CAA's Guitar Center: Discussion and Help For All Players

[TGJesusfreak]

I love the Maj7th Chords they're really beautiful when strung together.

How do you play an FMaj7add6 Strafe? Got a tab for it or something?

[Rusty Claymore]

Oh, hey, anyone know a good place for Anime and/or Video Game tabs? I need fun stuff to play, and figuring out the intricate bass lines of the music I listen too isn't one of my strong points. I'm technically more of a Mimic than a Musician...

[TGJesusfreak]

lol I know the mario theme on guitar! XDDD

[Strafe]

The Way I understand Fmaj7-6 is this:

E-0
B-3
G-2
D-3
A-0
E-1

It contains the notes:F, A, F, A, D, and E. E makes it F maj7 while D makes it 6. I'm not sure if it's called Fmaj7-6, but that's the only way I could think of it.

Anyways, I recorded some vids in a little segment I called, Guitar Lessons from an Amateur. I'll post links when they upload. I went over: Finger Drills, Pentatonic, and Blues scales. But my comp is slow, so uploading takes a while. Might not show up until tomorrow.

[LadyRushia]

As for the president thing, I'm going to turn that down as well. Speaking as mod, we really don't do clubs at all. Even though this isn't really an exclusive kind of thing because people who don't play guitar won't be wanting to join anyway, the last thing we need is something that makes others think it's cool to start making their own little club threads for other things and before you know it, we have stronger cliques and people being even more afraid of fitting in than they already are. I'm cool with this being a place for guitar players to come and talk about stuff, but it's not gonna get any bigger or any more "official" than this. For further enforcement:

While CAA has historically allowed some member-organized clubs on the boards, we tend to be wary of them in the very least because it toes the line on unneccessary division and cliques within a site that strives to bring fellow believers together. However, should you like to propose a club, the following steps must be taken:

1. You MUST PM a staffer with your proposal BEFORE starting a thread about it.
2. In your proposal, state the general purpose of the club, club activities/topics, plans you have for the club, and reasons why you feel CAA needs this club.
3. Once you have approval, you may follow the direction of the staffer involved to create your club thread and carry on. However, if at any time the staff feels a club is no longer necessary, fruitful, or fulfilling its purpose we reserve the right to edit or disband the club.

Since this thread is "unofficial," and was never proposed to any one of us as an actual club, it will not have a president or any other such club related positions. It's also not going to get its own section A) because it's beyond my ability as a moderator to do that and B) because it would be unnecessary.

Moving right along, jazz chords are very interesting! I intend to get more familiar with them, especially since I've had a chord book for a very long time that I just started looking through yesterday. I love chords that people don't use a lot because they are often the most interesting and the most beautiful.

TG, as far as knowing when to take a lead in a song, the best way to start practicing that is just having some rhythm part play behind you while you play around within the scales. A good place to start is with a 12 bar blues progression in the key of A. You can play your A minor pentatonic scale over that.

Rusty, there are usually tabs for popular video game songs, but bass tabs might not be as common. This website has guitar chords over the lyrics, but I don't know how much that helps you.

http://www.animechords.com/notations.php

I just know that in most songs, the guitar and the bass generally play the same progression. My teacher has always told me to listen to the bass line when I'm figuring out a song if I'm having trouble hearing how it goes from the guitar. If you can hear where the bass is going, you know where the guitar is going.

[Strafe]

Ok ok ok. I got shot down completely. Ouch. Fried. Crashed. Burned. That was brutal. lol fail. Nevermind that then. haha... ouch.

At any rate, my vids have finished uploading:

Intro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUrjgcl7nvE

Exercises:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iwKBotrR2Q&feature=channel

Pentatonic Scales:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaSuyJZNkfI&feature=channel

Blues Scale:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcqzUPF-EFw&feature=channel

Applications for Blues Scale:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzH4RQz0rG0&feature=channel

Quite appropriate about the A minor pentatonic and lead soloing to TG, since I just finished those tutorials. I included a Blues scale applications vid with some Ideas you could use if you want some licks to add to your repertoire. Pretty simple standard blues runs that you can play without thinking about.

