I’m a professional guitarist, and although I applaud anyone who takes the time to discover better ways to teach and play the instrument, I find that this video seems directed at those who rely heavily on left-hand shapes and patterns to learn the instrument. Every instrument has its own peculiarities and some of the things mentioned in this video also apply to bowed strings (violin, viola, cello, and bass). The root of the problem as defined in the video is guitarists’ general lack of training in learning the fingerboard well and learning music theory, and the conclusion at the end of video seek to remedy this. The problem is less a problem with the instrument than it is with the way the instrument is usually taught and studied. However, there is something else that *is* relevant to the difficulty students have learning the guitar and playing at a high level: the guitar (as well as other plucked string instruments such as the lute) is the only instrument capable of complex textures-e.g., polyphony, melody with accompaniment-that has a *different* complex technique for each hand. Piano technique is certainly complex, but the technique for each hand is the same. The violin has different complex techniques for each hand, but it is generally a monophonic instrument. The guitar, however, requires different techniques for each hand while in service to musical textures that are often complex. This increases the possibility of tension in one hand being transferred to other hand. It takes a teacher’s skilled eye and ear to discover the source of this tension and pedagogical experience to help students reduce this tension. I should stress that I’m not talking about guitarists who have modest ambitions, but perhaps these modest ambitions would blossom into higher level aspirations if early instruction ensured the presence of the conditions necessary for high-level playing to develop.
Thank you so much for bringing this up. I can’t say I disagree with you. The complexity of learning this instrument is indeed greater than I laid out in this video. I intentionally didn’t mention the technical aspects of playing the guitar because this topic deserves its own video due to its complexity. As you mentioned, factors like body-hand tension and different techniques for each hand make it a complex subject. I also appreciate that you mentioned the monophonic nature of bowed instruments, as some folks have commented here suggesting I try the violin. I really don't want to start a competition over who is playing the more complex instrument, but still, I believe that just because bowed instruments have similar challenges, it doesn’t necessarily make the guitar easier to grasp. While other bowed instruments do face challenges similar to the guitar-like dealing with the second dimension of an invisible structure-I would still argue that the guitar is more complex. This is due to its six strings, polyphonic playing, and irregular second dimension, unlike bowed instruments, which are tuned in regular fifths. I can't agree more with you on the way the instrument is taught and studied is crucial. I remember my struggles with too much tension while playing until it finally clicked for me, thanks to a few teachers (especially vocal teachers, who are extremely aware of this) who brought it up. Thanks for sharing your perspective!
@silvermoonbeam: (Gawd, what a name!) Very well stated. I have learned the guitar twice, separated by more than 30 years! Of course, the 2nd time I still knew much of the things I'd learned from the first time, but I had to retrain both hands. You explain the differences very well, and I agree with your every word! My own ambitions are not to become a professional, only to play like one. For my own enjoyment. I am self-taught, and proceeding well. I've watched videos of Andres Segovia (and others) for learning technique, and some really good YT teachers for theory. This 2nd time around, with the advent of the internet & YT, I'm proceeding at a MUCH faster rate! This time, however, I've had to overcome nerve impingement in my neck, that is the only limiting factor. But the joy I get from simply playing two notes together is worth any amount of effort!
Billy Strings in an Interview said that he doesn’t know music theory. He even admitted that when he’s in the company of other professional musicians that he feels a bit like a fraud. Billy is a better guitarist than anyone reading this comment, and anyone who’s familiar with him would not argue that. Trey Hensley cannot even read tabs, and yet he’s better at guitar than any of us. He just plays by ear. Jimmy Page cannot read music, and I do not believe anyone here is going to say that they are a better musician than him. SRV said he didn’t understand how to read music, and we all know that he was way better than anyone reading this comment. Nothing against any players reading this, but we all know what I’m saying is true.
@@Adam-gm5tm I agree, what you say is indisputable re the great players. However music theory is not some extra invention, it is intrinsic to music and is being used or followed by the by ear players but they don’t codify it in to language. The great innovators even write new theory as they go! Playing and learning styles vary enormously and I would not for a minute discourage someone from learning music notation and/or music theory. Someone asked Lee Sklar if he could read music: he replied “yes but not enough to spoil my playing”.
@@jeffro. Your comment seems to be the Zen of Guitar, savouring just two notes that you play is like enjoying every morsel of food that you eat, or enjoying every moment you live. Great philosophy and in it is hidden the secret of discovering joy. Stay well my friend
Very well explained. I've been playing guitar for 35 years. When I ever encounter someone who is trying to learn the guitar and expresses that they are still learning I tell them, "we are all still learning. Keep playing, don't quit if you truly love it."
@johnpratt8502 ha ha love this ❤️. Personally, I think one has to be mentally ill playing the guitar in the first place. I am convinced it is only people with obsessive perfection disorders who do it 🙃
I'm thinking of getting a cheap keyboard to learn theory on in a way that doesn't make me feel like I'm losing my mind 😂 . The guitar is a fairly easy instrument to learn songs on by imitation but to actually understand....arrrrgghhh!!!
I have played guitar, mostly classical, all my life and I remember being quite surprised when one of my teachers told me the guitar is probably the hardest instrument to learn. Until now, I had never really appreciated the two dimensional nature of the instrument and this explains it very well. One problem I think with the guitar is it is easy to learn at the early stages such that one can play songs and sing along but it makes guitarists lazy about learning music theory properly. On most other instruments people at least have the rudiments of theory and being able to read music. Someone on this thread gave a quote from Segovia saying the "guitar is easy to learn but very hard to master" - all too true.
Thank you for sharing this. I had a classical teacher who told me something very similar about learning guitar. He even had a framed picture of Segovia in his room and would reference him from time to time... I agree with what you're saying. And of course it’s completely normal in your guitar journey-and with any other instrument-to know and play some songs without a deeper understanding. Some people just don’t care about understanding these topics and just want to play, which is totally fine. But those who strive to understand music through the lens of a guitar often find it more challenging, so it's easy to be lazy because of confusion. I was definitely a lazy student because of this... Of course, this is entirely subjective and can vary for everyone...
Excellent video. I have played guitar for almost 20 years at this point and went to music school, but I still am learning. Guitar is hard. I have explained it this way to people: imagine you have six piano keyboards lined up against each other, but each keyboard starts on a different note - and then you have to figure out how to play THAT. The advice to play a scale with only one octave is a great insight. I came to this approach somewhat naturally three or four years ago, and my improvisational ability really opened up. Limiting the scale you practice to one octave at a time, in groups of three strings, helps to reduce the complexity and confusion of trying to remember a multi octave scale pattern. Most of the time, whether improvising or learning a different piece of music, a multi octave scale being used in a real piece of music is rare. So the one octave thing is very practical. An example I have started with is a C major scale starting on the eighth fret of the sixth string running up to the tenth fret of the 4th string. Then practice the same scale but starting on fifth string third fret or fourth string tenth fret etc. And by the way, anyone who doesn’t have the patience to sit through this video doesn’t have the patience to actually learn the guitar either.
Thank you! It’s funny that I had the exact same idea with the six piano keyboards lined up, but I’ve never shared that thought with anyone... It’s good to know other guitarists have similar thoughts. I also appreciate you sharing your experience and explaining the one-octave concept-it really sums it up well. I’ll cover this in detail in part 5 of my 'Build a Strong Fretboard Understanding' series.
@@e7thstar I learned multi-octave scale patterns with my first guitar teacher and learned more of these while in college. Those were good for learning the layout of the fretboard. But to integrate your knowledge of the fretboard, practicing single octave scales worked for me, and I came to that idea much later. I think that learning and practicing both is helpful. Going from studying multi-octave scales to single octave scales is counterintuitive in the same way that the guitar itself is counterintuitive, like @becomegreatatguitar highlights in this video. But, from a practical standpoint, it makes sense to many of us.
One advantage of guitar is that you can hold any chord shape (without open strings) and go up and down the neck while holding the same fingering, while on piano you need to use a completely different fingering to play the same.
on the other hand these different fingerings allow you to easily see what chord you're playing, it's much easier to find it's notes all over the instrument since they all look distinct, while the guitar is just ? %) gotta memorise the shapes which are not visible on the instrument itself
I don't follow you. If you hold the same chord shape on the guitar and move up and down the fretboard, you get different chords. But you do the same on the keyboard.The root, 1st inversion, and 2nd inversion hand shapes stay the same as you move up and down the keyword, producing each chord as you move along. On the guitar you have the different CAGED shapes for chords, but on the piano it is basically the same shape for each root chord, the same shape for each 1st inversion, the same for each 2nd, the same for each 7th chord (with a slight adjustment of the thumb distance as you move across the E/F and B/C region). Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but the keyboard finger shapes are very regular, the guitar shapes much less so. This difference in ease is why songs composed on guitar tend to have fewer chords than those composed on piano, becuase the latter is just easier in this regard.
That's right. Throw in your harmonized scale... chords ...triads then you are really cooking. The modes yes. The modes are the major scale!!! I love it. All the songs come from that.... every style.
After 30 years of piano playing I borowed a guitar from a friend for a week expecting at least some result. But after a week of noodling I got nothing except blisters. I never touched the cursed instrument ever again. As a pianoplayer I envy the guitarist ability to buy 20 guitars and hang them on the wall. And bring your favourite guitar everywhere you go... instead of being stranded with some ghastly wrecked piano every goddamn time.
A coupe of comments are moaning about shallow stuff like video style, but I just listen to what he’s saying about how the guitar works. It explains stuff about the nature of the guitar which I feel when I play, but which i don’t have the musical vocabulary to describe. V informative video, thanks. It explains a lot🙌
Outstanding presentation of a complex subject. Your graphics accompanying your explanations are terrific. I'm 72, but I built a foundation in music theory in my brain at 16 years old. when I was first learning guitar and the piano keyboard. I use my theory knowledge constantly to guide my playing. Thanks for all the hard work you put into this video. Great job.
Whatever it may be guitar is addictive. It keeps opening the uncountable doors-- an exploration of a never-ending discovery. This video has been an amazing production.
I’m 4 years into my DIY guitar learning journey and a buddy pointed me towards Intervals very early on. I realise now more than ever what a gift it was: I can improvise freely in any key all over the fretboard, Modal scales are embraced rather than rejected, I’ve become a chord builder rather than a chord & shape memoriser, it helped me understand and apply Harmonics, etc. Some friends with 10+ years of experience actually ask me for tips on Modes and navigating the fretboard. If this was how guitar was taught from day one there would be much less people quitting early on, imho, and definitely less people getting stuck in the typical "intermediate ruts"… and surely much less "break out of the box" and "CAGED" courses being offered on RUclips 😅 Fantastic video, new sub here.
This sounds amazing! I’m glad you made such great progress in such a short time. Your buddy gave you great advice, and he’s totally right about the importance of intervals. This is so crucial but still extremely neglected. Because of this, I cover how to play and conceptualize the basic intervals in my next two upcoming videos. Thanks for sharing this!
CAGED is a fantastic system and used by many of the all time greats. judging by the misuse of a bunch of terms in just this short paragraph im guessing theres a good deal of dunning kruger going on here. id advise you to become a bit of a chord and shape memorizer. its what all of us professionals do.
