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Post subject: im stuck with my blues!!
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:33 pm
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hello fender crew!! :lol:

i kinda feel like ive hit a wall a bit with my blues lead. any advice would be cool!

im self taught so im not so up on notes along the fretboard. i kinda just go to what sounds right.

i can play along to backing tracks fairly well. i pretty much know only one scale shape tho and use that all way up, with various boxes (bb king clapton ect) sort of tagged on

but i seem to play the same riff shapes alot (hope u know what i mean) and i will normaly just change speed! add bends n vibrato here and there it does sound nice and i am pleased with my progress, but i just feel a bit stuck, my licks are kinda developing slowly at the mo. im not sure what to work on, my pinky?(its not up to speed with the other guys yet) theory? speed? i dont know

so im not sure if any one would have advice for me.
i hope so.

any good excersises to get variety in my riffs?

would learning more scales help?

would theory help me?

is it just a case of keep going with it?

how much comes down too a good vibrato?

did anything you did really help you?

sorry for all questions, i really appreciate you reading this.
its just i pick my highway 1 up soon (which im sure will improve me right away) and i wanna be ready for her!!

cheers guys 8)


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Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:50 pm
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Learn the minor and major pentatonic scales. It's pretty easy in that the minor is a subset of the major. Honestly, if I were you, I would just focus on that for right now. Then practice soloing with those confines. That will give you all the right notes to start you off in the right direction, and might keep you from picking up a bad habit or two.

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Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:55 pm
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sit down with some old blues records like
Albert King
Freddie King
B.B. King
Johnny Winter

and learn to play all those licks and songs by ear thats what i did when i got stuck with my playing and was making no progress, and yes i'm also self taught...

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Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:21 pm
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01GT eibach wrote:
Learn the minor and major pentatonic scales. It's pretty easy in that the minor is a subset of the major. Honestly, if I were you, I would just focus on that for right now. Then practice soloing with those confines. That will give you all the right notes to start you off in the right direction, and might keep you from picking up a bad habit or two.


cheers eibach.

sound advice. will defo get on that.

how many pentatonic scales are there?

thanks for your help


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Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:24 pm
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Hi,
Do you know the five scale shapes of the pentatonics ?

If you do practice linking them together in one particular key e.g G
It will take you up the whole length of the fretboard, picking out many notes that are used in improvised soloing.
Joe Cefalu's hopscotch technique is a great study for this.
Go to joecefalu.com and go to lessons, you get a diagram of the aforementioned shapes and a free short demo of his hopscotch.
All the best.


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Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:26 pm
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bluestube wrote:
sit down with some old blues records like
Albert King
Freddie King
B.B. King
Johnny Winter

and learn to play all those licks and songs by ear thats what i did when i got stuck with my playing and was making no progress, and yes i'm also self taught...


yeah been listening to loads more blues, it has really helped.

thanks for ya help


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Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:34 pm
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Lot's of great free lessons over on YouTube - especially the ones from rockongoodpeople.

Of course you could always check out Blues Republic too! ;)

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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:39 pm
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Rhumba wrote:
Hi,
Do you know the five scale shapes of the pentatonics ?

If you do practice linking them together in one particular key e.g G
It will take you up the whole length of the fretboard, picking out many notes that are used in improvised soloing.
Joe Cefalu's hopscotch technique is a great study for this.
Go to joecefalu.com and go to lessons, you get a diagram of the aforementioned shapes and a free short demo of his hopscotch.
All the best.


yeah i do . will defenatly check that one out. sounds intresting


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Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:39 pm
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louis1 wrote:
how many pentatonic scales are there?

There is only one minor and one major pentatonic scale. However, to learn it over twelve frets (until it starts to repeat) it will need to be learned in five positions. So, it will seem like you are learning a total of 5 minor pent & 5 maj pent scales.

When you first learn it, start with the root at the 5th fret (by far, the most common). Then you can practice changing keys by shifting the whole thing up or down the neck -- but that will come later.

Once you have that mastered that, you will have more than exceeded the musical envelope of AC/DC's Angus Young. No joke.
(that's no slam on my fellow-SG axeman, Angus -- I am a big fan. He may be simple, but the dude never plays a bad note... ).

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Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 2:15 pm
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If you are in a rut, stop there, move sideways. Try some Jazz or Rock lead. You will be surprised how what you learn in other styles of music will help your blues playing.

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Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:15 pm
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You should listen to the earliest examples of recorded blues and just paly along with the likes of Robert Johnson, Peatie Wheatstraw, Pinetop Perkins, and early Swing like Benny Goodman (w Charlie Christian is best) and Glen Miller. And then the 50's blues guys like Willie Dixon, and Elmore James. Then BB King, Albert King, Freddie King, Muddy Waters, Junior Well (w Buddy Guy). Then Allman Brothers, John Mayall, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Johnny Winter, Albert Collins, Billy Gibbons. Then Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Cray, and newer guys after that. But try not to imitate them. All that being said........

If you really want to be self taught, you have to teach yourself the scales, and how to play in key and what key is. You'll have to learn where the notes on the neck are and why they are in that arrangement.

"Self-taught" doesn't mean "Un-learned". You should at least learn to read tabalture and have an understanding of note values and read the lessons in Guitar Player Mag. Rythm makes so much more scence if you understand note values.

In my opinion, "Mostly" self taught is the way to go. You should at least take some kind of basic music class, thats not guitar. Like Accordian, or Keyboards of some sort. That way you still hunger for your guitar, and not burn out on the boring basics. Plus Theory makes perfect scence on a keyboard, and no scence at all on a guitar neck.

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