[LadyRushia]

Ok ok ok. I got shot down completely. Ouch. Fried. Crashed. Burned. That was brutal. lol fail. Nevermind that then. haha... ouch.

I apologize for the harshness of my post. I didn't intend for it to be taken that way, so please don't worry about it. I just had to be really clear on the issue before it turned into something like I stated. No one is in trouble or anything and this thread won't be locked. I'm also not angry with anyone. I know you didn't intend on creating a clique or anything like that when you made the thread, but the frank truth of the matter is that there's huge potential for people to see it that way anyway and if this thread acts like a club and all that, it's gonna seep out in the way we talk about it to others whether we mean to or not. The CAA staff is really trying to avoid that as much as possible. We already have enough issues with people feeling like they're not included here on the site, so we don't need more reasons for that to happen. Please don't be hard on yourself. In retrospect, I could've been gentler with my post. That's something I still need to work on. . .finding the balance between too much and people not taking me seriously at all. Anyway, this thread can still be just as active and engaging even if it's not a club.

I don't have time to watch your videos right now because today is the day I move back into school and I have to leave soon, but I will watch them later. I just wanted to reassure/encourage you guys that things are cool on my end. My post was nothing personal or anything. It was just me doing my job.

[Warrior4Christ]

Wow, this thread moves fast! I'll have to come back later to read it properly...

As for favourite notes, I quite like low F.. and also low C. I think especially in the key of.. F probably (F, Bb, C, D (insert minors where appropriate because I don't care ) - yeah, that sounds right).

I just know that in most songs, the guitar and the bass generally play the same progression. My teacher has always told me to listen to the bass line when I'm figuring out a song if I'm having trouble hearing how it goes from the guitar. If you can hear where the bass is going, you know where the guitar is going.

Depends on the song. I guess a lot of songs do, but from my perspective, the most interesting songs are the ones where that is not the case.

[TGJesusfreak]

TG, as far as knowing when to take a lead in a song, the best way to start practicing that is just having some rhythm part play behind you while you play around within the scales. A good place to start is with a 12 bar blues progression in the key of A. You can play your A minor pentatonic scale over that.

Oh ok thanks! That's quite helpful!

At any rate, my vids have finished uploading:

Intro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUrjgcl7nvE

Exercises:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iwKBotrR2Q&feature=channel

Pentatonic Scales:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaSuyJZNkfI&feature=channel

Blues Scale:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcqzUPF-EFw&feature=channel

Applications for Blues Scale:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzH4RQz0rG0&feature=channel

Quite appropriate about the A minor pentatonic and lead soloing to TG, since I just finished those tutorials. I included a Blues scale applications vid with some Ideas you could use if you want some licks to add to your repertoire. Pretty simple standard blues runs that you can play without thinking about.

Oh awesomeness! I'll be sure to start watching those when I have a moment! Thanks a lot Strafe!

The Way I understand Fmaj7-6 is this:

E-0
B-3
G-2
D-3
A-0
E-1

It contains the notes:F, A, F, A, D, and E. E makes it F maj7 while D makes it 6. I'm not sure if it's called Fmaj7-6, but that's the only way I could think of it.

Oh thanks! Cool, another chord to add to my mental "chord bank".


So what are a few of you guy's favorite songs to play on guitar?

[Strafe]

No Problem. Don't worry about it. You were doing your job well and thoroughly. What is the cost of one person's feelings compared to a giant factionalist issue on an entire website? Yeah, I got it.

Depends on the song. I guess a lot of songs do, but from my perspective, the most interesting songs are the ones where that is not the case.

I think unless it's avant garde, deconstructionist stuff that completely acts outside of musical convention, the bass will play within the same chords that the entire song is in. Chord, not note. That's what progression means. Of course, Avant Garde is... interesting... I guess?

And you are very welcome, TG.

My fave guitar song is the All along the watchtower cover that Hendrix Did. One lick kills me everytime with it's awesomeness. I have one of Stevie Ray Vaughan's live bootlegs where he solos for like 10 minutes in Voodoo Chile. The best jam track Ever. And then Freebird has a nice 4 minute solo. Stairway to heaven is fun to solo over and play along with Jimmy Page. I just like playing over it, improving, playing parts of the solo by ear. And I do that thing where you fall on the ground and spazz out like Angus Young, or Put the guitar behind my head like Hendrix. Just going crazy jammin to some awesome solos.

