So I’m going to unravel this rumour by seeing if varying the way we play octaves can make life that little bit spicer…

(Basically, here’s some more octave ideas)

Last week we covered octaves on the 5th and 6th strings. They can also be played on the 4th & 3rd strings, though a change in finger positioning is required due to the tuning of the guitar at the B string.

E————–8————–|
B————–x————–|
G————–5————–|
D—————————–|
A—————————–|
E——————————|

As you can see, there is now a 3-fret gap between the two notes. The same rule applies to octaves starting on the D string.

NOW let’s jump straight in to an octave lick on the A string. Remember that the following exercise can also be applied to higher string octaves. For this exercise we will playing in G major.

E———————————————————|
B———————————————————|
G———–10——-9——-7——5——————|
D———————————————————|
A——-10—-10/9—9/7—-7/5——————–|
E———————————————————|

With your left hand, you’ll be keeping same octave shape. However, you will now be picking each note individually and sliding between positions with your index finger which creates the illusion of 2 melodic lines being played at once!

Every good guitarist knows to play licks that sound harder than they really are!

Once you’ve nailed that exercise, try continuing down the major scale, or even try and ascending variation on the pattern. Play it with a plectrum, play it with your thumb and finger. Go nuts. Please. GO. NUTS.

Enjoy these delicious octaves, and next week I’ll move on to something NEW and EXCITING

Adam

When improvising, if you find yourself trapped in the same ‘scale shapes’ and churning out the same old pentatonic licks, you should try using octaves!

Octaves are played simply by doubling a single note that is being played by adding the same note but an octave higher. It’s as simple as it sounds, but the result sounds better than something simple!

Here’s a diagram of a basic octave played on a guitar:

E————————|
B————————|
G———-5————|
D————————|
A———-3————|
E————————|

Here we have the root note – C, played with the C in the octave immediately above it. It looks a lot like a C power chord; the only difference being that the middle note – the 5th – is taken out.
If you leave a power chord to ring out on a plugged-in electric guitar, before long you’ll hear overtones making the sound oscillate – this is due to the harmonic interval betwee the root and the 5th.

HOWEVER! With the 5th taken out, leaving only the root and the octave, you get a nice clean sound which makes octaves ideal for both rhythm and lead playing!
Take the C octave in the above diagram and try adding some funky rhythms to it by muting the strings between each accent, like so:
E—-*——-*——*——*———–|
B————————————–|
G—5–x-x-5–5–x-x-5- 5–x-x—–|
D—x–x-x–x–x–x-x-x—x–x-x—–|
A—3–x-x-3–3–x-x-3–3–x-x—–|
E—————————————|

Nice! Notice that the D string is being muted by the index finger to give an extra clean sound, so you can strum as hard as you like and still get the full, clean octave.

In lead playing, you can make some smooth melodies by sliding between octaves.

E———————————-|
B———————————-|
G—5/7—7/9—9/11———|
D—x-x—-x-x—-x-x———–|
A—3/5—5/7—7/9———–|
E———————————-|

Those octaves form the first three notes of the C major scale, so you can hear how octaves can be used to make some seriously smooth melodies.

That’ll be all for now! Next week I’ll show you some other octave techniques and applications across the whole neck!

Happy Playing,

Adam

E—–0——|
B—–0——|
G—–1——|
D—–2——|
A—–2——|
E—–0——|

When playing bar chords, you would know to move this chord shape up the neck and to bar the notes marked fret ’0′ in order to make a full bar chord. However, with certain chords, you can leave the E, B, and High E strings open and create some great sounding chords.

The most obvious way of applying this idea would be to choose a chord that you would find in the key of E major, because you could be sure that the open strings would compliment your new chord. Let’s move this shape up to the 7th position, as though we were playing a segment of an A major bar chord:

E—–0——|
B—–0——|
G—–6——|
D—–7——|
A—–7——|
E—–0——|

The result is an A major chord with an E as the bass note; therefore creating an A/E chord. Now let’s move up to another major bar chord in the key of E – B Major.

E—–0——|
B—–0——|
G—–8——|
D—–9——|
A—–9——|
E—–0——|

In case you hadn’t already worked out, this is a B/E chord.

The possibilites with this are almost endless. You can try this idea in most positions and get some great sounding results. Any key in which you find the notes of E and B will give you a clue as to which major chords you could try applying this shape

Again, trying this concept starting with an A major chord starting on the 5th string and moving along the neck will also result in some interesting chord voicings. Get experimenting and see which chords work and which do not!

