Learning to become a solid guitarist involves the combination of a lot of background work along with accepting a lot of helpful suggestions from other successful guitar players. The many great players that you'll cross paths with while learning guitar will be invaluable to you, so learn to be respectful of what they have to say - even if you don't like their words... 

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Why is it that some guitar players have so much trouble learning to get up to high levels of guitar playing? ... Well, that's what we're going to discuss on this episode of GBI...


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Nobody actually sets out to limit their possibilities and take the road of failure. Nobody intentionally wants to sabotage their success. Yet so many guitarists seem to have an inability to be able to successfully organize their time, their attitude and their study approach to successfully learn how to play guitar up at a really high level.

So, why is this. What is it that "blocks" a players success when it comes to reaching a professional playing level? That's what we're going to discuss in this post of the "Guitar Blog Insider."



#1). TOO STUBBORN:
In my experience, there are several reasons why a guitar student never has much success reaching their peak. And, the first and foremost reason is that they are stubborn. They're too stubborn to take the advice from an accomplished and more successful professional guitar player who suggests new ideas to them.

When I was attending the Musicians Institute, I actually saw students stubbornly argue with amazing players like Paul Gilbert or Scott Henderson about playing guitar. It blew my mind!

I know that to most rational players, it sounds absolutely ridiculous, but while I was at music school, I witnessed students arguing about how to study things like; scales, arpeggios, and modes and even soloing... arguing with guitar players who are some of the most world renown guitar players out there.

These are guitarists with endorsement deals and custom guitars made by the top guitar companies. It sounds insane but, some players are so stubborn about trying new ideas, that they'll actually argue with a world renown player, who has their picture on the cover of every guitar magazine out there.

It seems ludicrous. But this is the reality of how some guitar players are, they think they know it all and they're going to broadcast that to anyone and everyone. Maybe they just want to argue? Maybe they enjoy wasting another person's time - I have no idea. To me it seems crazy, but some guitarists are just so incredibly stubborn, that they're willing to waste the time and energy on being amazing idiots toward other accomplished players who are only there trying to help them.

If you want to learn how to reach new heights with your playing, then learn how to take advice without arguing or acting like you're a "know it all." I've even encountered students in my own school who - over the years - fight me on every front.

It could be the simplest assignment. Like going away and practicing how to land on the major 3rd and lowered 7th of a Dominant 7th chord. And, right away, I'll get a response like, "Well, I always play Mixolydian Mode on those chords."

Okay, I can "get" that, but would you be willing to at least try playing into a couple of chord tones. And, then the argument begins. It's incredibly time consuming, (not to mention emotionally draining). But, some people just have a need to fight others, even if it's their guitar teacher.



#2). TOO SENSITIVE:
The second reason some players fail at learning to solo is that they're way too sensitive about who they are, where they are at and what the benefits are that long term practice with yield. They think that everything they play needs to sound amazing right now. They think they have to sound like; Eric Clapton, or Jimmy Page or Hendrix, but that's completely crazy and unrealistic.

You are who you are, at this point in time, and while you can copy some of the attributes of the famous players, (and that's actually good), you're probably not going to be playing guitar like Hendrix or Clapton any time soon. So stop comparing how "bad" you are compared to those players. They're the legends of this business! Making those comparisons is a recipe for failure.

Also, if you foster a feeling of heightened sensitivity with regard to advice and critique, (and you're far too sensitive to take constructive criticism), you're going to have a lot of trouble developing your skills.

There's an old saying that goes, "Correct a wise person and they will love you, correct a fool and they'll get mad at you." And, I've certainly noticed this myself over many years - of being a guitar teacher.

The students who (for whatever reason) cannot focus on accepting constructive criticism tend to quickly resort to feelings of anger and upset. It's almost like they have a framework in their mind of who they are as a player and the teacher has smashed that image, (which can be actually a good thing).

