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allllec

allllec

allllec

Soldato
Joined
5 Aug 2006
Posts
4,261
Hi,

well as quite a few of you know (through my asking lots of dim whited questions) I've started to learn guitar (been playing 4 or 5 months.. but you wouldn't think it) and i have a few questions...

Octaves - i haven't found a real down to earth explanation or what they are relating to the frets on a guitar.. someone care to explain?

Guitar theory - very broad subject but i cant find anywhere that really explains or teaches me it - anyone know of a website or video tutorials that might help?

Vibrato - is there a secret behind this? or just very strong fingers because i just cant do it! :(

and what i really made this post for:

Improvising? i hear everyone go on about it ... but i have no idea where to even begin .. how do you "learn" to improvise.. i really don't understand how someone can just pick up a guitar and pull some long winded amazing thing out of thin air

anyway tia

alec
 
ok il make a quick start. an ocatve is basically when the notes start again. so if you play an open 'e' and then play an 'e-shape' barre cord on the 12th fret, also an 'e', its the same cord but 1 octave up
 
allllec said:
Octaves - i haven't found a real down to earth explanation or what they are relating to the frets on a guitar.. someone care to explain?
Click to expand...
As you probably know, an octave is the same note, played one register higher. A very quick way of relating this to a guitar is as the following:

- - - - - - 3 8
- - - - 3 8 x x
- - 2 7 x x 0 5
2 7 x x 0 5 - -
x x 0 5 - - - -
0 5 - - - - - -

E A A D D G G C

Each letter represents the octave as displayed. To play both notes at the same time, you will need to ensure the string inbetween doesn't ring. This is represented in a tab by an X. The pattern changes on the higher strings due to how they are tuned - think about how that B string is 'irregular' when it comes to tuning a guitar using the string below it

Guitar theory - very broad subject but i cant find anywhere that really explains or teaches me it - anyone know of a website or video tutorials that might help?
Click to expand...
This is highly opinionated, but for now, I would say not to bother so much, you will already have enough on your plate without needing to learn your phrygian mode.

Vibrato - is there a secret behind this? or just very strong fingers because i just cant do it! :(
Click to expand...
Vibrato will be hard because you havn't been playing a very long time. You certainly do not need 'strong' fingers for putting vibrato onto one note! A good note to practise on is the 12th fret G string, or B string. Put your first, second and third fingers behind the fret, pick the note, and rather than bending you fingers, use a rocking motion of your hand to create the vibrato. It is very tricky to describe without showing someone in person!

As for 'bending note vibrato', yes, you will need strong fingers. ;)

Improvising? i hear everyone go on about it ... but i have no idea where to even begin .. how do you "learn" to improvise.. i really don't understand how someone can just pick up a guitar and pull some long winded amazing thing out of thin air
Click to expand...

Its a case of jumping into the deep end sadly. I am very bad at it because I am lazy. Improvising takes quite a lot of effort, and many complete shredheads will go cold at the thought of improvising. What I would recommend would be to find a backing track that you know a scale which will sound good over the top of it, then pick maybe a few notes, keep it slow and try and make even a few notes sound exciting and interesting. Remember, getting good at improvising is tough and is not as rewarding as learning a song, but it is perhaps the best skill you can have for your instrument. I wish you luck.

:)
 
Starting from the bottom:

Improvising. Okay fair enough... i will stear clear for a wee while then

Vibrato.. will just have to practise some more i think then.. when im next around a mates i will get him to show me

Theory... if its that trickey im not botherd.. but would you say theres anything i should know that will help my playing (im not talking about the really technical stuff, just stuff like notes and locations on the fret board etc)

Octives.. Im afraid im being really dim whited now i dont quite understand your explantion.. could you explain the diagram a lil more please?

and thank you a lot btw.. :)
 
Nitefly said:
E - - - - - - 3 8
B - - - - 3 8 x x
G - - 2 7 x x 0 5
D 2 7 x x 0 5 - -
A x x 0 5 - - - -
E 0 5 - - - - - -

- E A A D D G G C
Click to expand...
Ok, I have updated it a bit. I assume you know each string on the guitar is tuned to a note, and therefore each string is sometimes reffered to by this note, for example, the B string. On the left, are the notes that represent each string.

As you move along the diagram, look at the columns rather than the rows. The numbers represent what fret should be played on the corresponding string. For example, a '0' would mean play an open string, whilst a 2 would mean play a string on the second fret.

To sound the octave, you must play two notes at the same time, which are organised into columns. You do not want to hear the string labled 'X', and this must be muted so all you hear are the two notes indicated by numbers only.

Using these patterns, you can create any octave you wish. Simply keep the shape the same, and move it around the neck. You octave will correspond to the notes you are playing, which are the same notes, but one is higher than the other. So you will be playing two E notes, two A notes... etc!

In the diagram, the octave you will be playing is on the final row, and reads EAADDGGC.

I hope that makes more sense, and you are welcome!

Edit -
Changing the diagram has skewed it a little bit, but it still makes sense. Just compare it to the original if the skewing is confusing you.
 
