Best books about musical instruments according to redditors
We found 5,315 Reddit comments discussing the best books about musical instruments. We ranked the 1,772 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 5,315 Reddit comments discussing the best books about musical instruments. We ranked the 1,772 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Well considering you’re probably an adult. I’d recommended the Alfred Adult Level 1 book. I’ve played piano for 8 years and this is what my instructor uses for her beginning high school who have never even touched a piano. There’s 3 levels and all have pretty well rounded lessons. It teaches a lot of chords, note names, scales, and etc. good luck! Adult All-In-One Course: Lesson-Theory-Technic: Level 1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0882848186/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.hRQAb5KQXXJC. If you ever need help shoot me a message
A Rant and Thoughts on Cross-Instrumental Pedagogy
Well, you're in a world of double suck for several reasons. First of all, most people who have previous instrumental experience have an even harder time with piano rather than any easier one. Why? Because they want to jump in the deep end immediately and ignore their fundamentals. It's like saying, "I can drive a car... so flying this plane can't be that much different... let me take over the controls mid flight!" Sure, you understand the basic concept of using transportation to get get form point A to point B and the idea of not running into obstacles, but that doesn't make you any better at knowing how to control planes, trains, and boats.
Even if you have a deep understanding of a lot of things, the technical work still has to be done for every instrument you pick up. If you end up picking up even more instruments, you can generally get better at the process by understanding it, but you just can't skip the fundamentals.
What makes this problem worse is asking for help from pianists. It seems logical, but they tend to exacerbate the problem. Most of them started as children. They have no background in music education and they take for granted so many of the skills they picked up as a kid. Their advice is about the equivalent of handing someone a guitar and telling them just to go transcribe Steve Vai solos to get better when they can't even play a single chord. It's a serious issue in the piano world. Having trouble with and independence? Can't play Mary Had a Little Lamb out of your beginner book with both hands? Just practice this and you'll be fine.
The reality is that you're just going to have to spend a lot of time on basic stuff and likely put the jazz stuff on hold for quite some time until you get more basic concepts under your fingers. I-IV-V, sure. ii-V-I, not so much. On guitar most chords have a similar difficulty. Heck, I'd argue that most of the moveable jazz chord shapes are easier than some of the triads because they require less barring and tend to cover less strings.
The other advantage on guitar is that if you learn how to play chord, or even a progression, you've pretty much learned it in every key. You don't even have to think about how to play that progression in another key. The physicality of a ii-V-I on guitar is enough that you just need to know which fret to start you ii on and the rest falls into place. Sure, you can learn several variations and voicings of various chords, but the principle still holds. If you want to do something cool like put a 13 on a G7 chord, you just learn the shape. You don't need to know that the 13 of G is E. You sure as hell don't need to know what it is for every other key. You just think, "Well, if I play this on the 7th fret I get C13."
That's probably why piano seems overwhelming. I assure you it does get better and there is a certain amount of similarity in that over time progressions feel the same in every key believe it or not. The thing is, if you learn them in every key, you realize the motion is the same. The voice leading is the same. You're just navigating white and black keys more. But if you spend time practicing scales and actually know you key signatures and such, you start to feel home and instinctively get that same feeling of same-shapeness that guitar has. Though obviously on guitar you can learn a single scale shape and play it in every key.
Although, I think guitarists often get the better deal by playing scales modally from different positions where as classically trained musicians on pretty much every other instrument think every scale begins and ends at the octave and really aren't as fluent in their use unless it fits that mold. Ask most people to play their E major scale starting on B or C# and they'll likely run into problems. Guitarists often have less trouble with that due to the physicality of the instrument.
Some Recommendations
You probably won't like all of these and might be afraid they don't fit your goals, but hear me out.
Alfred - You really should start getting used to reading music on the piano. I don't know what your reading background is and I don't care if you think you can skip this step. It really will help. Virtually every resource you use will use notation. Investing in reading now will pay off immensely in the long run just saving you time and headaches when you want to digest new material and all the resources are written in standard notation. Additionally, playing a lot of the concepts in context will help a lot. And if you don't have reading experience now, learning on piano and then maybe going back and applying it to guitar might be a fun thing for you. Spend a little time in this book daily.
Scales, etc. - This book has scales, arpeggios, and cadences in every key cleanly written out with recommended fingerings.
From here there are tons of directions to go for jazz stuff. My go-to recommendation is this one for getting the basics of how to think about, use and apply jazz concepts for those starting out.
There are tons of other resources that might fit your goals better. A purely technical approach approach is this one, but I'd still recommend the Mark Harrison book first. There are also much deeper jazz texts, though I'm not sure it's even worth recommending them at this moment since you're likely months or years away from being able to approach any of that material.
Hey there! I'd like to consider myself a pretty experienced drummer, so hopefully I can be of some help to get you started.
If you aren't too familiar with reading music, I would highly recommend getting Syncopation for the Modern Drummer . It's a great starting book for reading music and familiarizing yourself with common snare & bass drum patterns that can be applied to the drum set.
If you want to learn more how to play the complete drum set, which I'm guessing you'd like to do, check out The Drumset Musician . It provides a basic intro to coordination and ability to use all your limbs separately. (One of my biggest struggles when starting out was forcing my hands and feet to not do the same thing at the same time on the drum set)
Other than those books, YouTube will definitely be your best friend, so don't be afraid to use it!
Best of luck to you, and I hope you end up enjoying the drums as much as I do!
Maybe look at Guitar Aerobics.
Edit: added linky
Source: I play piano (3 years of lessons, 2 years self-taught) and have started picking up guitar (6mo self-taught)
Piano and violin can be rough to learn without a teacher. If you just want to play music, there are a lot of free resources available for guitar - justinguitar.com is fantastic. There is a subreddit for learning guitar which has a very helpful and supportive community.
Now, if you maintain that classical piano is really your thing, then I can certainly relate, but I will warn you that the available free video lessons are largely missing. There are tutorials on youtube around specific songs or specific topics, but nothing as structured as justin's site (at least that I've found).
My recommendation is to pick up a method book - I used Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course: Lesson Book, Level One, which is about 10$ on Amazon - and work through it page by page. Join a forum like the adult beginner forum at pianoworld, where you can post videos of your progress and people can help you with the trickier items like posture and hand positions.
There is a subreddit for piano here as well, which is worth subscribing to as well.
Do yourself a favour and start learning from a classical standpoint right now. Seriously, you will have an enormous leg up on 99% of other players if you do.
Hal Leonard's Bass Method is an amazing resource for beginners. It starts you off at the fundamentals and takes you through everything you need to get started.
You might also want to invest in a bass scale poster for your wall. Practicing scales and shapes is absolutely key to learning how to properly support your band because it teaches you the muscle memory you need to play in various keys.
In addition to this, my three golden rules for practice are:
My suggestion is to learn on your own, and if you choose to go to college, pursue a major that has more profitable career options. Minor in music theory and invest your free time in practicing your instrument. Here is a reading list I recommend to start getting into serious music study and guitar playing:
That was a fucking wall of text. Hopefully I didn't come off like a negative asshole or bore you to death. If you have any questions or complaints, let me know!
Zen Guitar is a great guitar philosophy book that is an easy read.
There's a really great scales book out there: The Complete Book of Scales, Chords, Arpeggios & Cadences. It has lots of exercises and scales to do. A good thing to note is that when folks say "doing their scales" they don't just mean actual scales ( G A B C D E F# G) they also mean Arpeggios and other exercises all of which people practice for technique.
I've been playing for a long time now, and have never experienced this thing which you term 'piano culture'. Of course there are competitive people in every field—from music to lawn-mowing, probably—, but do you have to associate with them? Absolutely not.
It should not be at all challenging to find a teacher who is willing to teach away from the exams. You may find that you want to take them down the line, or see how well you're progressing by practicing material from the grades. This is fine, as is staying away from them altogether.
At the end of the day, if you want to learn: learn. Self-teaching is not frowned upon at all, it's just more of a challenge and, on average, you probably won't progress anywhere near as quickly as with guided instruction. If your enjoyment motivates you to learn solo, then do that. Lots of great musicians have, and will continue to.
***
Edit**: If teaching yourself is your favourite option, I recommend the Alfred's Basic Piano Course series! Best of luck :)
Building Walking Basslines by Ed Friedland.
https://www.amazon.com/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Builders/dp/0793542049
Alright, let me give you a rundown of my personal library.
Beginner:
Intermediate:
Advanced:
I'm sure others will disagree with my ranking, and obviously my library is rather genre specific. But it's a lot of quality material that will definitely improve your playing no matter the style.
There are so many different aspects to playing that you could spend time practicing.
Here are just some ideas off the top of my head:
Hate to plug my own site, but that is EXACTLY the problem I created the GuitarWOD (Workout of the Day) to solve.
Good luck! Let me know if you need any more detail about how to go about practicing any of these or any other ideas you come up with.
For a starting point, I'd recommend Building Walking Bass Lines by Ed Friedland. You might not be interested in playing the walking style at all, but all of the tools you need to understand and play any type of bass line is right there in that little book.
Other players may have other ways of thinking about it, but to me the whole art of playing bass can be summed up as "different ways to get back home," home being the root note of a song. A great bassline is both surprising (like wow, I didn't see that coming) and yet paradoxically it seems totally right, like it couldn't have been otherwise. You can go up the neck and come back down. You can go down and come up. You can use chords, scales, chromatics, or weird & cool combinations of those. You can use rhythm patterns and "feel". You can throw in dynamic effects like hammer-ons, trills, or even get really exotic and move "off the one" and start substituting chords, etc. etc. This book starts you off dead simple with "how to get back home," and then gradually gets more and more complex. By the end you've got a pretty solid grasp of song structure and you have a set of tools to work within a song structure and build a cool-sounding, effective bass line for it.
As far as gear goes, a good rule of thumb is always "the best, highest quality, coolest-sounding gear you can reasonably afford." Music is all about sounding good, and practice is all about finding ways to enjoy yourself while doing something that can wind up being a drag. Your gear choices should be designed to get you excited about playing and making music, and that's really the only important consideration.
P.S. Edit - Also like several people suggested, finding a good bass teacher can make a huge difference. There are so many little things a book can't teach you, and a video is never going to listen to your playing and point out things you can't hear yet.
The Guitar Player: Repair Guide by Dan Erlewine is a fantastic resource.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guitar-Player-Repair-Dan-Erlewine/dp/0879309210
I learned by myself largely by by experimentation. It does help if you have a cheap "clunker" to play around with.
Initially I was scared of truss rod adjustment but once I understood how they work it is relatively simple.
Apart from overtightening the truss rod, there's not much you can do that cannot be undone. Have at it!
Link to amazon http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-3rd/dp/0879309210
Great great book.. Way more in-depth than I will ever need but it has tons of diy level stuff that really is simple and moneysaving.
Not very long at all.
https://www.musictheory.net/lessons - has very clear lessons on notation (the first stage of its theory lessons - I'm surprised you managed to study any theory without knowing notation), and also fretboard exercises to test your knowledge: https://www.musictheory.net/exercises/fretboard
The issue with guitar, of course, is that a note has just one place on notation, but can have several places on the fretboard. That's why most beginner guitarists give up on notation and stick with tab.
In fact, the choice of where to play any one note is a liberation, not a limitation. It's like losing the training wheels on your bike.
Learning the note names is relatively easy, it's reading rhythm where some people have more trouble (the above exercises don't cover that). But if you start with the basics - note duration - and work up, it's not hard.
I recommend looking for sheet music for songs you know (you can usually find page 1 online for free) so you can see how the sounds - especially melodic lines - look on the page.
If you want a book, I recommend [this] (https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X) - starts with notation as all good theory texts should. Make sure you play everything you read (or at least hear the sounds, as on musictheory.net). Theory is pointless if you don't know how it sounds.
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-3rd/dp/0879309210/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483563747&sr=8-1&keywords=guitar+player+repair+guide
Buy this book. It will give you pretty much everything you need in terms of knowledge to maintain and repair your own guitars. For less than the cost of one setup at a luthier, you can get the knowledge to do it yourself, and even make some money off your friends.
Came here to downvote any comments mentioning Hanon. So far we don't have any!
Back on topic: Everybody needs a good scale book. I use Scales, Chords, Arpeggios and Cadences, but there are many like it.
the guitar handbook
You'll hear "Get a teacher." on this sub a lot. This is great advice, but not always possible. That being said, check the FAQs for some really great resources for sheet music, online learning tools, and general tips and tricks.
I'd recommend getting a method book, such as Alfred's, a classical composer's 'beginner's' collections or notebooks, such as Bartok's Mikrokosmos or First Lessons in Bach, and then grab a book of scales such as this.
For future reference, if you do get a chance, please get a teacher, especially if you can swing it sometime in your first year, even if just for a few months. They can help prevent poor technique that may come up and can save time in the long run.
Edit: For poor hyperlinking on mobile.
$150 is insanely high for a setup , as much as people love to hate the place take it to either guitarcenter or samash for a setup it shouldnt cost more then $60 with new strings included and it shouldnt take more then 30 minutes for the tech to do the work and if you can watch the tech when he is working if its ok with them and ask questions . Make sure its setup the way you like and so its comfortable for you to play . But any acoustic and even electric guitars will need a setup after sitting for a while acoustics more then electrics .
Or depending how handy you are check out this book http://www.amazon.com/The-Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide/dp/0879309210/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1410144697&sr=8-2&keywords=guitar+setup+guide and do it yourself with the steps in the book / dvd
You'll have to buy a new switch, open the back of your guitar, remove the old one and mount and solder the new one in.
Any good guitar store will have the switch in stock, and it will be cheap. Just tell them what model your guitar is.
The rest is easy or hard depending on your soldering skills. You could just take careful notes of where each wire is connected on the old switch, and then resolder the new switch in the same way, but i might be good to get some schematics for your guitar.
If your interested in being able to service your guitar, The Guitar Player Repair Guide by Dan Erlewine might be a good purchase.
I've been playing guitar professionally for 15 years. In that time, I've gotten a BMus in classical guitar performance, taught music, accompanied several accomplished musicians on stage and in the studio, and played in bands that have performed festivals / won grants / were written about in nationally distributed newspapers and magazines. I've edited three LPs and six EPs, mixed three records, and have production credits on them all. I've appeared on stage and in the studio ~ 1k times. All my income comes from teaching, playing, and writing.
Tips:
Books:
I'd advise working through a method book with him. Something like Alfred's (https://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487281958&sr=8-1&keywords=alfreds+basic+adult+piano+course+level+1)
He can work through the book, and you can play the teacher (correcting posture, recommending fingering, instructing on dynamics, helping him problem solve, etc). The method starts with the assumption that the learner has no musical experience at all, so I think it (or really any other method book) will be helpful.
I applaud your courage in posting yourself playing, but I feel that you deserve some semblance of honesty when a stranger can critique you seriously. You are not good... actually pretty bad. I noticed on your channel that you started doing the rocksmith game to learn how to play and I dig that you're trying to learn, but look up some stuff like this or this. Not trying to harsh your mellow or anything, but you deserve an honest opinion. Your amp configuration is bad, too. Check out /r/guitar and this. You also need more inflection, maybe try a different picking style. Learn how to do vibrato as that gives your notes a much warmer tone. Consider investing in some pedals if you want to get serious because some sounds just can't be created with only and amp and overdrive. I would suggest a big muff pi or any cheap reverb pedal to start out. Learn the modes, like look up "Mixolydian Mode" or "Lydian Mode" to start out. I think Joe Satriani has some tutorials for those. Look up JUSTIN GUITAR. That guy is like Jesus on wheels for learning guitar by yourself. However, after getting some chops, move on to getting some real books and maybe a teacher.
Everyone starts out shitty but you just have to keep working it.
The best book on the subject I've ever read is called The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer. It contains everything from the history of the instrument all the way through to diagrams on rewiring your own pickups. My favourite section, though, is on theory where everything from modes to modulation gets covered in quite some depth.
I've had that book for about ten years now. It's worn out and in pieces, but I still read from it everyday and I'm still learning new stuff.
Edit: Found it!
Edit 2: Read a monthly magazine called Guitar Techniques. It's a british guitar mag with lessons by pros like Guthrie Govan, Geoff Whitehorn, etc. Unlike rags like Guitar World which are 90% ads and 10% interviews with celebrity guitarists who can't play worth a damn, GT focuses on improving your playing. Obviously it has a healthy dose of theory for all skill levels covered in every issue.
My two cents:
Have fun and good luck!
Mark Levine's Jazz Theory Book is essential reading, and worth the expense, since you'll probably use it a lot. There's also this PDF, which I just found, but it looks to be a decent quick reference (if you can stand reading the annoying "jazz" font).
I started 2 years ago, @25yo. This is how I progressed.
Step 1: I picked up Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course: Lesson Book, Level One and played out of it for about a month. At the end of that month I felt confident enough to play for my grandmother, who inspired me to begin. She encouraged me to go go no further without the instruction of a teacher
Step 2: Got myself a teacher. We began mostly with scales and exercises, then moved on to Keyboard Musician. This book is made up of smaller pieces ranging in difficulty, and incorporates some theory.
Step 3: Practice, practice, practice. I have been at it for two years. I try to practice on my lunch break on every business day, typically for 45 minuted to an hour. Which usually means I get 3-4 days of good practice in a week. Its not enough but I have been able to make progress, and am definitely glad I made the commitment.
I am now choosing bigger pieces to play, typically spending a month or two on each, but I always have 3-4 things going at once. Here are some examples of what I am currently playing or have played: example 1 (1st movement only), example 2 (not me playing ;) ), example 3
Of course you could be looking to go a different route. Many people learn to play by ear and skip the whole reading music part. Learning to read music has been one of the hardest parts for me. Anyway that you do it, just do it. Good luck to you.
I don't believe there is a good quality website for that. However, this book is an industry standard for adults to learn reading. The lessons are well-organized and it is possible to go through it on your own. It's probably better than anything you'll find online. You can order it on Amazon if you want to avoid stores!
My teacher assigned the Hanon book to me way back in the day. Works well, albeit being a tad boring.
That's the one on the cover of the Guitar Grimoire Scales and Modes.
If you ever want a theory book that's got way more information than you'll probably ever use or even digest but also looks impressive to guitar nerd guests that you have over I highly recommend it.
I was prepared not to like this guy .. for several reasons .. most of them with your interpretation/flavoring of your opinion about the guy and "if" I learn his stuff I'll be liberating myself. It felt a little pretentious and put me on-guard.
However having given it a listen - I do like it - and I thank you for pointing him out.
I will say that I don't think the only avenue to liberating yourself as a guitar player is to learn to play this guys stuff.
For me there were two keys to liberating myself on guitar .. the first was when I was a teen my mother would come home drunk/stoned at 3 AM with whomever she had picked up at the bar and blast her stereo .. on a school night.
I had a Peavey Bandit 65 and a low endTokai japanese $100 guitar but I would open it all the way up and just play whatever my rage spoke to me - and at the end I would yell "BIIIIIIITTTTCCCHHHHHHHH!" at the top of my lungs.
Usually after 2-3 verses of my rage inspired performance the music from the stereo downstairs would stop.
The other key came much later (perhaps 25 years or so later) which was getting a book called Zen Guitar. I had been in a bit of a rut, and I being older and self sufficient I was no longer "inspired" by my mother's antics I was looking to expand my skills and stumbled on that book and bought it on impulse. I personally think it did a lot more for me than any music theory book I could have purchased.
See to me - the music that impresses me the most .. is the music that has an incredibly unique voice.
The opposite of that of course is "pop music" - which, to me, often sounds formulaic and vapid.
So in Zen Guitar I finally forgot entirely about chords and progressions and what sounded right and started playing in a completely exploratory way .. and that's how I liberated myself the second time. Which has stuck with me as it doesn't depend on someone else to exist :-)
Anyhow .. thanks for the recommend - sorry for the long winded reply.
There are literally countless books on music theory available.
If you're looking for a specific recommendation, Tom Kolb (a fantastic educator) has a great book called Music Theory for Guitarists
It's a great place to start.
This one is my favorite. It has 2 pages dedicated to each key signature. The page will include a parallel motion scale, opposing motion, 6th interval scale, 3rd interval, cadences, arpeggios at the root position, arpeggios in first inversion, arpeggios in 2nd inversion, major 7th chords in root, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd inversions, and it goes over every chord that's within that key signature.
Then the pages for minor keys have the same thing, but they replace the 6th and 3rd interval parallel motion scales with the harmonic and melodic scales.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a book on scales.
Pics: http://imgur.com/a/Eap3Ev8
http://www.amazon.com/The-Beatles-Complete-Scores-Transcribed/dp/0793518326
If you already have the piano this is the book my piano class used.
http://www.amazon.com/Adult-All---One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458688360&sr=1-1&keywords=learning+piano
Go through it begining to end, practice each song until you have it down and be sure to look up musical examples of concepts such a syncopated notes.
(Edit)
Pawn shops will have plenty of cheap keyboards that will be good enough. A proper piano has 88 keys, but in the beginning a 64 key keyboard will work just fine.