[TGJesusfreak]

I apologize for the harshness of my post. I didn't intend for it to be taken that way, so please don't worry about it. I just had to be really clear on the issue before it turned into something like I stated. No one is in trouble or anything and this thread won't be locked. I'm also not angry with anyone. I know you didn't intend on creating a clique or anything like that when you made the thread, but the frank truth of the matter is that there's huge potential for people to see it that way anyway and if this thread acts like a club and all that, it's gonna seep out in the way we talk about it to others whether we mean to or not. The CAA staff is really trying to avoid that as much as possible. We already have enough issues with people feeling like they're not included here on the site, so we don't need more reasons for that to happen. Please don't be hard on yourself. In retrospect, I could've been gentler with my post. That's something I still need to work on. . .finding the balance between too much and people not taking me seriously at all. Anyway, this thread can still be just as active and engaging even if it's not a club.

This gives me an idea guys. What if we encourage people who wanna learn guitar/bass to "join". We can help them learn through the basics, encourage them to keep going, and maybe make some tutorial vids for them. What do you guys think?
I think it'll help to help others to not feel left out if they want to be a part of this thread. =)

[LadyRushia]

No Problem. Don't worry about it. You were doing your job well and thoroughly. What is the cost of one person's feelings compared to a giant factionalist issue on an entire website? Yeah, I got it.

One person's feelings actually concerns me a lot as a moderator. That's why I needed to apologize for my mistake and why I'm going to do it again. I was too harsh. Plain and simple. That wasn't fair to you and I'm sorry.

This gives me an idea guys. What if we encourage people who wanna learn guitar/bass to "join". We can help them learn through the basics, encourage them to keep going, and maybe make some tutorial vids for them. What do you guys think?
I think it'll help to help others to not feel left out if they want to be a part of this thread. =)

This sounds like a good idea, TG. If Strafe and the others like it, then I can easily add this part to the opening post. I can also change the name of the thread a bit so it has a subtitle or something. Maybe something like "Guitarist's Thread: Discussions and Lessons for Beginners." I'm sure you guys could come up with something more fun. That is, if you all even want the thread title to change. It doesn't matter to me either way. As tutorial videos are added, I can keep editing the first post so that everything is on the front page, which would save people from having to scroll through 20 pages of posts. What do you guys think?

[Htom Sirveaux]

Sounds good, except for the bit about "beginners" in the title. Not to sound overly touchy, but we wanna give an immediate impression of welcoming all skill levels so that beginners don't feel intimidated and the more advanced players don't feel constricted.

[Dr.Faust]

I was looking for help on vocils ( which I suck at terrebly). I was about to record me playing Moon on The Water from BECK MCS. I was going to do it 2 times.

1st. Just gutiar

2nd. Voicals and Gutiar.

Pleas don't post YOU SUCK as it dosen't inporve my playing or my singing.

So the first thing I need to lern how to do is sing from the dieafram. I can breath from the dieafream as I know how to play flute and I can push out air from their as well , but singing is diffrent. Any adivce

[Strafe]

Then I'll take it seriously, and I'll forgive you.

I was looking for help on vocils ( which I suck at terrebly). I was about to record me playing Moon on The Water from BECK MCS. I was going to do it 2 times.

1st. Just gutiar

2nd. Voicals and Gutiar.

Pleas don't post YOU SUCK as it dosen't inporve my playing or my singing.

So the first thing I need to lern how to do is sing from the dieafram. I can breath from the dieafream as I know how to play flute and I can push out air from their as well , but singing is diffrent. Any adivce

Hey hey dude chill. If it didn't help you, that's cool, but no need to go dissin people. If you want singing help... good luck finding it on a guitar thread. lol. You should probably go make a new thread. Jeez some people... spell things properly too. But before you run away, what didn't help you about the vids? Were they not simple enough? I'm pretty sure I remember asking you for help playing though... Huh. Some people.

