Beginner Guitar

In this exercise we work on listening to the perfect 4th interval between two adjacent strings, in this case E and A, but it could be A and D, D and G, [NOT G and B], and B and E Here Comes The Bride

In this exercise, we find the perfect 4th interval by picking a root note, and then playing a note that is 5 half steps higher. Then pick that same root note, and play the adjacent string on the same fret, and it should be a perfect 4th between E-A, A-D, D-G, [NOT G-E] then B-E My guitar sounds like its out of tune. Sorry. Maybe thats part of ear training, to just be able to hear that something isn’t quite right. That perfect 4th interval is able to be memorized by using the song Here Comes The Bride as a reference tone. Practice these perfect 4ths on every string, every pair of adjacent strings, and every fret. The perfect 4th is one of the most fundamental of all intervals, The guitar itself is constructed such that there is a perfect 4th offset between most sets of adjacent strings. So being able to quickly find a perfect 4th from where ever you happen to be will be important to your development as a guitar player.

In this exercise, we explore 4 ways to play 5 half steps with 4 fingers, moving from higher frets to lower frets.

In this exercise, we use 4 fingers to play 5 frets across 3 strings Sometimes when you run out of fingers, you have to move your whole hand to allow you to use your leading finger on a higher note.

In this exercise, we use 4 fingers to play 5 frets, or 5 half-steps. Sometimes we do exercises to isolate our fingers, and make them work alone. Sometimes we do exercises to join our fingers, and make them work together. This exercise is meant to help unlock one of the secrets to playing guitar like a master, And that is the secret that you can use any finger to fret any note. You are not locked in to always having to use a certain finger to make a certain sound. These exercises are meant to break that mental habit of thinking you must use a certain finger to make a certain sound, And reinforce the mental habit that any finger can be used to make any sound. As you develop as a guitar player, you will be able to smoothly and seamlessly shift from one note to the next note with minimal effort, and have an intuitive feel for which finger is best to use in any given situation. You will know by ear which note you want to hear, and your fingers will know by muscle memory how best to find that note.

In this exercise, we practice 16th notes, Using thumb and finger. Practice with all finger combinations, on all strings etc More on 16th notes http://totalguitarist.com/lessons/rhythm/16th-notes/

In this exercise, we use our thumb and pointer finger to count 1/8th notes 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and ... More on 8th notes or 1/8 notes http://totalguitarist.com/lessons/rhythm/8th-notes-and-rests/

In this exercise, we use thumb and finger to count triplets like 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a ... This exercise combines the downstroke of the thumb, with the upstroke of a finger. Practice with all possible combinations of fingers, on all strings etc. More info on triplets at http://totalguitarist.com/lessons/rhythm/8th-note-triplets/

In this exercise, we practice sixteenth notes 1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a ... More on sixteenth notes http://totalguitarist.com/lessons/rhythm/16th-notes/