Dan Erlewine's Guitar Player Repair Guide has been around for years and covers a lot of ground. I bought my copy when I was 16, over 20 years ago. The newest edition also comes with a DVD too. You can get it at StewMac here, although it's available from Amazon and most book sellers. No one book can cover every single little thing, but it's a good reference to keep around; I still check mine from time to time.
Anymore, it's easy to find most of this information freely available online. Someone already mentioned frets.com, which is an awesome site. There are tons of great Youtube channels too (Freddys Frets, StewMac, Crimson Custom Guitars, Sully Guitars, Dave's World of Fun Stuff, Blues Creek Guitars, O'Brien Guitars, and dozens more I can't remember offhand.) I think it's easier to learn certain things by watching videos, so I'd suggest picking one book as a main source, then look up videos for anything that's not entirely clear to you. I didn't have the benefit of Youtube or the internet when I started working on them, so take advantage of it!
I'd also recommend getting at least one book on building guitars, because it can give you quite a bit of insight about how different instruments are constructed. I've had Melvyn Hiscock's Make Your Own Electric Guitar for years too and it's a great book, but it's currently out of print. Keep an eye out for a used copy, or look into the ones that are currently available. StewMac has a good selection of books, but again you can find most of them from any book seller.
Finally, don't get too overwhelmed. Guitars are not particularly complicated things and it's not rocket science, even if it looks like it sometimes. There really aren't that many repairs that I'd consider too difficult for the average person, as long as you're willing to put in a little time to learn how to do them. Even refretting isn't that hard (although it's tedious and takes all friggin' day.) Learn how different types of guitars are built, because all a repair is is repeating a particular part of the build process to fix a problem. Watching "factory tour" videos on Youtube of various manufacturers can give you a surprising amount of information on how a particular builder tackles certain aspects of the instrument. There's almost always multiple ways to achieve a repair, it's just a matter of figuring out what works best for a particular instrument or situation or just how you prefer to work.
I think he has a fantastic set to learn on as is. Learning on a simpler setup like this will reinforce his understanding of the basics and the roll of the drummer as a time and rhythm keeper, but that's just my opinion, and my opinions are sometimes stupid. As far as upgrades go, if he likes rock and metal, a china cymbal would be fun, and bigger crashes never hurt. He'll eventually want a double pedal, but I recommend getting a single pedal down first. My biggest piece of advice though is to get him a copy of Stick Control for the Snare Drummer. I "taught" myself how to play for 9 years, neglecting the rudiments, and it really, really hampered my progression as a drummer and a musician. Stick Control is a must-have if you're asking me. I hope he has fun playing!
Edit: typo
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0879309210/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505220704&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=dan+erlewine&dpPl=1&dpID=51lWgXPDTzL&ref=plSrch
This is the book you want.
Hey there! :)
Your question is a VERY difficult one to answer, as it depends on a lot of variables concerning both yourself and the route you decide to take. However, the EASY answer is to say that you cannot achieve a masterful level of proficiency at the piano on your own. This does not hold true 100% of the time, but MOST of the time it's true.
That being said, you can certainly learn a lot on your own before being held back by your lack of a teacher. It will probably go slower, and take longer, and most importantly you won't know for sure if you're doing things correctly or not (this is the biggest thing) and also you won't have someone to ask questions. But it's of course better than nothing and I would never discourage you from it if it's your only option right now!
When I say that you can't know if you're doing things correctly or not, that really is a huge thing. That feedback which a teacher can provide is essential to knowing that you're learning things right. Teachers also can teach you things that will just be glossed over/skipped otherwise, they can guide you to various things that you'd never think of, and they can tailor your lesson plan to you and adjust it as needed.
Here's what you CAN do, right now:
The most important thing though, is that you need a lesson plan. Since you don't have a teacher to give you one, you need something to replace that. My suggestion would be to look up the Alfred's adult beginner lesson book. Click here for an amazon link to see it! You can just order it online, or find a local music store and look for it/ask for help finding it. Personally I shop at Evolas, I think they may be fairly local though (I'm in Michigan). A piano lesson book provides structured learning and will cover things that you need to know in an ordered way. Lesson books are not perfect; they don't take the time to explain things in TOO much detail because you're supposed to have a teacher going through it with you, and explaining things themselves. However they DO have some explanation of every lesson, and once you know what you're SUPPOSED to be learning about, you can always turn to google for more information about it.
The lesson book is my single huge recommendation to you. It's probably your best bet. It's by no means perfect, but I don't know what you can do better. You will have to pace yourself; do your best to make sure you understand a concept completely and learn the associated song well before progressing to the next lesson. Again, this will be difficult without a teacher but it's doable!
My source for all of this is that I've been playing piano for twelve years, and have been teaching for the past 3-4. I'm generally an observant, thoughtful person and this is the sort of thing that runs through my mind :). I would like to close by making you an offer... I will still maintain that you cannot do better than to get an actual teacher and take regular lessons. HOWEVER! Should you choose to seriously pursue this to the extent possible, I would like to help you as much as I can! So at ANY point, if you have ANY question whatsoever, you are free to PM me, and I will do my best to answer! I will teach you things that you're confused about or want to know more about, or anything at all that you can think of. So I'll essentially offer myself as a teacher over the internet. It's very limiting, but it may help you to have someone who you can ask those questions that hopefully you'll have :).
Good luck, whatever happens!
First, I would highly recommend a teacher if at all possible. Piano technique is a lot more subtle than it would seem.
Get a decent piano method (I recommend the Alfred Adult Method) and some technical studies (Hanon and/or Czerny).
I'd recommend picking up a copy of the book "Building Walking Basslines" https://www.amazon.com/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Builders/dp/0793542049
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This book focusses mostly on blues and rhythm changes but does a great job of demonstrating the main ways of moving from one chord to another. As for chords stretching more than a bar you essentially just want to lead to the root or other chord tones just as you would when changing to another chord.
Fretboard Logic has been the best book I've seen that sets a great foundation and builds on that. The guitar grimoire series is good for reference, but but that's about it. It will map out any scale or chord you can imagine, but fretboard logic will give you the tools to figure it out yourself and you become better for it.
Dariusz Terefenko - Jazz Theory: From Basic to Advanced Study
Others will undoubtedly recommend Mark Levine's The Jazz Theory Book, but I advise against it until you have a much more developed understanding of music because it assumes former knowledge and does a poor job of presenting topics in a progressive ordering. Plus, Levine's approach is idiosyncratic and requires you to learn terminology and concepts that do not form bridges to other areas of jazz or other music study. Terefenko, on the other hand, assumes no former knowledge and takes you deeper than Levine, even making explicit connections between jazz and other areas not traditionally covered in jazz pedagogy (such as reductive analysis and pitch-class set theory). In other words, Terefenko takes you far beyond the little box Levine draws.
How's your theory? I'd recommend The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine. It has lots of examples of most concepts taken from classic jazz recordings and simplified for piano.
Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer - Ted Reed
This is still THE book for drummers on all levels.
You need to start counting rhythms. You don't need a guitar to do this necessarily. There are a number of books with written out rhythms to practice, such as Louis Bellson's Modern Reading Text in 4/4 For All Instruments, Ted Reed's Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer, and Gary Hess's Encyclopedia of Reading Rhythms. There are numerous ways to practice the rhythms in these books - counting the rhythm while clapping a steady pulse, counting a steady pulse while clapping the rhythm, tapping a steady pulse with your left hand while clapping the rhythm with your right while also counting, and so on. When I say "count" I mean count out loud. Your goal is to learn to keep your place in measures while accurately executing and eventually feeling rhythms.
You can also do these steps with a guitar in your hand. Just pick a chord - maybe one you're trying to work into your repertoire - and play the written rhythm with that chord while you're counting.
This will probably seem awkward and "unmusical" when you first start, but trust me when I tell you this is going to radically improve your rhythmic vocabulary and time feel over the long haul. This is the kind of thing band and orchestra kids learn as a matter of course and most guitarists don't get because we don't learn to read in ensembles.
If you can spare the money I most definitely recommend finding a teacher. You will want to start with rudiments (they can be boring, but you'll be glad you did them in the long haul) and while you can pick them up from books, having a teacher giving feedback helps a lot. You don't have to stay with a teacher on the long-term, if you make it clear that you just want a solid base most teachers know what you mean and want.
If you don't have that money, these are three books I highly recommend to anybody who wants to play any percussion instrument:
http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/1892764040/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b
Description: This book is full of rudiments. Like ctrocks said: This book is evil. You will most likely both grow to hate and love it. Hate it for both how boring rudiments can get (to me, at least) and how hard they get. But love it for the results and seeing how all those rudiments advance your playing immensely. I suggest picking this up as soon as possible.
http://www.amazon.com/Accents-Rebounds-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/1892764067/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343162586&sr=8-1&keywords=Accents+and+Rebounds
Description: The 'sequel' to Stick Control. This book adds accents and even more difficult rhythms. I would suggest picking this up at an intermediate level.
http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953/ref=cm_lmf_tit_5
Description: Don't let this book fool you. It all starts out really simple. But this is one of those books that really lays down a foundation you will be very grateful for. And when you're getting to a more advanced level, you will see how you can translate a lot of these syncopated rhythms to the entire drumkit. I suggest picking this up as soon as possible.
http://www.amazon.com/4-Way-Coordination-Development-Complete-Independence/dp/0769233708/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c
Description: This book is very well named. You will want to grab this book after you got the basics down, imo. You want to work on the independence of your limbs as soon as possible, but not too soon. Yet again: rudiments. But now rudiments that require all limbs.
http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Techniques-For-Modern-Drummer/dp/0757995403
Description: We're starting to get into the bigger leagues with this book. I honestly don't quite know how to describe this book except for the word: challenging. Challenging in a very, very good way. I recommend picking this up once you're starting to get into a more advanced stage.
These books are for the basics, imo and in the opinion of many fellow drummers as far as I know. But don't forget: the books are merely tools. You don't want to be only playing rudiments, you'll go crazy. I tended to go for a trade: every half out of rudiments rewards me with a half our of putting on tracks and rocking out. Resulting in one-hour sessions a day. Hope this helps!
Edit: Feeling bored so added more books and descriptions.
im not trying to be a commercial at all, but i used this book and i think it is great for anyone who wants to learn guitar
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011
you can learn the fretboard easily and logically and "shred" without having to know anything but 5 patterns.
here's how you learn (very paraphrased):
there are 5 patterns that emerge up and down the fretboard.
these are the 5 different positions of root notes, essentially. for instance, using C as the root, the first pattern would be C on the first fret of the second string and including the C on the third fret of the fifth string.
now memorise that scale and fingering for the major and minor.
the second pattern would be the C on the third fret of the fifth string and the C on the fifth fret of the third string - the octaves.
memorise that and so on.
do this for all 5 patterns and you will be able to jam knowing virtually nothing.
Everything this guy said is gold. I would add a couple things.
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Handbook-Ralph-Denyer/dp/0679742751/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269624397&sr=8-1
You can get a lot of this info on line, but the book is a classic.
It's from this. My old roommate had it. It's worth getting.
"The Jazz Theory Book," by Mark Levine is a great place to start.
The Jazz Theory Book https://www.amazon.com/dp/1883217040/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_VAffzbVAAS6WH
These two books would be a good start.
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https://www.amazon.com/Ray-Browns-Bass-Method-Excercises/dp/0793594561
https://www.amazon.com/Evolving-Bassist-Millennium-Comprehensive-Developing/dp/0967601509/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+evolving+bassist&qid=1573349247&s=books&sr=1-1
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Also lots of jazz students have this book which would be good.
https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=mark+levine+jazz+piano&qid=1573349459&s=books&sr=1-2
Do you have cymbals? Do you want lessons? Honestly I would go to craigslist and search up a full kit (look for decently kept pearl forums, tama swingstars, pacific x7, yamaha stage custom). If it comes with everything for $500 then great. You might have to spend around $100 for some new heads but that's okay. Then take that extra cash and get some lessons, stick control and a metronome.
My two cents as a lapsed classical pianist: If you want to go old school and learn to read music a bit too, struggle your way through the Hanon exercises for piano, specifically the scales and octave scale progression through all keys.
The book is cheap on Amazon
It is boring, dry stuff. But I will be damned if I don't still remember every scale once I start off on the right note, even if I don't remember any of the classical pieces themselves. Because of that bastard Hanon and his exercises.
Start off by listening to a ton of jazz. Afterwards, learn your major, minor, dorian, and mixolydian scales/modes. Check youtube, there's a ton of good tutorials if you don't know them yet. Then buy a real book and start attempting to follow along with the changes. Start with just the root notes and later add the 3rds and 5ths. Here's a book that I think explains walking basslines pretty well, and another one if you're interested in soloing.
Here's a list of jazz songs most students learn early on:
Afro Blue
All Blues
All Of Me
All The Things You Are
A Night In Tunisia
Au Privave
Autumn Leaves
Beautiful Love
Black Orpheus
Blue Bossa
Blue In Green
Blue Monk
Blues For Alice
Body And Soul
Cherokee
Cotton Tail
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
A Fine Romance
Footprints
Four
Freddie Freeloader
The Girl From Ipanema
How High The Moon
How Insensitive
Lady Bird
Maiden Voyage
Misty
Mr. P.C.
My Funny Valentine
Oleo
Ornithology
Recorda-me
Red Clay
Satin Doll
So What
Song For My Father
Sugar
Take Five
Take The “A” Train
There Will Never Be Another You
Tune Up
Bass Fitness is, for me, the golden standard to which I hold all guitar practice books. It's a no-nonsense text that offers little in the way of guidance or assistence, but stick with it and you will notice a difference in your playing in due time. It's not perfect by any means -- in fact it is quite rough around the edges -- but it works.
For more general resources, check out 101 Bass Tips, which features of a plethora of different tips and tricks for the working musician -- everything from set-up and maintenance, to technique, to recording and tone, and much more. It's also accompanied by a CD with examples and practice songs you can play along to.
Once you've got the basics down and you're ready to move into the more advanced facets of bass playing, you might want to try out some books on musical theory. I suggest this, this, and these. Hope these help!
I just got these - I ordered books 1, 2, & 3.
The reviews were good, so I thought I'd give them a shot. Anyone have their own reviews on them for a self-leaner?
You will find more recommendations in the FAQ on the Sidebar, but a short version would be that most people recommend getting a teacher if in any way possible. If not:
Comments on general technique:
If you have any questions, you can always ask us here. Cheers!
Ok this is the path that nearly everyone recommends and (I really would too) so I'll go through the ups and downs.
Get this book
Then go through the lessons with this guy
That's the cheapest way to learn piano. He's got dozens of complete method books that he teaches through.
Downside, the alfred books aren't super inspiring pieces. However they teach you the fundamentals VERY well. For $10 you can't beat it. You'll know all your scales, key signatures, hand independence, chord theory, and most importantly you'll be able to sight read. There's three levels. It'll probably take two years to go through all 3 and that's ok! After you finish the first book start adding in some Repertoire pieces from IMSLP
I'm definitely no pro; I started playing about a year ago. But I would not recommend trying to start on either of these, they are relatively advanced, assuming you've never played before.
I would suggest starting with this book:
http://www.amazon.ca/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-All--Course/dp/0882848186/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453527118&sr=8-1&keywords=alfred+piano
It will help you to understand what you're playing, not just how to press buttons.
Best of luck learning, it's a lot of fun!
This should do it.
I was in the same boat as you a few years ago, I played classical my entire life then started to pick up some jazz when I entered college. This is super useful, as it has really helped my playing overall and now I can make a decent amount of money playing around town because i have diversified my skillset. As a classical player I can understand where you are coming from when you say you want to learn scales. I was definitely the same way when I started, very obsessive with the theory and involved in jazz, and I think that if you have been training your brain to approach the piano a certain way your whole life, you shouldn't try to change it now. I agree with OnaZ on his book choices, and you should start picking up your modes, but don't worry about them a whole lot, they are not the end-all-be-all of jazz music. Modes are just a tool you can use to achieve a desired sound or color. If you understand the way you find modes (different configurations of a major scale) then you don't need to spend hours and hours drilling them into your head. I think you'll find that once you start playing jazz and picking up tunes, etc, the modes and bebop scales will kind of fall into place.
More than anything, I suggest you find a teacher! And a good one! One that plays jazz primarily. I would suggest contacting a university nearby and see if you can get connected with some people in your area for lessons.
So! If I had to go back in time and give myself some advice to how to really pick up jazz it would probably go something like this:
Only recently has jazz become something that you can learn in a school/university. Throughout the majority of jazz history, jazz was learned by people listening to jazz musicians. It is, more than anything, aural tradition. Find jazz that you enjoy, not just stuff that people say you should like (although you are going to have to listen and learn to appreciate some albums you may not care for). Definitely check out An Introduction to Jazz Piano (Although it leaves out my main man Red Garland:( )
Start picking up licks and riffs from your favorite players. Just steal them. The first step to becoming a good jazz musician is emulation. You don't have to transcribe whole solos (although this is ideal) you can just grab parts of them and learn some riffs here and there. Blatantly rip off the greats and start building up a bag of tricks. If you are already a little comfortable with some blues scales, I would highly suggest maybe doing a few transcriptions of Horace Silver. He is a great guy to start on and his timing/feel is impeccable. He plays a lot of blues that you check out on youtube or grooveshark.
Listening and transcribing are going to probably be the most helpful, I find that a lot of players (especially guys coming out of classical into jazz) have more trouble with the rhythm and timing of jazz, and not the scales or notes. Honestly, I like to make the argument that rhythm is superior to harmony/melody in jazz (but that's just my opinion). The Jazz Theory Book is a great place to start. I would definitely recommend picking that up, although it is cheaper than a teacher, it definitely will not replace a good one!
Wow, that is a pretty intimidating wall of text (sorry about that)! I tried to edit it down as much as possible, I could talk about this stuff all day. Although jazz can seem very intimidating at times, don't get frustrated! Your classical chops will really help you out. I really hope you find this music to your liking, I think it is the best stuff around. Good luck!!
People smarter than I will come along with useful advice, but I have found this book to be overflowing with jazz knowledge:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1883217040
Listen, transcribe, analyse. Also, the Mark Levine jazz theory book has some great stuff in it.
http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040
The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine is a great place to start.
The Mark Levine books The Jazz Theory Book and The Jazz Piano Book are both good resources.
i don't know about an online course, but i do know this book by Mark Levine is fantastic. the book is a jazz theory book meant to be applicable to musicians of all instruments, so it's not guitar oriented, and all of the examples are in standard music notation. but that should not discourage you. if you've been playing guitar for years and already know your way around the fretboard with some basic knowledge of music theory, then you shouldn't need pages of neckboard diagrams anyway to learn jazz theory.
this book single-handedly demystified jazz music for me. previously, i was trying to learn by a 4 book long jazz guitar method series by Jody Fisher, and i can honestly say that the Fisher series is shit compared to the Levine book. while the Fisher books were all about giving like a paragraph or two of explanation, followed by scale diagrams then practice songs you were expected to learn, the Levine book is more about giving pages of explanation, followed by a few very small examples that you are not expected to learn necessarily, but are just there to illustrate the point.
i don't know. i think the "method" books/courses just leave too much out. you need to read/learn something theory and explanation driven to really understand jazz. all the scales and exercises you can figure out on your own. so that's what i would suggest looking for in a course, in whatever form of teaching you learn best with.
You should start studying actual music theory if you'd like help with that. Music theory will teach you how to start coming up with good chord progressions, and how to develop more complicated ones than you would naturally come up with. There is jazz theory, and classical music theory, and both would be helpful. You could start with a free resource like http://learnmusictheory.net/. Eventually you might want to pick up a book like https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040 or a comparable one for classical theory. Once you start learning you want to start looking at chord progressions in songs you like.
There really is no useless information to pick up from all of this. I blew off learning from my jazz theory courses, thinking it only applied to jazz, but now I see the same information in endless modern pop songs and am re-teaching myself all of it.
If you can find a place, this is a great option because it is a low cost, low risk (like you said, what if you learn drums aren't for you and lose motivation - you don't want to be stuck with a bunch of expensive drum stuff) way to play on a decent kit. This is what I did for a long time before buying my first kit.
If you can't find a place or if you're insistent on buying you're own, I would look for a cheap used starter kit (high hats, snare drum, bass drum, maybe one tom, and a cymbal - should be able to get a decent kit for <$200) on craigslist or your local music store. I would not recommend a new kit, those will be significantly more expensive and you won't really even know what you're looking for in a kit anyway. I'm not personally a fan of electronic kits, but if you want to, try one out at a music store and if you'd like to learn drums that way, by all means do so.
Even with all this, I would still recommend that you get a couple of lessons. Even if it's just 1 or 2 lessons, it will really help you a lot to have someone to help you get started. The first time you sit down at the kit will be the hardest, and having someone to talk to and converse with will do wonders. If you can't get lessons, it will be harder but certainly not impossible. Remember that it's only going to get easier as you play more, so don't get discouraged.