Anyways, I really like that idea, TG. Feel free to make Changes, Lady Rushia. For now, I think we can call it Guitarist's Thread: Discussion and Help for all players or something.

[Dr.Faust]

Then I'll take it seriously, and I'll forgive you.



Hey hey dude chill. If it didn't help you, that's cool, but no need to go dissin people. If you want singing help... good luck finding it on a guitar thread. lol. You should probably go make a new thread. Jeez some people... spell things properly too. But before you run away, what didn't help you about the vids? Were they not simple enough? I'm pretty sure I remember asking you for help playing though... Huh. Some people.

Anyways, I really like that idea, TG. Feel free to make Changes, Lady Rushia. For now, I think we can call it Guitarist's Thread: Discussion and Help for all players or something.

I some how know you were going to take offenc as I kinda wrote it in a wrong way I like your vids And I would never Insoult you that way. I said that becuse If you post a vid on youtube and your vocils arn't out of this world then they say you suck witch dosen't help the learning process at all. I my next vid I'll give you a shoutout ok. Sorry for the miss understanding. Mybad:hits_self I was truly looking for both help in gutiar and vocils. Your vids will really help people who are just starting gutiar as you explain things that were really hard for me in the begging in a vary simple way. You kinda remind me of my ex-gutiar teacher, you both have that easy going goffy thing going on.

Note*My spelling I most likly never going to improve as I'm 16 and spelling this bad, It makes me vary sad every day:( But don't worry about that I'm just really bad at english

ExNote* Why is your avatar a moon. Just wondering

[Warrior4Christ]

I think unless it's avant garde, deconstructionist stuff that completely acts outside of musical convention, the bass will play within the same chords that the entire song is in. Chord, not note. That's what progression means. Of course, Avant Garde is... interesting... I guess?

Okay, within the same chord then. It's not quite what seems implied with the original wording...

For instance, in this song, the bass goes all over the place, but the only reason you can tell it's within the same chord as the guitar is playing is because it doesn't sound wrong or avant garde.... And it's not really going to help you work out what the guitar is playing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04RriWPPNiA

[LadyRushia]

Then I'll take it seriously, and I'll forgive you.

Thank you. I'll make every effort in the future not to go overboard.

Anyways, I really like that idea, TG. Feel free to make Changes, Lady Rushia. For now, I think we can call it Guitarist's Thread: Discussion and Help for all players or something.

Okay. I'll hopefully be able to do that later today. I'm still getting settled into college, so I've been busy. I'll just add my own section to your original post, Strafe, instead of changing what you already have. I'll also make a section in that post for your videos and add to it as more videos are made (either by you or by anyone else who wants to make one). Does anyone else have suggestions for a new thread title, or does anyone feel that it doesn't need to be changed? I want to make sure everyone here is in agreement before acting. If any of you, especially Strafe since this is your thread, really doesn't want the title changed, then that's perfectly fine.

Okay, within the same chord then. It's not quite what seems implied with the original wording...

For instance, in this song, the bass goes all over the place, but the only reason you can tell it's within the same chord as the guitar is playing is because it doesn't sound wrong or avant garde.

For me, listening to the bass line helps me with the very initial steps of learning a song like figuring out the key and the chord changes. Even if the bass and guitar are doing its their own thing, they'll still change at the same time for the most part. So I think hearing the bass line as a guitarist when it comes to learning a song is really more like a stepping stone. It puts some very basic pieces of the puzzle together.

[Strafe]

Aight. No problem dude. I just didn't know what you meant. As for vocal help, I myself am still learning as well, and I'm not too sure about giving advice quite yet. I sing lead voxx, but that's because I don't know any good singers. But I could give some advice for singing and playing guitar at the same time, which I think I can explain pretty well. And if you want more difficult lessons, I can make those too. I think I could explain like Legato or something.

That's a pretty common bassline in the key. I can tell what the progression is, but that's because I'm a guitarist I guess. The guitar and bass will play in the same key, and usually either one of them will play the tonic note, either in a chord or a line. That's what makes it feel natural, or un wrong sounding. The key is playing a lot to everything, every style you can think of so that you get a feel for everything.