In this counting exercise, we use the pointer finger to pluck the low E and A string 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a ... 1 e and 2 e and 3 e and 4 e and ... This exercise should be practiced with all fingers, on all strings, on all frets and everywhere else... This exercise is also with your pointer finger, a finger which, when used during an upstroke, feels fundamentally different than a downstroke, not just in your finger, but in your hand, your arm, and your whole body. So practice upstrokes all by themselves for several hours, to develop a good feel for them, Before moving on and trying to integrate your downstroke-upstroke We could add up the many different ways there could be to practice different combinations of time signatures, counts, strings, frets, fingers upstroke-downstroke and it would be a very big number... So it is up to the beginner guitar player, to put forth the effort, to put in the time, to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. It is up to the beginning guitar student to put forth the effort, to spend countless hours, practicing with their instrument, getting familiar with every string, every note, with every finger, with every chord shape, with every time signature... In my personal experience as a music student, i didn’t ever ‘get’ the time signature intuitively, Probably because it was taught to us in the context of a melody... In my opinion, every music student, and every other student, should get a 4 hour drum kit lesson as the very first music lesson. The lesson would start with how to experiment with holding drumsticks, And it would fully explore time counting on every drum and cymbal combination. The main idea of the lesson would be to feel the movement of all parts of your body, from head to toe. Both hands, and both feet. This is critical to later music practice, Especially the foot-tapping toe-tapping habit that is so hard to get beginners to do. Once you have developed a toe-tap foot-tap heel-tap kind of kickity-klak Then you can segue that habit or skill into learning other instruments, Such as the guitar... The last half of the first drum kit lesson would be a free form jam session over good songs of the students choosing or by teacher suggestions. This lesson is about 4 hours long, with short breaks. When you are done with the lesson, you will never ‘hear’ music the same way. You will feel it in your bones. Music will animate you. Get your heart beating faster. The quickening. Some people play music by sight Some people play music by heart Some people play music by ear Some people play music by emotion Some people play music in their bones The motion of your own unique skeleton leaves a unique, distinct trail as your body moves thru space. Nobody can dance like you. And you can’t dance like anyone else. So practice ‘dancing’ up and down the guitar fingerboard, until you are as smooth as a fish in water. This is how to learn guitar, learning to play an instrument. The whole instrument, from front to back, top to bottom, left to right, upside down, backwards, alt tuned, etc ... As opposed to learning the individual guitar notes, of individual guitar songs, on your individual guitar. Give a man a fish: teach him how to play one whole song Teach a man to fish: teach him how to play one whole guitar

In this exercise, we use the right hand pointer finger to pluck to 1/8th note pattern. Part of what makes a guitar different from something like a drum, is that on guitar you are able to get a sound on the up-stroke, whereas on drums you usually don’t get a sound on the up-stroke. But up-strokes are not merely the opposite of down-strokes. Spend a lot of time practicing up-strokes all by themselves, to develop muscle memory and feel

In this exercise we count to 4 with our right hand pointer finger. 1,2,3,4 ... 1,2,3,4,...

Counting 16th notes. 1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a ... http://totalguitarist.com/lessons/rhythm/16th-notes/

Beginner Guitar - Counting on Guitar - Triplets 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a ... 1 e and 2 e and 3 e and 4 e and ... https://www.wikihow.com/Count-Music http://totalguitarist.com/lessons/rhythm/

Using the right hand thumb to strum the two lowest strings, E and A, in an 8th note pattern that goes like 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and ...