But, the result with the "Too Sensitive" guitar student is that it ends up destroying the students, "personality" construct of who they "Think" they are as a guitarist and the teachers simple constructive criticism instead of being helpful, has the opposite result of exploding dynamite on the students, "unrealistic concept" of who they think they are as a musician.



#3). ANXIOUS PERSONALITY:
The third reason for why students fail at being able to develop their skills for reaching higher level playing is that they are far too anxious about the whole process.

This problem is a really big issue. In fact, it's so big that when I've encountered players with a high degree of this problem, they can barely even churn out a basic melody.

When guitar students are too anxious, they end up allowing so much over-thinking to go on, that it clouds their mind and blocks them to where they can't even enjoy all of those small soloing triumphs that occur along the learning path - and when we are developing even the most basic playing skills, we need those small triumphs along the way.

Instead, the "anxious personality" will focus on everything they can't do. And, how come they can't solo like other players, and how come other players seem to make it all happen so easy. This "Anxious Personality" problem is really concerning, because it literally shuts down every part of a musician that allows them to access the joy, the motivation, and the creativity involved with making guitar music and improving skill along the way.

As if that isn't bad enough, quite often the overly anxious person is also one who will try and over compensate their confidence in order to not look like they're having troubles. So, as a teacher, we're often left scratching our heads trying to figure out what's going on with our student.

The student certainly isn't going to just come out and say that they're really anxious about something they can't do - instead they'll put up a front that there's some other reason, it's not their fault.

So, the teacher will get hit with a mountain of excuses about why the student didn't have much success playing through their assignments from the past week. It's a crazy loop.

Unfortunately this type of personality of guitar player will get psychologically locked into this loop and it's really hard to navigate through this - and help them - if you're the teacher.



I'd like to end the discussion by saying, thanks for joining me... If you want to learn more about what I do as an online guitar teacher, then head over to my website at creativeguitarstudio.com and sign up your FREE lifetime membership.

When you want more, you can always upgrade to either a Basic, or a Premium lesson package and start studying the guitar courses I've organized for the members of my website.

Also, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on all of this in the comment section. If you enjoyed this video, give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more on YouTube. Thanks again and we'll catch up next week for another episode of the, "Guitar Blog Insider."

NEW: QwikRiffs Series - Video (015)

The latest QwikRiffs video, Reggae Style Groove Riffs in "G Minor" is available in the members area. Includes PDF handout!

QwikRiffs are available to members at Creative Guitar Studio.com. Lessons in the QwikRiffs Series run through collections of rhythm guitar riffs covering all types of playing styles. I cover different 'famous artist' playing approaches and I will demonstrate ideas based on rhythm guitar techniques... 

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Episode #015 covers three "Reggae Groove" Riffs.

Riff one uses one of the most popular chord applications found in Reggae music, the "upper 3-string triad." In the example, a key of "G Minor" progression uses the chords of "Gm, Cm, F and Dm," to establish a groove. The use of a slide and hammer-ons develop unique articulations that help highlight the chords of this riff, having them further stand out.

Riff two explores flashy rhythm punches with the use of 16th-notes in a phrase that adds a turnaround to the mix. The punch that can be provided by using 16th-notes is one of the strongest feels for providing powerful accents in Reggae. This riff pushes the time with these 16th-note punches and also adds a nice single-note turnaround phrase.

Riff three focuses on bass-line patterns that are often used in the Reggae style.These ideas are interesting lower-string lines that are generally matched by the guitarist. This creates a strong bass line statement between the two instruments. 

One other interesting idea applied in riff three is a linear flow of chord changes that descends across chords from the key center. In this case the chords descend downward at the riffs 2nd ending, traveling from the, "Eb" through to the, "Dm" and then the, "Cm."

Sign into the website (or create your free members account) to join the members site. Sign up for the Basic Monthly or Premium (annual) membership to download the PDF handout for this lesson and study all of the other classes available on the website. 

Become a FREE member of the website, sign up today!

Develop this powerful ear training routine - so powerful that you can do it in only a few minutes each day to help you develop a better level of understanding for hearing the harmonies found within a keys scales and chords...

