I need help and don’t even know how to ask

[pipelineaudio]

I need help learning basic stuff about just jumping in and playing from a Facebook chart or whatever basic working musician stuff they use.

I have plenty of technical ability on guitar, have scales and modes burned into my brain and generally know my way around the neck or so I thought

Mixing all these open jams and Live Band Karaoke shows, I’m blown away that the same players who constantly ask me questions about guitar techniques and speed and picking are able to just look at a Facebook or ascii chart and pretty much know a song… none of the riffs or any of that but the song basics are all there. Live band karaoke has less than a minute to know the song and it still sounds great. They mostly play triads and often stay off of the low e or a string. Not so much power chords like I’d do.

How do I learn this magic? How do I know quickly what and where a major or minor triad is and which inversion to play? If I take the time to work out the key, sure I can tell you in theory but these guys just fly. What can I do?

 

[Chase42147]

You should take lessons from @Techdeth. He teaches theory really well, and makes it way easier to learn than trying to watch videos or learn it from books.

 

[Techdeth]

You should take lessons from @Techdeth. He teaches theory really well, and makes it way easier to learn than trying to watch videos or learn it from books.

Thanks Chase ! But ya pipeline hmu not only can help you with all that you will have a blast doing it

 

[TheBiggestJerk]

It’s sounds like although you know the “words” and maybe even their meanings, actually speaking the language of music in context isn’t emergent???

 

[phillybhatesme]

There’s no shortcut to practicing.
You just need to practice reading charts, familiarize yourself with the chords and triads so when it says D7/F# you know what to do.

Oh and I think Freddie Green style chords are what you’re referring to when you see these guys omit the 5th and 6th strings.

https://www.freddiegreen.org/technique/cervenka_numbering.html

Good luck. And get to practicing. Start with some easy jazz songs maybe? Like Autumn Leaves. It’s a pretty simple chord progression and there are lots of videos on youtube with charts and playalongs.

 

[pipelineaudio]

It’s sounds like although you know the “words” and maybe even their meanings, actually speaking the language of music in context isn’t emergent???

That sounds accurate. While it is physically impossible for me to play out of key in a solo (even slight out of tune causes me serious psychological pain going on physical) this doesn't translate into chords. I might accidentally play major when it should be minor if I don't know the song, and worse, I don't know how to cluster inversions in a spot of the neck

 

[TheBiggestJerk]

That sounds accurate. While it is physically impossible for me to play out of key in a solo (even slight out of tune causes me serious psychological pain going on physical) this doesn't translate into chords. I might accidentally play major when it should be minor if I don't know the song, and worse, I don't know how to cluster inversions in a spot of the neck

It sound like you might need a therapist. Unfortunately I’ve heard this before sentiment all too often. I don’t have an easy solution, aside from keep practicing.
Steve Vai said “know the fretboard cold”. Typically when we communicate verbally it’s done without (unfortunately) much thought. Music should come forth with the same sense of flow, and that requires a lot of “talking”. It’s really is a language.

 

[pipelineaudio]

That pain translates very well to recording and mixing and probably where it came from. For the longest time I could only play Floyd's blocked to dive only. I finally got used to adding enough chorus or micropitch to blur the tuning enough not to seriously disturb me and now playing them fully floating, which I don;t know why, as I never pull up but just dive

Actually starting to sound like the therapist thing may be right

 

[S̷͖͑m̵͎͂á̵̺s̸͚̈́h̴̬̑]

That pain translates very well to recording and mixing and probably where it came from. or the longest time I could only play Floyd's blocked to dive only. I finally got used to adding enough chorus or micropitch to blur the tuning enough not to seriously disturb me and now playing them fully floating, which I don;t know why, as I never pull up but just dive

Actually starting to sound like the therapist thing may be right

Whammy bars are just masturbatory tools. Block that shit back up and continue

 

[TheBiggestJerk]

That pain translates very well to recording and mixing and probably where it came from. For the longest time I could only play Floyd's blocked to dive only. I finally got used to adding enough chorus or micropitch to blur the tuning enough not to seriously disturb me and now playing them fully floating, which I don;t know why, as I never pull up but just dive

Actually starting to sound like the therapist thing may be right

Ever smoke weed?

 

[pipelineaudio]

In high school

 

[TheBiggestJerk]

In high school

THC gummies may help take the OCD edge off a bit.

 

[TheBiggestJerk]

In high school

This is a good book. It helps with the psychological component of music and self.

 

[DanTravis62]

Lessons from someone like tech will help, sure

but i think first of all you need to start actually playing the types of stuff you want to be fluent in, not just thinking about it or planning it

You have to speak a language to be fluent in it

So start jamming on songs that are way out of your wheelhouse, even when you aren't in cover band/karaoke situations, and then while you have the time and ability, analyze how you could cluster inversions etc etc

Perhaps find someone's chart (of basically anything!) and then search out the song and try to use it to play to, unheard

There's no replacement for displacement as they say though, doing the reps is the only surefire way to get good at this

 

[70 Mach 1]

45 years into this shit and i still don't know. i just use my ear
i remember what works off what and just do it

learn your intervals for solos. from there you can put together anything and not have to memorize 500 scales and chords
so if you knew where the root is. if you put down your 3rd finger its major. pinky its blues or minor

3rd and pinky is a hybrid scale of major and minor

then work that off the 2, 4, 5 and 6 and you'll be set without thinking theory

 

[CoreyW]

Chord charts are pretty easy to follow, you have the lyrics and above the lyric line is the chord name, now they are not always in the exact spot, but for open jam stuff you gotta go when everyone else does.

You can check out videos on the Nashville Numbering system... it sounds a lot more complex than what it actually is, but I am sure you have heard something a long the lines of... This one is a I, IV, V in E... thats just saying its the 1st, 4th, and 5th chord of E maj, the major scale is the back bone for all of this.

Rick Beato has a lot of great videos on beginner theory, and most of them start with the major scale, finding one and just listening to it over and over again will have that info stuck in your head.. and once you memorize the formula for the major scale, you can transpose to pretty much any key.

 

[csguy0]

Great thread, learning a lot so far - recently I found a guy who does guitar repair locally and I found out he teaches lessons. I was really caught up in the Youtube world and felt like I was so far behind. The teacher has given me a bit more focus - and it is nice to get instant feedback for what you're doing wrong.

 

[TheBiggestJerk]

Yeah… don’t get sucked into the show biz that YouTube is, in addition to IG, TikTok, Facebook, X, etc… content creators will do everything and anything to get clicks including epic fakery. Unfortunately that pulls into the trap of comparing ourselves to everyone else. The goal is to make music. It’s not a competition.

 

[JohnnyGtar]

Good luck. And get to practicing. Start with some easy jazz songs maybe? Like Autumn Leaves. It’s a pretty simple chord progression and there are lots of videos on youtube with charts and playalongs.

And once you've got the basics of that tune down, you'll know one of the most beautiful songs ever written.