Why are there starving artists? Because so many artists supply art in an abundance far beyond actual demand. Your moms refrigerator only has so much space on it to pin up photos and other art. I call that vertical real estate. The value of vertical real estate is often overlooked, even though it may cost more to rent certain billboards than it does to rent an apartment twice its size So a child’s artwork occupies space on their parents refrigerator, because its sentimental, And this childs artwork is competing for this very valuable space with all the commercial “art” that would like to occupy space on your refrigerator... things like magnets for local food places, your car dealership, your next dental appt... So when the supply of art far exceeds the demand for art, the price collapses to zero, or less, And in some cases, just to stay warm, some people burn will paper money, which is just paper, with some “art” on it, “art” that in most cases devalues the blank paper its printed on. So anyway, musical instruments are kind of the same way. Musical instruments are mass produced to the point where pianos are often given away for free, if you haul... How does this relate to the title of the post? Ive never worked in a guitar shop, or accepted any money for a guitar repair. That being said, i see the economics of a guitar shop like this Is it better to sell one $1000 guitar, Or to sell ten $100 guitars? Consider the relative economics of a set of new strings If i bought this guitar for $12, then a $6 set of new strings is a relatively big investment compared to initial investment. Are new strings worth it? I think new strings are always worth it! Because its not just the feel of the new strings, but the rest of the guitar set up. Micro-adjustments. Cleaning. So in the musical instrument business, there us always far more of a supply of work that needs to be done, than can ever be supply of the skilled labor it takes to do the work. Every guitar needs to be tuned. Every piano needs to be tuned. How many people do you personally know who can tune a piano? So the reason i was able to find a nice guitar for $12 is because the guitar was bought at a big box store, and then the guitar broke a string, and the guitar got returned to big box store as defective. Big box store decides to “donate” 4 guitars, (along with other defective “goods” ) to a local charity (maybe thru goodwill idk) I buy 5 string guitar for $12 Which is kinda funny because i would put new strings on even if one string wasn’t broken. There’s really no good substitute for the feel of brand new strings Brand new strings bring an instrument up to an established standard, or starting point. So if i buy a guitar for $12, and “invest” $6 in new strings, plus the $60/hr “shop rate” my time is worth ($1/minute shop rate is common. Literally charge by the minute) But if i spend a minimum of 3 hours cleaning, adjusting, etc thats $180 in labor So what is the guitar worth? Look it up online. Find out what they sell for brand new. I was standing in line at pawn shop to buy what i thought were good deals on gear. I looked up value of two items, and both items were priced exactly what they were priced brand new online. That was a big “ah ha!” Moment for me. How did pawn shop know what item was worth? They looked it up! How much did pawn shop pay for item? Its irrelevant to the price now! They probably pay as little as possible, and get back as much as possible. Buy low, sell high. In the musical instrument repair business, you are handling other peoples sentimental belongings, So right away there is separation anxiety of guitar owner when guitar is dropped off at guitar shop. Then theres the frustrating feeling that it is taking way too long to get your instrument back to you... And if you scratch, or ding, on accident? You will be working with heavy, hard tools, such as wire cutters, in close proximity to a soft, high gloss surface that will show any ding or dent if you drop a tool just wrong. So for me, its safer just to buy an instrument outright, own it outright, and then if i take too long, Or if i do some experiment that goes horribly wrong... never wet a magic eraser with rubbing alcohol!! And by experimenting with my own instruments, i am able to continuously improve my guitar tech skills, without all the risks of working on other peoples property. There’s a million $12 guitars. They are sitting in attics, and garages, and closets, and under beds, and in car trunks, and storage units... They have one broken string, And nobody to fix it. So i buy a cheap guitar, practice my guitar tech skills, and... No... I don’t sell my guitars. My dream is to have a library, of sorts, of musical instruments that are available for people to check out like books from a library, And on the Library end, have students and apprentices who service every instrument when its returned. This means finding owners manual online, printing off a hard copy to keep with instrument case, at library shop, etc. Binge watching how-to videos, before ever attempting to do a job, so you know what tools you’ll need, etc. And building a small bay, with a good work bench, and a kits of good quality tools, and supplies, for each instrument. It used to be that you could “rent” an instrument, but the economics of that seemed to have failed where-ever it is tried. So how can we make good quality, well set up instruments available to people to use for a while, while on the other hand anticipating the problems of the instrument rental business. I feel that every piano that is not tuned, is a lost opportunity for someone to learn how to tune pianos. And that the local musicians are always limited, by how well the local instruments are adjusted and tuned. So is it worth it for me to shim this neck? Probably some day but not today. Sanded shim by hand the first time. Looking for excuse to buy bench sander now. Bench sander may be $80 to $500. Stew Mac sells shims for $8... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIUzd0IjchU https://www.stewmac.com/tonewoods/shop-tonewood-by-instrument/electric-guitar-bodies-and-necks-and-wood/electric-guitar-necks/stewmac-neck-shims-for-guitar.html?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=CP%20%7C%20MF%20%7C%20BNG%20%7C%20SHOP%20%7C%20NBR%20%7C%20All%20Products&utm_term=4578572614422301&utm_content=All%20Products

In this video, i demonstrate how i finish guitar string ends to leave a nice little loop instead of a sharp thorn or a fish hook. Tools needed: needle nose pliers, wire cutter Finishing the string ends is the final touch between the guitar tech and the guitar player, And it sucks when a luthier goes to all of the effort to make a beautiful guitar, only to have it poke the guitar player and make them bleed. Theres probably a blues or metal song about getting poked by your guitar string ends and bleeding on your guitar. It sucks when you, the guitar buyer, spends a lot of money on a nice guitar, only to get poked by a sharp guitar string end. Many years ago, i started curling the string ends into a loop like this, and then for a few years i quit finishing the ends... And then i remembered why i started finishing guitar string ends the first time. I think i will stick with this method for now unless i discover something even better!

