Music
I’ve spent countless hours learning new songs, practicing and picking away and I’ve found out that so many players just keep improving their guitar playing faster than me. It gets me a little frustrated to see them play with such passion and technical expertise that I often find myself asking why. What are these musicians doing that I’m not? I get it that practice is the foundation but there seems to be more to it than that. I started doing a little research and I think I’ve found out what sets them apart from my “system” if you could call it that. It’s just a little shift in their mindset. Here are three tips that have set me on to a better flow of results that I think you will see can improve your skill dramatically.
1. Staying in the rut of playing the same old style of music.
Now I know some you including me love playing only one or two styles of music. Whether its Rock, Country, Blues, Jazz or Classical, the musical styles of other guitar players can often reveal a certain technique or rhythm that could very well blow your mind if you were to incorporate it into your favorite genre. For example, Steve Vai has been thought of by many to be one of the finest guitarists period. Ever hear any of his tracks? This guy can play it all. And it’s not uncommon to hear him jump from one style to another on the same track and it just seems to work for him. I can guess he worked like heck and practiced for hours on a variety of musical styles and I know that doing that can jumpstart your musical imagination, get the juices flowing to spur you on to being a better player
2. Playing by yourself or at least not having an audience.
Remember when you were a kid and you and your buddies were riding bicycles? Everyone started popping wheelies and you started to try doing them as well? I remember trying that out and couldn’t for the life of me get the hang of it. I would start out not being able to stay up on one wheel and then after a few days the magic would happen and I’d be able to ride quite a long time on that back wheel. Well the same concept can be applied to you playing. When your around others and jamming, you can really get inspired, learn new things from your friends and dramatically improve your playing skills. So by getting around other players and having fun, you will quickly improve your playing and have a great time while you’re at it.
3. Not practicing enough. (Yeah, I know)
So many times in my practice sessions, I would stare blankly at the wall not knowing what I should do next. Learn a new song? Work on my scales, figure out a new technique? This would often produce repetitive routines that got me nowhere. It also made me less inclined to play my guitar I have spent days or weeks without ever having picked up the guitar at all. Not a good thing. I now know that not having a structured practice method is really no method at all. Getting online I found several great instruction products that I can use to help me with a sound structure and boy, it goes a long way to making you a better player. Many of these programs have great software and video tutorials that blast through any blocks you may have in your practice. I never knew that these products were available and have helped me tremendously.
Well, I hope these three tips can help you in your quest to improve the enjoyment in your playing. As always feel free to comment with any of your tips. Enjoy your time playing and I hope you find real progress.
Much like an electric guitar, bass scales follow the same 12 notes. These notes are grouped on various ways – Major, Minor, Melodic Minor, Minor and major Pentatonic and so on. Although this may seem relatively foreign for you personally, that which you hear on bass players now a-days come from these bass scales. To higher appreciate the importance of bass guitar scales, consider these fine points.
Bass Guitar Scales provides character for your music
You will find “happy” scales (mostly majors), “gloomy” scales (minors), “bluesy” scales (minor pentatonic) and “darker” scales (Aeolian). Depending on your mood or song of choice, you may create a different mood or twist in your abide by using different scales. You should note that some of these scales usually interact with each other in a same song so you might hear complex sounds or mood swings.
Bass guitar scales will accelerate your learning process
Imagine this; you are a tourist lost in the middle of cosmopolitan Tokyo. You’ve lost your map and you don’t know how to speak Japanese. What will you need to do? Bass scales are the same as learning how to speak Japanese. Without them, you will be at reduction in identifying the simplest notes or chord progressions you might encounter. It will likely be very strenuous from you to come up with a good bass line without scales.
Practicing guitar scales increases hand flexibility
Practicing guitar scales for an hour or two improve your chances of playing even under the most strenuous part of your bass routines. Just like working out on the gym, guitar scales have varying patterns that offer challenging “terrain” or resistance on your fretting hands. While some major chords come as simple for you, choose to gradually climb up and check out more complex scales of jazz or blues. Watch how the likes of Victor Wooten, Charles Mingus and Dave Holland set up a show with their fast hands. You won’t achieve those sick bass lines without exercising bass guitar scales.
