhett, which of your courses do you recommend for someone who has been playing (well, noodling) for years but still sucks? I need to finally get serious. Help me out here. Thx.
Great advice mate, I'd add don't be afraid of sucking at learning a new skill
.with time and patience people will improve.
As purely a rhythm player for the past 15 years I've just started learning to solo.
Good things come to those who wait.
Keep on ticking Rhett
When I started really getting into guitar as a teenager...in the late 70's...I learned by ear, because that's all there was.
Yeah, move the needle...move the needle...move the needle...move the needle...move the needle...move the needle... good times. I don't do tab, slows me down!
@@TheGospelGuitarist Makes us old guys really appreciate the modern DAW and the loop function!
I think something that will help beginners and intermediate players is to break the fear of alternate tunings. Understanding that string players change their tunings to make their life easier, not harder, should be the first step in breaking a fear of alternate tunings. I currently play an acoustic bass guitar which I tune up a half-step to F standard. I use this tuning to play Bb and Eb. While it may seem a little odd to tune a bass higher in pitch to F, doing so I can play in the those keys using the same patterns and techniques I use to play A/D in (E) Standard tuning. Bb and Eb are great keys to play rock/blues, and while many will tune down to Eb standard, tuning to F standard adds tension to the strings giving the notes a snappier, punchier sound than I'd get from reducing the tension. Also, my open strings are the 5ths of the I and IV chords ;)
I bought a mini tripod for my iPhone and I also bought a Roland mixer. After practicing something new for a few days, once I got it I’ll video record myself. I’ll notice where I’m rushing or dragging or if I’m still clunky on a particular transition. Also memorizing the structure of a song has been helpful, makes you realize most popular music isn’t as magical as one thinks 😆😆
I've been playing about as long as you, Rhett (started in 2000). I really agree with a lot of this advice, but for the visual learners out there, I strongly recommend starting with sheet music. It also helps immensely with learning all the notes on the fretboard. "Crap, this piece needs an A in 5th position. Where the heck is that!? Oh, HERE." Satch's "find the note" game also helped immensely.
I can figure things out by ear now, but that was crazy impossible when I was coming up. I just couldn't fathom how it all worked without a visual guide.
Godsmack - I Stand Alone.
Cream - Sunshine of your Love.
0-3-5, of course. (Smoke on the Water)
Disturbed - Down with the Sickness.
🎶🤓
Agree huge on recording yourself. Also, record yourself playing along other tracks, and with your band members at a practice session if you're in a band. It helps you identify not only timing and general music stuff, but also how your sound balances out with others.
I've been all about walking base lines and the style where you play the 5th before the root on alternating bars
Great advice!
Personally, I don’t think in terms of „ear is better than notes/tabs“, since I need both.
For communication in the band, I find it super helpful to know the notes and be able to sightread a new piece. And for my improvisation, especially in call an response pieces, I find in invaluable to pick up melody lines by ear and play them on the fly.
In other words, learn and exercise both! 😀
Preach it, bro! Love this idea.
Some great tips here Rhett! Ive recently started taking guitar lessons and ive realized how little i challenged myself on my own.
Fantastic advice as always Rhett. Thank you for this and all you do!
I have a library of tab books going back nearly 30 years - maybe that’s why I’ve not really improved in this millennium!
Having said that, through Billy Strings and channels like Lessons With Marcel, I’ve also found that Doc Watson and other bluegrass is a great way to step out from blues & rock and really try to develop a cleaner (and faster) technique - it really helps when I then go back and try to apply it to playing Page/Clapton/ABB stuff.
Recording myself has been a big one. Yes it allows me to be critical but often times I’ll surprise myself with something pretty good and it’s a confidence boost.
I never had the vision to mess with tabs. Which might be a blessing. Makes it more enjoyable and relaxing instead of becoming stressful.
Get out there and play with a band of course. If you don't know anyone. Go do an open mic they are sprouting up everywhere. Some with full bands some just individual. But this will take you out of your comfort zone when, your ready. The amount of preparation you'll have to do will make you a better musucian and if you screw up so be it it's part of the learning process. You'll really learn how you sound and you can make adjustments from there.
One of the best videos of ALL TIME!!! Well done!!!
