I need to learn how to play…

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JackBootedThug

JackBootedThug

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Guitar. I watch videos and realize how little I know. I know the pentatonic. That’s it. Watch these videos and guys are playing it in positions I through IV…all over the fuckin neck….then they say well we’re in d minor and so we automatically know that these root notes go with d minor and…..BOOM…that’s when my fuckin head explodes. Is there a simple explanation of this stuff for someone who has zero musical theory experience? Or am I just missing something here? I know it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks but I really would like to learn this stuff.
 
My guitar teacher just kind of preached the modes. I know there are all these different tools, philosophies, and takes on theory, but it all just seems to come back to modes for me.
 
JackBootedThug said:
Guitar. I watch videos and realize how little I know. I know the pentatonic. That’s it. Watch these videos and guys are playing it in positions I through IV…all over the fuckin neck….then they say well we’re in d minor and so we automatically know that these root notes go with d minor and…..BOOM…that’s when my fuckin head explodes. Is there a simple explanation of this stuff for someone who has zero musical theory experience? Or am I just missing something here? I know it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks but I really would like to learn this stuff.
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It can seem daunting but it is graspable, just gotta take it one little chunk at a time

Guitar music stuff fits together like Legos, once you kinda grok the patterns and stuff, it starts to make sense

The absolute best thing to do is get a teacher, even if it’s only once a week for a few months— having someone there to talk through the chunks is a HUGE accelerant

There are also some good books out there that really break stuff down — one i like is Richard Chapman’s “The Complete Guitarist”
 
For example. I know the “a” box starts on the fifth fret….but how do these guys play in a anywhere on the neck? Hope that makes sense….
 
JackBootedThug said:
Guitar. I watch videos and realize how little I know. I know the pentatonic. That’s it. Watch these videos and guys are playing it in positions I through IV…all over the fuckin neck….then they say well we’re in d minor and so we automatically know that these root notes go with d minor and…..BOOM…that’s when my fuckin head explodes. Is there a simple explanation of this stuff for someone who has zero musical theory experience? Or am I just missing something here? I know it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks but I really would like to learn this stuff.
Click to expand...
Stop playing with your brain and your eyes and use your ears instead.
You know what sounds good.
Best advice for improvisational clams I ever got was to always remember no matter what bad note you play,
you're always just one fret away from a right one. A little slide or half bend can make a clam sound intentional.

Assuming no one is paying to see you play, just go for it. Put on a backing and just play.
You know what sounds good. Just do that stuff! (y)
 
So super quick there are 7 modes. Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolidian, Aeolian, Locrian (but my teacher always spelled it Locrain!).

Ionian is your basic major scale. Aeolian is your basic minor scale. Mixolidian sounds kind of jazzy/bluesy, it has a nice suspended sound to it and Mixolidian based shapes are great suspension chords/scales to play falling to the root of a key.

If you started on the third (E) of a C Major scale, you'd be playing E Phrygian. They all relate to one another. You can lower or raise some of the notes to get the harmonic minors, etc.

https://www.jazz-guitar-licks.com/pages/guitar-scales-modes/modes-of-the-major-scale/
https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/guitar-modes-learn-all-7-major-modes-the-easy-way
 
JackBootedThug said:
Perfect example dude…wtf is a mode? You say that and I have no clue what you are talking about bro…
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Modes are probably the most ill-taught subject in guitar

They’re often taught in this way, which is technically correct but musically not very useful :

“Modes are what you get when you start playing the major scale from each of its successive notes or degrees— starting on the first note yields Ionian, second yields Dorian, etc”

which is true

BUT

I strongly believe that a more useful way to thing about modes,
is that each one is a pattern of intervals that is compared to the major scale
(for example, Aeolian “natural minor” has a flat third, flat 6th, and flat 7th compared to major scale)
AND
each of these imparts a certain *mood,* and each can (loosely speaking) be played over certain chords

So for example, Mixolydian mode is often used over dominant 7th chords (like G7), because it has the chord tones of a major chord plus a flat 7th (which is what makes G7 dominant)

Re: moods : i mean like, Locrian is scary, Lydian is romantic, etc
 
JackBootedThug said:
For example. I know the “a” box starts on the fifth fret….but how do these guys play in a anywhere on the neck? Hope that makes sense….
Click to expand...

By knowing the modes and the shapes. If I'm on the 5th fret of the E (A) and I know I'm in say A major, I basically know the rest of the fretboard based on the shapes of the modes and relative octaves. I know that the 9th fret on the A (F#) will be the minor mode Aeolian and that would be the pattern if I wanted to start a run there, etc.
 
JackBootedThug said:
For example. I know the “a” box starts on the fifth fret….but how do these guys play in a anywhere on the neck? Hope that makes sense….
Click to expand...
Yeah, so there are a couple of popular approaches to this —

One that I like, is called the CAGED method, where essentially you learn how the shapes of the C,A,G,E,D can be used across the fretboard to play in various keys based on position;

and the other approach is to memorize all the notes on the fretboard, which is useful but a bit much to bite off at first

A LOT of people use CAGED
 
I also bought this book way back in the day, and it did the trick.

https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Scales-Modes-Dave-Celentano/dp/0931759595
0931759595.01.S001.LXXXXXXX.jpg
 
Yeah I need to study this. Pretty much what I need. What do they mean by the different pentatonic positions and using them to run up and down the neck while staying in the same key?
 
JackBootedThug said:
Yeah I need to study this. Pretty much what I need. What do they mean by the different pentatonic positions and using them to run up and down the neck while staying in the same key?
Click to expand...
It’s kinda like, the notes in the pentatonic box repeat all up and down the neck, it’s just the visual pattern is different
 
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