Enjoy!

Adam

However, what if we were to turn things on their heads by trying to play a C major with an E in the bass. The easiest way to do this is by simply playing a standard C major chord shape and allowing the open low E string to ring out. You would write this as C/E which we call C slash E!

Although the most common slash chords use the same notes in the actual chord like we did above with our C major chord, you can actually put any note in the bass and see what it sounds like. How you get to these chords is another matter; you could google them of course or if you’re feeling adventurous then why not try to create them yourself on the guitar. Take a standard chord such as C, G, A etc and add in a random bass note. You may have to rearrange your finger positioning to make this work.

Here’s some nice ones to try: A/G, D/F#, C/G

Happy playing!

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–

One of the most common reasons for never learning guitar is fear of failure. We need to realise that failing is not only important for success but absolutely necessary. Here are seven quick excuses people use to avoid facing their fears of playing the guitar.

1) I’m tone deaf

Can you hear the difference between birdsong and a train? This means you can differentiate pitch.

2) I don’t have rhythm

Can you count to 4? I thought you might. Besides, everyone has a heartbeat.

3) It takes years to get good at the guitar

It’s simply not true… It only takes a very small amount of time to master 80% of playing the guitar. It’s just that once you fall in love with playing, you want to spend years learning all about the other 20%. I learnt the basics as a self-taught 15 year old scouring the internet for old tabs.

4) I don’t have time to learn

Real learning is about quality of time not quantity.

5) I can’t afford tuition

You own a quickbook about guitar tuition. Plus, there’s so much free stuff on www.dynamictuition.co.uk and other sites online to help get you started, not to mention any mates you may know who play.

6) I’ve never played before

Doesn’t matter. Have you ever been to Azerbaijan? (this is a rhetorical question.)

7) I’m too ugly to play the guitar

Probably (just kidding!)

We are taught from a young age that to succeed in life, we need to work hard. So if we want to succeed even more then we need to work even harder. It sounds like a great mantra but here’s the obvious problem! I’m not a big fan of hard work and neither are you! I can’t spend 10 hours a day playing the guitar because I have other commitments in life!

More work doesn’t necessarily mean more results

When I was in primary school, I was achieving pretty well. So my proud parents thought best to ask the teachers to put me up a year. So they did. What happened? Well I finished my GCSEs and A Levels a year early. How did I do? Pretty good. In fact, moving up a year made absolutely no difference to my end results. Somehow I managed to skip a year and still achieve exactly the same results as I would have done if I had stayed in the same year.

Is that even possible?

Of course it is. Don’t you think it’s strange that you learn maths for 11 years at school and yet so many people cannot perform basic arithmetic. I doubt very much that it’s because that many people simply cannot do basic arithmetic. I suspect it’s because the system didn’t work for them.

–

You may be wondering, what on earth is a QuickBook anyway? A QuickBook is a short book that teaches you to learn something in a very short space of time.

Learn Guitar In Three Hours is being released on Saturday 17th December 2011. For more information, check out http://www.dynamictuition.co.uk/threehours

—

Before a competition, match or race, athletes warm up to reduce their risk of injury and improve their performance. But how many drummers, given the physical demands of playing their chosen instrument, overlook this vital component before sitting at their kit or stepping on to the stage?

Clearly it is hugely important to warm up before playing to minimize the risk of injury, and warming up is a brilliant chance to brush up on skills and techniques too! For drummers, the upper limb is the most important part of the body to warm up, with the elbow and wrist joint and wrist flexor muscles being the most common problematic areas. Here’s a great warm up routine that you can do before you start performing. You can even incorporate it in to you practice sessions too!

What you need:

• A pair of socks
• Drumsticks
• A sturdy surface

1) Say Your Prayers

Place palms together in front of body. Point fingers toward neck. Pushing hands together, lower away from body until wrists separate. Hold stretch for 15 seconds. Repeat with opposite arm.

2) Finger Pull

Hold out your arm with the palm facing down. Bend the fingers and palm at the wrist. Grab your fingers with the other hand and pull them back and towards the body. Hold stretch for 15 seconds. Repeat with opposite arm.