This
This is the fretboard logic book that I have:
http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1321469011&amp;sr=1-1
The Guthrie Govan book I have:
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Guitar-Advanced-Techniques-Vol/dp/1860744672/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1321469051&amp;sr=1-2
I was in a similar situation as you are, I played piano since I was young and when I took up guitar the fretboard was a bit daunting to me. It clicked for me when I imagined that each of the six strings was like its own separate piano so six dimensional if you will ;). Since each fret is a half step, its like the keys on a piano going up a half step. So the 'piano keys' on the lowest string start on E and go up by a half step, the next string is A so the 'piano keys' start on A, then go up and so on.
Once the set up of the fretboard made sense to me, it's all about memorization to know the exact locations of notes off hand. I think that this is going to be different for each person you need to figure out what makes sense to you. Memorize 'landmarks' such as each open string, the 12^th fret is an octave up, and the odd frets are good ones to start with memorizing.
I used this: http://www.guitarhabits.com/learn-the-guitar-fingerboard-thoroughly-in-16-days/ as well. I found it pretty helpful.
Also if you're looking for some books, http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1313039330&amp;sr=8-1 & http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1313039376&amp;sr=1-6 were both really good and helped me with understanding the fretboard and general mechanics of guitar.
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
Short answer is with your wrist. You also want to ingrain good habits now, that will help you with string skipping, speed, etc, later. First, don't hold the pick between the tips of your fingers and definitely don't use your fingers to move the pick. The fingers hold the pick, your wrist is what moves it. The pick should rest between your thumb tip and the side of your index finger (not the tip). Tighten your grip by making a complete fist, rather than squeezing two fingers.
It's best to not anchor your pinky/ring finger onto the body of the guitar for stability. If you're making a fist, you'll be less inclined to do this. Try to train for accuracy without anchoring and it will pay dividends later. Ideally your only anchor should be your forearm against the guitar body's edge. Lightly anchoring the wrist against the bridge is OK, and sometimes actually necessary to mute strings, either to palm mute the string actually being played, or to silence the lower strings when playing the higher ones not being muted.
You should also be angling your pick on two separate planes. The more important of these being the string horizontal plane. That is, you don't want to hold your pick perfectly horizontal to the string, but rather angle it a bit so your downstroke strikes with the nut (headstock) end of the pick first (the other end being the bridge side). You also want to pick in such a way that your downstroke ends slightly under the strings and your upstroke ends slightly above. Not as important as the horizontal plane, but this second tip will help with moving from string to string.
Start practicing your alternate picking on a single string, using just a single finger on your fretting hand, if necessary.
Use Amazon's "look inside" feature to check out the first exercise in this book. Once you can do that, you can progress to multi-string patterns. With multi-string patterns, you'll have to be more mindful of upstrokes and downstrokes, as they relate to the movement from string to string, but always try to stick to the up/down repitition and try to avoid throwing in consecutive down/down or up/up.
Use a metronome and start as slow as necessary to maintain accuracy. Once you can repeat a pattern flawlessly, bump up the BPM's, rinse, repeat.
EDIT: Fixed Link
You mentioned you like jazz, feel free to hang out with us /r/Jazz
Internet is great, and there is a lot for good free ressources. You'll have to go through a bunch of crap though, it can be confusing for a beginner and takes valuable time away to an already time consuming hobby.
So here are a few books I personally recommand.
Jazzology, an encyclopedia of theory centered around jazz that you can use with any genre. It's really good.
The real book, a good way to learn jazz standards with sheets that aren't so painful, using solfège for melody and letters for chords. This is the format I use with students.
The Jazz Theory book, or anything from mark levine.
The Complete Musician is good if you can find it for cheap, which is no easy task.
The definition of perfect pitch includes knowing the names of the notes. Without this knowledge, it's just "having a good ear". A good way to practice it is picking random notes and visualizing what the chord will sound like before playing it. That vizualisation aspect is the amazing thing about absolute pitch and helps with composing. The tuning or knowing what key you're in things are cute but fairly irrelevant.
Anyway, have fun.
Not sure what you mean by "advanced" but "The Jazz Theory Book" by Mark Levine is kind of standard at least for jazz harmony
At my school everybody takes classical theory for at least 2 years.
We used this book
Here's the work book
You'll probably need the answers too since you're teaching yourself
Really what I got out of it was being able to just instantly know chord spelling. I don't really have to think about a lot of things any more. It's just second nature. You don't really use classical counterpoint rules unless you plan on composing classical music. But it's a good vehicle for learning theory since it's rather specific and you have to consider a lot of things at once.
We use this book in our jazz theory class
But mainly I learned most from the lectures since our professor is really good. We also have to write a jazz tune every week and learn and improvise on it. As well as the ear training.
I wouldn't really even say that theory is "extremely challenging." You just have to spend a lot of time on it. There was a lot of assignments from the work book every week during classical theory. Probably spent like 6+ hours a week just on the homework for those classes. And that's not even including ear training. With any of this stuff you just have to be consistent, I don't think it's really that hard to understand and I started playing music much later than a lot of my peers.
But if you're trying to understand jazz before understanding really basic concepts like knowing your key signatures, how to spell basic triads, the chords in a given key, simple time vs compound time, etc, you're going to have a lot of trouble. Everything builds on to itself so you really have to understand the basics first which might be a little boring but you have to do it.
7th and 9th chords are the most common in jazz. I'd say if you have some theory knowledge already this book is an invaluable resource http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040
Otherwise start with musictheory.net and get a grasp on basic chord progressions first.
It's not free, but I've heard a ton of people recommend this book. I haven't even gotten partially through it yet and I've learned a lot.
http://smile.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1452998111&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=jazz+theory+mark+levine
I subscribed to Mark Michell's (Scale the Summit bassist) website Low End University that covers a myriad of topics both bass and non bass related, I'd say its a little more advanced material than what Scott Devine offers but both are great and have some good stuff for free.
As for books, I'd always been really interested in music theory behind jazz and certain video game OSTs and I can't recommend Mark Levine's The Jazz Theory book if that's your sort of thing. As someone else posted, Alex Webster's book is marvelous for not so much composition but being able to fluidly play intense rhythms and using three fingers.
Coordination and timing are big obstacles to overcome, but the more you play, the more naturally it comes. I never took lessons until I could get college credit for them (roughly 5 years after I started playing), and most of that was so I could learn to read music and maybe pick up on a few things. The biggest help for me was the fact that I could learn by ear, so if I heard it enough and tried it enough, I could figure out pretty much any song I wanted to play.
I would definitely invest in Stick Control, even if you can't read music. It's easy enough to read and it's really helpful in breaking habits when you have to think about what hand you're supposed to be striking with.
Really, the most important thing is just keep playing. Tap along to the radio. Tap along to everything. The more you play, the faster you'll break yourself from coordination/timing issues and the better you'll be. /u/crabjuice23 suggested trying different genres of music. I 100% agree. Play along to anything you can. If you hear something you like but can't quite stick it, slow it down in your head and keep playing it until it's comfortable and you'll have it full speed at no time. Patience is huge.
Rudiments are a good place to start learning drums, as well as some notation / music theory. Here's some free websites that I use:
http://vicfirth.com/40-essential-rudiments/
http://www.snarescience.com/index.php
Around here, every one recommends Stick Control and Jojo Mayer's Secret Weapons for the Modern Drummer DVD, but I have never used them.
Music wise, I'm sure there's something you like that is approachable. A lot of Alt-rock like The Strokes, the White Stripes, Black Keys has pretty straightforward drum parts.
As for lessons, it isn't a bad idea to take even just a month of lessons to assist you in basic hand / foot technique as well as musical notation.
Good luck on your drumming journey!
I definitely recommend drum lessons if you can. Especially since you have no real knowledge of drumming, this will help immensely. Someone to tell him "No, hold the stick like this" will help in the long run and save him from making habits out of bad technique. This doesn't mean that he can't learn by himself, it just means he will learn quicker, and hopefully have good technique.
Yes. As soon as he starts lessons I'm sure the teacher will recommend a few good books. They aren't really textbooks, though, as much as drumming exercises. I don't know a whole lot about different books, but I have heard good things about Stick Control for the Snare Drummer. Other than that, any basic rudiments book will be fine something like this.
Interesting question. I'm not really sure how to answer this. Does he want to play hand drums or a drumset? I know when I first started I thought hand drums were dumb (My only experience was playing a djembe in a drum circle in 6th grade music class with a bunch of rhythmically challenged idiots). There was something about all the drums and cymbals put together that just made it so powerful and awesome to me. I'd say whatever he likes to play, let him play. If he falls in love with the bongos, so be it.
This is a tough one too. I've never really messed with kid's drums, but I'd say take him to guitar center and let him play the full size kits. If he can play it comfortably and is able to hit all the cymbals with a little adjusting, I'd say get a full size kit. I just wouldn't be a fan of getting a kid's kit that he'll grow out of in a couple years. If you have the extra cash, though, it'd probably be more beneficial to get the kid size drumset.
To echo what others have said, I couldn't have played drums to save my life when I first played Rock Band. I would fail songs on medium. Now I'm actually a pretty decent drummer, at least for someone who has never owned an acoustic kit.
The key is not to expect Rock Band to teach you everything, which you seem to have figured out already. Rock Band combined with independent research on actual playing techniques (grip, sticking, the parts of the kit, etc.) will absolutely turn you into a passable drummer, just as it did for me.
A couple suggestions: first, get some new sticks. Even the better Rock Band sticks are okay at best. You're not tearing them up on tour every night; you can splurge on something nicer like these. The dip is really nice if you're prone to dropping them, and the nylon tips won't wear the way wooden ones sometimes do.
Second, get a practice pad. A book on sticking patterns like this one can be valuable too but isn't crucial. A practice pad lets you practice sticking patterns. A few minutes a day playing to a metronome will make a big difference. As you improve, you can gradually raise the BPM of the metronome and train yourself to be faster.
stick control if you don't have already have it
Alfred's All in One or Faber's Adult Adventures are common suggestions.
Vic Firth's rudiment videos are great, though the site is a bit difficult to use these days.
All American Drummer (the Wilcoxen book) is a great way to get your chops back up to snuff. Even the first solo has challenges if you don't have your hands together.
Stick Control - I don't even have to tell you why. Do read through the introduction and practice it in the way that Stone specified.
For inspiration watch Thomas Pridgen show how he practices rudiments around the kit.
You're looking for this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0793518326/ref=pd_aw_sim_b_3?refRID=161X8NKFKBWZ6SVHP5WJ
Hanon exercises are great for strength and independence of fingers.
The Virtuoso Pianist by Charles-Louis Hanon. It's not fun or musically interesting, but if you purely want to improve speed and technique, it's exactly what you need.
I would suggest the Guitar Grimoire for learning scales. It is the most complete scale book for guitar that I've found.
Getting into playing songs is pretty simple. Find some songs that you enjoy and look for tabs on Ultimate Guitar. Tremolo picking isn't too hard- just alternate pick as fast as you can.
I've had this book for years and use it all the time.
I'm very interested in this one as recommended by grampageoff up there.
There are a couple of great books by Dan Erlewine, "The Guitar Player Repair Guide" and "How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great".
One of the biggest downsides is your intonation will change especially on a guitar with a trem system. so essentially your guitar will no long play in tune all along the fretboard. your action may also become lower causing fret buzz or possibly notes fretting out on bends.
it's worth it to learn how to take care of your guitar yourself. its going to be your best friend for the rest of your life, take some time and effort and learn the in's and outs of guitar maintenance.
here is a good book to learn from
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/0879309210
Dan Erlewine's book covers this repair, if i recall correctly.
Also, enquire at /r/luthier. This I a fairly common repair and you might find a thread over there that addresses it.
Take this and this; that's all I needed to read, play and write music.
Paying for lessons is recommended, they are a shortcut.
My advice: You have to keep your motivation alive: Watch videos of other people playing pieces you would like to play, it's as important as brushing your teeth. You require ambition but also you must acknowledge the nature of the process of learning; you will invest time, emotions and money to get there, keep that in mind.
Enjoy your journey, music is a beautiful investment.
👍
You need a method, not random bits of knowledge. You may use Justin's, or you may look for a book.
The secret here is structure, which is only provided by a method. Otherwise you'll always feel your knowledge is scattered all over the place and hence barely usable.
A good method should at least:
Once you have a structure, the Internet truly becomes an awesome resource, because now you can research the issue at hand with a better sense of purpose and more specifically.
So don't fret, this isn't a stupid question, it actually shows you are ready and willing to progress, you'd be amazed how many people become dismissive at this stage, and think they've achieved mastery, because it's "all feel and talent, man," and don't even see how much there is to learn and improve.
TL;DR: get a method by trying several, then stick to the one you choose.
Step 1. Buy this book
Step 2. ?
Step 3. Fretboard mastery
Seriously though, that book is the best thing you could ever work through. I've been playing years, but never got the notes down. 3 months working through that and now I'm an expert.
The [Guitar Fretboard Workbook](http://www.Guitar.com/ Fretboard Workbook https://www.amazon.com/dp/0634049011/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Ejz.AbBA1QA0S) is what I started on, and I can't recommend it enough if you like the workbook format. It takes you from knowing absolutely nothing about theory to understanding scales, triads, extended chords, modes, and how all of it applies to the fretboard in shapes and patterns.
No. If anything, just get a book on music theory. Most guitar lesson books are just a collection of tabs with a few unhelpful paragraphs thrown in.
Here is a good music theory book written by a instructor at Musicians Institute (arguably the best guitar school in the U.S.). It won't teach you how to play, but it will give you a firm grasp on music theory that will aid in your learning.
Hope this helps...
I think this is pretty well written, it's stickied in the BHO Theory subforum and covers the essentials well: common chord progressions and scales that go well in the context of the particular chord in the progression (and somebody also asks about what keys songs are in) http://www.banjohangout.org/topic/71709.
That theory subforum doesn't get a lot of threads but there is a lot of good explanations in older threads
What book/s are you using with your teacher? Most of them cover chords and scales in the context of soloing and playing backup rolls or vamping. You could look at the books by Ned Luberecki and Janet Davis and Trischka's Complete 5 string wehre they gradually introduce basic bluegrass chord progressions, pentatonic, blues and diatonic (8 notes/octave) scales.
Also if you play guitar i remember Kolb's book being good: https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X
[This book is great IMO]
(http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X/ref=pd_sim_b_4/191-7497975-6024957?ie=UTF8&amp;refRID=111254SQ76TZK81AYP3R)
The Guitar Book, by Tom Wheeler is one of my favorites:
https://www.amazon.com/guitar-book-handbook-electric-guitarists/dp/0060145595
I suspect there must be an updated edition from this century.
I also like The Guitar Handbook:
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Handbook-Professional-Acoustic-Electrice/dp/0679742751
I'm sure there are others, but those are the books that first came to my mind.
Ralph Denyer's 'The Guitar Handbook'
I had a copy of this book back in the late '80s that I'd lost at some point. Bought a newer edition a few years back when I found it. Takes you through all aspects of the instrument, and the basics of playing it.
I've been playing for 17 years, and had my share of plateaus, but these days I can't wait to get home and practice, and I feel like I get better every time I pick up a guitar, even if its in a very small way.
I think this is partly because I am in a band again, and writing riffs and songs that will actually get played live. So I'm eager to make these songs awesome, then to take a break from working on songs, I'll just solo over something for a while for fun/technique.
Also, I recently quit drinking and smoking, so I have been channeling a lot of restless energy into the guitar.
I still feel the thrill, but I feel it more often when I have a sick drummer behind me and strangers in front of me.
I highly recommend the book Zen Guitar , it may sound a bit cheesy at times, but it really helps you to have a positive and practical attitude, and to forget about competitiveness and wankery and gear lust and other things that get in the way of you getting better. It also helped me realize that there is no such thing as 'the best'. He describes playing as a path with no end, and our goal is to always walk forward on it. Some people sit down on the path, others lose the way...
I really found zen guitar helpful with the more philosophical aspects of being a musician
https://www.amazon.com/Scales-Chords-Arpeggios-Cadences-Complete/dp/0739003682%3FSubscriptionId%3D06KMPSHEDSXXQMQVT482%26tag%3Daskcom05-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0739003682
I'm pretty sure that it's this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Beatles-Complete-Scores/dp/0793518326/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1381061668&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+beatles+complete+scores
It has guitar and bass tabs as well as piano and vocal in traditional musical notation. It has more errors than it should and the font is fucking terribly hard to read, but it is a useful tool if you are into the Beatles.
It’s cool to play, but you also have to practice. Sounds like you are just playing and never practicing with a specific focus in mind. Learn music theory and the fretboard.
I bought this Guitar Fretboard Workbook book in the recommendation of another Reddit user and feel like I always have something to be practicing. He mentioned to work through it slow and it should take at least six months to a year to complete. I am roughly a month in and only on chapter three and have done the exercises over and over but on the side I am also learning music theory so I am working on what I learned there too.
So this is a pretty awesome contest idea!
Here is my list:
Something I want - A gift card was the only thing I would decide on for this category. Why a gift card? I'm indecisive!
Something I need - This soldering tip is something I very much need.
Something ^^(for ^^my ^^cat) to wear - This bow tie would be hilariously awesome on my cat Lovey.
Something to read - This book on music theory is something I want to read to learn a bit from.
Something to watch - The Big Lebowski is one of my favorite movies, and I don't own it!
Something to listen to - This is the new Modest Mouse album I have been waiting (literal) years for!
Here is your clue:
It's time to relax, it's time to kick back,
It's no longer time to hold back!
Let loose the gates, release the hounds,
And grab a chair to sit around.
It's in the air, it's in my head,
And soon my opinion will be set.
I like it, I hate it, I want more of it!
But in the end, my thirst is fed,
And nothing more than thanks can be said.
I tried! :D
The Guitar Handbook is one of my favorites.
Even cheap guitars can be real players if they are set up properly.
So, either get it set up properly (much cheaper than a new guitar) or learn to do it yourself (even cheaper and not terribly difficult). There are lots of books that can tell you how to do it. I learned from Ralph Denyer's Guitar Handbook
Don't give up man. There's many ways to improve.
1.) My best advice, is find a good teacher that you like and feel comfortable around. Once you do you'll really begin to improve and like your sound.
2.) If you can't find a teacher there's plenty of online resources
3.) This is probably the best and hardest way to improve; it's very slow but the pay off is amazing. Transcribe everything. Start with the Beatles or CCR and transcribe simple chord songs and slowly (I mean after several months of doing this) move on to harder material.
This method is not recommended as it's hard, but it'll make you damn good.
Don't give up bro, I've played guitar for 5 years. I sucked for the first two, was mediocre the last 2 years and it's only recently that I've begun to get good. Just like anyone can learn algebra or learn to read anyone can play guitar.
Two Books to Recommend (On the Mental Aspect of Music):
Effortless Mastery - Liberating the Master Musician Within
by Kenny Werner. This book is simply awesome.
Zen Guitar - Philip Sudo
don't click me! :)
Two Final Tips
Occasionally you'll hit walls or plateaus at which point, watch Crossroads or listen to Zeppelin and remind yourself why you started playing, then go and practice.
(-> = leads to)
zen guitar - more about a mindset then theory...
As a classical musician already, I suspect this would be a good place to start, for you more so than for non-musician beginners like me. I read a lot of recommendations for this book so I got it.
Think this is exactly what you're looking for, also aviable as an eBook.
Scales, Chords, Arpeggios and Cadences: Complete Book (Alfred's Basic Piano Library)
If you’re new to music in general this book is awesome. even for adults.
This one is another good resource for scales and chords.
I don't play double bass much so I haven't tried it, but I would imagine that stick control would work just as good with your feet as it does with your hands
This, these, and one of these will get you started for $53.10
Or if you want to go nuts, one of these.
Find a book or two about guitar building on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Electric-Guitar/dp/0953104907 this one is pretty excellent) and read it. The book will not only tell you every step of building an instrument, but it will also list every tool and material you will need to complete the project.
The first step to take, though, is to learn basic woodworking skills. Without them (and without good hands-on guidance from a skilled woodworker), you will not build an instrument worth playing.
Hi there!
I'd say that an important first step is plenty of research on the principles of guitar building, so that you have a good understanding of what you are trying to achieve before you start designing or building:
There are some excellent books on the subject, and also many resources on YouTube where you can watch the pro's at work and see how it's done....
Having some woodwork experience is a good starting point, and having the right tools for the job definitely helps, but many people have managed to achieve a first build on their kitchen table with just the basics....
Do you have an idea of what type of guitar you would like to build? I'm assuming a solid-body electric of some kind, which is somewhat more straightforward than say an acoustic guitar....
It's a good idea to base your first guitar on something which already exists, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel (some time spent trying out as many guitars as possible down at the local guitar store is always fun, until they get heartily sick of you!)....
Another good learning strategy is to acquire a couple of secondhand cheapo guitars to tinker with and take apart etc, without fear of ruining a decent instrument (also good for practice at soldering and wiring pickups, pots etc)...
You might also bear in mind that a kit guitar, or buying in components like a factory-made neck, or pre-slotted fretboard etc, can be a great starting point, and considerably less daunting than trying to make absolutely everything from scratch for a first-timer!
Nobody's first guitar is ever 'perfect' I'd say, so aim for something relatively simple and execute it really well, then save that triple-necked guitar with eighteen pickups and loads of exotic hardwoods you've always dreamed of (lol) for a future build, once you have mastered the basic skills... :>)>
Hope that helps.
