on my music training
Learning the guitar(modern way) is not as easy as reading music sheets and playing it perfectly. Playing blues and jazz is different from other styles. If you’re a lead player, you’re expected to do comping(rhythm) for the vocals as well. Aside from the already mentioned “feel” for the blues (and jazz), a good schedule for practice could be very helpful in accelerating your accuracy, creativity and fluency. I’ve dug a lot of knowledge from books and the internet. So I’d state down my practice schedule for reason so that I can refer it here in case I forget it in future. It should prove helpful to others who’s keen on this field on education as well =)
The below is assuming i have AMPLE time. No exams. No appointments. No assignments. These fulfill the requirement for the following schedule for me.
1. Rhythm Practice(45 minutes)
- I used to think doing all the lead work is cool, but I went jamming one day with some professionals, I got stuck and I knew I had to work on my rhythms. Blues and jazz rhythm is not about strumming chords wildly like an acoustic or country boy does. It seriously involves CREATIVITY. If you’re not, then learn from songs and techniques from formidable rhythm players.
- Practice on: Chords (learn new chord voicing and ‘flavours’), Arpeggios, a little Scale knowledge can help much, some Strumming Patterns, and most important Rhythm Variation.
- How to learn: Learn a new chord a week. A new arpeggio pattern or voicing a week, learn only important scales(Major & Minor Scale, Pentatonics, Mixolydian, Dorian is enough if you’re just starting), dun bother learning all those weird scales, Rhythm Variation comes in naturally as you practice constantly.
- For blues, learning rhythm can be very tough at first. There’s so many music styles to cover like Mississippi Delta Blues, Urban/Chicago Blues, Texas Blues, British/Rock Blues, slow blues, minor blues and the list stretches…. Learn at least one of each, and that will be good enough for you.
- Spend as much time only as you feel like you’re ready. If you think you need more time than this, I advise that you stop at 1 hour and proceed with lead work.
2. Lead Practice/Improvisation(1 hour)
- Every guitarist sure wants to solo at some point. So this is where the real fun of the musician begins. Keep in mind that, RHYTHM comes first then the LEAD.
- Learn: Scale (see Rhythm section), Memorized Licks, Phrasing(more below), Rhythm Variation, Arpeggios.
- Memorize a lick a day, then recall the lick the day after. Your licks can be licks from any sources. But good licks come from legends. My legend is Mark Knopfler. Learn all the mentioned scales, your phrasing is heavily based on scales. All of this should be learned within 15-20 minutes. Your skills must be then applied to a jamming session with a METRONOME or backing track. In weeks, you’ll notice a big hike in your soloing. You’ll notice your scales tend to have more melody. All this will perfect if you phrase well.
- Lead work is probably the hardest of all. If you’re playing blues, jazz or rock, you don’t want to play other player’s solo. You want to play YOUR own solo. This is where you develop your own style. I’m working hard everyday on that, so should you =)
So what’s phrasing all about? Phrasing means playing a scale with melody. What makes good phrasing?
- Rhyhtm. A full note, half, quarter, eigth, sixteenth, and TRIPLETS. They create variety in your music taste.
- Technique. This includes bending, vibrato, slide, slurs etc. I won’t be teaching you here. But you should try this website to have a taste of techniques. This is where I dug my early guitar education.
- Dynamics. How hard you accentuate your notes creates a different voicing to that note. You’ll probably want to this on tonic notes or chord tones. You know the pianissimo and its family, and staccato, legato kind of this you learned in music class? The volume of your music will create a wave of difference. Staccato and legato will form the story line. Search wiki for more info =)
- Spacing and Rests. Let your licks and phrases take a break over time. This gives time for the licks to blend into listeners’ mind. No matter how slow you play. But phrasing this way makes your music very in line with melody. NEVER EVER LEGATO(play with rapid succession) WITHOUT RESTS AND SPACINGS.
- FEEL. This solves everything. Your first feel for blues will be strong and weak later on. The feel take place eventually as you practice with backing tracks and bands often. You will need to revive that feel during your critical gigs. The feel became the reason I play this genre and gave birth to passion and passion is a good driver for everything. Do realize that jazz feel is very different. You won’t be making faces and feeling the music like blues. You just feel the harmony and the tendency to create that jazz sound. This is where blues, jazz, funk, rock,etc gets the edge of advantage as compared to other music styles.
Please please please have fun with music. Remember it’s about fun, not a show-off action series. Those who boast just proves they are really desperate to be the best musician. Take things easy. Don’t be hard on yourself if it’s too hard. And when you’re good in music one day, be humble and your music will be largely appreciated. Just like most good songwriters today; their songs are accepted because of their humility. Since music is so connected to us, it is based largely on a great sense of humanity. Another thing to bear in mind is what makes a good musician is the one who composes new tunes, not musicians who play covers of others. Use some brain juice to help you on that.
I really don’t want to write an essay for MUET again. So I leave it to avid readers to decipher the sentences and take it to your advantage if you think you really need it. Somehow I think you’ll need it if you love the music as much as I do. Till then, enjoy! Please comment for support of this long written text. Cheers have a nice day! =)
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