Alright, Thanks LadyRushia! But yup, school is top priority. And I really want us to change our title, because typing NSOGCOCAA is now taboo, and otherwise annoying.

So... uh... how are we going to find guitarists to join the thread?

[Sapphy]

I haven't read all of the posts up to this point because the white on black is literally making me go cross-eyed, but I'll try to keep up from now on. Hope you don't mind a newbie joining you?

Username: Sapphy
Guitar Experience: Almost a year of lessons (love 'em!), and one semester of lessons a couple years that taught me next to nothing.
Style: Acoustic at the moment, but I'm supposed to be learning Electric soon. I've learned mostly contemporary Christian songs at the moment (Chris Tomlin, mostly. Phillips, Craig, and Dean; Matt Redman). I've taught myself a couple other songs (Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day, and Inevitable by Anberlin), and I'm getting to where I can play whatever song I choose, as long as I have the chords and can figure out the strum pattern (although I'm no expert yet).
Gear: I have no idea what kind of guitar my acoustic is. My electric is a Fender Starcaster... I know nothing about the amp, it's just one that came with the guitar.
Future gear: I know next to nothing about equipment or guitar brands, sadly.
Favorite Guitarist(s): Eh... none, really. Other than friends that play guitar or something, just because I like listening to them play. Haha
Dream Gear: Like I've said, no idea =P
Last thing you were playing: How He Loves Us. I quit because my voice is out today and I was annoying myself...
Other/ About me: I also took piano lessons for 7 years, and I plan on learning bass and drums eventually. I love music, and my main goal is to glorify God... and rock everyone's face off in the process

[TGJesusfreak]

Having a good name will help attract more people. =)

I think the name should be something that doesn't just apeal to beginers. I sorta like the name right now. But I think it can be better and more for intermediates and experts.

[Strafe]

I haven't read all of the posts up to this point because the white on black is literally making me go cross-eyed, but I'll try to keep up from now on. Hope you don't mind a newbie joining you?

Username: Sapphy
Guitar Experience: Almost a year of lessons (love 'em!), and one semester of lessons a couple years that taught me next to nothing.
Style: Acoustic at the moment, but I'm supposed to be learning Electric soon. I've learned mostly contemporary Christian songs at the moment (Chris Tomlin, mostly. Phillips, Craig, and Dean]Gear:[/B] I have no idea what kind of guitar my acoustic is. My electric is a Fender Starcaster... I know nothing about the amp, it's just one that came with the guitar.
Future gear: I know next to nothing about equipment or guitar brands, sadly.
Favorite Guitarist(s): Eh... none, really. Other than friends that play guitar or something, just because I like listening to them play. Haha
Dream Gear: Like I've said, no idea =P
Last thing you were playing: How He Loves Us. I quit because my voice is out today and I was annoying myself...
Other/ About me: I also took piano lessons for 7 years, and I plan on learning bass and drums eventually. I love music, and my main goal is to glorify God... and rock everyone's face off in the process

Yeah feel free to come on in! This isn't really a club per se and all people of all skill levels are welcome.

But Isn't How he Loves us such a powerful song? I went on rambling about it in the Songwriter's thread about how it's such a wake up call worship song. You know the story behind it? Very powerful.

But I'm not sure what can be done about the white on black. I think it's better than black on white personally, but people's eyes are different.

The not so official club title, even though it says not so official is still a little bit exclusive, and it's really unprofessional to say NSOGCOCAA... So here are some ideas:

Guitarist's Thread: CAA's Guitar Center *I like this one*
"": Discussion and Help for all Players
"": The Guitarist's Thread
"": Open Discussion and Tutorial

[Sapphy]

Yep, it really is. I got to help with one of the worship services at camp, and the guy that does the music, and has been teaching me to play guitar, read the story behind it to everybody before we played it. Actually, I guess I should say before I played it, because one of our guitars went out of tune (Mine, I think? But everyone said I sounded great) so he didn't play the other part like we had been practicing. But, I digress...

And I think I like "Guitarist's Thread: CAA's Guitar Center" for a title.

[TGJesusfreak]

And I think I like "Guitarist's Thread: CAA's Guitar Center" for a title.

I concur!

