How do I practice guitar at my level?

acoustic guitar for beginners pdf image

q

I'd say I'm beginner - intermediate (playing 6 years). I would love to be able to "shred" soon, and I'm almost there. I don't know whether I should focus on practicing finger exercises or playing along with difficult melodic tunes.

6 years seems like a long time... how good should I be? I practice every day....

Answer
Learn theory before anything else. Learn as many scales and their application, because thats all "shredding" is. I recommend you listen to various styles of music and try to learn licks and solo by ear and analyze then with the chord changes. The perfect thing to look at is jazz. Jazz music comes with a written melody and the chord progression above it. The chord are hints to what notes are acceptable for the duration of that chord. Jazz is hard than rock, and many rock techniques derive from jazz. You think I lying try to play Afternoon in Paris, which is quite easy. If you breezed through that try Scrapple From The Apple, then go for the big boy stuff like Donna Lee which is no joke.

Transcribing solos of all styles (progressive rock, jazz, latin, acoustic, etc) will make you so much more of a player. It helps you understand the uses of note only melodic solos but adding a rhythmic edge to the thing you play, but this can only come by 1: understanding what the heck ur playin 2: getting new ideas from listening to others and 3: application.

You should be learning all the painstaking rudiments, common jazz progressions (these are much much harder to play than a simple rock song, making your music much more "musical" and intelligent), while playing hard song (writing some out. the best players I know transcribe really hard songs like Dance of Eternity by Dream Theater. That kid actually got into Berklee the School of Music on a 75% scholarship. Another was asked by Hulk Hogan's daughter for guitar lessons, and he said she has to called him 1st, he doesnt ask ppl if they need something from him, which is pretty baddass)

Here's a nice little pdf called the Real Book which is full of jazz standards. Afternoon in Paris is on page 12, Donne Lee pg123, and Scrapple on pg351. Hope you can read standard notation, if not learn. Reading tabs will only get you so far, plus theory isnt written in tabs. The rule for practicing for college musicians (which I happened to be as well) 6hrs a day for preforming majors (me) and 4 for teaching majors. During this time you should be playing warm ups (scales and etdues) then wateva new theory concpet you are applying, and the song for the day (whether you are writing one or learning one). The sca;e part takes me about 45 mins but I halfass too often. If I went ahead a learned all my scales in all 12 keys (all 7 modes, plus variations for modes, diminished types, augmented, whole tone, the 4 pentatonic types, etc I'd be there much much longer. this is something im working myself into day by day)

Song to learn on Acoustic Guitar?

Zach

I'm looking for a good song to learn on the acoustic guitar, something that is recognizable without vocals since i cant sing along with it. I am a beginner at guitar but i'm willing to work at a more difficult song if necessary.

Answer
Just make up some random, easy chords that don't involve vox.

The First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes is pretty fun to play on ukulele, and the main chorus chords are
F A Dminor Bflat C F
The correct chords (but in ukulele tablature, just play the chords): http://ukulelehunt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/firstday.pdf
Some guitar chords, just in case: http://www.guitar-players-toolbox.com/images/basicchordchart.png

Actually, the song El Scorcho is fun to play on guitar. http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/w/weezer/el_scorcho_tab.htm

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