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This practice idea works around using the harmony for a key center along with listening for how we can start building a solid connection between the step-wise position of every chord found within the key signature.

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A guitarist needs to work on hearing how a melodic statement (based upon the chord of a key) relates over to other positions of the scales harmony. The exercise routine in this lesson starts by picking a key and establishing the harmony along the guitar strings.




ESTABLISH THE KEY:
The first exercise is going to operate around laying the groundwork for the key and the guitar string that we'll be working from. For our first exercise, we'll be working in the key of "C Major" and our guitar string will be the 5th string.

In getting started, we're going to perform all of the chords that are found within the key of "C Major" and we'll do this starting as, "Root, third, fifth," (three-note triads) built from the fifth string root... Follow along through the exercise below...

C MAJOR HARMONY: Root Position



Next, we're going to expand upon this study. We'll focus on the first inversion of each of those chords from the key of "C Major." This will place the chords 3rd tone in the bass and have us now working off of the 4th guitar string. Follow along through the chord inversions shown below...

C MAJOR HARMONY:1st Inversion



Now that we've established the key center and built all of the chords that harmonize into the key from their root and their third chord tones, we're now going to create a melodic statement that will flow across the key and match the harmony.



This process travels step-wise going through the key signature's chord positions using a Melodic Statement "Matched" to each degree of the harmony. Follow along through each melodic statement given below...





After learning the first statement, travel through the key performing the melodic line across every chord from the keys harmony.


The idea of this exercise is three-fold:

1). better understanding of chord harmony
2). develop a more detailed awareness of chord inversions along the neck
3). to use your ear (and your knowledge of intervals) combined with your awareness for the guitar fingerboard, to move a melodic passage across the neck while remaining diatonic to the key and to each chord along the neck.




CONCLUSION:
This study is a solid exercise! Just keep in mind that the exercise will become more complex as you increase the detail involved with your melodic statement ideas.

I hope this exercise will help you to better understand how the harmony of a key is tied to both the chords (from the key) and to a melody that can function diatonic to the key signature.

Once you establish your melodic statement, this style of exercise will force you to learn how to use your ear to pull the melodic statement from chord to chord within the key signature.

And, again if you find this difficult to do in the beginning, just stick to really simple melody lines. After you get better at hearing the relationship of each note moving diatonically in your melody, (and seeing how the intervals relate onto the neck), you can begin making your melodies more complex.

Thanks for joining me, If you'd like to "Figure Out What You Should Learn Next on Guitar," take a look at the courses over on my website at CreativeGuitarStudio.com.

My step-by-step; Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced courses will cover what you need to know, along with how to be able to move forward and become the best player that you can be.

I've worked on these courses since 1992 and I feel that all together they're the best guitar program you'll ever find. The courses will help you learn to identify what's required to get you up to the next level of guitar playing, in a very organized way, that makes sense.

So, I look forward to helping you further at CreativeGuitarStudio.com ...Until next time - take care and we'll catch up again on the next lesson. Bye for now!

A lot of guitar players know a number of scale patterns, some will even know what keys that they relate to... But very few guitar players understand what scales are best applied, when they need to be used within a song, and even less will know why they work... So, that's what we're going to cover on this episode of the Guitar Blog Insider...

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90% of the scales we use are from key signatures. Those keys relate to which type of scale we will need to use over a chord progression. Plus, the chords in a progression also relate back to the key signature as well. So, if you study how to tie together the chords, and the scales with how they relate to the overall key signature, you'll have the information that you'll need to play guitar solos, riffs and licks over 90% of the songs you'll ever come across.

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Let's begin by taking a look into how this can operate using a common group of chords from one of the "major key" signatures. The progressions "V-Chord" is highlighted in red to identify the stress /pull back to the "I-Chord" (A Major).

Key of "A Major" - Chord Progression (I, III, VI, V, I, IV, V)


When working within a key signature, we need to understand a few details about the key. These will include; the sharps or flats found within it, and how chords move from one to another to create stresses and accents.