PS - ask loads of questions as you go along, if something crops up that you are not sure of... that's what we're here for!
Best wishes,
Woody
Not a problem.
Just so you know, the TDPRI and MyLesPaul luthier section of their forums are an excellent resource for for DIY luthering.
Great example from TDPRI. Nut filing.
Melvyn Hiscock has a great book on building your first guitar. (Jeez, I just saw the prices... it's out of print, but I'm sure a local used book store can get it for you for less than $60)
My advice. Build that and give it to a deserving guitarist.
THEN build your guitar.
Dream big. Start small.
Get Fretboard Logic SE from Amazon or somewhere else. It's a book that teaches you how to memorize & navigate the fretboard easily. It's all broken down very well and very easy to understand. It doesn't have any biases toward a specific genre.
The best part is that it teaches you how to understand the fretboard in a logical way, so it's not just hard memorization of an abstract concept.
http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1322260893&amp;sr=8-5
Fretboard Logic goes over the CAGED system quite a bit. And I think it gets into scales too, but my copy is packed away somewhere so I can't verify.
Very good method. I suggest checking out the book called Fretboard Logic.
http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060
For pure technique-building, check out the "Guitar Aerobics" book. It gives one short exercise to play every day for a year. Each day of the week focuses on a different technique, like arpeggios, alternate picking, sweep picking, bends, etc.
&#x200B;
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Aerobics-One-lick-day-Maintaining/dp/1423414357
Great book to check out is the jazz theory book. Here's an amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1883217040/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_YLNAzb4MBCS34
The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine
rudimentary technique book, one of the standards.
another rudimentary book, another one of the standards.
first metronome i pulled up under 20$. essential.
DVD by Jojo Mayer, who has (imo) one of the best stick techniques in the business. Really great video examples of proper stick grip, and various techniques regarding rebound and bounce.
edit: me not word good. changed #4 around for redundancies.
The only thing you really need in the beginning is a practice pad like that one, this book and a pair of sticks.
If you can bear practicing like this without giving up because of the boredom that is learning the fundamentals, a second-hand e-drum kit is an inexpensive and space-saving way of getting into playing on a whole set. It also means you won't annoy your neighbors too much.
https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040
$10.79 @ Amazon. You can probably get it for $6-7 from random book resellers on Google. If you approach this book with discipline, the return for your $ will be immense.
https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040
The Art of Bop Dumming by Jon Riley
Progressive Steps to Syncopation by Ted Reed
Jazz Drum Studio by John Pickering
Buy any or all three of these. Perfect place to start. And start listening to a lot of jazz. Good luck, dude. Jazz is great.
I've been going through Syncopation for the Modern Drummer to come up with melodies that use syncoption. It has like every permutation of syncopation you could imagine. I think it was written with a jazz drummer in mind, but you can use the ideas for type of music.
Stick control is a great book. another good one for developing Independence in your hands and feet is this one
http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953/ref=sr_1_cc_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1293738221&amp;sr=1-3-catcorr
Very basic beginner tips:
You're spot on with picking up sticks and a pad first (I should also mention a metronome because drumming is ALL about keeping time, but this is bare basics so for the sake of my bad typing skills and your wallet I'm going to omit it, but know this HAS TO BE YOUR NEXT PURCHASE (also there's dozens of free metronome apps FYI)).
This is all you will need to begin drumming and it shouldn't cost you more than $30. As far as for what kinds/brands, just buy two matching sticks that feel comfortable in your hands and a pad that's 'bouncy'. (Don't worry about wood types or tips for the drum sticks yet, you're still a far ways away from that being a concern)
Now that you have sticks and a pad, the next move is to learn how to hold them. This is going to be hard without any visuals, so bear with me here lol. Hold your right hand forward as if you were to accept a handshake. With your left hand, place the stick in the center your palm so that the blunt end of the stick is facing the ground. Now close your fingers around it to create a fist. Adjust the height of the stick in your fist so that only 1 inch of the blunt end is protruding(sp?) from the bottom of your fist. At this point, it should seem like your holding the drum stick the same way that you might hold a hammer; you're close but there's two more VERY IMPORTANT steps. Next, adjust your thumb so that it rests on the shaft of the stick. (Imagine that with your fist you're trying to now give someone a thumbs-up and that your stick is just a big extension of that thumbs-up, that what this should all look like) Finally, while maintaining this hand position, turn your wrist 90 degrees so that your palm and stick are both facing the ground.
Now repeat with your left hand.
If done correctly, you should be making a 'V' shape with your sticks. As well, if done correctly, you should be able to hold both stick with only your thumb and fore-finger. (Just to cover all bases, your middle, ring and pinky fingers are simply there for minor support, most grip strength and stick control comes from finding the fulcrum (or balancing sweet spot) of the stick and pinching it with your thumb and fore finger)
Confused yet? Good! Just a few more things and I'll feel like I'm really doing you justice here lol:
Just start off at first by trying to get your sticks to hit the pad and bounce back at you. Don't 'bury' them into the pad; make them work for you, not against you. Don't worry about speed, intensity or consistency just yet, it will all come in time.
Obviously, alternate your hands. You'll find that you have a dominant hand (99.99% chance it's your writing hand) but don't forget that, unless you plan on starting a Def Lepard cover band, your going to need both hands, so give them both the appropriate amounts of attention they deserve!
Once you got both hands hitting with equal confidence, just go back and forth with your right and left hand and try to focus on making them both sound, look, and feel as even as possible.
New drummer LPT's:
-Buy a metronome ASAP.
-Forget about speed, it WILL come naturally.
-Buy, download, torrent, steal, GET this book and go through it. It is the golden standard for pre-drumkit drumming. If you master this book, you have mastered the concept of drumming.
-Hold off on a drumkit. They're big and expensive; you'll really want to make sure that you REALLY want to commit to drumming first.
-Finally, YOUTUBE will teach you all this and more for FREE!
Good luck, sorry for the novel but I really hope this helps.
Sources: drumming 12 years, currently professional touring drummer, tried to teach a friend how-to a while ago and he's... not terrible :P
Everyone is right about getting a teacher, particularly for the basics and more advanced concepts as well. I personally started playing through a high school class for a semester then was taught all over again by a guy from my church.
Since then however I have been playing on my own (with books) and learning by ear as well. Here are my recommendations
I'm currently using Alfred's. https://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_267_bs_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=TRV8VN58287JY0698CNH
I've posted this a few times but I think its well worth repeating:
I am using Alfred's Adult all in one and there is a guy on YouTube that covers each lesson with good instruction and tips.
Here is the link:
Alfred's Video
I also hired a tutor who I meet with every two weeks, just to make sure I'm not picking up bad habits.
Amazon link to Alfred book
FAQ
http://www.reddit.com//r/piano/wiki/faq
I'd skip skoove.
http://fundamentals-of-piano-practice.readthedocs.io/en/latest/chapter1/ch1_topics/
Discussion, summary of some parts here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/piano/comments/5mn8fi/fundamentals_of_piano_practice_some_boiled_down/
Taubman technique
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHpGYrNMpSxgcftnjYolpGrnTpNzlM8Qu
https://www.golandskyinstitute.org/blog/teaching-rotation-with-robert-durso
Plenty of beginner piano videos like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSs0dBjGpv4
All in one method books can work well too, plenty of others.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adult-All-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186/
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/30/1/Adult_Beginners_Forum.html
Plenty of overlap in these links. Try some out, figure out what works best for you. One important thing you can miss not having a teacher is sitting and moving the right way so you don't hurt yourself. With nobody to critique you as you go, a few different videos, careful reading beforehand, and doing your best to be mindful of any tension and discomfort that develops is advisable. That way you figure out when you're sore and need to reevaluate your style with a few days of minor discomfort instead of a couple months. Certainly possible to get by without a teacher. But with the right teacher you might be able to get a lot out of a lesson once every month or two.
a; a minor; b; b minor; c; c minor; d; d minor; e; e minor; f; f minor; g; g minor
Then there's flats and sharps.
You can buy a hannon book for $3 or $4 http://www.amazon.com/Hanon-Virtuoso-Exercises-Complete-Schirmers/dp/0793525446/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1457979356&amp;sr=8-3&amp;keywords=piano+scales
Since you are just starting out, your emphasis right now needs to be on developing a solid basis of technique, . For the next 2 years I recommend you alot your practice time as follows:
After 2 years, once you have built up your dexterity, then you can begin alotting a greater portion of your time to practicing pieces.
Please note that this time estimate is based on my experience, playing for 3 hours/day during my formative training years. If you are practicing less, it may take longer for you to build your dexterity.
https://www.amazon.com/Hanon-Virtuoso-Exercises-Complete-Schirmers/dp/0793525446
Ask your teacher about Hanon before buying, many don't care for his exercises while many might prefer to give exercises to you individually rather than having you practice from a book. Nevertheless progress slowly through the book, play the exercises slowly and steadily over quickly and unconfidently. Vary the exercises' rhythm as an exercise(For example you can make every other tone dotted while halfing the duration of the others). Follow the fingerings written out and get help from your teacher if something hurts or feels tense/wrong rather than just powering through it and lastly remember that Hanon exercises are NOT a substitute for other content such as learning pieces you're interested in. Hanon exercises lack in musicality and other elements that you need to learn through learning actual pieces of music that you enjoy.
The Evolving Bassist
Ray Brown's Bass Method
Building Walking Basslines
Constructing Walking Jazz Bass Lines - This book is part of a series that has 5 or 6 other books on different jazz bass techniques and methods.
Semi-related, if you're looking to learn/improve your walking basslines, this book is what you want. It really is fantastic.
I watched a few videos of it on YouTube. It does seem pretty fun lol. I'm tempted to get a copy for myself.
On the other hand, you can get these four books for the same price, and take advantage of your existing knowledge in reading music:
The best way I found so far is to do this guys lessons in order : https://www.youtube.com/user/Lypur
I supplement with
http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167
Second the recommendation of scales and arpeggios, in all keys, major and minor. You can start off with just a few, the easiest ones (go in order of the circle of fifths if you want), and continue to add on. Start slowly and, most importantly, EVENLY, building a good foundation for speeding it up later and applying it to technical passages. But there's no real recommendation anyone can give you for "X amount of times," because scales and arpeggios are things you'll continuously practice no matter how high of a level you get to. At a higher level once you've mastered them, you may not have to do the entire set every day, but you can then apply them to pieces by choosing from your arsenal certain exercises that practice the techniques needed in a tricky section of Rach or such.
A good resource for other technique exercises is the book of Hanon exercises. It's been used for many decades, and includes lots of scale/arpeggio-type exercises, and you can work your way through them. Be aware, though, that they're VERY tedious (literally just pattern building through each key), but it sounds like you have the ability to self-motivate yourself. Be careful not to treat these just as exercises, though, and go through them robotically and monotonously, because it's very easy to see them as such. They're just tools developed to help finger agility, speed, and recognition of patterns so you can apply them to full-blown pieces. It's like a tennis player who practices a certain type of grip for 50 serves a day. Great if she can do it through the exercise, but if she reverts to her old grip when she starts playing a game (putting it into action), the grip practice was wasted. Application of theory into pieces is sometimes the hardest thing to do.
I know this has been a giant essay, but lastly, none of us can really give you an individual recommendation. It seems like you've got the self-motivation to learn yourself, but if you are interested in really getting a structured routine, get a private teacher, if only for a few lessons, to help you develop what kinds of things you need to work on.
The Hanon book might be what you are looking for. But your best bet is to get a good, dedicated teacher and see what he/she thinks you need.
Buy a Hanon's exercise book. I'm 22, and was given my grandfather's copy (from the 1930's) when I was around 11-12, and it really makes a difference in technical sections. Even though I've been playing them forever, I still use them as a tune-up when I feel a little slow. Recently just used them to prepare for a Bach obsession I'm in
edit: Here's actually the PDF of the book
Building Walking Bass Lines
Hal Leonard Bass Method
the real book / 2
I found Building Walking Bass Lines helpful when I first started. Another must-have is The Evolving Bassist by Rufus Reid.
My instructor (jazz guitarist and bassist) had me buy a copy of Ed Freidland's "Building Walking Bass Lines". Good place to start learning the basics along with the below suggestion to transcribe bass lines. (hint: get a copy of Audacity, use the bass boost, low pass filter, and slow the whole thing down to really hear the bass). (edited to add link)
Get a Hal Leonard Bass Method Book. It's fucking great. Definitely the best 15 dollars you can spend to help learn bass. You can read a lot of awesome information without actually owning the bass yet. Once you get your bass, every single page in that book has something for you to practice or learn.
I've been suggesting this book recently, having started to go through it myself I can promise you'll learn a lot even by yourself. Book and YouTube can teach you only so far in your abilities, a professional bass teacher can sculpt your technique and evaluate your playing better than anything, but will cost the most.
Here's that book, I bought it digitally on Google Play for 13$
http://www.amazon.com/Leonard-Bass-Method-Easy-Use/dp/0793563836
Get this book. It's been a tremendous help to me.
I also recommend getting the free trial of Scott's Bass Lessons and going through the Bass Guitar Foundations course.
With learning any instrument, you have to learn to crawl before you can walk, walk before you can run. Having strong fundamental skills will save you a lot of frustration down the road.
I'm not much of a pick player, but I've watched one of my favorite bassists who exclusively uses a pick, and she anchors her pinky finger below the bottom string on the body of the bass. I tried it, and I found it helpful. She (and, I believe, most pick players do this) also wraps her thumb over the top of the fretboard to mute the top string when she's playing the string beneath it, and when she frets a note, she uses that finger to mute the strings below it. Here's a video of her playing (it's an acoustic bass, but everything still applies).
If you are looking for a method to use for self teaching the Hal Leonard Bass Method is what I am using. If you can already play bass your fretting and finger plucking won't slow your progress as you learn to read the musical notation. About $15 on Amazom for the book 1,2,3 combo with practice track CDs. Get the spiral bound books, not kindle. The kindle format is not good. I've learned a lot with these books and I had never read music before. The book cover more than just the notes & rests. Covers things like repeat, endings, coda notation, etc.
https://www.amazon.com/Leonard-Bass-Method-Easy-Use/dp/0793563836/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1481028149&amp;sr=8-10&amp;keywords=hal+leonard
https://www.amazon.com/Leonard-Bass-Method-Easy-Use/dp/0793563836
It has book 1, 2 and 3 plus the CDs
I agree.
I have bought http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0793563836
Check these out - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLImrzCNnL5PkSfa1gUpsGzSMELR31yW9h
I'm going to take a couple lessons a month from a local instructor but between the two above resources and Rocksmith, the only other thing I need is fretboard time!
Like blackfiremoose said, Guitar Pro and slow the song down along with turning on the metronome. It will help you immensely. You can look up cover songs on youtube to see how someone else plays too, to get an idea of how to play the song. Use those two together and you'll learn how to play tightly/cleanly.
As far as breaking down technique, it might be better to take a couple lessons. Plenty of metal guitarists offer lessons and will help you one on one. I know for sure that Dave Davidson from Revocation and Reese Scruggs from Havok do them. I also recommend getting The Guitarist's Grimoire. That will teach you all the scales and modes you'll ever need.
start small and work your way up. Elementary Rudiments of Music. Learning theory is about learning music, not just guitar. http://www.amazon.ca/Elementary-Rudiments-Music-Barbara-Wharram/dp/1554400112
For learning guitar, I like fretboard logic.
And as a reference guide and rut breaker the Guitar Grimoire
Check this out. Dan Erlewine is the the author of the guitar maintenance bible/koran/talmud; this should put you on the right path.
It's not dust. It's the string vibrating against one or more of the frets. Tuning won't help. You need a pro set-up. They will adjust the bridge height, check the nut height, and adjust the curvature of the neck. It's all stuff you could do yourself but you need to read-up first. I use this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-3rd/dp/0879309210/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1454246945&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=guitar+repair
Have a look at Dan Erlewine's book:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide/dp/0879309210
It's the bible. Your library will probably have a copy and it will explain everything in far better detail than anyone else can explain.
Guitar Player Repair Guide by Dan Erlewine
Yep, this was the first book I had - even before my first guitar!
However, although it's very good and informative, I found that this book really opened my eyes...to the extent that I've still not explored all the way through it despite having had a copy for longer than I care to remember.
It's also one of only a couple of books that I've had to re-buy after lending to people and them not returning them - the other being Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
> Mick Goodrick's "The Advancing Guitarist" is a fantastic resource for this.
QFT, and to add an Amazon link for convenience. TAG had a huge effect on my playing and indeed whole approach to music.
It's also the book I've bought most copies of because I keep lending it to people and one way or another they end up keeping it.
The next book on that list is Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick. Excellent, excellent book filled with tons of ideas on how to take your playing to the next level and think outside the box.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Advancing-Guitarist-Mick-Goodrick/dp/0881885894
EDIT to add:
The Guitarist's Guide to Composing and Improvising by Damian John.
http://www.amazon.com/Guitarists-Guide-Composing-Improvising-Book/dp/0634016350/ref=pd_sim_b_16?ie=UTF8&amp;refRID=0V593FDV2H8756D7K3DK
From my experience, ear training and visualization should be your focus, not theory. I learned a shitton of theory, and it did not do me much good without practice. It’s like how I know a lot about baseball, but I don’t play baseball, so knowing that what to do in certain situations won’t actually help me do it if I have to process it like it’s a math problem—there simply isn’t a way to transform thought into kinesthetic movements without taking the time to “lay down the tracks”.
The theory will come from practicing, both with guitar in hand and when you are out and about by visualizing chords changes or melodies or the Circle of Fifths or whatever. Then, as you look through theory for things to practice, you’ll likely already have a place to put the names of the things in your head. I should add, try singing the notes you try to play, even if your voice sucks—practice will make your voice better.
The point of theory is music. To that end, I recommend doing what I didn’t do, practicing the exercises in The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick. Also, really play with the Circle of Fifths and the brightness/darkness implicit to it.
Links!
Chord Chemistry - Ted Greene
The Advancing Guitarist - Mick Goodrick
Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar: Book 1
Also, remember that 85% of odd jazz chords that come about, you should be able to work out. -Maj7? Min7 chord with a sharp 7. 7b5? 7 chord with a flat five. Chords with tensions can generally be played without the tensions, so G13 can easily be G7. However, you will loose some nuance. As for jazz solos? Totally not a jazz guitarist. My rock soloing didn't go well with my jazz teachers. However, I was given some fantastic advice: Even if you don't play a style, solo in it like you would normally because that is where you are comfortable. If you find the groove, you'll fit.
Do you want to play jazz? The real book is a lead sheet book that lists chords and has single melody lines. This will not help you to read sheet music.
Start with a primer book like Alfreds. This will work you up through reading.
Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course: Lesson Book, Level One https://www.amazon.com/dp/0882846167/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_N3cgAbNWPYG4M
In order starting with the book on the top left:
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Keyboard-Chord-Piano-Method/dp/0793551447
http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Essentials-Complete-Training-Workbook/dp/0882848976
http://www.amazon.com/MIDI-Book-Syntharts-Steve-Furia/dp/0881885142
http://www.amazon.com/The-Total-Keyboard-Performing-Electronic/dp/1586637037
http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Theory-Volume-Sandy-Feldstein/dp/0882842161
http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167
http://www.amazon.com/Welshs-Synthesizer-Cookbook-Programming-Universal/dp/B000ERHA4S
http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167
Make Your Own Electric Guitar is a good one.
I also got a lot of inspiration and good ideas from Jeff Miller's step-by-step pictures online.
As far as the design I think it might benefit from some symmetry in the body and especially the horns. Either two sharp horns or two curled, but not one of each. Also the lower bout looks narrower than the upper which throws my eye off a bit. If this is your first attempt and building a guitar do what Nipple_Cruncher suggested and build something tried and proven. First builds can be daunting enough without trying to reinvent the wheel. You're young and there will be plenty of time to tinker with your own designs later.
I'd suggest spending $25 on Melvin Hiscock's book and read it from cover to cover.
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Electric-Guitar/dp/0953104907
Recommended Books:
Electric Guitar and Bass Design: The guitar or bass of your dreams, from the first draft to the complete plan https://www.amazon.com/dp/3000296425/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_taa_HT7nDb2JCC3CP
Electric Guitar Making & Marketing: How to build and market high-end instruments, from your workshop's setup to the complete business plan https://www.amazon.com/dp/1514353083/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_taa_ZS7nDbZQR4RFH
Make Your Own Electric Guitar https://www.amazon.com/dp/0953104907/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_taa_mV7nDb4C88PQ7
Build Your Own Electric Guitar: Complete Instructions and Full-Size Plansby Oakham, Martin
(This one is hard to find)
Verdelet gives good advice!
All I would add is the age old advice of "measure once, cut twice"
I also recommend Make Your Own Electric Guitar by Melvin Hiscock. The book is considered the "Bible" of guitar making, and is an excellent guide/ reference.