I love music, but when I try to explain therory to new guitar learners their eyes seem to glaze over and they stop listening. Music is hard and it takes hard work to learn music, but it is so worth the hard work. I guess many guitar players stop learning when they discover that it takes hard work and practice to advance. They watch the pros and think the pros simply have more talent. No. The real pros had more patience and determination to work hard at becoming great. It’s supposed to be hard. It’s the hard that makes it great. Rewards come from patience, commitment, and rock hard determination. Nothing less will do it.
@@tomdaoust So true, anything in life which is worthwhile takes hard work and dedication. It's not even a thing of "people don't have an attention span nowadays", that would be too easy since there have always been more guitar quitters than guitar players. I'm by no means a guitar teacher but I think it has a lot do with the fact that the first question should be "what do you want to play and why?" If someone wants to be a campfire player, awesome... teach them a few open chords, point them to a site where they can download endless simple songs and let them rip. Do they want to play Punk? Teach them the concept of power chords on the 6th and 5th frets and voilà. Scales/theory are not what these people are looking for... they just want to have fun. But if anyone told me they wanted to become a serious player I would definitely tell them they have to put the work in. I think so many teachers are stuck in their "lesson routine-for-all" and that's not helpful either. And who's to say someone who starts off simple and is having fun, building appreciation for the instrument, won't look for a deeper dive at a later point... which will never happen if they quit though.
i play piano and guitar and i've always felt like guitar actually deepened my theory knowledge far more than piano ever did. but when i started teaching i was so surprised how rare that is
If you want to understand the guitar, you must investigate CAGED. These 5 chord shapes can be used to play all over the fretboard. So CAGED, AGEDC, GEDCA, EDCAG, DCAGE are the 5 ways that any chord can be played in 5 places on the fretboard. - Play E7 at open and at the 12th fret, now play E7 but using the D7 shape up 2 frets; now play E7 but using the C7 shape up between frets 5-7; now play E7 but using the A7 shape between frets 7-9; and finally play E7 using the G7 shape between frets 9-12. Now to each of those 5-E7 chords, associate the E Mixolydian scale (1-2-3-4-5-6-b7 and E-F#-G#-A-B-C#-D). Now you can play E7 in 5 places, and you can play the Mixolydian scale in those same 5 places. Find a YT one-chord vamp that uses just E7. Have fun playing over it in 5 different places on the neck!
@@AEZ-VEL don't listen to him. Just learn one basic major scale. Once you have that down, move it up two frets, then two more, then one, then two, then two, then two, then one....and VOILA you've unlocked the fretboard. For example. Let's say you learn the scale of G major (the name of the note on the 3rd fret on the 6th string is G) (6th string) 3 5 7 (5th string) 3 5 7 (4th string) 4 5 7 (3rd string) 4 5 7 (2nd string) 5 7 8 (1st string) 5 7 8 Next you'll learn (6th string) 5 7 8 (5th string) 5 7 9 (4th string) 5 7 9 (3rd string) 5 7 9 (2nd string) 7 8 10 (1st string) 7 8 10 Then (6th string) 7 8 10 (5th string) 7 9 10 (4th string) 7 9 10 (3rd string) 7 9 11 (2nd string) 8 10 12 (1st string) 8 10 12 Then (6th string) 8 10 12 (5th string) 9 10 12 (4th string) 9 10 12 (3rd string) 9 10 12 (2nd string) 10 12 13 (1st string) 10 12 14 Then (6th string) 10 12 14 (5th string) 10 12 14 (4th string) 10 12 14 (3rd string) 11 12 14 (2nd string) 12 13 15 (1st string) 12 14 15 Then (6th string) 12 14 15 (5th string) 12 14 15 (4th string) 12 14 16 (3rd string) 12 14 16 (2nd string) 13 15 17 (1st string) 14 15 17 Then (6th string) 14 15 17 (5th string) 14 15 17 (4th string) 14 16 17 (3rd string) 14 16 17 (2nd string) 15 17 19 (1st string) 15 17 19 Then (6th string) 15 17 19 (5th string) 15 17 19 (4th string) 16 17 19 (3rd string) 16 17 19 (2nd string) 17 19 20 (1st string) 17 19 20 Then (or lastly) (6th string) 17 19 20 (5th string) 17 19 21 (4th string) 17 19 21 (3rd string) 17 19 21 (2nd string) 19 20 22 (1st string) 19 20 22 Lastly (if your guitar has 24 frets) (6th string) 19 20 22 (5th string) 19 21 22 (4th string) 19 21 22 (3rd string) 19 21 23 (2nd string) 20 22 24 (1st string) 20 22 24 Hopefully by now you've realized the patterns repeat when you go up 12 frets. (The first pattern is the same as the 8th pattern. The second is the same as the 9th, etc). This means you ONLY HAVE TO LEARN 7 patterns to understand the fretboard (disclaimer- this is only for conventional music. It does not take into account "accidental notes"...a la jazz, but even then you'll do ok) The guitar will become MUCH easier to understand once your brain and your hands learn these 7 patterns. The scale i wrote down is the scale of G (or g major) so if the song's root (the chord the verse of the song starts in) starts on G, you can solo away to any of those patterns to your heart's content. Let's say the song starts on A major, then instead of starting on the 3rd fret on the 6th string, you will start on the 5th fret of the 6th string. Lastly, let's say your song doesn't start in a major scale, but a minor. NO PROBLEM. it's still the same sh*t. The relative minor (for our purposes the minor equivalent) of G is Em. Meaning that if the song starts in Em, you can use the same patterns you've just learned for the scale of G.
TL;DR Learn the 10 patterns i wrote There are only 7 DIFFERENT patterns They start repeating AFTER the 7th pattern The 8th pattern is the same as the first The 9th is the same as the second, etc. You're welcome. Wish you luck on your journey
That's how microtones still sneak into Western Music Theory without fair recognition. People just casually describe it as nuances and inflections, for lack of sufficient technical vocabulary in the Western system-and even moreso against the historical backdrop of pre-Standardization to 440A, which is essentially everything music-related before the 1950s. 😛 Fretless-guitarists escaped the Matrix entirely, with both microtonal as well as non-Stabdard musical options at their disposal, without even bending or sliding, as long as they haven't limited their ear-development out of habit on fretted guitars or bad advice such as that valid note values do not vary, and so deserve every bit as much highbrow respect as violin virtuosos. To me, it sounds like the difference between a basic box of 12 crayons versus the 64 pack, if notes were colors with in-between shades. 😎 That said, a "fretless" version of an 88-key piano would have about 469 keys. 😱
14:30 "However, on guitar, its a total mess.". 😅 That is the most accurate statement about my understanding if triads and their inversions. I understand most things about learning guitar, but my brain turns to mush trying learn triad positions.
You are a guitar / teacher genius . You just unleash the myth behind the learning process, explaining in depth what the guitar is about. I just become your fan instantly . Great work indeed .
I remember telling someone "piano is a fundamentally simpler instrument than guitar" years ago and they looked at me like I had lobsters coming out of my ears. Anyone can sit down and play a chord on piano while just playing even a single note on guitar is hard at first. Good to see I'm not the only one this was apparent to. That being said, both are hard to get "good" at, whatever that may mean to you.
As a learner I had the same thought. The reality is it kind of balances out though. Since piano removes the part about getting your grip right it makes it easier. So they just write more complicated piano pieces and piano gets harder again. It's the same with electronic music or anything, really.
I wouldn't say it's much easier because when you're tone deaf, you cant play anything. Not even a toddler's xylophone. From my experienxe, knowing how to play one instrument makes it easier to learn another one.
I'm so grateful that I took lessons in my early teens. I played solidly for around 6 or 7 years but stopped for a long while. But because of those lessons I took I'm able to pick up the guitar every now-and-then and I can very quickly get close to my best again I'm currently focusing on acoustic and I'm a far FAR better acoustic player now than I ever was
This is an excellent instructional video. The content and style of delivery is perfect and, I reckon this would be worthwhile knowledge for anyone starting out on the guitar.
Thank you for this free lesson. There can be intermediant guitarist that may not have studied this fretboard theory. That being said, they might already be playing on stage or in a band. Not many I’ve known practice intervals, triads & chord shapes to scales relationship, intstead, they learn songs. Excellent content for only 20 minutes.
Thank you! Glad You like this video! Yeah, I agree. There are even high-level players who don’t know much about music theory and, in fact, have never practiced it for the purpose of learning music theory. Yet, they have somehow mastered the guitar through all its difficulties by playing by ear and focusing only on real music instead of exercises. However, such skills are rare and require good ears and a high level of resilience because you essentially learn through an extreme amount of trial and error. Most folks who try this method quit too early before they achieve good results. But you’re right, not too many guitarists practice this theory & exercise stuff. This usually becomes interesting when you take this hobby more seriously or want to become a pro. But even then it's possible to not do it and be successful anyway....
@@becomegreatatguitarDo you incorporate any of that trial and error into your practice? And how often do you think many of the greats trial and error things?
Thank you for this look at Guitar. 🎸 i’ve been playing for 13 years, and while I have learned so much, in many ways, Guitar remains enigmatic… a mystery. This is what makes it such a beautiful instrument! , the more you get to know it, the deeper dive in, the more you appreciate! I look at it like the relationship with a beautifully complex woman, it can be puzzling, but it is most rewarding!
Thank you! What a beautiful analogy-I love it! I had a similar thought, but I was more focused on the guitar's aesthetics, thinking its curves resembled those of a beautiful woman... and you completed the idea perfectly!
I just started teaching myself how to play the guitar. I just started with trying to play scales, triads, and arpeggios because that’s how you learn how to play the piano. I was just trying to find the notes by ear. I found this extraordinarily challenging. Glad to know that it isn’t just me. Also good to know that there’s value in this approach.
It is complex and difficult, but it is insanely rewarding when you bang out a complicated riff or solo that you used to daydream about being able to play
I remember when I was a beginner 63 years ago. Now, I’m an intermediate. At this rate, I’ll be at the professional level when I’m 140. That’ll be sweet.
"professional level"? "expert i think is the word. thousands of guitarist, including myself, play professionally for years on end without even being close to being an "expert".......
@@stevanrose7439 I've got 2. My 51-year old D-18 that I bought new in 1973 and a PRS SE acoustic that I bought a few years ago when the D-18 was at the factory for a neck reset. I play out with the PRS, especially in humid or cold weather, and play the D-18 in less severe conditions. Sitting idle is not good for any guitar. They have to be played. Also, humidity control makes a big difference. I use a noodle inside the sound hole and a plastic cover over the sound hole when in the case. I can hear and feel the difference when that noodle dries out. So I keep it damp.
As a guitar and saxophone teacher who often works with people who already play a wind instrument or piano, I can attest that this extra dimension is a challenge for most.
I don’t know, I’ve been playing guitar for 30 years and it’s not that difficult. But I suppose it did take about 10 years before I felt I was any good at it. One of the most important things you can do is learn some music theory. You don’t have to learn to read and write music, but at least learn the basics. Learn the intervals, learn why chords are called what they are called and learn to build chords, learn modes and scales etc. when you actually know what you’re playing on guitar it will instantly make you a better guitarist and a better musician in general. People always say things like “I don’t want to learn music theory because it will put me in a box and restrict my creativity”, but this is just something people say as an excuse to not learn theory because it can be complicated and they’re intimidated by it. If anything, learning some theory enhances your creativity because you know what you’re doing, so you know what chord or note “should” come next, but you can choose to break the rules and play something different deliberately. Also, never stop trying to play new things and things that you find difficult, as no matter how good you are or how long you have been playing, you can always get better.
