Guitar Lesson

I found this guy on the net while googling for something voice lessons. Click on his music and it suits my style. He's got formal training at a respectable local city college and started a band that's been around for about a decade. He had his "studio" setup in his parent's garage. It's seems more like his living space with a practice amp, a couple of acoustics, and a small stack of fake and music books. (note: I later found out he owns a house 6 blocks away with his g/f. I guess he never bother to get his stuff out of his parent's garage like the rest of us.) We talked for 1/2 hour and his lesson "idea" pretty much sounded like what I had in mind. I wouldn't say he's got a lesson plan since his other students were kids starting from scratch and were learning out of the Mel Bay books. For me, I'll bring in some songs to learn, and we'll pick the theory out of the song and work on any technical issues that I have.

I got him to strum a few riffs, and he sounded alright. I had to make sure he can actually play because anyone can learn a few beatles songs and start teaching beginners, and I wasn't about to check his school or work(teacher as local music school) credentials. I had heard the intro to a few of his songs online, but I wasn't sure how much of the guitar playing was his.

I almost wrote him off before the lesson started cause the drive there was a pain and away from my house. It's not far, but the traffic can be a pain right after work.

Free Software to help Practice

These are two S/W that I use now and wished I had back in the early 90s. Plus, they're free.

1. Audacity - I can load MP3 and slow down the songs and maybe even remove the vocals. I can also lay down a rhythm track and play lead over it.

2. Powertabs - It's like karaoke guitar tabs. You can change the speed of the song and remove extra guitar parts if multiple tracks exist. Of couse, you need to find the powertabs for the songs you want.

One month update

I haven't done what I wanted to do that much, which was to work on rhythm. I basically did whatever I found interesting. I learn the intro to BB King's Please love me out of the book "Improvising Blues Guitar" from the library. I know the solo note for note and can play it almost up to speed of 170 bpm. Then I brought the song off the iTunes site and I'm totally off. Turns out the song has a shuffle beat. I'm relearning it now with the correct beat and it's starting to sound much better. This is an OK book cause it teaches by example, but it's old and the explanation sucks. Luckily, I understand the theory already.

I randomly dig out old guitar magazines now and then. I pick up a few Stevie Ray Vaughan intros. I practiced a few of them, but the only two that stuck are "Texas Flood" and "Pride and Joy". I'm working these two into my practice routine. Stevie had this technique of very lightly muting the strings to get that great percussion effect in "Pride and Joy". I still can't get it to sound right and I've changed the strings of my Ibanze to 11 guage and increase the action so they don't buzz even when strummed very hard. This setup make it hard to bend the strings. Texas Flood force me to make my bending technique more efficient cause it's got such a quick lick that also sounds so smooth. I make sure to tap my feet and play slow. I rented Stevie's Austin Limits DVD and all I can say is Un-freak'in-belieable, and I've seen this video years ago too. When he does a vibrato, he's whole body vibrates and he shakes the whole guitar.

As far as rhythm, I still play the Clash's "I fought the Law", but just the parts with vocals so I can sing to my daughter. I still need lots of practice, cause I sound really sloppy. After watching the Stevie DVD, I changed my strumming to be bigger and harder. I'm renting the Clash DVD soon so see how they strum.

I've also learn the rhythm to Creedence Clearwater's "When the Rain". It's basically all 8th note strumming patterns. Changing from G to Bm(barred chord) at song speed is a bit hard for me, but I'll getting it most of the time now.

As far as lessons, I wasn't able to get the class I signed up for due to the time, but I signed up for private lessons starting next Monday. I searched for a while and found a guy in a local band. I actually found a few, but I like this guy's music and he's relative cheap. Hopefully, this will kick me into high gear, or get me going in the right direction.

Another thing I decide to work into my practice routine is some play by ear exercises. I got inspired by watching the Stevie video. Anyways, the idea is to play simple songs that I know with my eyes closed. Hopefully, I'll learn to subconciously reach for notes that I heard in my head. It's sort of like singing, cause you don't really think about what interval you need to play, but just instinctively do it. I'm doing this on one string right now. The two songs I use are "When the Saints" and "Amazing Grace". I got the songs from my son, who was playing the recorder in school. I also do this with "Texas Flood" intro and I did better than expected.

A good thing happen last night. I was practicing with my headphones and my wife saw me. She started laughting cause I was making funny faces. I'm not sure if that means I'm getting better, but it does mean I'm having more fun.

Good luck with your own playing and feel free to gave me suggestions. I've taken the suggestion to slow down, but it's harder done than say.