I'd also recommend reading plenty. Project guitar is great. MIMF is another good site. By reading about mistakes others have made you can avoid them yourself ;)
Buy some books. This is a good one: https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Electric-Guitar/dp/0953104907
I posted a picture of a guitar I made not too long ago. Here it is. The link to the entire build should be in the comments.
People say to just build your first guitar from a kit and keep it relatively simple. Personally, I say do whatever you want with your guitar. It is YOUR own guitar after all.
My tips would be:
If you have any more questions, just PM me!
I'd suggest joining the Crimson Guitars forum and checking out their YouTube channel. I'd also highly recommend the book Make Your Own Electric Guitar by Melvyn Hiscock. These resources will answer all of your questions and more.
I used this one, and this one. The first one is good to read before you start designing/building. It describes what makes a good design and what doesn't. The second is more of the actual building information. It even includes info on bass building, which is why I got it. You'd probably be looking more for the second book I listed, but it can be hard to find. Good luck!
My advice is to buy some books. There's a lot of info on the internet, but it's all spread out and often chopped up into pieces, which can make it a bitch to make sense of. If you're going to go the internet route, though, check out guitarlessons365.com (not affiliated in any way). The vast majority of the lessons are free and the music theory section is completely free, not to mention very good.
http://www.guitarlessons365.com/lessons-archive/music-theory-lessons-archive/
Regarding books, this is a great, easy to read book on music theory that won't hurt your head. I'd start either here or with guitarlessons365.
http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Music-Theory-Book-understanding/dp/1440511829
For guitar books, Fretboard Logic is a must read. Definitely buy this. It focuses on the 5 position system (CAGED). If you're interested in learning the 7 position system for the major scales and other 7 note scales, check out guitarlessons365.
http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1348759781&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=fretboard+logic
After that, I'd check out this as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1348759708&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=guitar+theory
Worth checking this out as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1348759937&amp;sr=1-3&amp;keywords=guitar+theory
Here's another important book. I'd probably buy this last, though.
http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1348760257&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=jazz+theory+book+by+mark+levine
This book really helped me - there's an exercise a day for 52 weeks, focusing on alternate picking, arpeggio, sweep picking, string skipping, legato, rhythm and bends.
20 minutes a day slowly building up the speed of the exercise with a metronome really helped me improve!
Troy Nelson Guitar Aerobics (Book & Cd) Gtr Book/Cd https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1423414357/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_4q4IxbVKK1XFC
I really enjoyed this book, the rest in the series are a bit blah, but this stood out as helping me a lot.
https://www.musicroom.com/product-detail/product332583/variant332583/guitar-springboard-technical-workout/
Also the popular Guitar Aerobics book might be what you want. I dont own this one, but I will buy it eventually, some friends have it and seemed to really improve when they stuck with the 52 week thing,
When i borrowed it i just went through it at my own pace which might not be best, as I cant remember most of it.
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Aerobics-One-lick-day-Maintaining/dp/1423414357
Also there is this.
Check out this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1510250111&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=jazz+theory+levine
Great theory in this book, and I think it would be interesting even if you don't play.
If that's too technical then my advice would be to listen, listen, listen! Miles, Monk, Coltrane, etc didn't have these music theory classes and technical books, they listened and played to learn the craft. If you can't/don't have time to invest in learning to play then keep listening
Do you already have The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine? That starts from first principles and goes through to fluent proficiency.
If you have an understanding of music theory this is a great book to check out:
http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040
This book changed my life
if you don't have a copy of the jazz theory book, i recommend it highly for theory and examples. the index of the book contains a list of about a thousand songs. about 300 of those are starred, with a footnote implying you better learn them or you'll be run of of new york on a rail, or something to that effect.
one thing i did that proved very useful was to make a playlist of those 300 tunes to start. i would listen to it often (i love jazz so this was definitely not a chore), and remove any song if i could hum through the entire head and name the song. after a few months i knew what all 300 sounded like, which makes it a lot easier if someone calls something random on the bandstand.
as for what to memorize and know cold:
my book 2 memorize list, made from the one's i've had to play fairly often:
http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1301952085&amp;sr=1-1
I'd recommend The Jazz Piano Book or The Jazz Theory Book, both by Mark Levine. There's a ton of great stuff in both, and they'll teach you how jazz musicians conceive of how they play—not to mention give you a foundation to play pretty much any popular style that strikes your fancy.
Other books mentioned in this thread are good, but so is the Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine. Even if you're not interested in jazz, this book is useful for most styles of music, though for classical you're better off with something like Tonal Harmony
If you want to learn some basics and beyond if jazz theory I recommend The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine
The Jazz theory book is pretty good (UK Amazon link: The Jazz Theory Book https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1883217040/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_1iIPBb6419EEZ)
Otherwise the ABRSM music theory books are pretty good as well but a little boring to read...
get all of your scales down. And I just mean like major/minor or Ionian/Aeolian. Just know your way up and down all of them, as well as all arpeggios. Knowing these shapes will help you to navigate charts easier. Second just start looking at charts, and don't even start playing in time with the music right away. Go through slowly and play the arpeggios (up to the seventh) of every change. Then play the song at speed and just go up and down each arpeggio. Eventually just start adding notes in between here and there and keep going like that until you are a master, and are ballin for shock calling. Seriously though, after doing that for a while start to look at things like major minor scales, and the altered scale, which are both very common in jazz (herbie hancock, wayne shorter). A good piece of literature on the subject is a book by Mark Levine called "The Jazz Theory Book" here it is on amazon for like thirty bucks, but well worth it imho. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1883217040/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_5?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;smid=A2D0XUFQTHPTMU Best of luck.
The beginning of this part of learning jazz always sucks but it will be as much fun as you make it. Don't give up. This is a genre very worth learning how to play well.
Also, get this rudiment book according to my drum teacher. It is called "Stick Control: For The Snare Drummer" and teaches you essential rudiments ($10 shipped). https://www.amazon.com/dp/1892764040 and watch rudiment videos online. I am just learning rudiments but he showed me how important they are to learn.
Stick Control is probably the best book for building up chops and, well, stick control. https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040
Practice pad, metronome, sticks and "Stick Control" by George Stone. That's where you should start.
http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/1892764040
How about spending some time working through a book?
I have been working through both and am enjoying them! Another thing that has really helped me is transcribing drum parts and learning to play them that way. I did this with a Tool song and it was unbelievably illuminating. Really makes you think about what the drummer is doing.
PS: Nice username :P
keep it up dude! Seeing as you are a young drummer, I want to offer some advice for you to improve. You seem to lose some stick control throughout the song . I would highly recommend you work on improving your technique by going through books such as Stick Control for the Modern Drummer. You can use this as a warm up and play like 4 lines perfectly multiple times or something similar. This book is only a suggestion, there are many ways to improve technique. You just have to make a conscious effort to work on it. A good mixture of practice vs playing will keep you engaged and feel great about improving at the same time.
When I was your age, I spent a lot of time focusing on different patterns and independence and didn't really work on technique until a bit later, and I can say from experience that even though I was practicing a lot, I wasn't practicing near max efficiency because I didn't make technique a priority early on. Working on your rudiments and having great technique makes basically anything easier to learn and makes it sound 1000 times better.
I hope you find this helpful. I use to teach mainly beginners and intermediate players and if you ever want some advice or guidance feel free to shoot me a pm. Keep drumming!
edit- I looked through some of your other videos. I think your stick control was a lot better in some of them. You definitely have talent and I hope you keep at it and keep improving!
Syncopation and Stick Control are books you will never grow out of and are a must have for any drummer in my opinion. You can use these exercises around the kit as well as implementing feet.
If you want something like drum set notes it very much depends on what genre you are interested in.
https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040
My advice is don't use more force than you have to and play pick closer to the bridge, there's more tension there and the resistance of strumming the string is more consistent when you start.
I personally recommend starting with pretty thin picks, but try different thicknesses to find if there is a gauge that feels better.
One of the big aspects is that you have get very good at muting strings with your left, or fretting hand when playing since you can't really mute strings while holding a pick.
For dexterity take some exercises from a drumming a booking like this one, but instead of alternating right and left hands alternate down strokes and upstrokes at low speeds and then slowly speed up. Then start to incorporate plucking string next to each doing down strokes on one and up strokes on the other. The best one to start with is paradidle (RLRRLRLL), or Down-Up-Down-Down-Up-Down-Up-Up. The goal when doing this type of practice is to make each stroke even and full.
This is a really short description of each, but hopefully will help.
CAGED system is a way of knowing how to play chords all over the neck. If you know the notes of the fretboard and where the root note is in each chord shape, then you can use that to play any chord, in any position using only the C, A, G, E and D chord shapes. If you're looking for a C chord near the 13th fret, there's an C on string 2 fret 13. The D shape has the root note on the 2nd string, so if you play a D chord shape at the 12th position (which uses the C root note on the 2nd string), that'll be an C chord. Alternatively, you could think about it this way... if a D chord is at the 14th position, slide a full step down to the 12th position and you'll have a C chord.
Next, if you know the scale positions and the root note within each, you can combine the CAGED system with scale positions and blend them.
The keys to understanding this are 1) understanding the CAGED system, 2) knowing scale positions (you mentioned pentatonic and mixolydian - just pick one scale type for a start), and 3) knowing the notes of the fretboard. Once you have a solid understanding of those, a bit of practice will get you over the hump with combining them.
The thing that helped me put all of this together (apart from hours of practice with backing tracks), was a book called Guitar Fretboard Workbook. The exercises are short and helped with memorizing note positions on the fretboard, and it has a good explanation of the CAGED system as well.
I hope this helps.
Edit: corrected chord name.
I found this book " Guitar Fretboard Workbook" to be helpful.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0634049011/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1501090842&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&amp;keywords=guitar+fretboard+workbook&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51zV7bok4fL&amp;ref=plSrch
Guitar Fretboard workbook by Barrett Tagliarino
I picked it up a few months ago and have made great progress using that and taking private lessons.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0634049011?ie=UTF8&amp;force-full-site=1&amp;ref_=aw_bottom_links
"Music Theory for Guitarists" by Tom Kolb is popular. http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X/
The above-mentioned Fretboard Logic is good, but it isn't quite what you're asking for, if you were to buy only one book.
The above Mikrokosmos is a classic, but aimed specifically at piano. For some people that's not an issue, it can be a plus. For other people it is off-putting or confusing.
I really couldn't say what the best non-instrument-oriented music theory book is; there are so very many of them -- and I've got a whole bunch, just not one in particular that I think is an absolute must-read. There are a lot of topics even in basic music theory, and lots of approaches (very formal and academic versus casual writing style, for instance).
The one you found seems to cover a lot of the important topics, and is well-rated by 37 reviewers on the U.S. Amazon site, too, in addition to the 6 on the U.K. site.
You could always combine that one with the guitar-centric one.
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1478698332&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=guitarist+music+theory
This is the greatest music book I have ever used.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/063406651X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1485268950&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&amp;keywords=guitar+theory&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51c94gsdGUL&amp;ref=plSrch
by Tom Kolb
by Desi Serna
by Michael Pilhofer et al.
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Read some/all of some/all of the following resources to help yourself with music theory. /r/musictheory also exists to help those with theory questions.
http://academic.udayton.edu/tobyrush/theorypages/
http://www.musictheory.net/lessons
https://www.basicmusictheory.com/
http://www.learnmusicfree.com/
http://www.oolimo.com/en/course.php
https://www.musictheoryforguitar.com/scalesandmodesguitarlessons.html
https://mymusictheory.zenler.com/
http://www.popularmusictheory.org/index.htm
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_musical_terminology
Yep, this book recommended to me by my teacher 17 years ago is my bible. But I guess these days you could probably youtube anything.
I believe Justinguitar has a theory series. If you can afford to buy a book, Ralph Denyer's The Guitar Handbook will give you a solid start on theory and includes other information that's useful to someone at your stage.
The Guitar Handbook should be handed out with every first guitar.
Piano is actually very easy. You just need to pick up the fundamentals to a functional level. Alot of the rest can be picked up if you have a decent ear. Much like anything there's a learning curve. You dedicate yourself to slog through the initial frustration of the curve and the rest comes pretty easy.
Pick up this book and work through it:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0739003682/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_U.UbAb21EDKZK
This book has helped me out tremendously and I recommend that everyone should have it.
The book "Scales, Chords, Arpeggios and Cadences: Complete Book" gets posted here a lot. Does the book contain some information not easily available somewhere else, or is its major selling point only having everything printed in a nice format? I don't see the value of having e.g. C major scale with fingerings printed out, compared to simply having "RH 1231234, LH 1432132" written on a paper/tablet screen/whatever.
It doesn't really sound like you want a theory book, but rather a book to help you identify and practice scales, chords, etc. For that, you might want to check out this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0739003682/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1
It has a twenty page intro explaining some theory and then goes on to list all of the major/major scales, arpeggios, etc., in an easy to practice format.
This is what you're looking for. It has all the chords and much more.
I would like to direct you to “Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles” for a lot of really good info on various tricks and techniques employed by the Fab 4 in building fresh sounds. “[Beatles Complete]()http://www.amazon.com/The-Beatles-Complete-Scores/dp/0793518326” is a more or less obligatory companion volume.
There are a lot of ideas to try out with various Beatles songs cited as examples.
Hi! I don't know about videos, but The Beatles Complete Scores has note for note transcriptions of all instruments in each and every Beatles song. There are a few mistakes here and there, but overall, it's pretty solid. It is admittedly a little pricey unless you're a huge Beatles fan. Their transcription of Let It Be is spot on.
On a personal note, this is the book that got me to start learning how to play piano.
The first thing to do is look for a copy of The Beatles: Complete Scores. Here's the Amazon link. That will help a lot with the other tips that have been given.
If you like The Beatles you might enjoy this.
It's on my bucket list to write The Beatles: Complete Scores but for AC. I've transcribed some parts of songs that I thought would be difficult so far. Along with notes hypothesizing about how certain sounds were made, equipment, etc, since those questions are constantly asked here.
But then again, demystifying their music has always seemed a little against the band's wishes.
This book is great for better stick control http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1892764040/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
You can learn from books if you the type of person that likes to
http://eric.frap.net/sa/bible/profsound.shtml - drum tuning bible
http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/1892764040 - classic book, endless applications
remember to stay loose and relaxed.
www.vicfirth.com has technique videos
Play through Stick Control ^you ^own ^Stick ^Control ^right?
with your feet. After you get that down try left foot-right hand or left hand-right foot while keeping a quarter (or half or etc...) pulse with the unused hand. Play with a metronome, start slow and have fun.
Marching snare player here!
I would recommend learning the 40 P.A.S. Rudiments
By Matt Savages Book (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0757902251?pc_redir=1412330082&amp;robot_redir=1)
I know Matt Savage personally and he's a great guy with a lot of experience in marching percussion.
Also buy the book stick control (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1892764040?pc_redir=1413605838&amp;robot_redir=1)
Those two books should get you started with marching percussion because they lay down the basics for everything that you will end up doing.
Lawrence Stone's Stick Control & Master Studies by Joe Morello
Great books to utilize while simultaneously working your sheet music skills. Good luck
I'm a self taught drummer also, but I think the main thing to remember is you never want to stop learning new stuff. Start with the basics and move up from there. Like others said YouTube has great tuts. Every new drummer wants to play fast, but speed is nothing without control. Your job is to keep time, that's the main thing to remember, I sometimes forget that! This is probably one of the best books to help you: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1892764040/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1
If you click the Look Inside link here you can see the table of contents. On page 18, you start learning chords.
If what you really like is classical Indian music, why not learn the sitar? Although I don't know much about sitar playing, it may have all of the things you hated about the guitar. There are other Indian instruments though.
If you have a pretty low drive, I don't see how you'll get anywhere self teaching. Doesn't your low drive mean you need a teacher pushing you to practice every day, etc?
Rudiments, and a metronome are great suggestions.
Id recommend getting going on some sight reading too.
Here are a couple great books I used starting out:
Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer -I still use this one regularly 20 years later. It's a classic.
The Art of Bop Drumming
Here's a great list from Modern Drummer of some other good instructional books. YouTube is great, but don't forget the basics.
https://www.moderndrummer.com/2013/04/25-timeless-drum-books/
Unfortunately it's not very cash-valuable, especially if you're in the US. Maybe $75-$100 to the right buyer. If you're after a cheap kit, get this cleaned up (Outside with a rag and some Steelo/whatever metal cleaner you can get your hands on) and go to a music shop, and buy a batter and a resonant head, snare wires and a snare stand. Look up how to put on heads and tune a snare drum online, or ask any other drummers you know. It'll be a great beginner snare - much better than what you'd get with a normal budget kit - and honestly, it's not valuable enough to worry about ruining it.
EDIT: Also, for a beginner percussionist, a snare is really all you need to start out. Look into books like Syncopation and Stick Control, they're just big sets of different snare drum exercises to teach you basic stick control.
For (3), I'd also say this.
my favorite book was "Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer"
It's been probably 10+ years since I bought that book, and I'll still pull it off the shelf and play through pages.
Another really fun thing to do is to go through the Syncopation book and play the quarter note and eighth note pages with just your left hand and kick drum while playing jazz time with your right hand and hi hat
Definitely something used, don’t buy new. You can get a decent used set with stands/cymbals for probably $300-500 that will be fine for a first kit for someone with little-to-no drumming experience. Maybe even cheaper.
Edit: a good book
Yes.
If you can't find a teacher, I recommend the Alfred All-in-One Basic Adult course. Should get you going while you find a teacher (do this).
I've been playing for six months and it's the best decision I've made in years.
Hey I'm doing the same now, been learning and practicing for about 2 months.
SCALES. Learn your scales and chords and that's what you'll be able to immediately take into making your own original music.
I've just gotten this book, which is part one of 3 and it's been very helpful for me with technique and theory.
I'm fond of the Alfred Adult All-In-One book. It emphasizes both theory and technic. When I was in the business of helping musicians find the right resources for them, this was my go-to book for players like you, who had moderate experience back in the day, but were looking to pick it back up again. It's going to start with pretty basic theory, so you might want to supplement the theory with a more theory-centric book. There's a nice accelerated version of the Theory Time series.
You're likely to find these at popular music retail chains.
I found a version for you: https://sites.ualberta.ca/~mmlau/sheetmusic/fearnotthisnight.pdf
It's not Lara's, but it sounds convincing enough (and the chords are not really difficult). Also, I highly recommend this book for beginners: Alfred's Adult All-In-One Piano. That's what I learned with and it was a foundation for branching out on my own.
I’m going to second what another poster has said. Alfred Adult all in one is where to start. There’s a guy that teaches every lesson of it on YouTube. It should take 9 months to 1.5 years to go through depending on how much you practice and how WELL you practice.
A teacher teaches you how to practice, the learning comes from you practicing.
Hi there! I'm also a beginner. I've been using Alfred's. It's a book that's used in my piano classes, and I personally think it's good~
https://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1500507658&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=alfreds+adult+all+in+one+piano+course+level+1
Alfred's All-In-One is a standard recommendation, get the spiral-bound book as it sits well on the piano.
First thing: READ THE FAQ. It covers a lot of things like how to get a good teacher, how to self-learn if needed, etc. I am going to leave this post below from before, though.
> Once again, I have to plug the FAQ's thing of at least try to get a teacher or a lesson, since the biggest challenge with self-learning is technique. That said, if you must self-learn, I would recommend getting Alfred's Adult All-in-One course and learning more into theory. The Royal Conservatory of Music has some great things, including a syllabus for piano (as well as the same syllabus for popular music) and a theory syllabus. I'll link it all below. Work through the first book until you have that material down. Also check out musictheory.net for their tutorials, as the theory can get tough very quickly. Once you have worked through those pieces, try looking at some real piano literature (e.g. Pezold: Minuet in G major) and complementing it with the scales, arpeggios, broken chords, etc. that the RCM syllabus can provide. If you are into classical music, there is a published called G. Henle Verlag that grades all of their pieces on a scale of 1 to 9 that helps a lot if needing help choosing pieces. Escalate the difficulty bit by bit. Links below!
>
> &nbsp;
>
> Alfred's All-in-One course
>
> RCM's piano syllabus
>
> RCM's popular music syllabus for piano
>
> RCM's music theory syllabus
>
> musictheory.net
>
> G. Henle Verlag
>
> Some beginner/intermediate classical pieces graded by difficulty
Read This It's widely known as the bible for guitar making. Find your local lumberyard for wood - don't get 'luthier wood' from eBay, it's much more expensive. The other questions you asked can't really be answered without a day long conversation to find out what you like. I'd personally go for something pretty simple for my first build - think bolt on, Telecaster simplicity. Getting the simple stuff right first is more important than being able to carve a perfect Les Paul top for example
I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope you get your accordion in top form soon!
Alfred's books are the ones my teacher recommended to me and all her students. I liked it a lot. They have multiple books for different levels, so read few pages and pick the one right for you!
http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167
They also have a complete book of scales and arpeggios that I highly recommend.
Firstly, get used to playing swing with the right hand while keeping 2's and 4's steady with your left foot. Once you've got that down, grab a book like Syncopation and practice playing the rhythms on the snare while keeping your right hand and left foot as solid as a rock doing the same thing as before.