Sure the C major key is easy on a piano. Now try D major and see two white keys turn black and then try the C# key. On a guitar the shapes stay the same regardless of the key.
Very true but the same scale can be played using a different shape depending on where you are on the fretboard and which string you start on, whereas the piano the shape repeats every octave. I find the piano far more intuitive and easier to understand. Particularly when it comes to chord formation. This isn't a knock, it's fabulous and I wish the guitar was as easy to grasp visually.
I've always considered playing the guitar to be very abstract. Now I can finally explain why (and don't think I'm weird anymore). Thanks A LOT. I REALLY appreciate your work!! 🙏🎸💥
Guitar is certainly challenging to learn because of its layout and the physical complexity of playing it. But I think that the first steps to learn basic chord shapes for playing rythm is very rewarding as you can quickly play popular songs... Then there is the 'shape hell'... It took me years of stagnation to go past this and start discovering music theory from near zero. Discovering how intervals define scale / modes construction and how chords are built was a key missing information that I did not get during my self taught journey (thanks to David Walliman videos for that training material). Then I went to identify how to play the chord tones in solos and how to highlight modal characteristics. And also playing based on arpeggios as skeleton for melodic playing. This allowed me to compose / improvise on my own with a looper ... Was a long journey that could have been much shorter if I took a few classes that trained me on intervals, scales and chord construction in guitar at a young age instead of learning shapes of chords and scale blindly.
I’m a decent guitar player and after 15 years I’m just now dialing in on caged knowledge, the modes, and really knowing my intervals on intuitively deep level. Makes me appreciate how hard guitsr really is to make sense of starting from zero
This is a nice analysis. Guitars are also missing the physical geography of the piano (which has those raised sharps and flats on the keyboard). To add just a modest geographic indicator to my guitar, I put a strip of textured 3M tape on the palm side of the neck, right at the seventh fret, so I can easily "feel" where I am - even without always looking at the fingerboard.
Thanks! You're right. That is really another point worth mentioning. I hadn’t thought about this one, despite having practiced many times to play without looking at the fretboard.
It's not that hard if you have a good instructor and follow a process. Do not rely on YT videos and random info. that will quickly overwhelm you. Truefire is a great site with great teachers and a learning path. Learn to love the process of learning- not just playing. You can learn a few simple chords and have fun for years or you can take it further. It's up to you. Theory will make you much better. Some people have muscle memory- play the same memorized riffs over and over but have no clue and limited musical abilities. Just have fun with it and enjoy learning. It's really just simple math- as he says, intervals, steps, scales, triads, formulas to make major and minor scales and modes...again, just math.
Not everybody can learn it by themselves... actualy very few people can, almost none. But once you learn and master the secrets it becomes obvious what the instrument is about and how you could guide someone to go from zero to the point that you are. The point is: some people had this kind of teacher in their lives and learnt with their experience, while others, that could never learn, only had lazy bad teachers I've done very little research and could find that most of the guitar legends had intense regular classes with a good teach until they got to the level you pretty much knew them
1:24 for the key points, a few seconds later, the usual RUclips spam, ‘if you watch to the end I will tell you…..’….yeah OK, I think I can learn the synth in the meantime.
Once you have hand sync and finger independence its a matter of creativity. Memorizing a song is much different than improvisation. 90% of the frustration of learning guitar is the first year. 98% of people cant get past that first year.
I've been playing for50 years.but I'm not much better than I was 49 years ago. Then it occurred to me that I have no musical talent. But I still enjoy it
It’s easy to learn a two chord song and that drives you to learn more. The secret is, don’t bite off more than you can chew in the beginning and get discouraged
I had difficulties playing the guitar, until I learned an important secret. Stop thinking about playing, and it gets better. Same thing with archery...stop trying to aim, and you're gonna hit the target every time.
I found it helpful to discover the repeating patterns for scales and triads on the guitar fretboard. For example: a scale can be played using only three finger patterns across strings. And the relationship of a root note to the third or fifth note is the same between any two strings, with the exception of the 3rd and 2nd string. This last anomaly is easy enough to recognize and remember. Paying attention to repeating patterns helps a lot in tying basic music theory to the guitar.
I already have an understanding of music theory. Guitar is my main instrument, but not my only instrument. This video is way too basic for me specifically, but the information offered is solid. As I am also interested in the best ways to teach music, I'm going to be looking at your other videos. I like your style.
Violinists generally learn a lot of music theory and it is tuned in 5ths, I don't think the layout of the guitar has anything to do with why most guitarists don't learn theory. Guitar is often learned in more informal settings l, if you were studying classical or jazz formally, you'd be learning theory. Other instruments can be weird too- the clarinet has a key to raise the tone a twelfth so that if you were playing a piece in C you'd essentially have to play high notes as if you were in F, huge interval, the recorder and valveless flutes have many forked fingerings, the violin family is fretless- adding a new dimension. Trying to learn piano as a guitarist comes with challenges too- the notes are linear, intervals that I could easily reach on guitar are a massive stretch with one hand- biggest interval I can reach (barely) is an 11th (comfortably) a major 10th. Moving large intervals around on guitar is easy- I can move an octave around or onto a different string pair easily, acurately moving an octave around on piano is hard, and you aren't playing a minor second as much as a 3rd, 4th, 5th or octave. Scales are spread out, on guitar I can play 2 octaves without shifting position, on piano I have to do multiple finger crossings or shifts to do that. On guitar chord shapes are movable- once you can do barre chords it is easy to quickly find the chord you want- you know where 3rds are by looking at your minor and major chord differences, you will know where your roots are, so embellishments, sus chords, etc can be made intuatively- with piano you have to really know your scales and chords inside out, sure you can figure them out, but improvisation and transposition becomes much harder- you can't just play the same shape higher, you need to know where the flats and sharps are, different keys feel wildly diificult. Unless you have a transpose key, you can't just slap in a capo or a barre chord or play the same finger pattern higher or lower. Then on the piano you tend to be doing more, you are often trying to do a bassline, harmony and melody all at once in a way you couldn't really achieve with guitar. I often hear that people think the left hand on guitar does all of the intricate movements around fingering strings. Turns out that it is harder to adapt my left hand to playing the rhthmic and dynamic feats my right does on guitar than getting it to make the chords and scales and the pedal just adds another layer of complexity.. I think you would learn theory in different ways on both instruments, I became immersed in theory on guitar and it is helping with piano, there are things that made more sense on guitar, piano is more visual, if you aren't a visual learner, it will be more difficult. I also like how on guitar I can find the same note in multiple places, meaning it is rarely too far away, on piano each note only has one position. They are hard in different ways., but I've wired my brain to play guitar and some other stringed instruments where I think of intervals between strings rather than across a keyboard!
There's another tricky thing with the two-dimensional aspect. As you've said, on one one string the pitch varies like on a piano from left to right. But adding the vertical dimension of the guitar, and you can go from low notes to high notes from left to right but also from right to left. The same with going from high register to low register by going left to right, which is pretty disturbing from a horizontal perspective. It's obvious when you watch Allan Holdsworth play.
Two major advantages the guitar has over the piano is you can move the same chord voicing up and down and learning a scale in different keys is a matter of learning one shape. The Major 3rd distance from the G to B string was a big hurdle for me to overcome in the beginning too.
thanks for validating the complexity of learning how to play, it definitely reassured me 🤓 I needed to hear something like this, you inspired me to keep going 🙌😊 also I loved your delivery, very engaging and easy to follow 👌
Thank you, Dafne! I'm really happy you're saying this! I really hope to be encouraging with this video, but I wasn't sure if I conveyed that clearly.😀🙌
@@becomegreatatguitar you 100% did 🤓 I agree that at some point we need to be aware and accept that this is going to be a long journey that requires patience because it won't be a linear and easy path. This way it is more likely that we stick to it, instead of thinking that we haven't made enough progress after a certain amount of time and probably start thinking that we are not learning 'fast enough' and consider quitting because of that. I think that is one of the key messages you conveyed n_n keep sharing your advice and knowledge 😊🙏
Another difference vs piano is that you have more ways to shape the sound. Piano basically has how hard you press and how long you hold - guitar has those two, but also muting, vibrato, bends, or how you hit the string, or where exactly, etc. Piano has other challenges though, like greater demand for hand independence as they play different things vs guitar where the hands ”collaborate” on the same notes (inherently easier imo, even if the movents are very different for each hand).
I studied piano and piano accordion for 10 years. Then I wanted to learn guitar and could not make sense how notes are assembled. Can’t wait for your videos. I am reluctant to purchase a guitar as I just don’t understand the structure. I studied music the name of notes are Do,re,mi,fa,sol,la,ci,do. The guitar note names is very difficult. I love your explanation. Thanks.
Thanks for the nice words! Great to have a piano&accordion player here :) The new video is online: ruclips.net/video/Gw6s9xiJ_w8/видео.html There I explain the note degrees, which are practically the same as Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, but they are just named in numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. I think you'll grasp this instrument quickly with this background.
I also started as a musician on the piano accordion which is very difficult for different reasons. My accordion had 120 buttons for the left hand bass and chords (hard to memorize without being able to actually look at them). But the guitar is bizarre, I agree.
Bruuuh just buy the guitar and start the suffering ... It's easier to learn other instruments after playing guitar ... It's even helped me be able to write with both hands 😂😂😂...
my biggest mistake when i became serious about the guitar was learning to play songs and not how to work the machine. after 40 years of playing, rectifying that mistake is painful and time consuming but i'm finally getting there.....
There is also utility to the design: the ease of transposing. Gotta play a solo in B instead of A? No problem. Just play everything a whole step higher. It's easy because visually everything stays the same. Doing the same with e.g. piano, or almost any other instrument is much, much harder.
I would recommend guitar players learn music theory from a piano keyboard then apply to a guitar fretboard. Major and Minor triads for instance make sense quicker on a keyboard.
I dont reasons why The piano is used to represent c major Not g mixolydian the word guitar has no c in it ? Hence all the problems of getting your head around finger position. G mixolydian 654 strings 357 frets Notice all notes are on frets ? This is the skeleton It shows the 514 on finger 1 shows pattern of 5ths or 4ths. Both being the same only one is up 5 the other down 4 As above so below Use a clock face 7 is 5th 5 is 4 Do the same for Dorian and it shows symmetrical also it helps to he player to remember the semi intervals only one step above and below. Hence Dorian and mixolydian are guitar main scales to work on if starting fresh But we all get confused because of this fact alone The same pattern g mixolydian can be used as a guide to move around and play in key Hence the old man's blues trick of playing in any key shape. Ps use it n 2md line of pentatonic The shape is there as a column Column 1 Maj column 2 minor Or 2 Nd line of blues moving to the 4 in. A 145 progression. And overlay pentonic Job done Only time spent on instrument will progress your playing nothing else No need for any lessons Just turn off and let' the fingers walk but don't concentrate on what your fingers are doing as it will hinder progress on sounding fluent. Hope this gives a basic sense of why and how people play by ear and say I play by ear and have no musical knowledge.
It just takes practice and repetition. I see the fretboard as part of the piano, stacked diagonally in a way. Also, I think learning relative minor and major scales in the song you are playing, along with 2-3 pentatonic positions are a good way to start. The circle of fifths is brilliant as well. For me though, I will be more motivated to learn the keys of songs I'm jamming because then I can apply it in the song.