Cadence: The way chords move from bar to bar and within a measure to establish an impression of stress and relaxation. When chords become stressed they want to return to a home base. This is referred to as a resolution, in music we call it the "Cadence.".

Even if you don't know a lot about music theory, you'll be able to hear these ideas occur just from listening. In our progression we can clearly tell that the "A Major" chord is our "home" chord.

Perfect Cadence: There is a stress in sound that leads us into each occurrence of the "A" major chord across the measures of our example progression. Something to take note of is how the "A" chord is preceded by the 5th chord of the key, (E). In music we refer to this idea as an "Perfect" cadence.

Plagal Cadence: There is another kind of cadence we need to watch out for. The other popular harmony movement is called a "Plagal Cadence." This Cadence occurs when the "home" chord is preceded by the 4th chord of the key. Listen to our same "A Major" progression, but this time how it functions using a "Plagal" cadence. NOTE: The "IV-Chord" (D Major) is highlighted in red to clearly identify its position.

Key of "A Major" - Chord Progression (I, III, VI, IV, I, II, IV)


As you can tell from the progressions above, chord progressions and key signatures are tied together by how the chords function measure to measure, as well as, how they create stress and then relax that stress through different forms of resolution.



MINOR TONALITY:
There's another element to all of this, and it's related to the tonality. Sometimes called the "Major or Minor" color of a progression. This is actually very easy to distinguish once you can understand resolution. Because the cadence will point you to the resolution chord, and allow you to hear the "home" chord.

In the progressions thus far, we have been functioning within the Major key. But, the cadence can also work in the direction of establishing Minor key color.

This means if your home (resolution) chord is "Minor" you're dealing with a "Minor Tonality" progression. Let's use the same key signature to create a resolution into the relative minor key of "A Major" ....(F# Minor). NOTE: The stress chords pulling us back to the "F# Minor" as being a home chord are highlighted in red.

F# Minor Progression:Chord Progression (Im, Vm, VI, VII, Im, IVm, Vm)


Notice how the "F# Minor" chord becomes the point of resolution and forms the impression of a "home" chord sound across those chord changes. This is exactly WHAT YOU'RE LISTENING FOR when it comes to understanding what a series of chord changes are doing musically, and how their stress and relaxation influence the next step.



DEVELOPING MELODIC IDEAS:
The next step involves what scale you need to consider for performing a melodic line. As you could tell from the chord progressions, we have colors of both Major and Minor.

Those colors also tell us whether we need to play the major or minor scales over our progression. One of the easiest ways to select those sounds is through the Major and Minor Pentatonic scales.

MAJOR KEY MELODY:
Let's use that first key of "A Major" progression and create an "A Major" melody line, using the "A Major" Pentatonic scale.

 A Major: Major Pentatonic Melody



The Pentatonic scale is fantastic for creating melody lines over progressions because it has such a natural lean toward melody. The scale has no 1/2 steps making it very similar to an arpeggio and this gives it the ability for its group of notes to produce melody.

MINOR KEY MELODY:
Now, just as with the Major Pentatonic being a fantastic way to create melody over Major keys, the Minor Pentatonic is also excellent for producing melody over minor situations. In the next example. we'll use "F# Minor" Pentatonic to create a melody over that "F# Minor" chord progression.

F# Minor: Minor Pentatonic Melody



The application of the Pentatonic scale for our melodic ideas (once again) works so nicely here in the minor key, because it uses notes that are closely related to the arpeggios, (which offers us an excellent way to connect to the chord tones. This "chord tone connection" means that from the information we've covered here, you can become even more aware of the value in understanding key signatures.

The information covered will not only help you better understand chord tone connections, they will also help you notice how chords from the key relate to the color of the tonality (through the use of cadence points).

When it comes to starting into the world of playing solos, the strength that exists from using the Major or Minor Pentatonic as a starter scale for creating melody will be extremely helpful. After getting used to playing melody lines with the Pentatonic Scales, you can begin going even further with these ideas by using other scales and modes.