I used an Erskine book that does exactly this, but also goes into hand-foot combos, taking it to the next level. It also goes into triplets and such, but that's for when you're good with the basic patterns.
This sets you up for being able to comp using any rhythms you want but keeping your left foot steady on the up beats, essentially the core of jazz drumming.
This is a really condensed explanation, but I hope it helps.
Good Resources to Use
Buy this book and a metronome. It will help you with reading rhythm. Afterwards, then you can try to tackle the staff.
Marching or Concert Snare?
Either way, buy this book and work through it, varying the stickings and tempos. Also, learn these rudiments. The absolute best thing you could do is get a teacher.
As far as concert vs. marching. They are very similar, but concert snare is much more subtle. Concert snare utilizes a lot more buzz rolls whereas marching snare uses open rolls or diddles.
You want to build a base of knowledge when it comes to creating rhythm? Start with this book. Order it now. https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer-Publications/dp/0882847953
I would highly recommend the book "Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer" by Ted Reed. Phenomenal book that can teach you a lot and can be done with just a practice pad and sticks. It's easy to find at any music store and there may be some PDFs on the interwebs somewhere...
If you aren't looking to join a band or take it too seriously browse through some YouTube videos, pick up a book or two and just have fun with it! Once you find out if it's something you really love doing then you can invest in lessons/a drumkit.
https://www.amazon.ca/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953
I don’t have this one but people seem to bring it up often.
Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer (Ted Reed Publications) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0882847953/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_rrb3DbBMXZRVW
You can work on your syncopation while your at it.
I've been a drummer since I was 8. Quite rusty right now as a lot of things have kept me from practicing (moving to apartments for years, etc.). Honestly, it's never too late to start. Are you going to be playing Carnegie Hall in a year? Wildly unlikely. But as long as your expectations are grounded in reality, that learning anything takes time and practice, you should be good.
As for practice and sense of tempo/timing: it is imperative that you buy a good metronome and practice with it regularly. You don't necessarily need a Dr. Beat, though I have one, and it is useful at times. But you do need some kind of click to play off of.
Can you read music? If so, there are some really good technique books out there that I'd recommend that are classics. Most people hate grinding technique, but I find it oddly relaxing. Here's some good books:
The first two books are probably where you should start. With all of these, start the metronome at molasses level slow - like 60 bpm or maybe even slower if you're not accurate at that speed. Get comfortable with that speed - maybe 15-30 mins at that speed without any mistakes. Then bump the timing up slightly 2-4 bpm and repeat. At no point should you be tensing up. If you are, you need to stop immediately, shake out your arms, and back down the tempo a bit.
Make sure that you're making more use of your fingers than your wrists. Wrists can be good to start the stroke, but your fingers should be doing a lot of the work.
There's a lot of other technique stuff that you can do, but the above alone could take you 5-10 years of solid daily practice if you're being thorough.
Good luck!
Ah memories. Yep I started with How to Play rock'n'roll drums, Syncopation and this book way back in the early 90's. Then later on went to Advanced Techniques, Future Sounds and The New Breed for different permutations and limb independence. And 'trying' to pick apart and play Dave Weckl's Island Magic.
Does anyone else remember those drum solos like calypso eclipsed and aint it rich?
I guess a great place to start would be the Vic Firth website. For each of the 40 basic rudiment it has a bronze, silver, and gold challenge. Treat it like a game, where you're trying to get that third star for each level.
I like to stick some tunes on and play (for example) 16 bars of paradiddles, then doubles, then singles in time with the music.. It's important you be able to seamlessly move between rudiments while keeping tempo and dynamic constant.
My book of the moment is Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer by Ted Reed. For £1.50 it's a steal, and really can help you get started.
I run a discord serve aimed at helping people that are new at piano, but if that doesn't work for you I also recommend these sites.
MusicTheory.Net - to give you the overall idea of what music theory should be.
PianoLessonsOnTheWeb - for overall piano lessons. Not much seen into this guy personally, but what I have seen is pretty good.
Bill Hilton - absolutely awesome youtuber that provides some good ideas and techniques on what to do
Michael New - Overall really good at describing music theory.
Alfred's - Overall one of the most highly regarded beginner series known out there. Highly recommend.
Paul Barton - Overall to be amazed by his godly voice/humbleness and his overall playing (inspiration)
Discord - Shameless plug of my very own discrod server!
https://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186/ref=pd_sim_14_4?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=0882848186&amp;pd_rd_r=9BXKZA1HQTXDF3HP8CXM&amp;pd_rd_w=C55rC&amp;pd_rd_wg=sBRPd&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=9BXKZA1HQTXDF3HP8CXM
Hello! This question has surely been answered before, but this is definitely the thread to ask it in again. I started learning piano at the beginning of this year by taking a class at my university, and what really kept me going was the weekly lessons. We used Alfred's all in one adult piano book 1 http://www.amazon.com/dp/0882848186/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_3?pf_rd_p=1944687542&amp;pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&amp;pf_rd_t=201&amp;pf_rd_i=0739013335&amp;pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&amp;pf_rd_r=13PYJQZQ6C25YD6GVMVW , which progressed at a perfect pace, and I was assigned anywhere from 20 pages a week in the beginning to 4 by the end of the semester, until the book was completed and the year was over. I guess the questions I'm asking are for good incentives to stick to a regular routine of practicing (i.e. the little gpa booster the class was for me before) and more importantly, if I should move to alfred's book 2 or if anyone knows of a piano book that picks up from the basic skills I've learned yet has slightly more intriguing music! Thank you so much in advance :D
24, started when I was young, never got beyond "Teaching Little Fingers to Play". I'm picking it up again now, and after a week am 70 pages into the first book of Alfred's adult piano course.
I'm going much faster now due to increased technical ability (played the clarinet and a few other instruments in school) and the ability to sit still. Piano practice is also a pleasure, not a chore.
My wife is my teacher, even if she has some bad habits (loves keeping both thumbs on middle C - she is mostly self-taught)
Former classical guitar student here that definitely agrees that piano is easier than guitar in many ways. Anyway, there are a number of method books for piano such as Alfred's Adult All-In-One Course: Lesson-Theory-Technic: Level 1. A search at Amazon for "piano method books" will turn up others. Good luck!
I would highly suggest investing the time and money in Lessons. You will improve much faster under the guidance of a teacher (even just once or twice a month) than by yourself. If you absolutely refuse to go this route, however, I would suggest getting "Alfred's Basic All-In-One Piano Course Book One" (https://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186). Go through this book and the others in the series (I think there are 3 total) and by then you should have enough technique under your fingers to be able to learn whatever songs/tunes/pieces you want.
Speaking as a professional musician (classical trumpet player) I can't stress enough the value of practicing scales and other "boring" technical exercises. These fundamentals are the building blocks of virtually all the music you'll ever play and the more you practice them, the easier it will be to learn new music. Good luck and happy practicing!
This is not a recommendation because I haven't used any of the Alfred books myself, however I observe that if you get & use this one, you can then participate in discussions on and getting help with using it in this 8000 message forum discussion thread going back 12 years.
This is alfred's,
https://www.amazon.ca/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-All-Course/dp/0882848186/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1497479297&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=alfreds+piano
Get a beginner piano book and start working through the exercises.
It'll take a long time to learn and internalize properly but with some dedication, it will become more intuitive
I'm currently working through Alfred's adult piano, and I enjoy it so far. I'm also using Hanon's Exercises to work on technique and stamina.
That's all I've got, I'm currently in the same boat as you. All I really know, is to avoid synthesia lol.
Just my two cents, sounds like you are practicing wrong. Grab Alfred's Piano Method, go lesson by lesson and go silly slow. You'll be reading pretty fluent in under a year I guarantee it.
EDIT: Meant to link Level 1
For Alfred, that's definitely the correct one, although I'll point out that one comes with a DVD -- if you don't want the DVD, you can get it for less. Here's the one that's just the book.
Hi OP.
I'm 27. I had piano lessons for several years when I was a preteen. I stopped and started a few times in the past several years.
I recently picked up Alfred's piano books (I'm sure there are better options for this specific use), which contain far easier pieces to play than what I played when I was 8-9 years old.
But that means despite not knowing the sheet music, I know I can play the pieces themselves fairly easily. It's been AMAZING for me to get started sight reading again.
In other words, find pieces that are easy for you to play technically, so that when you're practicing the piece you're actually working on how to read the music, not play the piece. In my opinion, anyway.
Lol are you me?
Your story is scary close to mine, I took lessons from 9-12 and just started to try and get back into around 23.
I can tell you what I did, I'm still kind of figuring it out myself:
I bought a P115 (600$), I didn't have the option to use my old unweighted piano as it broke many years ago, I could have gone with the P45 (450$) but recent college grad with decent paying job so I said fuck it and dropped the extra 150$ based on this subs recommendations.
That being said playing on a decent weighted keyboard is infinitely more enjoyable than playing on an unweighted keyboard; I think if I had had something like a P45/P115 (they use the same key action so they feel the same) I would have stuck with lessons as a kid longer. It is just so much more enjoyable to sit and play at.
As for getting back up to speed I try and practice 30 mins ~ 1 hour a day in 15-20 min sessions.
I usually do a Hannon Hand Exercise then I do a scale/cords ( I'm just working my way through major and minor scales one per day).
I bought Alfred's All-in-One Adult Beginner Course and blasted through the first 3/4ths of the first book and now try and do one little chunk (lesson and associated song) a day or over the course of 2 or 3 days based on it's difficulty.
I try and sight read something new everyday and really focus on technique and dynamics, so I'm working my way through Kabalevsky's 24 Pieces for Children one piece a day, nice and slow, focusing on dynamics, technique, and tempo.
Lastly I picked two songs I wanted to work on that are just slightly above my current level and maybe a little bit below the my level when I quite all those years ago. The way I practice those songs is by picking out the hardest measure and working on it nice and slow, hands apart and together, then work on the next hardest measure, and so on and so forth.
So that's what I'm doing, maybe you can find a nugget of help in all that, I did a fair amount of research on how to practice and what to practice ( had some really boring days at work lol )
https://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186
I thought this book was really good. http://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186/ref=pd_sim_b_8
I don't think you really need a teacher, these books do a good job of explaining everything. (There are three.) If you have basic understanding of rhythm and how to read music even if you can't do it perfectly, you should be fine. =) Have fun!
I'm attempting to teach myself some basic piano. I just ordered this book and some stickers, as well as made some flashcards to help me read notes on a staff. Are there any recomended books, youtube vids, drills that other self-taught players used?
You don't need 88 keys if you're just starting out, in my opinion. Songs you'll be learning to start won't go anywhere near the far ends of the piano. Weighted keys also are much more expensive.
I'd just go with something like a cheap used Yamaha 76 key (I see them on Craigslist now and again for like $100) and see if it's something that he likes. For resources, get him the Alfred Books for Adult Beginners. If it interests him and he wants to pick it up, that's when I'd consider something nicer.
Make sure you get a neck with the proper scale length to match the body. On the flip side, if you have a body with pre drilled holes, make sure the bridge holes are in the proper place for the scale length to match the neck.
Also I would very highly recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Electric-Guitar/dp/0953104907
I've gone to school for guitar building and the core of what I learned there is covered in this book. Comprehensive, easy to read, good illustrations, etc.
I found this book :Guitar Fretboard Workbook by Barrett Tagliarino: to be a great book to compliment Freatboard logic. They both teach the same concepts in different ways. Work through them together to help you got to that AAAAAHAAAAA moment faster.
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1320691780&amp;sr=1-2
As /u/istigkeit-isness already pointed out, its as simple as counting down the fretboard, with each fret being half a step.
I'd recommend taking a look at this book, which gives a really clear, straightfoward introduction to guitar music theory.
Guitar Fretboard Workbook
These have been my favorites. I keep both paperback and Kindle versions laying around:
Circle of Fifths for Guitarists
Music Theory for Guitarists
Guitar Fretboard Workbook
Here’s something to get you thinking musically:
First Chord Progressions
Someone recommended [this](Guitar Fretboard Workbook https://www.amazon.com/dp/0634049011/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Mk8zCbDNDK1JH) to me, and I've found it very useful :)
I would do 2 things:
I learned CAGED from an older, jankier book; but I recommend Barrett's book on the topic to folks interested in expanding their fretboard freedom: https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011/
He doesn't strictly call it CAGED, likely due to the confusion some have with separating the 'chord' from the 'shape'. Still, chock full of info and it's an actual workbook, with exercises.
this is really the fastest way. Chordead is one of my favorite games but to learn from the ground up it's way too slow. I used this book several years ago and I can now identify any note, most instantly but any others with a second or two.
You would probably like this workbook on Amazon.
This book really helped me get a good grasp of the fretboard. It's a workbook which means that there are (relatively) short explanations and then you fill out the rest yourself. It provides a good, structured way to practice, I think.
This book is amazing for learning the fretboard and it uses the intervals as patterns approach
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1449238224&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=guitar+fretboard+workbook
Here are two books that helped me exponentially:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0634049011?pc_redir=1413778480&amp;robot_redir=1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/063406651X?pc_redir=1413771056&amp;robot_redir=1
The first book helped me visualize the fretboard a lot faster, and also taught me how to form really complex chords using interval knowledge. The second book gets into some really advanced stuff like modal interchange, chord substitution, and playing with modes over extended and altered chords. I'd suggest you start with the first book as the second book ramps up really quickly and it's easy to get lost if you haven't figured out the basics yet. Oh, and there are tips on how to use the harmonic and melodic minor scales as well, which is super helpful if you want to get into jazz.
At the same time, I still use a lot of lessons from justinguitar.com because that guy is amazing at relating complex concepts to others in a simple and coherent manner.
Your questions are pretty broad theory questions and the FAQ should cover most of them or at least help point you in the right direction. If you've been playing for 15 years but don't know what a Cmaj7 is, you have a hill to climb, but not an impossible one.
It seems like your questions are theory based, you already know basic chords, so start with learning basic music theory. What notes make a scale?, Do you know your notes on the fretboard?, What notes of a scale do I use to make a chord? What are intervals? You don't have to be an expert in theory to be a great guitarist , but you have to know the basics, and should be able to answer these questions. This book is a great resource.
Yes, a chord book, this is the one I have:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857752634/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_nBdIxbWEN7B01)
Go to one of the less expensive options. $15 is a little much for the default one that links.
Also, I forgot about this book too, which I also picked up a while ago but haven't thumbed through much of it yet. From what I did read though it is a great tool:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/063406651X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_KDdIxbJN5506K
Hal Leonards Music Theory for Guitarists.
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X
Seconded. Justin's lessons are great. I also got this book from Amazon. It's more about theory than technique, but if you want to learn music as well as the instrument, I recommend it.
I actually liked the book Music Theory for Guitarists. I've been playing for 30 years now (only seriously between ages 16-18 though) and never had lessons. I "learned" a good bit of theory from simply observing song structure, seeing how solos used scales, etc. This book was a good way to go the next step and actually study theory a bit with intent-- unlike, say, the actual music theory textbook I borrowed from my friend the ochestra conductor and music professor, which I found useless.
Hal Leonard Guitar Method Music Theory
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/063406651X/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1419216756&amp;sr=8-2
Just got that book and it makes it vary easy to understand. I would definitely recommend it. Even has quizzes too
(http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Handbook-Ralph-Denyer/dp/0679742751)[http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Handbook-Ralph-Denyer/dp/0679742751]
this book is pretty good for all around knowledge. there's a bunch of theory basics, amp discussion, guitar setup, etc. probably not the greatest detail about guitar setup, but it explains most of the theory and has nice drawings.
Glad to see that you're on the road to guitar independence. It's great because nobody can know better how you want your guitar to play than you! This book has everything, it is indispensable. The Guitar Handbook
Pick up The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer. This will teach you literally EVERYTHING about the guitar. This is an incredible resource of information if you want to learn the guitar from different views. It will teach you tricks for tuning (including alternate tunings, theory, tableture, and so on.
I took a one-semester guitar class in college, which had The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer as a required textbook. Now, we could've gotten away without the book for the content of the class. The only time we referenced it for class purposes was to use the chord chart.
But man, I'm glad they made us buy that book. It's got everything: music theory, history, terminology, setting up electronics... everything. Except songs. There are no songs in it.
Perhaps it's this popular book that I have and like The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer
get this, seems just what you're looking for
http://www.amazon.com/The-Guitar-Handbook-Ralph-Denyer/dp/0679742751/ref=pd_sim_b_2
Here's a great site that explains the CAGED system, which in turn explains the fundamental layout of the fretboard very well.
http://www.cagedguitarsystem.net/
A great all-around book is "The Guitar Handbook" by Ralph Denyer. It has everything from Theory to construction to influential players and the history of the guitar in one handy resource.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Guitar-Handbook-Ralph-Denyer/dp/0679742751
Like the other guy said, talk to your mates.
I also highly recommend this book. http://www.amazon.com/The-Guitar-Handbook-Ralph-Denyer/dp/0679742751
Even if you're not a guitar player there are chapters covering amps, pa equipment, live sound, effects, etc.
Try checking out the book zen of guitar.
https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Guitar-Philip-Toshio-Sudo/dp/068483877X
It should help get you out of your head and into the guitar.
I second the jazz piano book, jazzadvice.com, and all the rest of this advice.
My two favorite music books are Victor Wooten's The Music Lesson and Philip Toshio Sudo's Zen Guitar. They contain wisdom that a lot of other music education misses.
As far as playing the piano goes, I recommend really exploring the piano as an instrument. Find the piano's strong and unique points, and be pianistly (in this sense). Conversely, target the piano's weak points, and learn to imitate other instruments: playing long unbroken lines like a sax will make you "light on your fingers" and help you to decompartmentalize fingering patterns you have learned.
I'm a big fan of this video right now. Download the pdf too, and practice the scales listed. The idea of chords being fragments of larger scale families (and being able to hear the entire scale families going by) is important. This is easiest to wrap your head around by playing modal chords on a C major scale. Allan holdsworth explains it better. This also ties into the "find which notes can be added to round out the standard chords" thing- if you hear the entire scale, then extrapolating which notes can be added is fairly intuitive.
Also, listen to great players. I like powell, monk, tatum, george shearing, and marian mcpartland, Mccoy Tyner, Kenny Barron, Esjborn Svensson Trio, Keith Jarrett, and Bill Evans. These are just a few mainstream examples. Also, learn from other instrumental traditions. If you like something, try to extrapolate a principle or lesson that you can bring with you from that song, and likewise if you dislike something, articulate what it is you dislike, then you can learn to play the opposite. John Hartford says "style is based on limitations", so choose carefully how you learn to play. If you don't like something, don't learn to play like that just because it's part of the jazz aesthetic cannon or some nonsense.
Also, play with someone. Play with bandinabox, which is easy to steal and fairly cheap to buy, and has many many many song files freely available online. Play with a metronome, at least.
Learn to adjust your technique to different pianos. Not every piano you play on will be good or even fair, so being able to get a feel for a new instrument and its limitations quickly is a great skill. On your home instrument, focus all the more strongly on finding technique compatible with that instrument. On a related note, let your mind step back and lead with your hands, letting fingerings and reflexes show you the way forward. On the other hand, let your technique fade into the foreground and practice bringing out the ideas in your ear, even if they navigate unfamiliar territory (do this slowly or it won't work and you'll revert to reflex) Both modes have their merits, and the more you get comfy with both, the less of a distinction there is between them.
Also, practice singing and playing. Meld your understanding of harmony on the piano with your ear and voice. Also, practice thinking big (long musical fragments, specific complex voicings, etc, etc) at & away from the instrument. If you can't think big, your creativity will never have good macro structure & flow. I really believe that our creative impulse is a divine gift, but it often builds on our existing experience and abilities.
This book absolutely changed my life, and took my playing to a whole different level:
www.amazon.com/Zen-Guitar-Philip-Toshio-Sudo/dp/068483877X
Try this book, it really helped me to look at my instrument and my music in a new way.
I was about to reply with the same response. lol
I'm curious how someone can rate themselves beginning/intermediate/advance, I mean is there some magical guideline I haven't found somewhere?
OP might want to start here.
https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Guitar-Philip-Toshio-Sudo/dp/068483877X
Your frustration is perfectly natural. The same questions and doubts arise in all of us at all levels. The standard answers you noted are true, but only in your context and when you are at the right place in your journey.
A few things come to mind that might be of use.
Seek out a mentor. We all need guidance and teachers. Find someone who has had the type of succeses you are looking for. Ask questions and learn from the wisdom of their experience.
Seek out a collaborator. One of the most rewarding aspects of what we do is sharing it with others. Sharing the creative process and bouncing around new ideas with someone else is fun and creates an environment where new ideas and avenues can flourish.
Take time to be introspective without being reactive. Be real with yourself. What are your goals. Really think about the why and the outcome you hope see. Successful people are not successful by accident. They work incredibly hard to achieve their success - we are only seeing the end result.
Sometimes the best thing to do is take a break. Walk away from it and give your mind and spirit a rest so when you return it is with renewed exuberance. As odd as this may sound, when I take a break, my brain tells my it's time to come back through dreaming about playing and being on stage or jamming with others.