[Dr.Faust]

Aight. No problem dude. I just didn't know what you meant. As for vocal help, I myself am still learning as well, and I'm not too sure about giving advice quite yet. I sing lead voxx, but that's because I don't know any good singers. But I could give some advice for singing and playing guitar at the same time, which I think I can explain pretty well. And if you want more difficult lessons, I can make those too. I think I could explain like Legato or something.

That's a pretty common bassline in the key. I can tell what the progression is, but that's because I'm a guitarist I guess. The guitar and bass will play in the same key, and usually either one of them will play the tonic note, either in a chord or a line. That's what makes it feel natural, or un wrong sounding. The key is playing a lot to everything, every style you can think of so that you get a feel for everything.

Alright, Thanks LadyRushia! But yup, school is top priority. And I really want us to change our title, because typing NSOGCOCAA is now taboo, and otherwise annoying.

So... uh... how are we going to find guitarists to join the thread?

Yeah more advanced lessons would be great. Your vids are better the NEXT LEVLE GRTIAR.COM!!!

[Strafe]

Ooh. Thanks dude, that really means alot to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMj7MHGkZKE

I covered Moon on the Water this morning. What other songs should I cover? Maybe anime, maybe anything else? I was thinking maybe Uso by SID, downtuning it a step or two... Mao's voice is incredible for a guy.

EDIT: Skimpy post, so I thought I might add some more stuff to make it unskinny:

So my guitar, or my Dad's old Strat, has been acting up alot lately, with new problems every so often. Makes sense, since it's like 12 years old. Not a vintage instrument, but I really ought to take better care of it. First, the Middle pickup started picking up microphonic feedback, which makes it unusable for anything but clean tones because any gain will cause it to squeal loudly. Then I had the issue with the truss rod and straightening it, which threw the action terribly off. The bridge saddles on the b string got really sharp and makes me break a string every 2 days... I went through 6 .10 mm strings in the past 2 weeks. I ran out of .11s a long time ago. And finally, the strap button... fell off today... The screw inside deteriorated the inside wood, so...

I'm going to home depot tomorrow... wish me luck on my little DIY projects... Can't wait until I get my own guitar... I'm also going to pick up a plank of wood, some spray paint and some handles to make a pedal board, which I'm going to name Stompy... Because I stomp on it...

Speaking of names, I named by Amp Liberty because I bought it on the 4th of July... well 5th, but if anyone asks, it's the 4th. It's really dorky to name inanimate objects, but I was feeling dorky-cool. And my own guitar will be named Evangeline, or Good news to remind me of the purpose it is for, or preaching the good news first and foremostly. Just a little tidbit about me.

[LadyRushia]

Guitarist's Thread: CAA's Guitar Center *I like this one*
"": Discussion and Help for all Players
"": The Guitarist's Thread
"": Open Discussion and Tutorial

These are great suggestions! What do you guys think of "CAA's Guitar Center: Discussion and Help for All Players"? I think having something like "discussion," "help," "tutorial," or whatever in the thread title would give people a clearer idea of what the thread is about.

[Strafe]

Aha! Combining them is even better. I whole heartedly approve of "CAA's Guitar Center: Discussion and Help for All Players", whatever my approval means, lol. Official and descriptive.

Some other things to think about:

The little template thing with username, years experience, etc. I think we should keep it, since it was a pretty good conversation starter. It adds some interesting background to the people posting, so there's something to go off of with newer people posting in the thread. Maybe one of the gear questions can be scrapped off, since not everyone is a dork like me. Future and Dream gear can be changed to "Gear you want." so that people only have to say they don't care about gear one time. Last thing you were playing also is sort of unnecessary, but it's kind of a little tag question. All the other questions are fine.

Then how to organize vids. Maybe in order from Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, though I'm not sure if I'll do advanced vids. I'm sure someone else will come along that does vids too.

Maybe a modification to the intro, but all else seems fine.

[Rusty Claymore]

I vote for Guitar Center as well! n.n

...once again I have no value to add... XP

[LadyRushia]

Okay cool. Once again, I'm still setting into my school routine so I don't have a ton of time to be on the internet anymore, but I will make those changes when I have the chance. Maybe I'll have time to do it this weekend.