From my experience. Learn one scale. Then move it up two frets, then two more, then one, then two, then two, then two, then one. Never change scale. By doing this you've unlocked the whole fretboard...at least for a song using a major chord as its base....LUCKILY, each major scale has a relatively minor, which means that a song using a minor chord as its root will use the exact same patterns you've already learned. You're welcome. ...if what I wrote makes no sense, then you're fked. Forgot to add, play 3 notes per string. If you do 2, you're gimping yourself. ALSO, spend 2 years mastering alternate picking so you can actually play what you hear in your head without your right hand making you sound like crap
@@gregdemeterband Let's say you learn the scale of G major (the name of 3rd fret on the 6th strings' name is G) (6th string) 3 5 7 (5th string) 3 5 7 (4th string) 4 5 7 (3rd string) 4 5 7 (2nd string) 5 7 8 (1st string) 5 7 8 Next you'll learn (6th string) 5 7 8 (5th string) 5 7 9 (4th string) 5 7 9 (3rd string) 5 7 9 (2nd string) 7 8 10 (1st string) 7 8 10 Then (6th string) 7 8 10 (5th string) 7 9 10 (4th string) 7 9 10 (3rd string) 7 9 11 (2nd string) 8 10 12 (1st string) 8 10 12 Then (6th string) 8 10 12 (5th string) 9 10 12 (4th string) 9 10 12 (3rd string) 9 10 12 (2nd string) 10 12 13 (1st string) 10 12 14 Then (6th string) 10 12 14 (5th string) 10 12 14 (4th string) 10 12 14 (3rd string) 11 12 14 (2nd string) 12 13 15 (1st string) 12 14 15 Then (6th string) 12 14 15 (5th string) 12 14 15 (4th string) 12 14 16 (3rd string) 12 14 16 (2nd string) 13 15 17 (1st string) 14 15 17 Then (6th string) 14 15 17 (5th string) 14 15 17 (4th string) 14 16 17 (3rd string) 14 16 17 (2nd string) 15 17 19 (1st string) 15 17 19 Then (6th string) 15 17 19 (5th string) 15 17 19 (4th string) 16 17 19 (3rd string) 16 17 19 (2nd string) 17 19 20 (1st string) 17 19 20 Then (or lastly) (6th string) 17 19 20 (5th string) 17 19 21 (4th string) 17 19 21 (3rd string) 17 19 21 (2nd string) 19 20 22 (1st string) 19 20 22 Lastly (if your guitar has 24 frets) (6th string) 19 20 22 (5th string) 19 21 22 (4th string) 19 21 22 (3rd string) 19 21 23 (2nd string) 20 22 24 (1st string) 20 22 24 Hopefully by now you've realized the patterns repeat when you go up 12 frets. (The first pattern is the same as the 8th pattern. The second is the same as the 9th, etc). This means you ONLY HAVE TO LEARN 7 patterns to understand the fretboard (disclaimer- this is only for conventional music. It does not take into account "accidental notes"...a la jazz, but even then you'll do ok) The guitar will become MUCH easier to understand once your brain and your hands learn these 7 patterns. The scale i wrote down is the scale of G (or g major) so if the song's root (the chord the verse of the song starts in) starts on G, you can solo away to any of those patterns to your heart's content. Let's say the song starts on A major, then instead of starting on the 3rd fret on the 6th string, you will start on the 5th fret of the 6th string. Lastly, let's say your song doesn't start on a major chord, but a minor. NO PROBLEM. it's still the same sh*t. The relative minor (for our purposes the minor equivalent) of G is Em. Meaning that if the song starts in Em, you can use the same patterns you've just learned for the scale of G.
As a self taught player, the 2 dimensional aspect is what always made me feel guitar was easier for me to understand ironically. With piano, it always felt like there was a definitive "right" key to push. But with guitar, i feel there is a greater sense of freedom with tone and feel given that any note is accessible anywhere on the fretboard. And alternate tunings are possible to make the same shapes sound totally different. I think its total freedom compared to other instruments
my favourite feature is the tuning pegs, and although all my purist mates hated it, started using a number of open tunings, get to make the chords/melodies i like without the spidery finger stretching frustration using less fingers. (and discovered solfeggio intervals, now playing is sonic therapy, not frustrating or cramp inducing, carpel tunnels prefer it)
Well done, but with all the videos you offer, it would be helpful if you mapped out a starting point and natural sequence through a Table of Contents you recommend; for example, where is 'Part 4/5' or 'Part 5/5'?
Thanks! Part 4 is coming soon. I’ve shot the video but haven’t finished editing it yet. I think I’ll be done by next week. Part 5 is not even shot... I’m not sure I understand you correctly-are you asking for a guide on "where to start if you’re a beginner, intermediate, etc."? I’ve organized this video series into a playlist so it’s easy to follow.
Thank you! I’m used to playing chords but trying to learn it properly and memorise scales and positions. The moving up and down and across with all different ways to do it is driving me crazy.
The combination of Learning CAGED, learning to sight read sheet music while playing g guitar, and practicing jamming and playing with other musicians has unlocked a lot of doors for me and within a relatively short amount of time allowed me to become a fairly independent upper intermediate player.
I’ve played guitar over 50 years but I can still see chords better on the piano. Everything is just sitting there. I think people who can really play guitar well can see those chords very quickly. I think learning the basic chords and then learning the CAGED method is the best practical way to learn basic guitar and then expand to more interesting and complex chords. I didn’t really discover CAGED theory until 20 years ago. It lets you see what’s going on very clearly.
I cant read music but after I learnt notes on the fret board and how to read it, playing got a lot easier. I can ask 'What key are you in?' and quickly know what scales and where on the keyboard to play to fit with that key. Also I was hamstringing myself because I wanted to be Paul Gilbert, which I never will be, and this mindset put up a brick wall to any progress. Im still crap after many years but I play my best within my limits 😊
This video is very thorough, and the information is correct, but it misses the point. You have to remember that every instrument was created to address a musical problem, and the guitar was created because musicians became interested in harmony, rather than melody. That is, stacking notes, playing them together, as in chords. That's why the guitar is tuned in fourths, unlike the violin family, which is tuned in fifths: so that your hand can reach several notes in the scale at the same time, to play them together. (the exception is the contra-bass, which is also tuned in fourths, because if it were tuned in fifths, it's so longe that you wouldn't be able to reach to play a scale fluently) Now, you can also play scales on a guitar, pick out melodies, but bear in mind you're getting the instrument to do something it wasn't designed for. One of the things that makes guitar a complicated instrument is reading music. On the piano, each note is found in just one place; each key corresponds to one black dot on the staff. On the guitar, some notes can be played at several places on the fretboard. To play sheet music on the guitar, you need to consider what was played before, what you're playing after, and what notes are being played together, and how you're going to reach them all. Solving these problems, and being practiced enough to do so on-the-fly is what makes the guitar interesting. One of the ideas that's served me well for playing melodies on the guitar is to remember that string crossings are never used for half-step intervals; you'd just stay on the same string and go up one fret. So make the whole-step intervals in the scale coincide with string crossings. The guitar isn't ideal as a first instrument, but it will keep you busy for the rest of your life! The piano, which much more resembles music notation, is a better place to start. But once you've had your introduction, pick up a guitar!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Morgan. I appreciate that you mentioned monophonic vs. polyphonic playing and the aspect of reading music. These are really important topics that I didn't address in the video, but they’re definitely worth exploring in more depth. Sure, I think it's save to say that from a historical point of view the guitar wasn't designed for being played as a melody instrument. But a modern approach of learning the guitar shouldn't care too much about this, because nowadays it's often the case that all you do is soloing and improvising.
Im still learning after 30;years of playing i still feel like the same noob but I find you have little adventures each one is like a new series some things you just don't get then oneday it just comes in seconds
I’m a professional guitarist, and although I applaud anyone who takes the time to discover better ways to teach and play the instrument, I find that this video seems directed at those who rely heavily on left-hand shapes and patterns to learn the instrument. Every instrument has its own peculiarities and some of the things mentioned in this video also apply to bowed strings (violin, viola, cello, and bass). The root of the problem as defined in the video is guitarists’ general lack of training in learning the fingerboard well and learning music theory, and the conclusion at the end of video seek to remedy this. The problem is less a problem with the instrument than it is with the way the instrument is usually taught and studied.
However, there is something else that *is* relevant to the difficulty students have learning the guitar and playing at a high level: the guitar (as well as other plucked string instruments such as the lute) is the only instrument capable of complex textures-e.g., polyphony, melody with accompaniment-that has a *different* complex technique for each hand. Piano technique is certainly complex, but the technique for each hand is the same. The violin has different complex techniques for each hand, but it is generally a monophonic instrument. The guitar, however, requires different techniques for each hand while in service to musical textures that are often complex. This increases the possibility of tension in one hand being transferred to other hand. It takes a teacher’s skilled eye and ear to discover the source of this tension and pedagogical experience to help students reduce this tension. I should stress that I’m not talking about guitarists who have modest ambitions, but perhaps these modest ambitions would blossom into higher level aspirations if early instruction ensured the presence of the conditions necessary for high-level playing to develop.
Thank you so much for bringing this up. I can’t say I disagree with you. The complexity of learning this instrument is indeed greater than I laid out in this video. I intentionally didn’t mention the technical aspects of playing the guitar because this topic deserves its own video due to its complexity. As you mentioned, factors like body-hand tension and different techniques for each hand make it a complex subject. I also appreciate that you mentioned the monophonic nature of bowed instruments, as some folks have commented here suggesting I try the violin.
I really don't want to start a competition over who is playing the more complex instrument, but still, I believe that just because bowed instruments have similar challenges, it doesn’t necessarily make the guitar easier to grasp. While other bowed instruments do face challenges similar to the guitar-like dealing with the second dimension of an invisible structure-I would still argue that the guitar is more complex. This is due to its six strings, polyphonic playing, and irregular second dimension, unlike bowed instruments, which are tuned in regular fifths.
I can't agree more with you on the way the instrument is taught and studied is crucial. I remember my struggles with too much tension while playing until it finally clicked for me, thanks to a few teachers (especially vocal teachers, who are extremely aware of this) who brought it up.
Thanks for sharing your perspective!
@silvermoonbeam:
(Gawd, what a name!)
Very well stated.
I have learned the guitar twice, separated by more than 30 years!
Of course, the 2nd time I still knew much of the things I'd learned from the first time, but I had to retrain both hands.
You explain the differences very well, and I agree with your every word!
My own ambitions are not to become a professional, only to play like one. For my own enjoyment.
I am self-taught, and proceeding well. I've watched videos of Andres Segovia (and others) for learning technique, and some really good YT teachers for theory.
This 2nd time around, with the advent of the internet & YT, I'm proceeding at a MUCH faster rate! This time, however, I've had to overcome nerve impingement in my neck, that is the only limiting factor.
But the joy I get from simply playing two notes together is worth any amount of effort!
Billy Strings in an Interview said that he doesn’t know music theory.
He even admitted that when he’s in the company of other professional musicians that he feels a bit like a fraud.
Billy is a better guitarist than anyone reading this comment, and anyone who’s familiar with him would not argue that.
Trey Hensley cannot even read tabs, and yet he’s better at guitar than any of us. He just plays by ear.