3) Sock Squeeze

Squeezing a balled up sock increases strength of the fingers and also improves joint range of motion. To successfully warm up the wrist and fingers you should perform this exercise for at least two minutes [I try and do this three times
throughout the day before a performance]. The balled up socks should fit comfortably in your hand so you can grip it easily. Squeeze the socks and then release them repeatedly for one minute. Repeat until hands feel warm.

4) Stickwork

Pick a sticking pattern. Pick a surface to strike: start with something hard like a tabletop. Hold your drumsticks with your thumb and index finger acting as a fulcrum. Play the sticking pattern 4 times using only thumb and index finger. Add your middle finger to the sticks, keeping the original fulcrum. Repeat the pattern 4 times. Add ring finger and repeat pattern 4 times and then finger 4 and repeat 4 times.

Rotate your hands so palms are down. Repeat the pattern 4 times, bringing your wrists in and then elbows for another 4
repetitions. As you bring each component in to the patterns, the force you strike the surface with the
sticks will become stronger. To really work out your arms before playing, repeat this exercise on a surface with less “bounce”. A pillow or cushion is ideal!

Enjoy! Remember, a good warm up is essential to any good practice or gig to make sure your most excellent drumming technique lasts the distance!

Now granted, you may not be a vocal genius or a musical maestro but there are several reasons why the two above phrases are absolutely incorrect! I’ve yet to meet someone who is unable to tell me which is higher or lower in pitch, the sound of a train compared to the sound of a little girl’s voice. Similarly with rhythm, I’ve yet to meet someone who can’t tap their feet in time to a good tune or doesn’t have a heart that beats in a rhythm.

Really these phrases are merely excuses we use to spare us from the embarassment of singing the wrong note or messing up the rhythm of our playing. They also stop us from learning how rhythm and pitch actually work and stop us from improving our musical abilities! Let me quickly explain how rhythm works in its simplest form.

Music is split up into bars. Bars are simply dividers in music to help us keep track of where we are. For example, a chorus in a popular song could be 8 bars or 16 bars long. Bars are then split into beats. Generally speaking, in popular music there are normally 4 beats in a bar but this does not have to be the case. Sometimes, there will be 3 beats or even 5 or 6 beats in a bar. You can test this for yourself, put on your favourite track (maybe one from Coldplay’s latest album) and tap your feet along. You should notice a regular pattern of 4. If you can’t spot it, ask a friend who plays an instrument and you’ll kick yourself after!

Everyone can count to 4 and so that everyone can have rhythm! It is a simple as that. As music becomes more complicated, we split each beat into different amounts. This can be in half or into three or more!

Let me encourage you, don’t excuse your lack of musicality with well worn sentences! Instead, take some time to learn how music really works! If you’ve thought of yourself previously as ‘tone deaf’ or ‘lacking rhythm’ then realise now that there is no such thing! There are only people who learn and people who do not! Make sure you’re in the former category!

The Law of One

Right now, wherever you are, you’re only one step away from being better at playing the guitar. What are your aims? What are your goals? Instead of trying to be ‘better at the guitar’, why don’t you be more specific? Aim to be 50% at the riff you can only play really slowly at the moment. It took me a while to get this; I kept trying to play 100 steps ahead of where I was at but now I just focus on improving one thing at the time.

Recently I went through a big phase of improving my acoustic guitar playing; fingerpicking, percussive playing and tapping but right now I’m concentrating on fast licks and shredding to build up stamina and strength. You see, the best way to learn quickly is to do one thing at a time. You’ll actually find the benefits of practicing that one thing will spill out into all aspects of your playing anyways!

The Problem With Multitasking

The problem with multitasking is that it’s physically impossible. Yes, you might think that you’re multitasking when you’re strumming and changing chords but actually you’re flicking between both of them very quickly. The simple truth is that you lose concentration a lot quicker than you think which makes your guitar practice weak and ineffective. Let’s face it, we want to practice as little as possible so we can play as much as possible. I used to practice and never really achieve anything in my practice time because I was trying to practice 10 different things. You need to stop multitasking and focus on the one thing you want to improve.

It’s different for all of us; for some it might be just managing a chord change and for others it might be to learn a new riff. Your goals are going to be different to mine; that’s absolutely fine! Have a think right now of the one thing you want to build up and improve!

Here’s a few examples of what your one thing might be:

• Strumming in time (use a metronome)
• Alternate picking
• Chord changes
• Improvisation
• Ear training

Don’t just read it; give it a try and test out what I’m saying! Happy Playing!