Something else you might consider is [Zen Guitar] (https://amzn.to/2IO4IfU) or [Victor Wooten's The Music Lesson] (https://amzn.to/2GbuyJf), both of which are fantastic and inspirational reads.
I hope this helps my friend!
Alfred in particular has a good guide with various forms of scales/cadences/arpeggios for every key. If you're interested in learning to play pop/jazz piano, learning to comfortably play inversions of every chord is very important as well.
Here you go.
Whoa, I started with those exact 3 songs when I started learning the piano almost 10 years ago! Anyway, I suggest you start with this book to learn some fundamental music theory. I like this book because it has multiple scales and lists the chords and arpeggios for each key signature and goes through the circle of 5ths. You don't necessarily have to go through this book in order, just make sure you follow the fingering patterns carefully and play the scales, chord progressions and arpeggios slowly so you can internalize them and familiarize yourself with the layout of the keyboard.
If you'd like to become a proficient sight-reader (which I highly recommend, being good at sight-reading will help you in the long run), start practicing with reading some simple pieces. Go through the Alfred's book and see how well you can read through those pieces on the first run. If you feel like you need more sight-reading practice, the Mikrokosmos books will provide you with plenty of material to sight read. I also like this book of hymns. Remember, if you can't play it nearly perfectly (at least in terms of getting the notes right) on the first run, it probably means you should work on reading through that piece. So keep practicing!
If you have the money, you might be interested in investing in this series of books. Each level contains Baroque, Classical and Romantic pieces, as well as etudes and music theory, which really helps with building up a well-rounded foundation. But then again, the best use of your money would be ideally spent on a good teacher.
If you'd like a song at a similar level to what you're currently learning, I also learned this version of Canon, Ballade Pour Adeline, A Thousand Miles (because it's a fun piece and why not :)), and Summer by Joe Hisaishi during my early piano years.
But to be honest, I don't recommend learning any of the pieces I just listed above, because they will take you too long to learn. In the same amount of time you spend learning those songs, you could be progressing much faster if you focused on learning fundamentals and picked much easier pieces. And I mean pieces as simple as Minuet in G major and Minuet in G minor, maybe even simpler.
I feel obligated to write all of this since you're starting from a similar place that I was when I first began learning piano. Jumping into pieces that sound beautiful or amazing isn't the most efficient method of learning. Take this from me who went from being fixated on learning the entire Fur Elise → River Flows in You → Canon in D → Rondo Alla Turca and other songs wayyyyy beyond my level, to dropping all of it in and just starting from the very basics because I realized I sounded like utter ****, even if I could play the notes and it sounded fine to my family/friends who didn't play piano. I also wasn't making much progress in terms of learning, since each new piece would take me foreverrrr to actually learn. Building up your fundamentals is the way to go, because once you get to the level where you can actually play those beautiful pieces, the learning process will be so much faster. I know starting from the bottom and working your way up can be a slow and sometimes even tedious process, especially when you have to go through all these pieces that seem really easy or boring, but trust me, it will be worth it and far more rewarding in the end. :)
This book helped me a lot during my first 30 days.
Who does an AMA and doesn't answer all the questions??? Too many people! ...but NOT ME :) This is the book that is a must to develop your technique: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0739003682/?coliid=IVJTCFYTABUQ9&colid=UEHNYEAL44KE&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
...and I can't stress this point enough: You MUST employ a teacher expert in technique development if you really want to excel as a pianist. While at UMKC conservatory, I had a mean old German fraulein who would literally rap my knuckles when I kept repeating the same mistakes until fear and pain forced me to put the practice time in to remedy the problem. I can't stress the importance of how seamless your left-hand thumb under technique must be for scales and arpeggios. Funny how all scales begin with they key of C - which is actually, IMHO the MOST difficult key of all to play! People think "no sharps or flats, but be easy, right?" Wrong. Playing the black keys is easier because there's actually more physical distance between them and, given the fact that they are raised above the white keys, they are easier to strike. UNLIKE C major, which has only the narrower white keys to play making execution significantly more difficult. I'll take the key of Cb over C any day!
Did he start learning about scales and arpeggios ? If not, she will most probably start soon, so this book could be an option.
If she was my mother, I would get her a nail-clipper as she has to constantly cut her nail, so they don't make any sound when she hits the piano keys.
If she loves her nails, she hates the fact that she has to cut them to be able to practice "probably'.
Are you looking for something such as Alfred's complete book of scales, chords, arpeggios and cadences? I bought it after reading about it here and I am not disappointed.
I was in the same boat a couple of moths ago, went to musical school from ages 6-13, stopped when I moved to another country. Haven't touched piano for 6 years. Decided to get back into it, bought a digital piano 2 months ago.
For key signatures, I recommend practicing scales and arpeggios, acquiring this book can certainly help. For music theory, I highly recommend checking out Dave Conservatoire. He has made a bunch of videos about general music theory.
Sight reading is something you pick up with experience, a good exercise is to sightread absurdly easy pieces (start with grade 1). I was never much into sight reading, but I do have this PDF which might be helpful. There should be plenty of sight reading exercises on the web.
I am not sure what you mean by this, is it training relative pitch or improvising on spot and playing exactly what you have in mind you want? I seem to improve both of these things while transcribing music into a score. I guess composing could work as well. I started out painfully slowly, (took me 5 hours to transcribe first 20 seconds of Come on Eileen). But, just like any skill, you will get better at it with experience. The software I use for ranscribing is called Sybelius, but if you can not afford it (or if you do not support pirating) there are free alternatives.
Arguably, the most important thing is staying interested. Playing scales, learning music theory, listening to the same song 50 times because you can not figure out a chord or timing can be extremely boring at times. So playing a piece that truly challenges your hands will reward you much more than practicing tedious scales.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0739003682?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0739003682/
This book is the answer to your troubles.
This book has all the scales in it, with fingerings. Fairly easy to print that information out yourself but if you don't have access to a printer or want a bound copy, it might be worth getting: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0739003682/
This one has a variety of classical pieces. They're all pretty easy arrangements, but unfortunately I don't think they're ordered by difficulty:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0486410927/
This is the main reason why scales, arpeggios, and cadences are part of daily warm-up repertoire, so when they come up in songs, all that practice carries over effortlessly. This is the book I used for years.
It is an issue with Synthesia videos in that it's hard to determine what fingers would work. Are you able to read sheet music? I'll try making a quick video for the fingers I will use for that song after work.
Edit: Also, with that many notes in the low register, less pedal is better if any, as they resonate quite a bit anyway. Also, try to play the bass notes as quietly as possible, as they stack up, they are not the main melody, and serve the undertone ambiance role.
I think you're thinking of this book http://www.amazon.com/dp/0793518326
> I think you're thinking of this book http://www.amazon.com/dp/0793518326
Nice. I really think that sheds light on the subject.
Reddit is lucky to have a user like you.
Not a fake book but in my opinion one of the best song book purchases I've ever made: http://www.amazon.com/Beatles-Complete-Scores/dp/0793518326
It's pricey but it has the score for every Beatles song. It's not 100% accurate but it's pretty good a lot of the time.
I have the Hal Leonard sheet music book. The layout is cumbersome but it's very accurate.
The Beatles: Complete Scores (Transcribed Score) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0793518326/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_YLxGDbSPDHS6F
How about this: The Beatles - Complete Scores: "over 1100 pages with full scores and lyrics to all 210 titles recorded by The Beatles"?
+1 for Beatles
http://www.amazon.com/Beatles-Complete-Scores/dp/0793518326/
The print in this book is WAY too small, but you can always photocopy and enlarge the pieces you want to play.
It has the piano parts. Not perfect, but fairly accurate to how it was played.
Non-mobile: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0793518326/ref=pd_aw_sim_b_3?refRID=161X8NKFKBWZ6SVHP5WJ
^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?
It depends on what you are trying to do.
Definitely scales, major and minor, hands together, four octaves up and back.
Definitely arpeggios, of both major and minor, triads and sevenths.
If you are trying to do improvisation, learning pentatonic scale exercises are really important. I do one like:
1235 2356 3561 5612 6123
Up the piano separately as well as hands together, major and minor.
(Going down would be: 5321 3216 2165 1653 6532)
(And those are scale degrees, not fingerings.)
And then there are classical exercises such as this and this
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;source=web&amp;rct=j&amp;url=https://www.amazon.com/Hanon-Virtuoso-Exercises-Complete-Schirmers/dp/0793525446&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiKosmdlMzNAhWLOSYKHU0YDTUQFghxMAk&amp;usg=AFQjCNFdItV_cTSzTFwtY_uszIdXP2pM5w
That's an exercise book by Hanon. As far as I know, it's pretty well known. The begining exercises are super easy, but towards the middle and end, they are good at making your fingers do paterns and things they don't commonly do. I'll pick one out and do it as a warm up kind of thing regularly. They are good for flexibility and dexterity. I would recommend, especially if you don't have a piano teacher making you do runs, arpeggios and everything else.
Two of my three piano teachers have recommended Hanon exercises to me. The basic idea is that you play the simple patterns as evenly as possible (all notes the same volume and the rhythm constant).
I found that they really help to build muscles in your fourth and fifth fingers, which tend to be the weakest, and help to control your thumb which tends to be overly strong.
There may be other places to get the exercises without buying the full book. I never actually progressed further than the first few exercises, but they made a huge difference to controlling each finger individually.
Hope this helps!
Playing evenly requires strengthening your finger muscles. Like the other comment mentioned, each finger has different strength depending on your usage. Hanon books are usually very good for practice. Another very good book is the Hal Leonard Schirmer's Library "Scales & Finger Exercises". Each exercise tells you which fingers it's focusing on. I honestly don't believe in the tapping on table method.
I think it's pointless to keep tapping one finger to strengthen it over and over again. You need to move that finger in a context with the OTHER fingers as well because usually it's 'alternating' between fingers that demands the most control. You can develop the muscle memory for a particular finger but when you alternate/change it become even more challenging. Hanon and the book I mentioned have the same idea. They focus on strengthening your weaker fingers alongside neighboring ones.
Link to the book:
https://www.amazon.com/Scales-Finger-Exercises-Schirmer-Schirmers/dp/149500547X/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=Scales+and+Finger+Exercises%3A+Schirmer+Library+of+Classic+Volume+2107+%28Schirmer%27s+Library+of+Musical+Classics%29&qid=1557982300&s=books&sr=1-1-fkmrnull
&#x200B;
https://www.amazon.com/Hanon-Virtuoso-Exercises-Complete-Schirmers/dp/0793525446/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?keywords=Scales+and+Finger+Exercises%3A+Schirmer+Library+of+Classic+Volume+2107+%28Schirmer%27s+Library+of+Musical+Classics%29&qid=1557982300&s=books&sr=1-1-fkmr0
&#x200B;
Bach pieces or Handel are usually also very good exercises :)
Goodluck!
Buy the Hanon book, it's a really good exercise/method book for 6 dollars. Every pianist has a copy of this.
Piano teacher for 5 years here. This is more or less a directly copy and paste from a previous comment of mine.
Obviously, I'm going to recommend you find a teacher as soon as is possible if you really want to advance. BUT there are a lot of things you can do on your own to learn effectively.
I hope this helps a little. Remember that you have just started and you have to crawl before you can walk. Take it easy and make sure you understand everything before moving on to the next step. Good luck and have fun!!
That's good that you recognized it. It's always tempting to rush past tough fingerings, but you get the most out of practice when you can isolate a technique, break it down, and focus on it.
Check this video out: http://youtu.be/AoLvhHjacMw?t=56m14s
It's Valentina Lisitsa working on a brand new piece (to her).
Here she repeats a single section repeatedly until it's almost 100% before moving on. Even the top pianists have to replay sections until it's in their fingers. Hold yourself to a similar high standard when you practice. Really try to get at least get one solid pass without mistakes, even if it's at a much slower tempo. Here's a story about Rachmaninoff practicing a Chopin etude so slow it was unrecognizable: http://www.practisingthepiano.com/enjoying-ultra-slow-practice/
Also, I recommend you get Hanon: The Virtuoso Pianist in Sixty Exercises. Lots of good exercises. Even Rachmaninoff recommended them. Good luck.
I'd agree with all of this, I honestly can't remember how I learned the notes myself. I think it just came naturally from playing.
In terms of finger exercises a really good book I have is "The Virtuoso Pianist" by Charles-Louis Hanon. As you can see by that link it seems to have a good few criticisms but I found it really good myself. I'd say you should go over them with your piano teacher now and again just to ensure you aren't drilling them incorrectly. A possible way you could learn the notes as well could be by saying them out loud as you are doing the exercises.
You can check it out on IMSLP here anyway and decide for yourself, or if you'd prefer a hard copy of it there are plenty on amazon too.
There's a Hanon book of exercises, I used it when I was taking lessons. It will help primarily with dexterity, but it can help you learn to read music as well.
edit: http://www.amazon.com/Hanon-Exercises-Acquirement-Independence-Schirmers/dp/0793525446
cheap, worth it.
Give YouTube a shot. If she is musically inclined and puts in the time they might do the trick. I was surprised by the number of quality, free lessons out there.
I also recommend this book. Follow the directions exactly, put the time in, and the results will come. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0793525446
this book is a great starting point. Make sure you're learning notes and not just shapes. The shapes are good to know, but once you forget the notes in them, you're in for a bad time (which is what I'm fixing in my bass/guitar playing right now).
Scales: Major, Nat Minor, Harmonic Minor, and Melodic Minor and their modes. Whole Tone, Diminished (both whole-half and half-whole), and the blues/pentatonics scales (which is where most people start). You really need to know your major scales inside and out, as well as the major, minor, and dominant chord for each note.
Chord Progessions: major and minor 2-5-1, and acknowledging that a dom7 chord function as a V7, a m7 will function as a ii7 before a vi7, and a maj7 functions as a Imaj7 before a IVmaj7. Just get in the habit of thinking in iim7-V7-Imaj7 and ii7b5-V7-Imaj7/im7. A lot of jazz is based on that pattern, often with a bit of modulating. Also learn the rest of the cycle of 4ths, ii-V-I is just the end. Rick Beato has a good video on it, and you can see the normal ii-V pattern and it plus modulation.
Beginner pieces: Autumn Leaves, All the Things You Are, Blue Bossa, Lullaby of Birdland, and Giant Steps (kidding)
Real books are great. When you feel comfortable find a jazz jam in town, playing with people will help.
Here’s a book I enjoyed:
Building Walking Bass Lines
You should also get this book:
The Improvisers Bass Method Book
The improvisers bass method book is an industry standard. The beginning may be things you already know, but it does a great job providing you with practice techniques that will actually help translate knowledge to playing. I’d highly recommend both in addition to going through the real book. Outside of that just listen to some jazz. A lot of the key is listening. Go put on some Bill Evans or Miles or Mingus and listen to their bassists
Get this: http://www.amazon.com/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Friedland/dp/0793542049/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1395980155&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=walking+bass+lines
I cannot give it higher praise. Fantastic.
this is a pretty good book: Amazon: Building Walking Basslines, Ed Friedland
Check out Aimee Nolte's series on youtube, "Accompany Yourself", I think she does a great job of explaining the basics and then showing the mechanics of how to fit it into a real song. Another source I've been using is a book called Building Walking Bass Lines. It's written for electric bass players (I started playing bass since my jazz group was all piano), but the concepts in it are very helpful for piano players as well.
What you probably want is this. There are very few written bass lines in jazz. It's almost entirely improvisational work. Start by finding resources for walking bass.
https://www.amazon.com/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Builders/dp/0793542049/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1481798855&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=walking+bass+lines
Here's some applied theory, and Ed is a really great guy, has tons of bass material.
This book makes the whole thing dead-easy to learn and understand.
http://www.amazon.com/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Instruction/dp/0793542049
It's called a dominant[0] resolution and it's one of the most common harmonic techniques you'll find in basslines. Going to the fifth (i.e. the dominant chord) creates instability which wants to be resolved by going back to the root; it's a way of creating tension and release.
You've probably noticed chromatic resolutions coming up a lot as well, i.e. playing a note one-half step either above or below the note you're about to play.
Generally, you want to place the note you're resolving to on a strong beat of the bar (usually the first or the third beat) so try playing around with creating basslines or fills that put a note a fifth above or below the root, or a note one half-step above or below on the 4th beat of the bar or the '4 and' of the bar. You could try this on the 2 or the '2-and' too.
For more information like this check out Ed Friedland's 'Building Walking Bass Lines'. It doesn't sound like a walking line would be appropriate for the music that you're listening to right now but the information in this book absolutely is.
When I'm playing this I'll typically use the same finger to fret the note across two strings and roll the finger across the two notes to play each one. This didn't come naturally to me, I had to work at it a lot. I played major /minor scales in ascending/descending 4ths to practice it [2]. I find that if you can play these with the same finger (rather than one on each string) you can playing some pretty sick sounding fast pentatonic runs.
I'd be happy to clarify any of this if you'd like me to.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominant_(music)
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Builders/dp/0793542049
[2] http://faculty.spokanefalls.edu/InetShare/AutoWebs/dannym/Jazz%20Improv%20II/Exercises/3_Major%20Scales%20in%20Fourths.pdf
Building Walking Bass Lines by Ed Friedland is a great book for learning to walk.
I think the best thing I can recommend, and I know this isn't what you wanted, is for your child to either
a. Read method books, this Hal Leonard one is pretty good (https://www.amazon.com/Leonard-Bass-Method-Easy-Use/dp/0793563836)
b. Because your child can read bass clef (he played piano so I'm assuming he can), he already has a huge advantage as a player. Have him learn how the notes relate to the frets (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ui66iADgzo), and he can begin to read transcriptions and play pretty much whatever he wants
Definitely get a teacher, and just encourage him to practice. That's about it.
I picked up a used mint condition Ibanez SR500 after seeing it constantly recommended here.
I've been playing piano (poorly) for 30 years and always wanted to play bass.. so here we go.
My wife picked me up 2 books to start learning:
Hal Leonard Bass Method - Complete Edition: Books 1, 2 and 3 Bound Together in One Easy-to-Use Volume!
First 50 Songs You Should Play On Bass
I also picked up a Vox Bass headphone amp to practice while the kids are asleep.
Finally, my late grandfather played bass in many jazz bands, both electric and upright. My father still has all of his instruments. But I just inheirited his Polytone Brute Mini III amp.
So, I'm all set with equipment, now I just need to learn & practice!
During my student teaching semester, I was faced with a task of teaching students how to learn bass to be in the 3rd Jazz Ensemble. I had 3 students and with all of them I used the Hal Leonard Bass Method. It taught them the basics of rhythm and individual notes and positions. It wasn't until I purchased the book that I realized I didn't know how to start beginners and teach certain methods, but it benefited myself and my students. 3 books in 1 and it goes to more advanced techniques in books 2 and 3 from playing above the 4th fret and introduction to funk(pop/slap).
Take private lessons! I teach privately and there’s something so awesome about working WITH someone directly (vs learning thru YouTube or something) — also if you don’t know how to already, learning how to read music would definitely give you a leg up as a musician in general and might give you a different perspective to things you’re already doing well now.
I love the Hal Leonard book for bass, the wound one has books 1-3 in it and is very affordable ($15):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0793563836/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_g4zZDbV1NR8R4
There’s so many gigs I can say YES to because I know how to read music, so if you can play by ear already learning how to read music will definitely make you a more well rounded musician.
No tabs, that's the worst advice you can get, it's a huge crutch and you'll be handicapping yourself for the rest of your life. Reading tabs is like reading a book without any punctuation. Not to mention the fact that you'll be stuck reading grade school material for the rest of your life. I recommend you try the http://www.amazon.com/Leonard-Bass-Method-Easy-Use/dp/0793563836 book. I'd go through that book then look at some private instruction for a few months.
/u/PelleSketchy is right. A beginner bass is a beginner bass etc. There isn't really such thing as a 'light weight' bass though. You'll have to go to a music store and literally pick some up and see which one feels best. I play a six string these days so weight doesn't really factor into it for me. You want to go more on ergonomic feel; bass player's back is no joke.
I recommend this book for method. But if you find you're the kind of person to get bogged down by that just get thee to YouTube and start learning songs you like.
I do recommend against selling that piano though. It's a valuable instrument to have in your mental arsenal and quite a few of us actually compose our bass parts on piano first. You may find you're one of those people. You can get a used Ibanez or a Squier for under $100 if you try hard enough.
Get these two books.
You could try the Grimoire books:
The Keyboard Grimoire: A Complete Guide for the Guitarist and Keyboardist
The Guitar Grimoire: A Compendium of Formulas for Guitar Scales and Modes
Guitar Grimoire - Chord Scale Compatibility
The Guitar Grimoire: Chord Encyclopedia
Guitar Grimoire hands down
Don't give up. Learning ANY instrument is frustrating as hell. I remember my first days of scales and wanting to chuck my brand new guitar across the room (been playing for 8 years). I'm glad I was stubborn and kept at it - in about a year's time I was working my way through Satriani riffs by ear.