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Nitefly said:
look at the columns rather than the rows.
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that was the key lol :) sorry i was being really dimm

And are those shapes always the same for those strings? if that makes sense

but anyway thats cleard it up now.. thank you *tips hat*
 
allllec said:
And are those shapes always the same for those strings? if that makes sense
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Yes, simply keep the same shape. The only time you will need to change that shape is if you are not playing in a standard tuning. Enjoy your octaving!
 
improvising :- it does help obviously if you have even a slightly limited understand of musical theory, although there are some shortcuts tha can help you, like Am being the same as Cmaj (cue Andelusion to explain all about relative minors etc :)) i would learn the minor scale, and the pentatonic scale at serveral positions on the neck, the major isnt used so much for rock (although again, is handy to know) , and really its like talking, trying to say something interesting, and quite litterally take baby steps, say something that strings 2 or 3 notes together, and then after years (sorry!) of playing, you will find you will be able to make up a killer lick in your head, and just 'play' it on guitar, but keep at it. the more input you get with different scales, the richer your 'voice' will sound.

Vibrato :- this is quite an individual thing, and not a standard for every player. I tend to favour the Yngwie method of vibrato, that is very wide and slow. I find good vibrato comes from the wrist, keep your fingers stiff (i use 3 together for strength if poss) anchor your thumb, pivot your wrist, then push. vibrato sounds sloppy when its too fast, or is bent flat or sharp, it really has to be intune, and rythmical to the music, Steve Vai tends to favour a circular approach to vibrato, moving his fingers in a circle, to create a very subtle effect, this originated on instruments like the fiddle etc, but can work on guitar, although i am not a big fan of it. Good vibrato can make a lick, see :- Yngwie (very wide) , Blues Saraceno (err...very Bluesy!) and Satriani (errr...very good!) .hope this helps
 
Hehe thank you.


a new question.. wahts flat and whats sharp mean?

and like say i fret the A string at fret one.. is it a Bb or an A# ?

lol... :D
 
allllec said:
Hehe thank you.


a new question.. wahts flat and whats sharp mean?

and like say i fret the A string at fret one.. is it a Bb or an A# ?

lol... :D
Click to expand...


its both !!

A# is Bb ... ;)

Sharp is one semitone (fret) above a note in a scale, when the scale is a whole step, and not a half-step, you get that ? flat is the same ... but the other way about .... at least when playing guitar it is ...

infact forget that ....

sharp is when the pitch is higher than the intended pitch (even ever so slightly) and flat is the other way around. it just sounds 'wrong' or 'out', but sometimes that can work to ... although i am not gonna talk about such things as the 'blue' note, or dissonance

:)
 
So sum that up?
If i play the A string at fret one.. it is A# (ie a higher pitch than A but still an A) if its "ment" to be an A or its a low bitch B if its "ment" to be a B?

i hope you get what i mean by "ment"

although i can be compltly misunderstanding what your saying.. i've never done music and school or anything so i have very little understanding for it!
 
I would say definitely don't both with this site right now.

http://www.jazzguitar.be/jazzguitar_lessons.html

But it has helped me no end with my theory. I do love to play jazz, but even if you don't, the theory is very similar across the board. As I said, don't bother with this now. It will probably overwhelm you, but in a while, maybe have a quick skim through.
 
allllec said:
So sum that up?
If i play the A string at fret one.. it is A# (ie a higher pitch than A but still an A) if its "ment" to be an A or its a low bitch B if its "ment" to be a B?

i hope you get what i mean by "ment"

although i can be compltly misunderstanding what your saying.. i've never done music and school or anything so i have very little understanding for it!
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You are right to some extent, but its not a 'wrong' A, or a 'wrong' B. Its simply another note altogether that fits inbetween.

All the notes of the musical spectrum:

A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#

There are twelve notes in total. Note that there is no such thing as a B# or an E#.

Each fret represents a different note. This is why there is often a marker at the twelth fret because this represents the interval of all twelve notes, the octave.
 
sorry to hijack, but has anybody got a link or anything that can point me in the right direction, I'm having trouble working out relative minors, I mean, say I have a chord progestion in C major, and I want a scale to play over the top, obviously C major would work, but A minor also works. the problem im having is I dont know how to work these out, say, what minor scale would work with an F major chord progrestion.

as for the OP, vibrato will come, just keep practicing it. An octave is a same note, just in a higher register (as previously mentioned) when transfered to the fretboard, if you play a note on any string, say D on the A string (5th fret), moving that note up 1 octave, you have to slide it 12 frets up (on the same string), so D up one octave would be the 17th fret on the A string.
 
Nitefly said:
You are right to some extent, but its not a 'wrong' A, or a 'wrong' B. Its simply another note altogether that fits inbetween.

All the notes of the musical spectrum:

A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#

There are twelve notes in total. Note that there is no such thing as a B# or an E#.

Each fret represents a different note. This is why there is often a marker at the twelth fret because this represents the interval of all twelve notes, the octave.
Click to expand...

Okay 12 notes in the musical spectrum. those that are listed. so what is Bb for example? is it not a note or what? and if A# = Bb then when do you say one and not the other?


lol sorry im not trying to make this difficult i just think it would make my life easier if i atleast understood notes and could understand where they are on the neck :)
 
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