CONCLUSION:
All of this information works in the same way, regardless of the key, the musical style, or the notes involved. And, while Jazz and Classical harmony can become slightly more complex in its nature (of how these ideas are applied), the principles are all still the same across every style of music.

I'd like to end the lesson by saying, thanks for joining me... If you want to learn more about what I do as an online guitar teacher, then head over to my website at creativeguitarstudio.com and sign up your FREE lifetime membership.

When you want more, you can always upgrade to either a Basic, or a Premium membership package and start studying the guitar courses that I've organized for the members of my website.

I'd also be interested to hear your thoughts on all of this in the comment section below. If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more on YouTube. Thanks again and we'll catch up next time, for another episode of the, "Guitar Blog Insider."

December 08, 2017:
Lesson 014 - Soloing with Mixolydian Mode

The Mixolydian mode is our most valuable sound for covering the Dominant 7th chord quality. 

Since this scale offers us the coverage for the Dominant chord it is an important part of both our composition and improvisation tool kits for many different styles of music... 

Lesson 014 explores this... 

In Part One of the lesson, we'll study how to use Mixolydian as it functions off of some very unique modal harmony applications. In Part Two of the lesson, we'll practice more advanced applications of Mixolydian with "V-Minor" and "VII Major" resolution concepts. Plus, we'll also explore how Mixolydian is the perfect way to cover non-functioning Dominant 7th chords.

Watch the Part One Video FREE on YouTube:

PART ONE:  In example one, a "C Mixolydian" modal progression is using the tonic chord of "C Maj." and dropping back a whole step to it's "VII-chord" (Bb Maj.). In example 1a, I've composed a 2-bar progression that you can learn and then record for jamming over. In example 1b, I've included a short melody line that is composed from out of the "C Mixolydian" mode.

Example two applies a similar harmony as was used in example one, where the Mixolydian's "I-Chord" (E), moves into the, "VII-chord" (D/E). This time our harmony is from "E Mixolydian." However, the main difference in example two lies in the addition of the tonics "Dominant 7th" chord (E7). The progression focuses on how the addition of a "Dominant 7th" highlights the effects of the Mixolydian color. 




PART TWO:
In example one, a "C Mixolydian" modal progression is using the tonic chord of "C Maj." and dropping back a whole step to it's "VII-chord" (Bb Maj.). In example 1a, I've composed a 2-bar progression that you can learn and then record for jamming over. In example 1b, I've included a short melody line that is composed from out of the "C Mixolydian" mode.

Example two applies a similar harmony as was used in example one, where the Mixolydian's "I-Chord" (E), moves into the, "VII-chord" (D/E). This time our harmony is from "E Mixolydian." However, the main difference in example two lies in the addition of the tonics "Dominant 7th" chord (E7). The progression focuses on how the addition of a "Dominant 7th" highlights the effects of the Mixolydian color.

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The chord progression in example four does not function harmonically within one single tonality. The first two measures (D7sus4, D7), can be covered using the, "D Mixolydian," mode. However, in the next two measures, the chords (Bb/C and C7add9) do not relate to the first two measures harmony. They would need to be covered by using, "C Mixolydian."

Paid members can download the handout along with the MP3 jamtrack in the members area at: CreativeGuitarStudio.com

Are key signatures something of a mystery for you? Are you missing out on the knowledge of every keys sharps and flats? Do you know how to produce the harmony for all of the keys? If any of this knowledge is poor or (heaven forbid) non-existent, you need to start learning your keys right away!

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Many guitar players are unaware of how the modes operate. And, far too many guitarists are confused on how all of the; keys' corresponding chord qualities relate back over to the key signature. These mysteries also exist around the process of harmonic analysis too.



If these topics have been a serious issue for you then I've got good news, I'm going to help you by offering up a solution to all of this. I'm going to give you a great 4-part exercise that will not only help you get to know the notes of all your keys, but, you'll also learn the chords that correspond. Plus, you'll also learn about the related; modes, the arpeggios, and the pentatonic scales for every degree of every key.