Beautiful guitar and case (for its age). Just needs a little work. Found that the tuners were not original, because i found the footprint of the original tuners, and some old screw holes, underneath these newer tuners. The holes for the small woodscrews that hold the tuners in were all pretty much stripped out, so i did the toothpick and glue hole fill trick. That seemed to work well. All the screws bite good, except for the one screw thats missing. Note to self: I should get myself a wood screw assortment kit with every screw size and head type... The tuner pegs themselves are made of a shiney yellow metal (brass?), and had burrs around the string holes in the pegs, which is probably why i broke a string up near the tuning peg. I used to just shrug off a broken string, but then one day i broke like 3 in a row, same string every time, same place. Finally i decided to inspect the guitar and tuning peg holes and discovered the burrs that were probably breaking my strings. Now whenever i break a string, i inspect the guitar in the area where the string break happened (usually at the tuning peg or by the bridge). So far, like 5/6 of the guitars i have inspected have had burrs or sharp edges on the tuning peg string holes, and/or at the bridge end. On this job today i just used two diamond tip dremel bits and used them by hand like tiny files. The (brass) was soft and scratched easy, so i didn’t want to go full power tool on it and do some damage... I was able to find a better machine screw at a shop close by, so now the tremolo is back to functioning like it should. The old screw that was in there was so long that it bottomed out on the pick guard before the tremolo even moved! The underside of the pick guard was disgusting. I could have cleaned the pots and switch but since i tested them before i started i was fairly confident that they were ok, and i don’t like using contact cleaner unless i have to, for many reasons... Got the guitar strap swapped out for a cotton strap. Tried to set the bridge intonation, but the set screws ran out of adjustment. StewMac sells a bridge pin offset that might work to fix this. I honestly never noticed the intonation was off, never bothered to check! Oiled the fretboard. Polished the frets. There were a few areas of string wear, but they were mostly smooth and you couldn’t feel them. Where there was a burr, or any roughness, i polished it out. The last thing i want to do cut the string ends near the peg head, and curl the ends into a nice loop, instead of leaving 6 sharp barbs ready to poke some poor soul...