Jimmy Page cannot read music, and I do not believe anyone here is going to say that they are a better musician than him.
SRV said he didn’t understand how to read music, and we all know that he was way better than anyone reading this comment.
Nothing against any players reading this, but we all know what I’m saying is true.
@@Adam-gm5tm I agree, what you say is indisputable re the great players. However music theory is not some extra invention, it is intrinsic to music and is being used or followed by the by ear players but they don’t codify it in to language. The great innovators even write new theory as they go! Playing and learning styles vary enormously and I would not for a minute discourage someone from learning music notation and/or music theory. Someone asked Lee Sklar if he could read music: he replied “yes but not enough to spoil my playing”.
@@jeffro.
Your comment seems to be the Zen of Guitar,
savouring just two notes that you play is like enjoying every morsel of food that you eat, or enjoying every moment you live.
Great philosophy and in it is hidden the secret of discovering joy.
Stay well my friend
Very well explained. I've been playing guitar for 35 years. When I ever encounter someone who is trying to learn the guitar and expresses that they are still learning I tell them, "we are all still learning. Keep playing, don't quit if you truly love it."
i swear after 23 years of playing guitar, switching to piano would do wonders for my mental health
@johnpratt8502 ha ha love this ❤️. Personally, I think one has to be mentally ill playing the guitar in the first place. I am convinced it is only people with obsessive perfection disorders who do it 🙃
@@geoffguitars😂
I'm thinking of getting a cheap keyboard to learn theory on in a way that doesn't make me feel like I'm losing my mind 😂 . The guitar is a fairly easy instrument to learn songs on by imitation but to actually understand....arrrrgghhh!!!
Sure the C major key is easy on a piano. Now the C# key. On a guitar neck, the shapes of the scales and chords stay the same.
@@UmVtCgif only you didn’t have 8 guitars 😂
It’s a lucky guess. I’m also a guitarist so I know 😉
"On guitar, it's a total mess". Truer words were never spoken. Great video!
Thank you!
I have played guitar, mostly classical, all my life and I remember being quite surprised when one of my teachers told me the guitar is probably the hardest instrument to learn. Until now, I had never really appreciated the two dimensional nature of the instrument and this explains it very well.
One problem I think with the guitar is it is easy to learn at the early stages such that one can play songs and sing along but it makes guitarists lazy about learning music theory properly. On most other instruments people at least have the rudiments of theory and being able to read music. Someone on this thread gave a quote from Segovia saying the "guitar is easy to learn but very hard to master" - all too true.
Thank you for sharing this. I had a classical teacher who told me something very similar about learning guitar. He even had a framed picture of Segovia in his room and would reference him from time to time... I agree with what you're saying. And of course it’s completely normal in your guitar journey-and with any other instrument-to know and play some songs without a deeper understanding. Some people just don’t care about understanding these topics and just want to play, which is totally fine. But those who strive to understand music through the lens of a guitar often find it more challenging, so it's easy to be lazy because of confusion. I was definitely a lazy student because of this... Of course, this is entirely subjective and can vary for everyone...
Excellent video. I have played guitar for almost 20 years at this point and went to music school, but I still am learning. Guitar is hard. I have explained it this way to people: imagine you have six piano keyboards lined up against each other, but each keyboard starts on a different note - and then you have to figure out how to play THAT.
The advice to play a scale with only one octave is a great insight. I came to this approach somewhat naturally three or four years ago, and my improvisational ability really opened up. Limiting the scale you practice to one octave at a time, in groups of three strings, helps to reduce the complexity and confusion of trying to remember a multi octave scale pattern. Most of the time, whether improvising or learning a different piece of music, a multi octave scale being used in a real piece of music is rare. So the one octave thing is very practical. An example I have started with is a C major scale starting on the eighth fret of the sixth string running up to the tenth fret of the 4th string. Then practice the same scale but starting on fifth string third fret or fourth string tenth fret etc.
And by the way, anyone who doesn’t have the patience to sit through this video doesn’t have the patience to actually learn the guitar either.
Thank you! It’s funny that I had the exact same idea with the six piano keyboards lined up, but I’ve never shared that thought with anyone... It’s good to know other guitarists have similar thoughts. I also appreciate you sharing your experience and explaining the one-octave concept-it really sums it up well. I’ll cover this in detail in part 5 of my 'Build a Strong Fretboard Understanding' series.
@@underground_man nah, just read the comment I left recently. Learning only 3 strings REALLY gimps you.
@@e7thstar I learned multi-octave scale patterns with my first guitar teacher and learned more of these while in college. Those were good for learning the layout of the fretboard. But to integrate your knowledge of the fretboard, practicing single octave scales worked for me, and I came to that idea much later. I think that learning and practicing both is helpful. Going from studying multi-octave scales to single octave scales is counterintuitive in the same way that the guitar itself is counterintuitive, like @becomegreatatguitar highlights in this video. But, from a practical standpoint, it makes sense to many of us.
@@e7thstar why? it just depends on what you play, 3 strings is enough for 95% of punk
One advantage of guitar is that you can hold any chord shape (without open strings) and go up and down the neck while holding the same fingering, while on piano you need to use a completely different fingering to play the same.
on the other hand these different fingerings allow you to easily see what chord you're playing, it's much easier to find it's notes all over the instrument since they all look distinct, while the guitar is just ? %) gotta memorise the shapes which are not visible on the instrument itself
@@zbepzee9152 based!
Took me some time to be able to finger A minor
Buuut on the piano you can transpose a chord across 7 octaves without changing the shape
I don't follow you. If you hold the same chord shape on the guitar and move up and down the fretboard, you get different chords. But you do the same on the keyboard.The root, 1st inversion, and 2nd inversion hand shapes stay the same as you move up and down the keyword, producing each chord as you move along. On the guitar you have the different CAGED shapes for chords, but on the piano it is basically the same shape for each root chord, the same shape for each 1st inversion, the same for each 2nd, the same for each 7th chord (with a slight adjustment of the thumb distance as you move across the E/F and B/C region). Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but the keyboard finger shapes are very regular, the guitar shapes much less so. This difference in ease is why songs composed on guitar tend to have fewer chords than those composed on piano, becuase the latter is just easier in this regard.
Learning the music alphabet and the major scale in each key and learning that they line up with modes made my understanding expand exponentially
That's right. Throw in your harmonized scale... chords ...triads then you are really cooking.
The modes yes. The modes are the major scale!!! I love it.
All the songs come from that.... every style.
The hardest instrument on the planet to play is the Harmonica, you have to be atleast 25 to reach begginner status. LOL
After 30 years of piano playing I borowed a guitar from a friend for a week expecting at least some result. But after a week of noodling I got nothing except blisters. I never touched the cursed instrument ever again. As a pianoplayer I envy the guitarist ability to buy 20 guitars and hang them on the wall. And bring your favourite guitar everywhere you go... instead of being stranded with some ghastly wrecked piano every goddamn time.
I even have a mini guitar 🎸 that’s easier to take along. But still learning.
I play both, and there’s pros and cons to both. But yea, you can’t pick up your piano and carry it around lol
A coupe of comments are moaning about shallow stuff like video style, but I just listen to what he’s saying about how the guitar works. It explains stuff about the nature of the guitar which I feel when I play, but which i don’t have the musical vocabulary to describe. V informative video, thanks. It explains a lot🙌
Thank you!
Outstanding presentation of a complex subject. Your graphics accompanying your explanations are terrific. I'm 72, but I built a foundation in music theory in my brain at 16 years old. when I was first learning guitar and the piano keyboard. I use my theory knowledge constantly to guide my playing. Thanks for all the hard work you put into this video. Great job.
Thanks for sharing this and the kind words! I totally agree. A solid foundation in music theory is so helpful.
Insane quality of content - and all for free! Can’t believe how good the production value alone is on this video
Thank you!
@@becomegreatatguitar Yes, excellent.
Whatever it may be guitar is addictive. It keeps opening the uncountable doors-- an exploration of a never-ending discovery. This video has been an amazing production.
Thanks!
I’m 4 years into my DIY guitar learning journey and a buddy pointed me towards Intervals very early on. I realise now more than ever what a gift it was: I can improvise freely in any key all over the fretboard, Modal scales are embraced rather than rejected, I’ve become a chord builder rather than a chord & shape memoriser, it helped me understand and apply Harmonics, etc. Some friends with 10+ years of experience actually ask me for tips on Modes and navigating the fretboard. If this was how guitar was taught from day one there would be much less people quitting early on, imho, and definitely less people getting stuck in the typical "intermediate ruts"… and surely much less "break out of the box" and "CAGED" courses being offered on RUclips 😅 Fantastic video, new sub here.
This sounds amazing! I’m glad you made such great progress in such a short time.
Your buddy gave you great advice, and he’s totally right about the importance of intervals.
This is so crucial but still extremely neglected.
Because of this, I cover how to play and conceptualize the basic intervals in my next two upcoming videos. Thanks for sharing this!
@@becomegreatatguitar Cool, I look forward to your next vids as I enjoy getting various perspectives of how people tackle theory.
CAGED is a fantastic system and used by many of the all time greats. judging by the misuse of a bunch of terms in just this short paragraph im guessing theres a good deal of dunning kruger going on here. id advise you to become a bit of a chord and shape memorizer. its what all of us professionals do.
I love music, but when I try to explain therory to new guitar learners their eyes seem to glaze over and they stop listening. Music is hard and it takes hard work to learn music, but it is so worth the hard work. I guess many guitar players stop learning when they discover that it takes hard work and practice to advance. They watch the pros and think the pros simply have more talent. No. The real pros had more patience and determination to work hard at becoming great. It’s supposed to be hard. It’s the hard that makes it great. Rewards come from patience, commitment, and rock hard determination. Nothing less will do it.
@@tomdaoust So true, anything in life which is worthwhile takes hard work and dedication. It's not even a thing of "people don't have an attention span nowadays", that would be too easy since there have always been more guitar quitters than guitar players. I'm by no means a guitar teacher but I think it has a lot do with the fact that the first question should be "what do you want to play and why?" If someone wants to be a campfire player, awesome... teach them a few open chords, point them to a site where they can download endless simple songs and let them rip. Do they want to play Punk? Teach them the concept of power chords on the 6th and 5th frets and voilà. Scales/theory are not what these people are looking for... they just want to have fun. But if anyone told me they wanted to become a serious player I would definitely tell them they have to put the work in. I think so many teachers are stuck in their "lesson routine-for-all" and that's not helpful either. And who's to say someone who starts off simple and is having fun, building appreciation for the instrument, won't look for a deeper dive at a later point... which will never happen if they quit though.
i play piano and guitar and i've always felt like guitar actually deepened my theory knowledge far more than piano ever did. but when i started teaching i was so surprised how rare that is
Interesting...! But sure, strings can illustrate some aspects of music theory differently and perhaps better than keys...
If you want to understand the guitar, you must investigate CAGED. These 5 chord shapes can be used to play all over the fretboard. So CAGED, AGEDC, GEDCA, EDCAG, DCAGE are the 5 ways that any chord can be played in 5 places on the fretboard. - Play E7 at open and at the 12th fret, now play E7 but using the D7 shape up 2 frets; now play E7 but using the C7 shape up between frets 5-7; now play E7 but using the A7 shape between frets 7-9; and finally play E7 using the G7 shape between frets 9-12.
