All guitarists, budding guitarists and wannabe guitarists in here please

[Irish_Tom]

Lo all,

I'm doing a project for my Graphic Design degree in which I have to solve a problem graphically.

I've decided to update the visual system for learning how to play the guitar and I'm looking for the opinions of a wide range of guitarists, from veteran's to just-beginners, for my research.

I would be very grateful if you could take a minute to read my proposal and give me some feedback;

Let me know if, firstly you think it's necessary, and secondly any issues you have with what I'm suggesting. If you also have any suggestions of things I should include based on your own experiences of learning the guitar that would be fantastic!

One of the problems I found when I started to learn was that scale and chord charts are boring and sometimes quite hard to decipher.

These are the issues I've currently highlighted:

Orientation of the neck when looking at a chord sheet or scale chart:
There's no obvious way of telling which way the chart corresponds to the neck of the guitar.

My solution
Use varying thickness of line on the scale sheet to show exactly which string is being referred to.

Where on the neck to start from:
In my experience it's not always pointed out which fret you should start a certain scale from or how high on the neck a chord is positioned.

My solution
Use colour codes to split the neck up into sections that correspond with the modes of the scales.

Which finger should be used for which note:
My guitar teacher was always telling me off for using the wrong fingering, especially with scales. It was usually because the sheets he gave me didn't specify and by the next lesson I'd forgotten what he'd told me and fallen into my own bad habits.

My solution
Use 'channels' that correspond to the correct finger. (This will be made clearer in a second).

Here is an existing example of E pentatonic over the first 12frets:

Here is an even more confusing example of E pentatonic:

Here is my sheet:

Now I believe that these sheets should be used as an aid to learning the guitar with a teacher, but I think my system will make learning that bit more interesting while you're not in a lesson.

I also intent to adapt this system to screen based media as well as print (web and TV).

If you read through all of that, thank you very much! If you could spend just one more minute providing me with some feedback I really would appreciate it.

Cheers


Panzer

 

[Irish_Tom]

Thanks for the very speedy response!

I have to admit that I expected experienced players to favour the existing methods, especially as I probably haven't explained mine very clearly. It is interesting to get the opinion of a teacher as well as a player, so thanks for that

I think I will have to specify the fingering channels for the very beginners, where some discipline is needed to avoid picking up bad habits and 'lazy fingers' Because I agree that it's not always practical in real world playing.

I've just been discussing it with my house mate (another Graphic Design student and guitar player) and the point he made is that the overlapping blocks of colour at the bottom of the page need to be made clearer. I'm thinking of stepping the blocks from low to high, to not only show the change in pitch, but make the overlapping colour clearer.

Panzer

 

[Irish_Tom]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

I shall look into including root notes and the notes of the scale as well. Although as Andelusion said, there is so much information that could be included, where do you draw the line for simplicities sake.

In just the first few posts you've highlighted some issues that I hadn't thought about so thanks again for that. The project is running for the next 6 weeks so please keep adding to this thread

I'll keep updating it with new bits and pieces as I develop the idea as well.

Cheers

Panzer

 

[Irish_Tom]

Thanks again for the feedback.

I'm going to use the stepped look as Nix suggested and Docaroo you're quite right, the first mode should certainly start with the index finger rather than use the little finger so I'll adjust that

Alex I see what your suggesting and it might well work a lot easier than a blended colour, I shall put this into practice and see how it works as well

As for the note name of each position, I think it might just work. I'm going to draw up a new draft either today or tomorrow so I'll post it up and see what you think.

Panzer

 

[Irish_Tom]

Just thought I would share with you the latest update. I believe this has all of the alterations mentioned. The only problem I can find with it is that when I add the notes of the scale, it's quite hard to read on the yellow background of the 2nd mode.

Might have to re-colour the positions or add the notes in black (but then it's hard to read on the dark blue of the 3rd mode )

Just thought I would mention that I had to scale down the image to fit in with the 800px maximum image size for the forums. It's actually easier to read in full A4 scale

*edit* Just noticed that the coloured bars at the very bottom don't align with the positions on the fretboard so I'll adjust that also.

Cheers again for any more feedback.

Panzer

 

[Irish_Tom]

This is really great guys glad I've got some discussion going.

Anderlusion, do you think I should start it on the 12th then and do the higher part of the neck (full octave higher or am I confused?) or can I get away with fretting it else where and just mention which key it's in?

Cheers

Just realised I need to include the root notes as well!

Panzer

 

[Irish_Tom]

Cool cheers for clearing that up, I kinda guessed what you meant, just wanted to be certain. I think I first learnt G Major pent as well then adapted it to the Em so it does make sense

I'll have to work out a way of fitting more frets onto a single A4 page

I've got an interim crit on Tuesday at uni so I'll make all the updates for that, and then post again either Monday evening when they are done, or on Tuesday after the crit with feedback from the group and tutors.

Cheers again

Panzer

 

[Irish_Tom]

Hi Sweetloaf, thanks for the input! You may be on to something there actually.

It would fit in with the notes going from low to high as well, and it would fit in with the bass notes being at the bottom of the diagram to replicate the way you look at the neck while holding the guitar in a playing position.

I suppose the only problem with it is that we're taught to read from top to bottom, so it might confuse the beginner. Might confuse the non-beginners too.

What does everyone else think about this?

Cheers

Panzer

 

[Irish_Tom]

Right guys, just thought I would give you an update.

I had the final critique for this project yesterday and it went down well with staff and students alike. Just thought I would post my final scale and chord diagrams because I have until Friday to finish the folder work and make any changes that were suggested in the crit or anything that I feel could do with changing before the final deadline.

If you have any more comments on these two then please let me know.

Not sure why the colours have gone all funny but you get the idea.

I have managed to confuse myself with that scale diagram in that I don't know what to name it:

I started of with the Em pentatonic but then moved the root note to G. So is this now Em pentatonic in the key of G or is it just G pentatonic?

Cheers

Panzer

 

[Irish_Tom]

Quite right good sir!

The original pages are 297mm square and these are scaled down. The sharps are quite small in the full print outs so it's no surprise that they are hard to see when scaled down to 800px on the long side but I promise that it's there

Panzer

 

[Irish_Tom]

m3csl2004 I appreciate it thanks

Alex thanks for that.

I think I've worked it out but correct me if I'm wrong.

When I was taught Pentatonics, I was only ever taught the modes of the minor pentatonic (above) so that's all I knew. I didn't realise that there was a major pentatonic scale as well. This might sound daft but I was never taught it and have never come across it until now.

So that above uses the minor pentatonic shapes for the modes, it's rooted in G so it must be Gm pent

I think I'm getting there.

Cheers

Panzer