I have something to get off my chest ..

[pjc812]

on old German organs, yes

My understanding is when that came about, they had two different keys in the place we have one key now so it would be something between A and Bb. I think it helped alieve some of the funky tuning problems the old pipe organs had when playing in wierd keys.

 

[ivanmihaljevic]

on old German organs, yes

My understanding is when that came about, they had two different keys in the place we have one key now so it would be something between A and Bb. I think it helped alieve some of the funky tuning problems the old pipe organs had when playing in wierd keys.

Well, actually H is B in some European countries (including Croatia), it's not higher or lower, it's the same note.
That system is actually pretty confusing and non-intuitive (until you get used to it).
The biggest paradox is that what you would call B flat in this system is called B. So, H flat is called B.

So, when someone from Germany (or Croatia, Austria...) plays with someone from USA (or any other "B country") they have to be careful because it can get pretty messy (I've witnessed it a few times myself).

 

[andynpeters]

Knowing the notes on your frettboard is really very simple. It's simply a matter of knowing your ABC's, and counting.

Indeed the system is very simple and I'm sure almost all of us understand it. Knowing your ABC and counting doesn't help

I think the problem that many of us have is that the guitar neck does not have the visual references of a piano or sax, and whilst we could count upwards 11 steps from open E to find E flat, it is more a question of being able to KNOW what note we are on straight away.

Like quite a few here, I don't, though I use Tim's system with the E-strings

 

[Spudmurphy]

^
That's how I've survived up to now.
When you here some of our guitar heros talking about the theory I often say to myself -"Yeah that's what I've been doing, but never knew that I was adding a ....."
You get my drift.
Now it's not that I am trying to be a music professor or anything, I just fancy learning a bit of theory on the guitar. - Knowing me I'll get fed up too easily and throw the Theory book in the bin !!

 

[blackspy]

Best advice I ever had was "use the dots," the notes just repeat anyway so memorize the ones at the dotted frets and it's a lot easier to name them after that.

 

[candid_x]

Spud, I hear every word you're saying, and echo them. I've never had a mind for music theory, faked my way to all state in school, and have faked my way through the years on guitar. I have what today would be called a learning disability, or ADD. Never had enough credits to get past 7th grade, except when I took the HS exams in the Navy, turns out I knew enough to get a diploma.

I've tried so many times to get my head around what so many here take for granted in their playing, without success, only frustration. I've accepted that it's just not how I'm hardwired.

This, no doubt, will sound sophomoric to the good players here, but between us, there's a little trick I've learned, to work myself out of boxes. I'll add a half step up or down on a single note outside the box within the scale or box. It almost doesn't matter where it is in the scale, just one note in it a half step up or down. Once that's incorporated into memory, I'll do it with another note in the scale/box, and so forth, until there are several other optional notes to use around that particular box. If nothing else they become incidental or passing notes.

So many times I'll be jamming with friends, and someone will voice out a certain progression. As usual it slips through my brain with little if any cognition, but once we start playing, I find it all very quickly by ear and pattern association, even though I don't know the names of half the chords I play or the technical names of modes and such. I get by, and more importantly, I have a good time, always, and no one ever complains about my playing.

 

[germangallardo]

Welcome to my world Spud my ear is very close to perfect pitch (NOT perfect tho) I know the 5th chords (or power chords) but my jazz isnt half bad actually I won the music festival last year without knowing what the hell was going on

Needless to say improvising is my best quality, Ive layed down some recent studio tracks with the JP7 and the people have been happy. So no big deal on that, however as many have stated it is important Im sure Im going to get better when I finish of learning. Currently Im on the scale modes

Good luck

 

[Spudmurphy]

^
interesting!
So how did go about learning the jazz stuff? - probably a bit like me just sit down listen to some stuff and keep trying to figure it out.

 

[Lew]

oi oi Spud,back in guitar school this was pretty much one of the first things we learned,its important(imo) to be able to move your hand as quickly as your ear,just imo and ymmv etc...
Anywho I learned by simply playing the notes along the low E and memorising them(make a mental note of hitting fret 5 and thats was A),it wont take you anytime at all if you put some time in,you only have to go up to fret 12 anyway ;P
Once you have them remembered then use your octave fingerings to be a map for you to work it out on other strings whilst you are memorising the low E (you don't want to overload your memory ;P ).

Anyway just my experience,may be useless to ya ;P just get a black marker pen on that neck

 

[robelinda2]

sod it all Spud, and go and learn something that sounds really cool, like Electric Gypsy by Andy Timmons, or Toto's version of Bodhisattva, or maybe AL's solo in My Baby Thinks He's a Train. GOLD!

 

[rrhea]

I am currently learning the entire fretboard as well, after nearly 20 years of playing. My teacher suggested that I take a single note, say C... and learn it all over the neck. He then suggested I lay down a simple progression in C and jam over it constantly being mindful of the different places the C notes are on the neck when going back to the root.

Doesn't have to be a pretty tune (and mine aren't!) Then you move on to the next note, then the next, etc. I think learning one note at a time instead of one string at a time is working better for me.

RR

 

[Jonny Dubai]

one recent way i have been working on is to see how many ways i can play an E chord all over the neck (2 or more strings). You will have your standard shape, but then with you find others. it will also help you to learn the notes around the root. kind of works for me as i like chords/songs.

Cheers,

J

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

 

[Spudmurphy]

Guys
Thanks for all the suggestions - if anybody has more ideas then keep em coming.

 

[andynpeters]

Guys
Thanks for all the suggestions - if anybody has more ideas then keep em coming.

Stop spending all your spare time on this forum and get some practice done.











Good advice for me too I suppose!!

 

[Spudmurphy]

^
Got my AL on my lap as I type hee hee!!

 

[andynpeters]

^
Got my AL on my lap as I type hee hee!!

Liar!!

 

[Lefty_SS]

its pretty easy

this is how i learn it A_ B. C_ D_ E. F_ G


_=two frets(fret 5 to 7)
.=one frets(5 to 6)

just start with the open strings and work your way from that...i pretend my open E is my "open fret" and put my finger on the nut to help me count it...its that simple, hope this helps

 

[andynpeters]

its pretty easy

this is how i learn it A_ B. C_ D_ E. F_ G


_=two frets(fret 5 to 7)
.=one frets(5 to 6)

just start with the open strings and work your way from that...i pretend my open E is my "open fret" and put my finger on the nut to help me count it...its that simple, hope this helps

Again I think we all understand the scale system....it's just getting the position of the notes memorised all the way around the fretboard and having the info instantly accessible. The principle is indeed simple, the memorising much less so.

 

[geektard]

That system is actually pretty confusing and non-intuitive (until you get used to it).
The biggest paradox is that what you would call B flat in this system is called B. So, H flat is called B.

So why not just use Do Re Mi?

The way I learnt the fretboard is to read tab & staff together. Once you get used to it it'd be easy to know where you're fretting (tab) is which note (on the staff).

I can't sight-singing (singing DoReMi) tab though...