Sunday, 20 February, 2011 08:58 Written by Joshua
You may start out wanting to learn to play classical guitar or you might want to learn classical guitar after you have gone through some other disciplines. Regardless, a lot of people including some very famous rock guitarists ultimately gravitate towards classical guitar instruction. Learning classical guitar will improve your playing no matter which discipline you ultimately prefer.
“Classical” usually refers to music that has survived time and cultures as works of beauty that never go out of style. This usually means composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Pachelbel and others but can also refer to music from the likes of Pink Floyd, Elvis Presley, The Who and others whose music has withstood the test of time. For our purposes here we will focus on the compositions of the old masters.
The most important aspect to learning classical guitar is the instrument itself. Not that you can’t play it on just about any type of guitar but you won’t get the sonic qualities of the music from anything other than a well constructed classical guitar. You’ll notice the difference in tone immediately if you try out a few bars on a classical guitar and then a standard acoustic or an electric guitar. When you learn to play classical guitar on the proper instrument you’ll learn to be aware of all the nuances and ambiance of the moods classical music seeks to convey.
Tuesday, 14 December, 2010 17:38 Written by Joshua
Most people don’t start out to learn how to play jazz guitar. They may begin their begin their journey of learning how to play guitar by learning rock, country, rockabilly or even classical. But jazz guitar is will eventually get most peoples’ attention; its influence is everywhere and the music is mesmerizing.
Jazz guitar instruction can be daunting and not such a good place to start for learning how to play guitar if you don’t know what to expect from the first few lessons. Jazz guitar has chord voicings found in no other type of playing but don’t let that scare you! In your first jazz guitar lesson you will probably be introduced to a few of these chords, which are mostly seventh chords. In most disciplines you use basic chords from the major and minor scales but in jazz guitar instruction you’ll learn the five basic seventh chords.
A 7th chord is a basic triad of notes of a chord with an added 7th interval place above the root note. It is usually a major triad with a flatted 7th note. It was originally introduced as an embellishment but it is a major component of jazz guitar, which is dominated by 7th chords.
Wednesday, 17 November, 2010 18:21 Written by Joshua
Blues guitar is the most basic style in America and in much of the world. Most of the guitar disciplines in the Western world are derived from blues guitar, from jazz to rock to metal. When you learn how to play the blues on guitar you are learning the basis of nearly every style in the modern music world.
Learning how to play blues guitar is deceptively easy compared to learning how to play guitar in other genres but can be a challenge to master. The blues scale is simply the major scale with a flat third, fifth and seventh. A flat note is played one interval below where it would normally be. Those flatted notes are called “blue notes”. While this may sound complicated, once you finger it on the fretboard you’ll see how simple it is. The blues chords that maintain the rhythm of the song are just as easy to fret and strum.
As you learn how to play guitar and learn blues guitar in particular you’ll find that the blues scale allows you a great deal of expression that other scales do not. The chords for blues are the first, fourth and fifth of the scale instead of the standard first, third and fifth of the major scale. This progression lends it a heavy, soulful ambiance that opens the door for all kinds of creative fingering and vocals.