Now to each of those 5-E7 chords, associate the E Mixolydian scale (1-2-3-4-5-6-b7 and E-F#-G#-A-B-C#-D).
Now you can play E7 in 5 places, and you can play the Mixolydian scale in those same 5 places.
Find a YT one-chord vamp that uses just E7. Have fun playing over it in 5 different places on the neck!
Thanks for sharing this. That's good advice!
No
I'll come back when I finally have the mental capacity to take this all in
@@AEZ-VEL don't listen to him. Just learn one basic major scale. Once you have that down, move it up two frets, then two more, then one, then two, then two, then two, then one....and VOILA you've unlocked the fretboard.
For example. Let's say you learn the scale of G major (the name of the note on the 3rd fret on the 6th string is G)
(6th string) 3 5 7
(5th string) 3 5 7
(4th string) 4 5 7
(3rd string) 4 5 7
(2nd string) 5 7 8
(1st string) 5 7 8
Next you'll learn
(6th string) 5 7 8
(5th string) 5 7 9
(4th string) 5 7 9
(3rd string) 5 7 9
(2nd string) 7 8 10
(1st string) 7 8 10
Then
(6th string) 7 8 10
(5th string) 7 9 10
(4th string) 7 9 10
(3rd string) 7 9 11
(2nd string) 8 10 12
(1st string) 8 10 12
Then
(6th string) 8 10 12
(5th string) 9 10 12
(4th string) 9 10 12
(3rd string) 9 10 12
(2nd string) 10 12 13
(1st string) 10 12 14
Then
(6th string) 10 12 14
(5th string) 10 12 14
(4th string) 10 12 14
(3rd string) 11 12 14
(2nd string) 12 13 15
(1st string) 12 14 15
Then
(6th string) 12 14 15
(5th string) 12 14 15
(4th string) 12 14 16
(3rd string) 12 14 16
(2nd string) 13 15 17
(1st string) 14 15 17
Then
(6th string) 14 15 17
(5th string) 14 15 17
(4th string) 14 16 17
(3rd string) 14 16 17
(2nd string) 15 17 19
(1st string) 15 17 19
Then
(6th string) 15 17 19
(5th string) 15 17 19
(4th string) 16 17 19
(3rd string) 16 17 19
(2nd string) 17 19 20
(1st string) 17 19 20
Then (or lastly)
(6th string) 17 19 20
(5th string) 17 19 21
(4th string) 17 19 21
(3rd string) 17 19 21
(2nd string) 19 20 22
(1st string) 19 20 22
Lastly (if your guitar has 24 frets)
(6th string) 19 20 22
(5th string) 19 21 22
(4th string) 19 21 22
(3rd string) 19 21 23
(2nd string) 20 22 24
(1st string) 20 22 24
Hopefully by now you've realized the patterns repeat when you go up 12 frets.
(The first pattern is the same as the 8th pattern. The second is the same as the 9th, etc). This means you ONLY HAVE TO LEARN 7 patterns to understand the fretboard (disclaimer- this is only for conventional music. It does not take into account "accidental notes"...a la jazz, but even then you'll do ok)
The guitar will become MUCH easier to understand once your brain and your hands learn these 7 patterns.
The scale i wrote down is the scale of G (or g major) so if the song's root (the chord the verse of the song starts in) starts on G, you can solo away to any of those patterns to your heart's content.
Let's say the song starts on A major, then instead of starting on the 3rd fret on the 6th string, you will start on the 5th fret of the 6th string.
Lastly, let's say your song doesn't start in a major scale, but a minor. NO PROBLEM. it's still the same sh*t. The relative minor (for our purposes the minor equivalent) of G is Em. Meaning that if the song starts in Em, you can use the same patterns you've just learned for the scale of G.
TL;DR
Learn the 10 patterns i wrote
There are only 7 DIFFERENT patterns
They start repeating AFTER the 7th pattern
The 8th pattern is the same as the first
The 9th is the same as the second, etc.
You're welcome. Wish you luck on your journey
this video had to be an extraordinary amount of work. Very well done!
Thanks! Indeed, it was. After about 30 hours, I lost track of the hours I've spent on this video... maybe 40-50 hours in total...I can't say for sure.
Plus when you bend strings you pass through areas that are not among the 12 note scale, that are between the notes of the 12 note scale.
Sounds like the guitar could use a rebooting of applicable note theory.
That's how microtones still sneak into Western Music Theory without fair recognition. People just casually describe it as nuances and inflections, for lack of sufficient technical vocabulary in the Western system-and even moreso against the historical backdrop of pre-Standardization to 440A, which is essentially everything music-related before the 1950s. 😛 Fretless-guitarists escaped the Matrix entirely, with both microtonal as well as non-Stabdard musical options at their disposal, without even bending or sliding, as long as they haven't limited their ear-development out of habit on fretted guitars or bad advice such as that valid note values do not vary, and so deserve every bit as much highbrow respect as violin virtuosos. To me, it sounds like the difference between a basic box of 12 crayons versus the 64 pack, if notes were colors with in-between shades. 😎 That said, a "fretless" version of an 88-key piano would have about 469 keys. 😱
14:30 "However, on guitar, its a total mess.". 😅 That is the most accurate statement about my understanding if triads and their inversions. I understand most things about learning guitar, but my brain turns to mush trying learn triad positions.
I feel you... On bad days my brains turns to mush too when practicing triads 😅
You are a guitar / teacher genius . You just unleash the myth behind the learning process, explaining in depth what the guitar is about. I just become your fan instantly . Great work indeed .
Thank you! Nice to hear that!
Learning Guitar is insanely FUN. That's all you need. Find friends and jam together, doesnt matter which instrument they play. Play music
I remember telling someone "piano is a fundamentally simpler instrument than guitar" years ago and they looked at me like I had lobsters coming out of my ears. Anyone can sit down and play a chord on piano while just playing even a single note on guitar is hard at first. Good to see I'm not the only one this was apparent to.
That being said, both are hard to get "good" at, whatever that may mean to you.
As a learner I had the same thought. The reality is it kind of balances out though. Since piano removes the part about getting your grip right it makes it easier. So they just write more complicated piano pieces and piano gets harder again. It's the same with electronic music or anything, really.
@@justachannel8600 Anything is only as complicated as you make it. Indeed.
I wouldn't say it's much easier because when you're tone deaf, you cant play anything. Not even a toddler's xylophone. From my experienxe, knowing how to play one instrument makes it easier to learn another one.
Good video, clear and concise content.
I'm so grateful that I took lessons in my early teens. I played solidly for around 6 or 7 years but stopped for a long while. But because of those lessons I took I'm able to pick up the guitar every now-and-then and I can very quickly get close to my best again
I'm currently focusing on acoustic and I'm a far FAR better acoustic player now than I ever was
This is an excellent instructional video. The content and style of delivery is perfect and, I reckon this would be worthwhile knowledge for anyone starting out on the guitar.
Thank you for this free lesson. There can be intermediant guitarist that may not have studied this fretboard theory. That being said, they might already be playing on stage or in a band. Not many I’ve known practice intervals, triads & chord shapes to scales relationship, intstead, they learn songs.
Excellent content for only 20 minutes.
Thank you! Glad You like this video! Yeah, I agree. There are even high-level players who don’t know much about music theory and, in fact, have never practiced it for the purpose of learning music theory. Yet, they have somehow mastered the guitar through all its difficulties by playing by ear and focusing only on real music instead of exercises. However, such skills are rare and require good ears and a high level of resilience because you essentially learn through an extreme amount of trial and error. Most folks who try this method quit too early before they achieve good results. But you’re right, not too many guitarists practice this theory & exercise stuff. This usually becomes interesting when you take this hobby more seriously or want to become a pro. But even then it's possible to not do it and be successful anyway....
@@becomegreatatguitarDo you incorporate any of that trial and error into your practice? And how often do you think many of the greats trial and error things?
Thank you for this look at Guitar. 🎸 i’ve been playing for 13 years, and while I have learned so much, in many ways, Guitar remains enigmatic… a mystery. This is what makes it such a beautiful instrument! , the more you get to know it, the deeper dive in, the more you appreciate! I look at it like the relationship with a beautifully complex woman, it can be puzzling, but it is most rewarding!
Thank you! What a beautiful analogy-I love it! I had a similar thought, but I was more focused on the guitar's aesthetics, thinking its curves resembled those of a beautiful woman... and you completed the idea perfectly!
I just started teaching myself how to play the guitar. I just started with trying to play scales, triads, and arpeggios because that’s how you learn how to play the piano. I was just trying to find the notes by ear. I found this extraordinarily challenging. Glad to know that it isn’t just me. Also good to know that there’s value in this approach.
Tablature can be extremely helpful to help learn.
It is complex and difficult, but it is insanely rewarding when you bang out a complicated riff or solo that you used to daydream about being able to play
Thank you! This was a great video! Love the editing and VFX!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I remember when I was a beginner 63 years ago. Now, I’m an intermediate. At this rate, I’ll be at the professional level when I’m 140. That’ll be sweet.
"professional level"? "expert i think is the word. thousands of guitarist, including myself, play professionally for years on end without even being close to being an "expert".......
@@timothycarroll5846 You are right. I’m sure the experts are still pushing to get better or learn something new.
I have six guitars 🎸 at this time. And who knows I might get some more.
It’s like this he who dies with the most toys wins.
@@stevanrose7439 I've got 2. My 51-year old D-18 that I bought new in 1973 and a PRS SE acoustic that I bought a few years ago when the D-18 was at the factory for a neck reset. I play out with the PRS, especially in humid or cold weather, and play the D-18 in less severe conditions. Sitting idle is not good for any guitar. They have to be played. Also, humidity control makes a big difference. I use a noodle inside the sound hole and a plastic cover over the sound hole when in the case. I can hear and feel the difference when that noodle dries out. So I keep it damp.
Nice video Dmitry!
As a guitar and saxophone teacher who often works with people who already play a wind instrument or piano, I can attest that this extra dimension is a challenge for most.
Thanks for sharing this!!!
recommenting for reupload, great video. The guitar IS confusing. this is a great video to explain this.
Thanks for recommenting! I really appreciate this!
Haha! Not as confusing as women. 😅
I don’t know, I’ve been playing guitar for 30 years and it’s not that difficult.
But I suppose it did take about 10 years before I felt I was any good at it.
One of the most important things you can do is learn some music theory.
You don’t have to learn to read and write music, but at least learn the basics.
Learn the intervals, learn why chords are called what they are called and learn to build chords, learn modes and scales etc.
when you actually know what you’re playing on guitar it will instantly make you a better guitarist and a better musician in general.
People always say things like “I don’t want to learn music theory because it will put me in a box and restrict my creativity”, but this is just something people say as an excuse to not learn theory because it can be complicated and they’re intimidated by it.
If anything, learning some theory enhances your creativity because you know what you’re doing, so you know what chord or note “should” come next, but you can choose to break the rules and play something different deliberately.
Also, never stop trying to play new things and things that you find difficult, as no matter how good you are or how long you have been playing, you can always get better.
Sure the C major key is easy on a piano. Now try D major and see two white keys turn black and then try the C# key. On a guitar the shapes stay the same regardless of the key.
Very true but the same scale can be played using a different shape depending on where you are on the fretboard and which string you start on, whereas the piano the shape repeats every octave. I find the piano far more intuitive and easier to understand. Particularly when it comes to chord formation. This isn't a knock, it's fabulous and I wish the guitar was as easy to grasp visually.