Two words: LEARN PIANO 🎹
it may sound cliche-obvious to some and really strange to others but ever since I started studying classical piano, as a hobby, it skyrocketed my guitar playing/knowledge to new heights.
Firstly classical piano forced me to learn how to read music (there’s no way to learn classical piano without it) and as a consequence it forced me to learn theory (Intervals, chord voicing, inversions, scales, scale degrees etc). Secondly, listening and analysing classical compositions brought a new level of understanding where many Melodie’s and harmonies come from in popular music (on any instrument) and turned me more to a musician than a ‘guitar player’ which in turn changed my approach of playing (to what u prefer). Finally all the theory and analysis habits of the piano creeped into my guitar and allowed me to expand more on techniques and skill territories that I was aware I wanted to in the past yet never got down to it.
Drawback: after 30 years of passionate guitar playing I have fallen in love with the piano and I rediscover myself, a side of musicianship I never thought I had thus pushing slightly the guitar on the side. 😢 But I won’t give it up.
I agree! Same story here.
That's usually how I learn and transcribe a song. My brain can process the linear layout of a keyboard a lot better than the fretboard, even though I can locate all the notes on the fretboard. So I'll get it worked out on the piano first, jot it down, and then work it out on the fretboard.
@@perniciousreaper4393 there’s a reason why the piano is the king of all instruments and is primarily used for compositions. In classical music no matter what instrument you choose to follow you also need to learn the piano up to a certain level. All maestros compose on the piano or use the piano to visualise a composition, theme for an orchestra etc. Frequency wise it covers all instrumental bandwidths and as you pointed out it is ridiculously easy to visualise everything (chords, Melodies, scales, intervals etc).
I'm just a lousy "bedroom player" and I'm really really terrible at it too. Still, there's a small trick I accidentally picked up that goes in line with what you said about recording yourself. That is getting a looper, possibly a very simple one. I was recording myself long before that and yet, I noticed I'm still not really hearing that many mistakes and deficiencies because I'm too focused on the recording process itself and all the cool things I can do in DAW. But then I got myself a looper. Oh boy... that was eye opening experience. Trying to record even a simple phrase and then to play alongside myself - that really really is a whole different world.
Great vid, Rhett. Just a heads up that your transition slide shows triads spelled incorrectly.
Try Jamzone -- they have a ton of songs covered by a professional band with individual tracks for each instrument. You can adjust the volume with a slider or mute. Learn your part by isolating your instrument and then mute the instrument and you have a backing track. You can also adjust speed without the nasty digital drag and you can adjust the pitch! It's a little expensive, but worth it.
great video, you rock
Would also personally include playing with other people, I've played guitar since I was 14 but only recently started playing with other people (I'm in my 40s now btw) and my guitar playing moved on more in the last year then at pretty anytime before. Doesn't have to be full band settings, even playing with another guitar player is incredibly useful!. Great video Rhett!
Blackbird is a good one to start the alternate picking work. Its beautiful and makes it rewarding to play. Learn on songs that u love to listen to.
What has helped me improve the most is jamming with others. It makes you accountable, which makes you want to get things right.
For me Truefire with tabs and decent instructor made myself a much much better player. Tabs also helped me to write my ideas down fast so I can replicate them if I want to. Sure all the things you named are valid but some sort of written music language, notes or tabs , made it so much more practically for me. Nowadays I've learned how to read notes and in a studio this a real advantage. They give me a piece of sheet music that I've to play in one or two takes. Job done, money in the pocket.
i am now playing for 15 weeks or so.. in my first 3 weeks i almost vould play anything i can play still now only it getting easier and smoother, and maybe some better technique.. but the first 3 weeks i learned more then in the other 12
i start doing what you say a little bit.. but small. i try to tune my guitars, by using open chords, E A D C and G.. to know exactly how they should sound all loose from one another, and look if i can tune it correctly.. (i am sometimes a bit off) but getting closer..
while in my first weeks i could not even hear if it was an d or an e at the moment.. but that gets better and better..
after watching this, i think that tuning still is a good thing to do, and i going to try what you said also with loose notes and then bends and so on..(i am still unable for this, but i now can sometimes find things if i cant follow videos by just trying somewhere in the erea they play and find it that way, so it gets closer everyy time)
Practicing isolated parts slowly in front of a mirror has helped me greatly to develop economy of motion in my playing. This is a tip I picked up from a Steve Vai video.
