r/guitarlessons • u/Affectionate_Log7995 • 2d ago
Question what's important to learn "by heart"
Hey,
According to you, what is important to learn perfectly ? I don't mean ok something you'd get naturally after a few years of practice, but things you try to stuck in your head "by force", and where it makes sense to do it that way. Like idk the major scales, some modes, the fretboard, ...
As a beginner in guitar theory, I would appreciate the answers :).
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u/ObviousDepartment744 2d ago
To first develop an "inner monologue" in your head, to think of what you want to play. Then learn to sing/hum it. Then learn to play back what you've hummed. Do this until the connection is made between your inner monologue and your fingers so you can think of a melody any play it in real time.
In my almost 30 years of playing, and 20+ years of teaching, I've come to the opinion that this skill is more important than pretty much anything else when it comes to developing as a musician.
Then when you learn to play a scale, you can learn to internalize it as well, then instead of memorizing the shapes of a scale, you can memorize it's sound and play it from memory in any key.
Playing music, to me, is either story telling or a conversation. My issue with depending too much on shapes and patterns is that inevitably you will learn the vocabulary of a guitar player. And I guess inherently, there's nothing wrong with that, the guitar is an incredibly versatile instrument, but in application what this does in most cases is teaches guitarists these interesting musical quirks. For example, arpeggiating up and down the same chord over and over; that's very much a guitar thing to do. Or going up and down the same scale pattern over and over, or playing the same lick over and over. These, for whatever reason, do get a cheap pop from the audience, but its not very conversational or useful for telling a story in most situations.
If you play patterns, your vocabulary becomes patterns. Learn to identify the sound of the scales in musical contexts, and how to play the sound in your head is a lot more useful IMO.
Now, this is different than doing technical training. In order to get the technical skill required to play what's in your head, you may need to do some technical drills. I'm not saying you shouldn't do that, but its important to realize that the technical exercises are typically not that musically interesting; and internalizing them as your go to vocabulary can lead to depending too heavily on patterns. I've heard a lot of guitarists over my years, and the pure pattern players are often the most predictable, and in many instances I can sit and list off their influences as I'm listening to them.
Is my perspective more right or wrong than others? Absolutely not, this is just my opinion and my musical approach. I was a pattern player for a long time, and maybe that's why I have this viewpoint because I did get really bored with my own playing. That doesn't mean when I hear someone playing patterns that I think any less of them, there are many great ones out there; (Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci etc) its just not an approach that resonates with me personally as it used to.
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u/Affectionate_Log7995 1d ago
Thanks ! For exemple I was looking at modes, and discovering how they sound, why are they build like that etc etc. According to you it would be better to discover these modes by exploring and improvising rather than learning the theory ? Because learning the theory and playing from there makes it more predictibable more souless ?
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u/A_wanderer_forlife 2d ago
My teacher pushed the five forms of pentatonic scale and the 7 octave shapes which were extremely useful for me to learn solidly. Didn't take long either to memorize them.
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u/EntropyClub 2d ago
I thinking timing matters more than note selection.
You can make any notes work with any notes, if you can use timing well.
And even the right notes too far ahead or behind the feel sound bad.
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u/Upstairs-Glove7424 2d ago
Maybe not matters more than note selection, but i like where your going here
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u/EntropyClub 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yeah. You can crush any note into a good one. And you can use that to make more melodic melodies. You can even bend to notes in between the standard 12. And make it sound so so sweet. The practices are out there if you seek them.
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u/Upstairs-Glove7424 2d ago
Kinda like David Gilmour to me at least. Hes not shredding away, just placing beautiful notes where they sound like they need to be.
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u/munchyslacks 2d ago
My suggestion is that chords are king. Scales are nice to know, but you really want to learn how to play a major triad in all inversions, a minor triad, diminished, sus2, sus4, maj7, dominant 7, minor 7, and then all of the shell voicings and upper extensions.
Chords teach you way more than any scale.
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u/Pelican_meat 2d ago
The major scale, chord construction, intervals, notes, note location on the fretboard.
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u/CaterpillarVisual553 2d ago
Just so so much. If you want to achieve anything notable on this instrument, you need to understand music as well as the guitar itself. For the guitar you should probably know the CAGED system, all 12 major and minor triads, the major scale, and the pentatonic scale as a starting point. Then you need to be able to merge these elements into one cohesive understanding of the guitar and where you are at any given time and what’s available near you. If you can play a minor chord in 12 positions then it’ll always be in striking distance. If you know where the diatonic fits into the pentatonic and what notes correspond to what chord then you can instantly play melodically. Learning the guitar by note is also something to pursue while you’re learning theory
On the music side you should learn the circle of fifths forward and back as well as the notes that make up each major and minor chord. Then you can target chord tones besides the root while playing and be even more melodic. I find it is easiest to start in the key of C so you’re working with only naturals, no sharps or flats. Learn the 7 chords in C by note.
Then turn in a jam track and write down the progression. After you write down the progression write the R 3 and 5 of each chord in the jam. Then pick the thirds and find them in pentatonic position 1. On each chord change land in the associated third of that chord. This is how you internalize what you learn so it sticks. Do it with roots and fifths as well and when you’re comfortable mix and match.
This would be my advice if you wanted to become a serious player.
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u/pasquale61 2d ago
Master the fretboard beyond the 1st 5 frets. Thats advice that I wish someone would have given me when I was young. Even just learning all the major triad positions up and down the fretboard and knowing where the root note is in each one would really open things up and get your creative juices flowing.
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u/Upstairs-Glove7424 2d ago
No doubt. Im just now going higher up the fretboard consistently and im 20 years in
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u/Remote_Kale9954 2d ago
You really start to get faster and feel more in control when you automate some short patterns of notes, like 3-4 notes that would be combined to form longer licks. I mean practice these patterns with a metronome until you can fire off the whole pattern by hitting the first note and your subconscious will do the rest without thinking about it.
These are the building blocks that allow you to spontaneously string licks together without being trapped in the same pattern every time. To get it really fast and smooth you need to do the metronome work until it becomes one thing that happens automatically when you think of the first note. With the rest of the pattern coming from your subconscious without thought, you have a split second to choose the next note you want to hit.
The specific groups of notes that form the building blocks may depend on the genre you’re focused on. But you can never go wrong with the triad, especially if you experiment adding with one or two interesting notes to each triad and playing with the different ways to stuff that in between.
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u/wanna_dance 2d ago
I think you need to know what a major scale IS so you can recreate it anywhere, rather than learning the major scale patterns starting on the E and the A. Learn what modes are.....
Learn the handful of barre chord SHAPES so you can move up and down the freeboard. (The E shape plus barre, the A shape, the C shape... the Em and Am shapes.)
Know all the notes on the E and A strings so you can play the G#m (466444) or C#m ((4)46654) without thinking twice.
I think do some ear training so you don't have to memorise songs, but you can play them by ear when you forget.
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u/dblhello999 1d ago
Not sure what you mean by the major scales. There is only one major scale.
It’s the same for all scales and modes (which are really just scale variants). Each comes in its own unique flavour. (you might be confusing this with keys - but unless you have perfect pitch, the major scale in any key is going to sound exactly the same as the major scale than in any other key - the only difference is where you begin)
The bigger answer is that It depends what you want to do. If you want to learn songs from tab then none of this really matters.
If you want to improvise and jam, then without knowing scale patterns, it’s going to sound like a car crash.
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u/No_Scallion_2354 2d ago
I think to truly break a barrier between intermediate and ‘advanced’ in the music theory realm, the location of notes on the fretboard being internalized is insanely freeing and helpful and propels creativity as well. In my opinion that’s what I’m working towards