I've always considered playing the guitar to be very abstract. Now I can finally explain why (and don't think I'm weird anymore). Thanks A LOT. I REALLY appreciate your work!! 🙏🎸💥
Thanks! I'm glad it helped you.😊
Ive been struggling with learning guitar for years. Your video inspired me to try again.
Guitar is certainly challenging to learn because of its layout and the physical complexity of playing it. But I think that the first steps to learn basic chord shapes for playing rythm is very rewarding as you can quickly play popular songs... Then there is the 'shape hell'... It took me years of stagnation to go past this and start discovering music theory from near zero. Discovering how intervals define scale / modes construction and how chords are built was a key missing information that I did not get during my self taught journey (thanks to David Walliman videos for that training material). Then I went to identify how to play the chord tones in solos and how to highlight modal characteristics. And also playing based on arpeggios as skeleton for melodic playing. This allowed me to compose / improvise on my own with a looper ... Was a long journey that could have been much shorter if I took a few classes that trained me on intervals, scales and chord construction in guitar at a young age instead of learning shapes of chords and scale blindly.
I’m a decent guitar player and after 15 years I’m just now dialing in on caged knowledge, the modes, and really knowing my intervals on intuitively deep level.
Makes me appreciate how hard guitsr really is to make sense of starting from zero
This is a nice analysis. Guitars are also missing the physical geography of the piano (which has those raised sharps and flats on the keyboard). To add just a modest geographic indicator to my guitar, I put a strip of textured 3M tape on the palm side of the neck, right at the seventh fret, so I can easily "feel" where I am - even without always looking at the fingerboard.
Thanks! You're right. That is really another point worth mentioning. I hadn’t thought about this one, despite having practiced many times to play without looking at the fretboard.
I did the same thing, but with a dot of white out
You said the right things that guitar has been designed.👍
"However on guitar, it's a total mess..." This is such a great video for a keys player who wants to pickup guitar!
It's not that hard if you have a good instructor and follow a process. Do not rely on YT videos and random info. that will quickly overwhelm you. Truefire is a great site with great teachers and a learning path. Learn to love the process of learning- not just playing. You can learn a few simple chords and have fun for years or you can take it further. It's up to you. Theory will make you much better. Some people have muscle memory- play the same memorized riffs over and over but have no clue and limited musical abilities. Just have fun with it and enjoy learning. It's really just simple math- as he says, intervals, steps, scales, triads, formulas to make major and minor scales and modes...again, just math.
Not everybody can learn it by themselves... actualy very few people can, almost none. But once you learn and master the secrets it becomes obvious what the instrument is about and how you could guide someone to go from zero to the point that you are. The point is: some people had this kind of teacher in their lives and learnt with their experience, while others, that could never learn, only had lazy bad teachers
I've done very little research and could find that most of the guitar legends had intense regular classes with a good teach until they got to the level you pretty much knew them
Great video! Looking forward to the series 👍
Thank you! I'm already in the making of it!
1:24 for the key points, a few seconds later, the usual RUclips spam, ‘if you watch to the end I will tell you…..’….yeah OK, I think I can learn the synth in the meantime.
I think the circular, expository monologue goes on for quite longer than that lol! 😂
Thank you for this video. You did an excellent job!
Thank you too!
Once you have hand sync and finger independence its a matter of creativity.
Memorizing a song is much different than improvisation.
90% of the frustration of learning guitar is the first year. 98% of people cant get past that first year.
I've been playing for50 years.but I'm not much better than I was 49 years ago. Then it occurred to me that I have no musical talent. But I still enjoy it
@douglasparise3986 you probably do have the ability and talent, but you require the mindset
It’s easy to learn a two chord song and that drives you to learn more. The secret is, don’t bite off more than you can chew in the beginning and get discouraged
I had difficulties playing the guitar, until I learned an important secret. Stop thinking about playing, and it gets better. Same thing with archery...stop trying to aim, and you're gonna hit the target every time.
I agree, I play trumpet and piano and struggle with guitar. I'm a visual learner, being able to see what I'm doing while playing is everything to me.
Thanks for sharing this. I'm a visual learner too....but also heavily a kinesthetic learner.
Excellent exposition. Logical and clear.
Many thanks!
"however, on guitar, it's a total mess." well, that about sums it up.
I’m a beginning guitar music theory student … and this video opened my eyes as to why guitar is hard to grasp.
I'm glad it helped.
Excellent video
Thank you!
You raised some aspects of guitar i've never thought about. The hardest thing about piano for me, is being able to choose 10 notes at once!
Cool! Yeah, the piano has definitely different challenges.
Man the online guitar community is toxic as fuck
This has me cracking up. It really is lol
amazing production value my brother. I see a bright future ahead of you.
Thank you! Glad you like it!
I found it helpful to discover the repeating patterns for scales and triads on the guitar fretboard.
For example: a scale can be played using only three finger patterns across strings.
And the relationship of a root note to the third or fifth note is the same between any two strings, with the exception of the 3rd and 2nd string.
This last anomaly is easy enough to recognize and remember.
Paying attention to repeating patterns helps a lot in tying basic music theory to the guitar.
Absolutely! Recognizing patterns in scales, triads and other concepts is part of learning and understanding your instrument.
This great! looking forward to more vids 🎩🎩🎩
I already have an understanding of music theory. Guitar is my main instrument, but not my only instrument. This video is way too basic for me specifically, but the information offered is solid. As I am also interested in the best ways to teach music, I'm going to be looking at your other videos. I like your style.
Thanks!
Violinists generally learn a lot of music theory and it is tuned in 5ths, I don't think the layout of the guitar has anything to do with why most guitarists don't learn theory. Guitar is often learned in more informal settings l, if you were studying classical or jazz formally, you'd be learning theory. Other instruments can be weird too- the clarinet has a key to raise the tone a twelfth so that if you were playing a piece in C you'd essentially have to play high notes as if you were in F, huge interval, the recorder and valveless flutes have many forked fingerings, the violin family is fretless- adding a new dimension.
Trying to learn piano as a guitarist comes with challenges too- the notes are linear, intervals that I could easily reach on guitar are a massive stretch with one hand- biggest interval I can reach (barely) is an 11th (comfortably) a major 10th. Moving large intervals around on guitar is easy- I can move an octave around or onto a different string pair easily, acurately moving an octave around on piano is hard, and you aren't playing a minor second as much as a 3rd, 4th, 5th or octave. Scales are spread out, on guitar I can play 2 octaves without shifting position, on piano I have to do multiple finger crossings or shifts to do that. On guitar chord shapes are movable- once you can do barre chords it is easy to quickly find the chord you want- you know where 3rds are by looking at your minor and major chord differences, you will know where your roots are, so embellishments, sus chords, etc can be made intuatively- with piano you have to really know your scales and chords inside out, sure you can figure them out, but improvisation and transposition becomes much harder- you can't just play the same shape higher, you need to know where the flats and sharps are, different keys feel wildly diificult. Unless you have a transpose key, you can't just slap in a capo or a barre chord or play the same finger pattern higher or lower. Then on the piano you tend to be doing more, you are often trying to do a bassline, harmony and melody all at once in a way you couldn't really achieve with guitar.
I often hear that people think the left hand on guitar does all of the intricate movements around fingering strings. Turns out that it is harder to adapt my left hand to playing the rhthmic and dynamic feats my right does on guitar than getting it to make the chords and scales and the pedal just adds another layer of complexity..
I think you would learn theory in different ways on both instruments, I became immersed in theory on guitar and it is helping with piano, there are things that made more sense on guitar, piano is more visual, if you aren't a visual learner, it will be more difficult. I also like how on guitar I can find the same note in multiple places, meaning it is rarely too far away, on piano each note only has one position. They are hard in different ways., but I've wired my brain to play guitar and some other stringed instruments where I think of intervals between strings rather than across a keyboard!
There's another tricky thing with the two-dimensional aspect.
As you've said, on one one string the pitch varies like on a piano from left to right.
But adding the vertical dimension of the guitar, and you can go from low notes to high notes from left to right but also from right to left.
The same with going from high register to low register by going left to right, which is pretty disturbing from a horizontal perspective.
It's obvious when you watch Allan Holdsworth play.
This was an amazing video! Very well structured, thanks a lot!
Thank you!
Good tuition.
Thank you!
Two major advantages the guitar has over the piano is you can move the same chord voicing up and down and learning a scale in different keys is a matter of learning one shape. The Major 3rd distance from the G to B string was a big hurdle for me to overcome in the beginning too.
thanks for validating the complexity of learning how to play, it definitely reassured me 🤓 I needed to hear something like this, you inspired me to keep going 🙌😊
also I loved your delivery, very engaging and easy to follow 👌
Thank you, Dafne! I'm really happy you're saying this! I really hope to be encouraging with this video, but I wasn't sure if I conveyed that clearly.😀🙌
@@becomegreatatguitar you 100% did 🤓 I agree that at some point we need to be aware and accept that this is going to be a long journey that requires patience because it won't be a linear and easy path. This way it is more likely that we stick to it, instead of thinking that we haven't made enough progress after a certain amount of time and probably start thinking that we are not learning 'fast enough' and consider quitting because of that. I think that is one of the key messages you conveyed n_n keep sharing your advice and knowledge 😊🙏
That is the most beautiful telecaster i have ever seen
Another difference vs piano is that you have more ways to shape the sound. Piano basically has how hard you press and how long you hold - guitar has those two, but also muting, vibrato, bends, or how you hit the string, or where exactly, etc. Piano has other challenges though, like greater demand for hand independence as they play different things vs guitar where the hands ”collaborate” on the same notes (inherently easier imo, even if the movents are very different for each hand).
I studied piano and piano accordion for 10 years. Then I wanted to learn guitar and could not make sense how notes are assembled. Can’t wait for your videos. I am reluctant to purchase a guitar as I just don’t understand the structure. I studied music the name of notes are Do,re,mi,fa,sol,la,ci,do. The guitar note names is very difficult. I love your explanation. Thanks.
Thanks for the nice words! Great to have a piano&accordion player here :) The new video is online: ruclips.net/video/Gw6s9xiJ_w8/видео.html
There I explain the note degrees, which are practically the same as Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, but they are just named in numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. I think you'll grasp this instrument quickly with this background.
@@becomegreatatguitar thank you. With instructor like you. I feel confident I will.
I also started as a musician on the piano accordion which is very difficult for different reasons. My accordion had 120 buttons for the left hand bass and chords (hard to memorize without being able to actually look at them). But the guitar is bizarre, I agree.
@@RogueReplicant mine was 120 too German built VeltMistr
Bruuuh just buy the guitar and start the suffering ... It's easier to learn other instruments after playing guitar ... It's even helped me be able to write with both hands 😂😂😂...
my biggest mistake when i became serious about the guitar was learning to play songs and not how to work the machine.
after 40 years of playing, rectifying that mistake is painful and time consuming but i'm finally getting there.....
There is also utility to the design: the ease of transposing. Gotta play a solo in B instead of A? No problem. Just play everything a whole step higher. It's easy because visually everything stays the same.
Doing the same with e.g. piano, or almost any other instrument is much, much harder.
Yup
I never saw the guitar as complex. I enjoyed learning so much, I never realized that I was learning.
Very informative. Thanks
You're welcome!