Bass scales were made so that you do not have to make your own. All you want do is to identify what type of style you want to play and what kind of mood you want to impart in your audience. Overtime, you’ll build confidence in playing without the worry of misplaced “notes” simply because you’re looking to get adventurous. Bass scales are the language you need to learn if you wish to speak to your audience’s ears.
A scale chart shows the position of every note around the fret. An average bass guitar scales chart appears like this:
G———-|———-|———-
D———-|———-|———-
A———-|———-|———-
E———-|———-|———-
Compared with a six string guitar, bass typically has 4 strings. There are instances that a certain song or piece takes a 5 or 6 string bass guitar; in which case, you’ll see additional chords. The lowest pitch is E while the highest pitch is G. The dotted lines running horizontally represent the strings of your bass guitar-the lowest part may be the fattest string, as the highest part, the thinnest. Dividing these horizontal lines are what we should call frets. The area between two frets is also known as the just like well. The left area of the chart is near to the nut and also the headstock, as the right part is nearer to the body.
G——————————Thinnest string (1st string)
D———————5———
A————–3—————-
E—–0————————- Fattest string (4th string)
The number indicates what fret to put your finger. The strings with “0″ inside them are called open strings-they are plucked without placing finger on them.
Bass frets can reach from 0 – 24 so it is present with find something similar to this:
G—————————————-
D———————–24—————–
A————18—–22———————–
E——20———————————-
In the illustration above, you will first play the E (lowest) string, placing your finger around the 20th fret; then the A string placing finger on the 18th, then the 22nd; and lastly the 24th fret on a D-string.
In contrast to guitars, bass are usually played by plucking the strings. But on rare occasions, bass players tend to play some rhythms, then you have to rely on your listening skills to determine the count. If you are not sure about the beat for that rhythm section, take a look on the web. Some sites offer rhythm bass lines having a standard eight-count placed beneath the scales.
You may also find some marks in the beginning of tabs indicating how the notes are played. Here are a few from the examples:
/ or Forward slash way to slide up the fret
\ or Back slash way to slide down the fret
x means a ghost note
h is perfect for hammer on
p to pull off
Reading bass scales is essential when you are scouring the web for the favorite bass lines. All of them are probably transcribed as illustrated above; you can easily read and many of the more complex scales charts are interactive which will surely put your bass playing guitar on a higher level.
Have you heard this news about the Fresh Beat Band tour? It’s official, they are going on their initial nationwide concert tour and they will be creating any venue in your area. Beginning from February 2012, Kiki, Marina, Shout and Twist is going to be starting your 15 week concert tour which will span from NYC to LA and even Chicago, so wherever you’re in the country, you can be certain that you have a concert in your area or at least nearby. Tickets are selling out very quickly though, so make sure to grab this rare chance to call at your favorite band together with your kids before time runs out.
Buying Fresh Beat Band Tour Tickets
The presale from the Fresh Beat Band tour tickets begins on November the 15th at 10 a.m. EST for the first leg of the tour. Not only will you be able to grab the conventional tickets online, you’ll also have the choice to get yourself their exclusive VIP tickets as well. These VIP tickets will entitle you to enjoy premium seating, as well as a private meet and greet session with Kiki, Marina, Shout and Twist backstage. And if that isn’t enough, you’ll be able to enjoy a special after party catered for moms and dads and kids alike following the show has ended. How good is the fact that?
How much Around the Fresh Beat Band Tour
Of course, you can expect Kiki (Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer), Shout (Thomas Hobson), Marina (Tara Perry) and Twist (Jon Beavers) to take the stage and perform all your favorite Fresh Beat Band songs. This includes all their hits from the first three seasons, including We Had A Great Day, A Friend Like You and more. To celebrate the launch of the tour, they will be releasing a soundtrack with all of these hit songs in January of 2012 as well, to help you rock up in the car with one of these songs on the way to the concert!
The new Beat Band tour are only in many venues for one day only, so this might be your one and only possibility of the entire year to trap them reside in concert. Tickets can sell like hotcakes on the site, so it is recommended to grab your tickets soon. Even though you’re in internet marketing, why don’t you make sure they are VIP tickets? I’ve just grabbed mine from the site, and you ought to too!