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The first idea that will function as our "initial start" to begin our 4-part study through key signatures will involve establishing the Major tonic as a triad chord.

We'll be using the key of "A Major" across all of our examples, so our tonic chord will of course be an "A Major." From there, we'll build the scale of the tonic chord, which will be the "A Major" scale. But we'll refer to it in our exercise here as the "Ionian" mode.

The second step of our exercise will be that of performing the Pentatonic scale for this degree, which in our case will be the "A Major" Pentatonic.

The 3rd step of our exercise will be performing the 7th arpeggio related to our tonic chord. That would be the "A maj7."

Finally, in the 4th step, we'll perform the 7th quality chord related to this scale step, which is, "A maj7."

TONIC DEGREE EXERCISE: "A Ionian"


Now that you understand how this 4-part exercise works with the tonic of the key, we're going to carry on doing this with all of the other notes of the key...


2ND DEGREE EXERCISE: "B Dorian"


The second note in the key of "A Major" is the note of "B." The chord is "Bm" with the associated scale being "B Dorian," the Pentatonic is "B Minor Pentatonic," and the arpeggio is "Bm7," along with the same 7th chord.

3RD DEGREE EXERCISE: "C# Phrygian"


The third note (in the key of "A Major") is the note of "C#." The chord is "C#m" with the associated scale being "C# Phrygian." The Pentatonic is "C# Minor Pentatonic," and the 7th arpeggio is "C#m7," along with the 7th chord of the same name.




 4TH DEGREE EXERCISE: "D Lydian"


The fourth note in the key of "A Major" is the note of "D." The chord is "D maj" with the associated scale being "D Lydian," the Pentatonic is "D Major Pentatonic," and the 7th arpeggio is "Dmaj7," along with the same name 7th chord.

5TH DEGREE EXERCISE: "E Mixolydian"


The fifth note in the key of "A Major" is the note of "E." The triad chord is "E maj" with the associated scale being "E Mixolydian." The Pentatonic is "E Major Pentatonic," and the 7th arpeggio is "E dom.7," along with the 7th chord of the same name and quality.

6TH DEGREE EXERCISE: "F# Aeolian" (F# Natural Minor)


The sixth note in the key of "A Major" is the note of "F#." The triad chord is "F#m" with the associated scale being "F# Aeolian," mode. The Pentatonic is "F# Minor Pentatonic," and the 7th arpeggio is "F#m7," along with the 7th chord of the same name and same quality.

7TH DEGREE EXERCISE: "G# Locrian"


The seventh and final note in the key of "A Major" is the note of "G#." The triad chord is "G# dim." with the associated scale being "G# Locrian," mode. The Pentatonic is "G# Diminished Pentatonic," (1 b3 4 b5 6). And, the 7th arpeggio is "G#m7(b5)," along with the 7th chord of the same name and same quality.



Once you develop this exercise, it will likely take you 5-7 min. to complete every degree within a key. And, once you develop it into your study routine, you can do it every day with a new key, (until you memorize all of the keys).

Not only will you memorize all of the keys, you'll also memorize all of the; notes, the correct pentatonic scales for every scale step, the diatonic arpeggios for every key, and the corresponding chords that go along with them all.

It's an excellent study of key signatures (and everything else that relates to them). Plus, it can help every guitar player accomplish a very thorough understanding of diatonic harmony as well. It's a KILLER exercise!



If you'd like to Find Out What You Should Learn Next on Guitar - take a look at the courses over on my website at CreativeGuitarStudio.com. My step-by-step; Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced courses will cover what you need to know, along with how to be able to move forward and become the best player that you can be.

I've worked on these courses since 1992 and I feel that all together they're the best guitar program you'll ever find. The courses will help you learn to identify what's required to get you up to the next level of guitar playing, in a very organized way, that makes sense.

I look forward to helping you further at CreativeGuitarStudio.com ...Until next time - take care and we'll catch up again on the next lesson. Bye for now!