If you're interested in learning guitar, it just makes sense that at some point you're going to want to learn some blues licks on acoustic guitar. Blues can also provide help for learning bass guitar, in case you're interested in that, at some point. In fact, getting into the blues will also help you build a great foundation for almost any other style you decide to learn-well, except classical, maybe. But that's a whole different area.
One of the distinctive features of the blues is the set of notes that most blues tunes are built on: the blues scale. Just like those major and minor scales that your piano teacher tried to get you to learn, the blues has a pretty standard alphabet. For example, if you start on the bottom string of the guitar, played "open," (the note "E"), you would play a blues scale like this: E, G (3rd fret, bottom string), A (2nd string, open), B-flat (2nd string, 1st fret), B-natural (2nd string, 2nd fret), D (3rd string, open), D-sharp (3rd string, 1st fret), E (3rd string, 2nd fret). If you really want to get fancy, keep going up from there: E, G (4th string, open), A (4th string, 2nd fret), B-flat (4th string, 3rd fret), B-natural (5th string, open), D (5th string, 3rd fret), D-sharp (5th string, 4th fret), E (6th string, open).
There! You just played a 2-octave ascending blues scale. Now, do it in reverse and go back down to the bottom string, open. Practice that until you can do it fast, without looking at your fingers, and pretty soon you'll start sounding like Lightnin' Hopkins or Howling Wolf. You'll be well on your way to learning acoustic blues guitar.
If the above instructions didn't make all that much sense to you on first reading, don't worry. There are tons of Internet sites dedicated to learning acoustic blues guitar that can take you step-by-step through the process. Some of these sites have video and audio helps to make learning acoustic blues guitar even easier. No matter how you approach it, though, learning acoustic blues guitar-like anything else worth doing-takes time, patience, and practice. So stick with it, and good luck!
Thursday, 30 October 2008
How To Play Guitar
Whether you're interested in learning acoustic blues guitar, rock 'n roll, country-western, or jazz, guitar tabs can help you get going on the songs you're interested in.
Essentially, a guitar tab is a diagram of the fingerboard ("neck") of the guitar. The horizontal lines of a guitar tab represent the strings, with the bottom line being the lowest-pitched string on the guitar (E), and the top line being the highest string (e, two octaves above). The first step in learning acoustic guitar tab is to get familiar with the open strings (E-A-D-G-B-E, from lowest to highest).
The numbers on guitar tab represent the frets where you place your fingers to make the desired notes for the song you're learning. So, if you see a tab with a "3" on the third string from the bottom, that means you're supposed to press the "D" string at the third fret. If you see two or more numbers stacked on top of each other, that means you're pressing and playing more than one string at a time (this is how chords are often shown in tab). Reading from left to right will result in playing the notes in the proper order for the tune you are learning.
When you're learning acoustic guitar tab, it's best to stick with songs that you're already somewhat familiar with. The reason for this is that in tab notation, there's not really any standard way of showing how long each note is supposed to be held. That's not too much of a problem if you already have a pretty good idea of how the song is supposed to sound. But if you're learning an unfamiliar song, acoustic guitar tab might not be the easiest method to use.
Especially in rock, blues, and jazz, guitarists often use special techniques like "bending," "sliding," "hammer on," and "pull off." These are effects produced by pushing strings toward the middle of the neck on the same fret to raise or lower the pitch, sliding a finger on the same string from one fret to the next to change pitch, popping the finger down on a string to make a sound without strumming or plucking the string, or pulling the finger off the string just plucked to change the pitch suddenly. These are shown in various ways in acoustic guitar tab, and you can learn them once you've mastered the basics.
Essentially, a guitar tab is a diagram of the fingerboard ("neck") of the guitar. The horizontal lines of a guitar tab represent the strings, with the bottom line being the lowest-pitched string on the guitar (E), and the top line being the highest string (e, two octaves above). The first step in learning acoustic guitar tab is to get familiar with the open strings (E-A-D-G-B-E, from lowest to highest).
The numbers on guitar tab represent the frets where you place your fingers to make the desired notes for the song you're learning. So, if you see a tab with a "3" on the third string from the bottom, that means you're supposed to press the "D" string at the third fret. If you see two or more numbers stacked on top of each other, that means you're pressing and playing more than one string at a time (this is how chords are often shown in tab). Reading from left to right will result in playing the notes in the proper order for the tune you are learning.
When you're learning acoustic guitar tab, it's best to stick with songs that you're already somewhat familiar with. The reason for this is that in tab notation, there's not really any standard way of showing how long each note is supposed to be held. That's not too much of a problem if you already have a pretty good idea of how the song is supposed to sound. But if you're learning an unfamiliar song, acoustic guitar tab might not be the easiest method to use.
Especially in rock, blues, and jazz, guitarists often use special techniques like "bending," "sliding," "hammer on," and "pull off." These are effects produced by pushing strings toward the middle of the neck on the same fret to raise or lower the pitch, sliding a finger on the same string from one fret to the next to change pitch, popping the finger down on a string to make a sound without strumming or plucking the string, or pulling the finger off the string just plucked to change the pitch suddenly. These are shown in various ways in acoustic guitar tab, and you can learn them once you've mastered the basics.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)