Thanks! Super helpful
Awesome video Rhett!. I don't consider myself a guitarist, more a copycat. As a working mother my favorite thing to do to unwind is learn a song using tabs or TH-cam & I'm perfectly fine with it. I've zero interest in knowing where the notes & chords are. Have mad respect though for those that put a lot of time & effort into guitar ❤
These are true! Apparently I’ve been on the right track for years. Never let yourself get down or in an absolute rut, folks. Enjoy the guitar.
A couple that have been very helpful for me: get a looper. There's nothing like laying down a basic structure (the bass notes), adding chords on top, and then soloing while following those chords. Bonus if the looper has a metronome or even better, drums built-in. Learning to play in time is so important when you eventually play with a drummer. You're going to need those skills, and without a metronome or drum loops, you likely don't have them.
Recording yourself is a big one. Very often you hear yourself playing something and you think you're nailing it, then you hear it on a recording and it sounds so different. I also found that learning to use a looper and singing while you play were incredibly beneficial for me - they improved my rhythm playing immeasurably.
I completely agree with your views on tabs. When I'm trying to life a solo, I start first with my ear, then a video of the artist playing it, then somebody else playing it. And slowing the videos down if I need to. Only if all those methods have failed me, will I turn to tabs. Figuring things out by ear or eye embeds them deeper in the memory than reading tabs.
I'm a faithful sub! Been away from guitar playing altogether for a while, and I lay down my guitar for the day, it seems this video comes at the right time to get me going again!
Sometimes a break can be refreshing and reinvigorate your playing when you pick it up again.
Really cool man great advice thanks ! Learning by ear should take an entire video that’s what I’m practicing for some months now 😊
Thanks for the advice , I have a collage note book folder for songs 🎵 I know how to play.. 50 or so campfire songs .. I love. Say I haven't played old man in 2 years it's just like a favourite brownie recipe , helps a lot as I'll forget some songs totally if I don't play them anyway.. thanks !
Rhett can we expect another video update on your studio or did you finish. The live performance videos are great by the way.
Great batch of tips!!
Hi Rhett, really appreciate your work , I would add just one thing and that is to play with others
Learning the notes on the fretboard (after refusing to do so for 28 years of playing) has made a massive difference in my ability to improve. Kicking myself for not doing this decades ago.
hi i dont know if i should Fretboard Fundamentals or your rythm course it looks like they are covring some of the same thing ?
Trying to learn finger style has really helped my playing. I literally quit guitar for almost 3 years because I was so sick and tired of my playing. I would pick up the guitar and do the same crap every time. When I tried to learn new stuff, I would have no idea how to use it this increasing my frustration. Now I start on acoustic and finger picking and reward myself with playing with a pick and shredding afterwards!
For such a well produced video as always, my OCD was triggered by the image "LEARN YOUR TRAIDS" lol. Great vid Rhett!
I also think trying to get good at some alternative tunings really can show you a lot about the notes you need because at that point they’re all in different positions so you have to kind of know what notes you want and why they’re there and what cords you’re trying to build and then you can really create any alternative tuning and get those same cords just some more easily reachable so once I put in like two or three different tunings like it just kind of like popped out to my to my mind, and I saw a standard tuning is basically like a big piano, and you’re kind of shifting where the keys are
Maybe for some, but I enjoy reading notation and tabs. The art of taking written music and transforming to great music is very popular with my students too.
I think that’s fine but if you audition for a band and I have to do a gig in two days, I mean, I don’t think that that will help you there. I think you just gotta be able to jump in and like grab the cords understand the cycles and just like feel the intervals and you get that through, transcribing by ear just feeling the interval jumps between the notes that you’re at and where you need to get. I never learned anything like that from notation or anything and plus you’re not gonna be able to use that at all when you play live so then you have that added skill of having to kind of I guess like memorize it or something? Can you do that for 25 songs, I don’t know I can’t. I’ve also sat in an open mic and live gigs and jam sessions, and you never get any paper for that stuff.
I’ve found that improvising/jamming with others has massively improved my abilities. Improvising forced me to not just learn triads, but learn how to use them to create bass lines that link with the chord changes and are more than just boring root notes. Playing with others also improves timing and is most importantly FUN.
