Quote:
Originally Posted by pianistturnedguitarist
hi yeah i am still having issues with learning the fretboard how long did it take you guys to get it down like completely understand it, in no way the fret board could be easily learned like the piano keyboard though they are similar.
does anyone have any suggestions ? or any scale books that could help?
|
Hi pianistturnedguitarist,
I am an accordianist turned keyboardist turned drummer turned guitarist...
...with a whole lotta guitar goin' on these days!
)
If I were you, with what I know now, I'd learn the Blues Scale inside and out (the pentatonic scale with the Blue Note added). Don't take my word for it...just look at
Eric Clapton, or Robin Trower, or Walter Trout, Joe Bonamasa, etc., etc.
The following graphic is a great resource for this; just print it out and go to town:
http://www.torvund.net/guitar/index....nt_box_all_pos
Learn the five boxes cold. While you practice/learn them, also play them along to any song.
Yes, you will eventually need to learn the notes, but that will come naturally along in its own time.
BUT I REPEAT -- LEARN THE BLUES SCALE. You can start playing along to music very quickly (which makes the guitar so much fun). As soon as you learn the scale, you can play just a few notes in a song and quickly identify the key it is being played in (and once you learn to do this, you will be "airborne"), and this is when you play/practice the 5 box positions all over that fretboard--along to music! Just start playing your notes slow in the 5 box positions, and speed will come naturally in its own time. Just make every note count. After a while you should begin to see the endless mathematical variations of what can be played and at what speeds and in what combinations--it's a wonderland on that fretboard.
Here's another sweet secret that makes everything simple. Major pentatonic, minor pentatonic...forget this way of looking at the guitar fretboard. Instead, just consider that there is only the
pentatonic scale (and of course finally add the Blue Note and you'll have the Blues Scale).
What I mean specifically is best explained by example, and I will use the link I provided above for this:
The 5 box positions you see are for the scale of
Em Minor and for the scale of
C Major...but the scale you are looking at is
only one scale. This means, for me, whenever I play I immediately see the scale and name it as the minor (I could just as easily refer to it in my mind as the major, but I keep it simple; i.e., I look at all key scales on the guitar as the relative minor). In this example, I would refer to it in my mind as playing the scale of
Em...I believe in that old axiom of trying to keep things simple.
The pentatonic scale will make your practice become like playing, and this is great fun, and if you do this a lot, your progress on playing the guitar will become very accelerated.
Have fun--the guitar is a universe of fun unto itself!
quick