Great video! As someone that learn trumpet, then piano and music theory before learning guitar I now know why I suck so much as a guitarist.
Thank you! Yeah, it's so helpful to play not just the guitar. This way you get a different perspective on music. It's really important.
I would recommend guitar players learn music theory from a piano keyboard then apply to a guitar fretboard. Major and Minor triads for instance make sense quicker on a keyboard.
I dont reasons why
The piano is used to represent c major
Not g mixolydian the word guitar has no c in it ?
Hence all the problems of getting your head around finger position.
G mixolydian 654 strings 357 frets
Notice all notes are on frets ?
This is the skeleton
It shows the 514 on finger 1 shows pattern of 5ths or 4ths. Both being the same only one is up 5 the other down 4
As above so below
Use a clock face 7 is 5th 5 is 4
Do the same for Dorian and it shows symmetrical also it helps to he player to remember the semi intervals only one step above and below.
Hence Dorian and mixolydian are guitar main scales to work on if starting fresh
But we all get confused because of this fact alone
The same pattern g mixolydian can be used as a guide to move around and play in key
Hence the old man's blues trick of playing in any key shape.
Ps use it n 2md line of pentatonic
The shape is there as a column
Column 1 Maj column 2 minor
Or 2 Nd line of blues moving to the 4 in. A 145 progression.
And overlay pentonic
Job done
Only time spent on instrument will progress your playing nothing else
No need for any lessons
Just turn off and let' the fingers walk but don't concentrate on what your fingers are doing as it will hinder progress on sounding fluent.
Hope this gives a basic sense of why and how people play by ear and say I play by ear and have no musical knowledge.
The Dorian is the 5 note of 9 right in the middle of pattern so fret 2 and 8 are added notes from line 1 and line 3 moved up and down in representive
It just takes practice and repetition. I see the fretboard as part of the piano, stacked diagonally in a way. Also, I think learning relative minor and major scales in the song you are playing, along with 2-3 pentatonic positions are a good way to start. The circle of fifths is brilliant as well. For me though, I will be more motivated to learn the keys of songs I'm jamming because then I can apply it in the song.
Just got a sub. You are a great communicator and teacher. Top quality video.
Thanks and welcome, Matthew!
Just play what you feel, once you learn where everything is... There's NO THINKING about it! It just comes, like magic!
Umm, no. This is bad advice. How do I know? It’s what I did for 30 years. Gets you nowhere.
From my experience. Learn one scale. Then move it up two frets, then two more, then one, then two, then two, then two, then one. Never change scale. By doing this you've unlocked the whole fretboard...at least for a song using a major chord as its base....LUCKILY, each major scale has a relatively minor, which means that a song using a minor chord as its root will use the exact same patterns you've already learned.
You're welcome.
...if what I wrote makes no sense, then you're fked.
Forgot to add, play 3 notes per string. If you do 2, you're gimping yourself. ALSO, spend 2 years mastering alternate picking so you can actually play what you hear in your head without your right hand making you sound like crap
M8 i had a great laugh at the 'your fkd' part. Thank you @@e7thstar
@@flamen89 i decided to come back and help out the lost souls
@@gregdemeterband Let's say you learn the scale of G major (the name of 3rd fret on the 6th strings' name is G)
(6th string) 3 5 7
(5th string) 3 5 7
(4th string) 4 5 7
(3rd string) 4 5 7
(2nd string) 5 7 8
(1st string) 5 7 8
Next you'll learn
(6th string) 5 7 8
(5th string) 5 7 9
(4th string) 5 7 9
(3rd string) 5 7 9
(2nd string) 7 8 10
(1st string) 7 8 10
Then
(6th string) 7 8 10
(5th string) 7 9 10
(4th string) 7 9 10
(3rd string) 7 9 11
(2nd string) 8 10 12
(1st string) 8 10 12
Then
(6th string) 8 10 12
(5th string) 9 10 12
(4th string) 9 10 12
(3rd string) 9 10 12
(2nd string) 10 12 13
(1st string) 10 12 14
Then
(6th string) 10 12 14
(5th string) 10 12 14
(4th string) 10 12 14
(3rd string) 11 12 14
(2nd string) 12 13 15
(1st string) 12 14 15
Then
(6th string) 12 14 15
(5th string) 12 14 15
(4th string) 12 14 16
(3rd string) 12 14 16
(2nd string) 13 15 17
(1st string) 14 15 17
Then
(6th string) 14 15 17
(5th string) 14 15 17
(4th string) 14 16 17
(3rd string) 14 16 17
(2nd string) 15 17 19
(1st string) 15 17 19
Then
(6th string) 15 17 19
(5th string) 15 17 19
(4th string) 16 17 19
(3rd string) 16 17 19
(2nd string) 17 19 20
(1st string) 17 19 20
Then (or lastly)
(6th string) 17 19 20
(5th string) 17 19 21
(4th string) 17 19 21
(3rd string) 17 19 21
(2nd string) 19 20 22
(1st string) 19 20 22
Lastly (if your guitar has 24 frets)
(6th string) 19 20 22
(5th string) 19 21 22
(4th string) 19 21 22
(3rd string) 19 21 23
(2nd string) 20 22 24
(1st string) 20 22 24
Hopefully by now you've realized the patterns repeat when you go up 12 frets.
(The first pattern is the same as the 8th pattern. The second is the same as the 9th, etc). This means you ONLY HAVE TO LEARN 7 patterns to understand the fretboard (disclaimer- this is only for conventional music. It does not take into account "accidental notes"...a la jazz, but even then you'll do ok)
The guitar will become MUCH easier to understand once your brain and your hands learn these 7 patterns.
The scale i wrote down is the scale of G (or g major) so if the song's root (the chord the verse of the song starts in) starts on G, you can solo away to any of those patterns to your heart's content.
Let's say the song starts on A major, then instead of starting on the 3rd fret on the 6th string, you will start on the 5th fret of the 6th string.
Lastly, let's say your song doesn't start on a major chord, but a minor. NO PROBLEM. it's still the same sh*t. The relative minor (for our purposes the minor equivalent) of G is Em. Meaning that if the song starts in Em, you can use the same patterns you've just learned for the scale of G.
Most people learn to play song, minority learn to master the guitar
As a self taught player, the 2 dimensional aspect is what always made me feel guitar was easier for me to understand ironically.
With piano, it always felt like there was a definitive "right" key to push. But with guitar, i feel there is a greater sense of freedom with tone and feel given that any note is accessible anywhere on the fretboard. And alternate tunings are possible to make the same shapes sound totally different. I think its total freedom compared to other instruments
I'm self taught and agree, no boundaries.
Yeah, there are definitely many unique & positive aspects in the guitar's design too!
this is what makes it difficult compared to most instruments
my favourite feature is the tuning pegs, and although all my purist mates hated it, started using a number of open tunings, get to make the chords/melodies i like without the spidery finger stretching frustration using less fingers.
(and discovered solfeggio intervals, now playing is sonic therapy, not frustrating or cramp inducing, carpel tunnels prefer it)
I prefer a guitar multi voiced synthesizer and adjustable pitch blend wheel .also smart chord app came in handy.
Well done, but with all the videos you offer, it would be helpful if you mapped out a starting point and natural sequence through a Table of Contents you recommend; for example, where is 'Part 4/5' or 'Part 5/5'?
Thanks! Part 4 is coming soon. I’ve shot the video but haven’t finished editing it yet. I think I’ll be done by next week. Part 5 is not even shot... I’m not sure I understand you correctly-are you asking for a guide on "where to start if you’re a beginner, intermediate, etc."? I’ve organized this video series into a playlist so it’s easy to follow.
Thank you! I’m used to playing chords but trying to learn it properly and memorise scales and positions. The moving up and down and across with all different ways to do it is driving me crazy.
You're welcome! With time and practice it will get less confusing.
The combination of Learning CAGED, learning to sight read sheet music while playing g guitar, and practicing jamming and playing with other musicians has unlocked a lot of doors for me and within a relatively short amount of time allowed me to become a fairly independent upper intermediate player.
Thanks for sharing this! I think this really shows the power of combinations. It's never just one thing that moves you forward...
Absolutely. Even in very small doses these things will rapidly improve one’s playing skills.
cool video!
So helpful thank you
You're welcome! Thanks!
I’ve played guitar over 50 years but I can still see chords better on the piano. Everything is just sitting there. I think people who can really play guitar well can see those chords very quickly. I think learning the basic chords and then learning the CAGED method is the best practical way to learn basic guitar and then expand to more interesting and complex chords. I didn’t really discover CAGED theory until 20 years ago. It lets you see what’s going on very clearly.
CAGED is helpful for many players, indeed. I think that chords easier to visualize on piano too. Maybe that’s common…
❤ great stuff thanks
Thanks!
I cant read music but after I learnt notes on the fret board and how to read it, playing got a lot easier. I can ask 'What key are you in?' and quickly know what scales and where on the keyboard to play to fit with that key. Also I was hamstringing myself because I wanted to be Paul Gilbert, which I never will be, and this mindset put up a brick wall to any progress. Im still crap after many years but I play my best within my limits 😊
This video is very thorough, and the information is correct, but it misses the point. You have to remember that every instrument was created to address a musical problem, and the guitar was created because musicians became interested in harmony, rather than melody. That is, stacking notes, playing them together, as in chords. That's why the guitar is tuned in fourths, unlike the violin family, which is tuned in fifths: so that your hand can reach several notes in the scale at the same time, to play them together. (the exception is the contra-bass, which is also tuned in fourths, because if it were tuned in fifths, it's so longe that you wouldn't be able to reach to play a scale fluently) Now, you can also play scales on a guitar, pick out melodies, but bear in mind you're getting the instrument to do something it wasn't designed for.
One of the things that makes guitar a complicated instrument is reading music. On the piano, each note is found in just one place; each key corresponds to one black dot on the staff. On the guitar, some notes can be played at several places on the fretboard. To play sheet music on the guitar, you need to consider what was played before, what you're playing after, and what notes are being played together, and how you're going to reach them all. Solving these problems, and being practiced enough to do so on-the-fly is what makes the guitar interesting.
One of the ideas that's served me well for playing melodies on the guitar is to remember that string crossings are never used for half-step intervals; you'd just stay on the same string and go up one fret. So make the whole-step intervals in the scale coincide with string crossings.
The guitar isn't ideal as a first instrument, but it will keep you busy for the rest of your life! The piano, which much more resembles music notation, is a better place to start. But once you've had your introduction, pick up a guitar!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Morgan. I appreciate that you mentioned monophonic vs. polyphonic playing and the aspect of reading music. These are really important topics that I didn't address in the video, but they’re definitely worth exploring in more depth. Sure, I think it's save to say that from a historical point of view the guitar wasn't designed for being played as a melody instrument. But a modern approach of learning the guitar shouldn't care too much about this, because nowadays it's often the case that all you do is soloing and improvising.
Excellent. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Learning to play guitar is like learning to play golf. You can never win. You can just keep learning and growing.
bro nah u deserve so many more subscribers
Thanks!
Its crazy how much music is built off the diatonad and we are so familiar with its sound while its so tricky to explain to the uninitiated.
Im still learning after 30;years of playing i still feel like the same noob but I find you have little adventures each one is like a new series some things you just don't get then oneday it just comes in seconds
Even more perplexing.
Worth the viewing time.