Second on the new style. For several years I’ve worked on country/chicken pickin’. I’m still quite bad at the chicken thing, but the country style definitely has worked its way into my style, especially hybrid picking.
Great video as always, thank you !
Maybe a tip : go play live with friends, at church, in a bar gig or a jam... the more you do it the more comfidence you get on the instrument. And also you learn to listen to the other musicians.
The tab in the thumbnail looks like "I Stand Alone" by Godsmack ;)
Tabs are ok if you can’t quite figure something out by ear but I’ve noticed that they seem to impede you from actually learning to play the song without the tab. I can use tab to play something and the next time I try to run through it without the tab I’m drawing serious blanks. Great tips Rhett!
Learning the notes on the neck is extremely easy, especially if you do it in a way that overlaps with other knowledge. For me the best way was just learning the notes on the E string. Where it differs is in standard tuning one direction moves in 4ths the other 5ths exactly the same as the circle of 5ths so given (F C G D A E B). I can go to any note on high or low E and know the 2 notes directly above and below. So from D on low E, the notes below are G and C (reverse direction for D on high E) etc... When I started playing 7 and 8 string i immediately knew all the notes.
Awesome video Rhett, I totally agree ,and I would also recommend buying a looping pedal to practice and help to develop song ideas. Take the time to learn the pedal and its functions. You can create a complete arrangent with bass sounds, percussive sounds, chord progression, hooks. And then you can use that arrangement to practice scales, triads, improvise over a progression, create harmonies, on and on. Just seriously eat some $hite and learn how to use the pedal and Guarantee it will show uour strenghths and weakness. Especially timing. And using a metrenome with it to start your loop does help
Sorry for the novella. Keep rockin Rhettt, this channel is righteous brother. -J
I agree, except... for notating pieces in open tuning! When one uses a lot of different ones, it gets to be a nightmare in standard notation. So what do I do? I write them in tab, and translate them into standard notation after so that I can truly understand what is in the piece musically. Best of both world!
Love the shirt found Tyler bout a year ago .wish I would of found him years ago .very cool style
Great video Rhett
🎶🎵🎸⏳️⏰️ learning the language of the chords❤ putting in your time and Triads mapping depending on what level you want to be at mapping out all the fretboard where you can see all the chords 135 like the back of your hand wrinkly and old
That was a great video. It's interesting, all those things you said, i figured out like after 4 years of playing... good experiences. and one thing to get better is feeling all the tensions (in strings, fingers, hand, elbow... even amp and all those things). Guitar seems easy to play because if you pluck a string it would sound kinda decent (not very much), but to master that attack is what makes a guitarist sound great no matter how you play or what you play... i think everyone should work hard on that like a violinist tries to get a good sound out of a violin...
Begin with a Metronome.. and use a Looper with an integrated Drum , and look that the Drum patterns can be adjusted by +/- 1 Bpm. So you can do a lot of the things Rhett shows here in a good way with a lot of fun.
Funny, I've been learning songs by ear for years, but nothing beyond that. Thanks for the video.
Another great video! I have been playing for over 50 years, and I agree with every point. I have to admit...I hate tabs. I have never used them, never will. Learn the chord shapes, and learn to train your ear. WAY more important!
Number three is a big one. Can’t wait to see you playing djent.
I understood learn all notes in an other way. I was used to know all major scale notes but the in between notes I couldn’t hear because I never used them. So learn to use and listen to all notes is a good advice ;)
Learn to read standard notation. This will help immensely with learning pretty much everything related to playing, and make you a more versatile, and valuable guitarist.
Learn the intervals in every chord you play and the surrounding intervals. As you learn music theory this will eliminate the need for chord charts/dictionaries. Being able to figure out a different voicing for a chord or how to play a chord you don't already know is a huge asset. It will also help with figuring out different ways to play scales and arpeggios.
let me start with i love your channel, understanding or { learning } music theory is no different then learning or { understanding } Quantum physics. it takes a certain type of person who's minds works differently then most people . i'm very simple minded and i except that. I love my tabs and enjoy playing simple songs and riffs. trying to process music theory just blows my mind like the thought of trying to understand the universe.
Hi Rhett. I just noticed Triads is misspelled on the Section 4 graphic. Thanks for your great videos!!