In guitar, there are many ways of counting many different things. In this video, we learn about scale length, root note, octave, half-steps, whole-steps, Perfect 4th and Perfect 5th All the minor and major scale degrees, The blue note Relative Minors and Relative Majors “Learning to count” is a series of lessons that identify the various ways musicians “count” many different things... When it comes fo the fretboard, the first thing we are taught is, this is the nut, and this is the bridge, and here is fret number 1, 2, 3, ... So naturally we then begin to relate how we think about the fretboard in relation to how we are taught to count frets, However, counting frets is just a temporary crutch, a bridge you use for a while, before you move on. So, instead of showing a guitar student, ‘this is fret 1, this is hand position 1, heres some cowboy chords...’ We take it a step further, and have the student count the frets from 1 to 12, Then talk about the two dots, how the 12th fret is the middle of the scale length, And how every exercise is easier at the 12th fret, because thats the middle of the string, where its most flexible. Do an exercise, for example, a bend, up a half step, Do the bend string up half step at the 12th fret, then the 11, 10, 9 down to 1, And note how much harder it is to bend a note on the 1st fret. Then do bent note up half step exercise back up from fret 1, to fret 12, And note the 12th fret feels easier than the 1st fret. Then continue on to 13th etc frets, feeling how each bend at each fret feels slightly different. Define scale length as the precisely measured length of guitar string from the nut to the bridge. Get the student thinking in terms of the full string length, scale length, and fractions of the scale length 1/1 is open string length, the root note, in this example its the E string 1/2 scale length is 8va also E 1/4 scale length is at 5th fret, Which is located exactly below the perfect 4th harmonic node on the vibrating string. 1/3 scale length is the harmonic node point on the vibrating string, that is located directly above the 7th fret. The 7th fret is 7 half steps above an open string root note. 7 half steps is the perfect 5th. The 4 bass strings on an E standard tuned guitar are offset such that each set of adjacent strings is offset by a perfect 4th, ... And how at a ‘lower’ fret number, you are using more of the scale length of the guitar string, and have a ‘lower’ sounding tone. Do rote listening exercises. [On an E standard tuned guitar EADGBE] Root-octave (compare ‘is’ with ‘is not’). Do listening discernment exercises, where you listen and compare the two E sounds, of the root and the octave, (open, 12th, open, 12th... ) During exercise, say out loud, annunciate, in a loud singing or chanting voice that could be clearly heard by an audience (Low E, High E, Root, Octave, One, Eight, Zero, Twelve...) And then do listening discernment exercise where you listen and compare ‘E’ and ‘NOT E’ Open string root note E, and 12th fret is E Open E, 11th fret is ‘NOT E’ Open E, 13th fret is ‘NOT E’ And go back and forth, tick tock, sounding the open E root note, as a reference tone that you are actively listening to, and telling yourself that the sound is E, and verifying the sound is E, with a tuner. Go from the 12th fret, down to the 1st fret, and tick-tick, listen to E root open string, and the sound of each fretted note from 12 down to 1, listening, and saying ‘E, NOT E, E, NOT E... and verify by listening that each of the sounds made by the other 11 frets were ‘NOT E’. For the purpose of this exercise, we only want to discern, by active listening, that a root note, and its octave, do sound the same, which is, ‘E’ And to discern, by active listening, that your root note is E, and all other notes/frets are ‘NOT E’ From 12 down to 1, and back up from 1 to 12, And beyond 12, to as many frets as your guitar has, And then beyond the last fret... ‘is E, or is not E? ... that is the question!’

Star Spangled Banner Left Hand View.

Ive been wanting to do this for years, and today I roughed it in. Its kinda hard to find a place to mount underneath that isn’t obstructing some moving part, or a full roll being too close to something and dragging. Downside: its a tinderbox. Need to tuck them back under further to use the desktop as a natural hood to prevent anything from falling off the desktop and on the roll.

This is the celebration of two bright ideas! First, who knew that brown paper bag is just the right amount of abrasiveness and durability for polishing frets? Then who knew that wrapping a scrap of brown paper bag over a guitar pick would give you the perfect tool to polish frets? Guitar pick small, flexible, flat, tight radius on edge. Lets you get in close without blocking your view. BEFORE YOU START, ALWAYS VERIFY, that your fretboard wont scuff or scratch with these tiny polishing blocks, by gently testing on an inconspicuous part of the fingerboard. Protect your fingerboard, if necessary, with masking tape to cover wood, while you work on metal.

In this exercise, we use the right hand thumb to pluck the string, as we count 1-2-3-4 I would say most of my guitar struggles came from me not ever learning how to count and keep time. I would recommend to any musician to have an into to drum kit lesson, just to get used to the concept of having each hand, and each foot, make a different sound. And also to learn how to intuitively keep count and keep time, How to play it harder if you want it forte, How to play it gently when you want it piano. After you spend 4 hours on drum kit, come back and apply what you learned on drums, to the guitar, beginning with basic counting, keeping time, being in the rhythm section...

In this exercise, we use the right hand thumb to play only one string. This exercise may be a little more difficult because you are trying to play ONLY one string, so you have to move enough to play one string, but not move so much that you play more than one string.

In this exercise, we use the right hand thumb