Practice SLOWLY. I don't care who you are, but you can't just pick up a piece and expect to play it perfectly the first time through - ask ANY of the performers from ANY G3 how they started a song, they'll answer "slowly." As EMG81 said: "Perfect practice makes perfect," and he couldn't be more right. If you practice something fast and sloppy, guess what? You'll play it inaccurately and sound like you have drunk fingers - you don't want that. The sign of a guitar god is clean fret fingerings and string pickings.
Practice alternate picking. I will never forget the day my teacher showed me how to do alternate picking. Until that day I'd been playing all down strokes or upstrokes on my scales - a REALLY GOOD WAY TO START - but when he showed me alternate picking and how to do it properly I thought "eh, that's not too hard." It was THE most frustrating part of learning the guitar.
I've mentioned them several times now: learn your scales. I recommend picking up this book for quick fingering references. I've learned the sweep patterns in that book and it's made soloing and writing riffs so much easier.
Finally it's been said several times by others, but learn what you like. After you get your fingers used to the neck and fretboard just have fun - the rest will come in time if you stick with it.
get (or pirate) "the guitar Grimoire" https://www.amazon.ca/Guitar-Grimoire-Compendium-Forumlas-Scales/dp/0825821711
Then rock out in some crazy Hungarian gypsy stuff
drop out of school/society, stop bathing, smoke tons of other people's herb and do nothing but play guitar all day. seriously, it's the only thing that works. also, buy this.
Fuckin Done Link
I'm going to guess any answer will be controversial, but you could try Dan Erlewine's book. Erlewine is affiliated with Stewart-MacDonald.
I wouldn't be too worried about the nut. Chances are that they didn't need to do any change to the nut when going from factory 9s to 10s. I've put 10s on all my Fenders and haven't had any issues with the nut action. Even if it was filed slightly, the chances are that it isn't going to really cause any issues going back to 9s, but you won't know for sure until you get it strung up and see what the nut action is like. As for the rest of it, basic setup on a strat is pretty straight forward. You may need to adjust the truss rod slightly in order to get the proper relief, but it isn't difficult. Just do it slow and make small adjustments at a time. The most tedious part is really adjusting intonation and/or if you want the trem to be floated. It isn't difficult, it just takes patience as you have to keep re-tuning after every adjustment.
As for taking all the strings off, you shouldn't have any problem with this. I've never had any issue with taking all the strings off when I restring, because I usually do a fret board clean (and oil if it is rosewood or ebony) and a quick fret polish. The only real worry is the need to reset the trem if you want it floated, which in this case you would have to do anyways since you are changing gauges. It really isn't difficult to do a setup. Just read up/watch some how-to videos and take your time. Also, if you plan on doing your own maintenance I highly recommend checking out this book. It is definitely a great reference/guide for most repair/maintenance work.
I read (here) that BB King puts the whole string on -- ie, puts the very first bit of string and just wraps the whole peg with it. I find that to be really annoying and sort of nuts.
I pass the string and leave a bit of slack and then tie the string (bending it around the peg and then under itself) so that I have to give like two or three full turns of the peg to get to pitch.
consider changing your gauge, or better using a mixed gauge (lots of places will sell individual strings) esp if you're going to keep it in the new tuning and note you're also goign to have to re-setup the intonation. If you change the gauge, you're also probably going to want a new nut cut (or your current one recut).
I feel comfortable adjusting intonation, action and pickup height. But, I won't do truss rod adjustments, nut or fret filing. However, I recently ordered Dan Erlewine's Guitar Player Repair Guide, so I'm hoping to go even further. I want to completely setup my own guitars from now on; I wasn't completely happy with the last pro-setup I had done.
I own about 20 guitars. I've learned to do most of the basic stuff. I don't file nuts, and I don't dress frets, but I've successfully adjusted neck position, truss rods, pickups, replace or adjust bridges, saddles, intonation, etc. I'll even do minor soldering, although I'm skittish about soldering on the pots since I don't think I have the right tools to do that without damaging them.
I'll second the recommendation for Dan Erlewine's book -- his stuff is fantastic.
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-Book/dp/0879309210/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
How often? Well, usually if you get the thing adjusted right, and it is not put in storage for a long time or subjected to major temp/humidity changes, it shouldn't need too much tweaking. You ought to be able to change strings (to the same brand and gauge) without having to change much, if anything. In general if everything else is right, and the only thing that has changed is the humidity, a minor tweak of the truss rod alone might do it. If you're going to change string gauges, like going from 10s to 11s, you'll have to re-intonate it and perhaps have issues with everything to correct for.
Happy to help.
A set of allen keys, a ruler, and a screw driver will take care of most basic setup issues. Go slow and don't over think it. Searching google and youtube can get confusing and overwhelming. I keep a copy of Dan Erlewine's book, The Guitar Player Repair Guide as a reference. https://smile.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-3rd/dp/0879309210 Once you learn the how-to stuff then it is a matter of determining and setting everything to your personal preferences.
Good luck. I hope you get everything sorted out.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide/dp/0879309210
http://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Electric-Guitar-Great/dp/0879309989/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&amp;refRID=05681GR11BHMHJ43HE2G
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-3rd/dp/0879309210/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1458913311&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=guitar+repair
This is your golden ticket
When discussing measurements of the nut slots, it's actually describing the distance between the top of the first fret and the bottom of the string. Some guidelines will have you capo the 3rd fret when taking this measurement.
Action at the 17th fret is used to set your saddle/bridge height. Some guidelines will have you capo the 1st fret when taking this measurement. As for the measurements you've noted, it's all relative. 4/64ths" at the 17th fret is a good starting point.
If you want to learn more about guitar setups and factory specs, I would suggest you get a copy of The Guitar Player Repair Guide.
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-3rd/dp/0879309210/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1480433072&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+guitar+player+repair+guide
If you're serious about wanting to learn how to do basic guitar setup and repair, this book is worth every penny. It's easy to understand and has tons of valuable lessons from a real expert.
Youtube has a ton of stuff. If you want THE book here it is. It's written by Dan Erlwine of Stewmac. He repairs really nice guitars for a living. I would suggest both Youtube and that book. No such thing as too much knowledge.
Go to your local library or bookstore and read the section pertaining to this process in Erlewine's The Guitar Player Repair Guide. If you realize you're in over your head, shop around for a better estimate or fork out the $225. You could buy a somewhat playable new or used guitar for that amount though.
Get this book. I have no connection to the author, but it is a life saver and teaches you a lot about adjusting truss rods and will help you put a proper upbow back on your tele.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide/dp/0879309210/
Two things, check out what David Lynch has to say about meditation and inspiration, he talks about how when he started meditating his creativity just skyrocketed.
Also depending on what type of musician you are, simply exploring theory, chords, scales, etc. can open up all kinds of inspiration. For example the Mick Goodrick book The Advancing Guitarist is basically just a bunch of exercises that multiply out into hundreds of different positions and iterations. I can never mess with a book like that for longer than twenty minutes before I'm spinning out all kinds of ideas based on the raw material given.
I started reading (and practicing with) Mick Goodrick's The Advancing Guitarist a year ago, and he mentioned an interesting anecdote: A bassist he knew would go home at night, turn on the TV and watch bowling with the sound off, and a metronome in the background. Goodrick doesn't specifically recommend or even rationalize the practice in the book, but he seemed to imply that there might be something to it.
The book itself is very non-prescriptive and simply proposes a lot of guided experimentation, and the metronome anecdote might just be another instance of that theme.
Book link: https://www.amazon.com/Advancing-Guitarist-Mick-Goodrick/dp/0881885894
This is the one to start with, I'd say: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0876390114/
Might have a bit of redundant theory for you, but should get you going technique-wise, at least.
Also of note : https://www.amazon.com/dp/0881885894/
and
https://www.amazon.com/dp/3892210195/
Chord Chemistry is a great book. It's my guitar bible. I'm always coming back to it. It was written by one of the best guitar players ever, Ted Greene.
I've heard The Advancing Guitarist is quite good but I've not read it.
One last suggestion. If you can find a book called SuperChops by another legendary player (Howard Roberts) you'll be set. It's a great 20 week course that'll take your playing to new levels. Howard was one heck of a jazz player, teacher and nice fella. It's out of print (now) so it may be a struggle to get a copy but once you do...hold onto it.
These have been keeping me busy:
Chord Chemistry
http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0898986966
The Advancing Guitarist
http://www.amazon.com/Advancing-Guitarist-Mick-Goodrick/dp/0881885894/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1375333714&amp;sr=1-1
Sounds awesome, thanks for the tip. Is it this one? https://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167
As a pianist, that's so cool! I wonder if she might be cool if you gave her something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1322842729&amp;sr=8-1
this book is a good place to start and it's not too expensive.
I'm 26 and started playing piano 2 months ago! I can't stress the impact a teacher has had on my learning!
I've been going through Alfreds Basic Adult Piano Course Music and Theory and have found it a great introduction.
This has also been supplemented with additional pieces from my tutor (I've just finished learning Motzart Minuet in F K2 and am nearly finished with Bach Minuet in G minor, BWV Anh. 115 ) which I though were challenging but fun pieces to learn :)
I guess I could have picked these books up and learnt myself, but I'd say my progress would have been a lot slower. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have as I am in a similar situation?
Most piano teachers will give you this book to start:
http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167
I spent a long time learning as a child, went back to teachers a couple of times as an adult to get a refresher. If you can get through book 1 and book 2 in the series, you can pretty much play any pop song, and holiday type song and it allows you to start to gauge tracks at an intermediate level. From there it's how much you want to practice.
1 hour a day every day for 2 years will do more for your ability than any number of lessons. Teachers are a guide, it's all about your willingness to work at a new skill. If you can't do an hour, do 30 minutes, or even 15. But daily practice is the key. If you can't commit to 15 minutes a day, you should consider what else you're prioritizing if you really want to learn to play.
Also, the whole 10,000 hours to mastery is especially true for any kind of music. an hour a day means 30 years to mastery. 8 hours a day means 5 years. This is why musicians typically get really good in high school - by around 6th grade most people are crossing over from hobby to passion, and then start committing real time to their passion before real world problems get in the way ( like work, marriage, kids, etc.).
Start off with a cheaper electric keyboards with less keys at first and then move on to larger ones as you get better. I also recommend Alfred's Basic Piano Library. I started on this book here: Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course: Lesson Book, Level One https://www.amazon.com/dp/0882846167/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_CJgpybB2GKRD4
I hope this helps.
You may have to look around for it, but I can’t imagine a better book than this one. You can do so much with just this book, and it gives you a great starting place and foundation to build on.
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Electric-Guitar/dp/0953104907
I have 2 books. One that nobody likes is by Melvyn Hiscock. Admittedly its a bit dated, but gives a pretty good idea of the principles of guitar design. It is not a woodworking book however, so it assumes you have some knowledge of woodworking techniques. I say nobody likes it because anytime its mentioned, someone will complain that they bought the book but couldn't build a guitar.
I have this booklet as well, and I also have his booklet on how to make a 5 string banjo. I think its pretty good as well.
Honestly though, there is enough information online about making guitars in this day and age, that I think you can do just as well by watching a bunch of videos and reading a bunch of online articles. Also, there are some really good people on this subreddit that can help answer questions in great detail.
There was a thread like this I think just yesterday. I was also in the same boat and one guy mentioned this book
http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060
I bought it just yesterday because it got such amazing reviews :D
Bought it off ebay though.
If you really feel more comfortable with a physical book, Fretboard Logic may be the way to go. I've been going through it and I'm not too deep into it, but there's a lot of functional theory in it. This book helped connect a lot of dots for me already.
I've heard a lot of great things about Fretboard Logic.
this book here? http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060
I recently bought Fretboard Logic, and I'm still towards the beginning but I really like its approach so far. He teaches "CAGED" theory in it, if you've heard of it.
I highly recommend Fretboard Logic SE by Bill Edwards. It teaches the CAGED system for chords and scales in a very natural and intuitive way. No prior music theory knowledge is necessary for the book, it starts from the ground up. It isn't very long, you should be able to get a solid grasp on the foundation of the ideas it teaches within a week, but you'll be going back to back to it to learn more for a while to come. I was simply astonished at how much better I understand the guitar after a short time with this book. Before the book I was in the same position as you, played guitar but only knew chords through rote memorization and learned solos by copying others, after I was able to begin writing my own music and I felt comfortable and ready to go deeper into the music theory rabbit hole.
The book teaches the CAGED system, and I know there are resources online that teach it, so if you don't want to drop the money on a book, you can find those and they'll teach the same concepts as Fretboard Logic. However, Bill Edwards does a great job at easing the reader in to the ideas and makes them very easy to understand. Plus, it's nice to have a physical book to reference the diagrams inside of it.
Fretboard Logic was an absolute game changer for me.
CAGED is a system for understanding and navigating the guitar's fretboard and arises from the standard tuning of the guitar. It's based on the five basic moveable chord forms C, A, G, E and D.
These five chord forms create a pattern of notes up the entire fretboard providing a mechanism for finding and naming chords and scales.
For example, C form in the open position connects to the A form in the 3rd position. The A form in the 3rd position connects to the G form in the 5th position. G form connects to E form in the 8th position. E form to D in the 10th position. Each of the forms in their respective positions results in a C Major chord.
Also, being moveable forms, playing C form in the open position will give you a C Major chord. Playing C form in the 5th position will give you an F Major chord and so on.
I suggest checking out Fretboard Logic for an excellent introduction to the CAGED system.
Being a beginner, and having purchased Fretboard Logic SE, http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top, would this be supplementary or complimentary to it?
Fretboard Logic!
Get fretboard logic by Bill Edwards. It's the only theory book I've found that doesn't treat the guitar like a fucked up piano.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0962477060?pc_redir=1398751849&amp;robot_redir=1
[Fretboard Logic] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0962477060/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1506520316&amp;sr=8-6&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&amp;keywords=CAGED+guitar).
Changed my level of competence in days, if not hours.
Not theory, but "Guitar Aerobics: A 52-Week, One-lick-per-day Workout Program for Developing, Improving and Maintaining Guitar Technique" is a good supplement to RS.
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Aerobics-One-lick-day-Maintaining/dp/1423414357
Check out the book Guitar Aerobics on Amazon. It is a great beginner excersize book. If you are tight on cash, look at the free preview. The lesson for Saturday is what I used to build up strength for hammer ons and oull offs. You also learn one of the most basic pentatonic scale patterns at the same time. Once you get the hammer ons down, do the same excersize but start with the high note on each string and do pull offs.
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Aerobics-One-lick---day-Maintaining/dp/1423414357/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1407603235&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Guitar+aerobics
Also this book have a lot of really cool exercises for picking (alternate-picking, string-skipping etc.)
www.guitarzoom.com. Look for the course "Music Theory for Life". It's a 12 week online course by Steve Steine. Very good. You can also find many of his videos online that talk about music theory in shorter form but still more than enough to get you started. Here's a good series to follow by him: https://www.lessonface.com/absolute-fretboard-mastery-steve-stine
The other thing that really helps is playing every day. This really helped me get through solos that previously I never even attempted to play because i thought I would never be able to. I use an app on my phone called "habit" to track that. I mark every day I play and end up with a streak. I never want to break that streak so I play every day. I started with a wall calendar where I crossed off the days. After a while, you have a nice long line of days and you will feel really bad breaking that line.
Now comes the question of: "Ok... I can play everyday, but what should I play?" I had that issue. So I went ahead and bought this book: http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Aerobics-One-lick-per-day-Developing-Maintaining/dp/1423414357/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1462400123&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=guitar+aerobics
This book is basically a year's worth of every day licks to play and practice. Priceless. It will give you something to do every day by default. No thinking required. It starts off easy and builds up. It will teach you usable licks straight away from different music styles. It will also teach you how to play in time since you should be using a metronome (or the drum tracks they provide).
I use the book when I am not in the mood to practice a song I am working on that day. I make sure I am playing some "challenging" song since it's fun to end up with a song you've been wanting to play. I give it time... no hurry. I've been having fun learning "Hangar 18" for like 2+ weeks now. I am taking it slow and making sure I am not rushing through parts.
Good luck!
I think you should get this book and practice the exercises for 15-20 minutes a day. Done daily, this will develop both your technique, theoretical knowledge and riff vocabulary. If you're not going to practice daily, then just don't bother getting the book - it won't help you.
Edit: You'll need a metronome to use this text properly, but you can download them for free onto your smartphone, so no big deal :)
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Aerobics-One-lick-day-Maintaining/dp/1423414357
I would suggest you pick up:
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Aerobics-One-lick-day-Maintaining/dp/1423414357
Its an awesome practice regime for building chops. It covers alternate picking, string skipping, legato, rhythm, sweep picking, string bending, arpeggios. By the end of the year schedule you should be one bad ass mofo. I've been doing it for a couple weeks now and have already noticed an improvement.
For my practice schedule currently:
I use this book for 15 mins,
Practice chord switching for 15 mins,
Work on a song for a 1/2 hour
The last 2 will switch up but the book with remain a daily activity. I'll add in this book in about a month. That should take me to a crazy skill level with the right focus on my part.
http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Discipline-John-Petrucci/dp/1576234746/ref=pd_sim_74_2
I bought this a couple of months ago and whilst it's mainly pretty simple stuff, it really does help! Just pick a couple of exercises and just repeat them for an hour and go through the book. Really helped me move quicker around the neck and get a better picking rhythm, all basic things but stuff that makes the difference when you realise how much easier things are to play http://www.amazon.co.uk/Troy-Nelson-Guitar-Aerobics-Book/dp/1423414357/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1412696309&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=guitar+aerobics
Get yourself a book with short exercises like this one. And then do them every day so you focus on different stuff to stay sharp.
If you're looking to improve your technique (chops), i HIGHLY recommend checking out guitar aerobics
Its broken down into daily 5-10 minute segments. Really easy to get through it, since it comes accompanying audio tracks that progressively pick-up the BPM. The lesson itself has both notation and tabs (so you can use what you're comfortable with, or try to pick up reading some notation)
Starts of real basic, so in the first two days I did the first week or two. In two weeks I improved so much more than I had in the 6 years I'd been playing up to that point. Forcing you do a technique PROPERLY at slow BPM is just as important as being able to do it quickly.
Best $20 I ever spent on guitar.
> Carl fisher the exercise book
I'm not familiar with that Guitar Grimore book.
If you want an exercise book "supplemental", you could look into these books:
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Aerobics-One-lick-day-Maintaining/dp/1423414357/ref=pd_rhf_dp_s_cp_0_2?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=1423414357&amp;pd_rd_r=ASP24YKJ6PF4T0ZBPQ14&amp;pd_rd_w=YFFcO&amp;pd_rd_wg=ghssC&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=ASP24YKJ6PF4T0ZBPQ14
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Finger-Gym-Stamina-Coordination-Dexterity/dp/1910403717/ref=pd_sbs_14_6?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=1910403717&amp;pd_rd_r=RP5P3ED9YD4FNXQA9MG1&amp;pd_rd_w=K0uvq&amp;pd_rd_wg=Epzrf&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=RP5P3ED9YD4FNXQA9MG1
This one?:
Guitar Aerobics by Troy Nelson is a book I picked up to supplement my playing with Rocksmith. I do a daily technical exercise from it (it has 365 of them that cover a variety of techniques, starting at an easy level and working up to an advanced one.)
I'm noticing it help me with my overall playing ability and would recommend it to anyone interested in boosting their chops, regardless of level :)
Guitar Aerobics: A 52-Week, One-lick-per-day Workout Program for Developing, Improving and Maintaining Guitar Technique https://www.amazon.com/dp/1423414357/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_vhcgvb0BKS7SR
Mark Levine's excellent The Jazz Theory Book includes a great list of mandatory repertoire at the end of the book, which I've edited down considerably to this list based on my experience in jam sessions and gigs. For a full-time working jazz musician though, there are many, many more essentials that I'm sure I'm missing. Also, I've tried to omit tunes already mentioned.
I've noted (Alternate Titles) in parentheses and [parent tunes with the same changes] in square brackets.
The tunes:
Ain't Misbehavin', All Blues [3/4 blues], All of Me, All of You, Alone Together, Autumn in New York, Beautiful Love, Billie's Bounce, Black Orpheus (Manha de Carnaval), Blue Bossa, Blues for Alice [Parker blues], Bluesette [3/4 parker blues], Cantaloupe Island, Caravan, Ceora, Chelsea Bridge, Cherokee, Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars), Darn That Dream, Days of Wine and Roses, Desafinado, Dolphin Dance, Donna Lee [Indiana], Doxy, Embraceable You, Footprints [3/4 minor blues, sort of], Four, Georgia on My Mind, Giant Steps, God Bless The Child, Green Dolphin Street, Have You Met Miss Jones, How Deep Is The Ocean, I'll Remember April, In A Mellow Tone, Invitation, In Walked Bud [Blue Skies], In Your Own Sweet Way, I Remember You, Israel [minor blues], It Could Happen To You, It Don't Mean A Thing, Joy Spring, Just Friends, Limehouse Blues [not actually a blues!], Lover Man, Maiden Voyage, Milestones, Misty, Moanin', Moonlight in Vermont, My Favorite Things, My Foolish Heart, My Funny Valentine, My Heart Stood Still, My Little Suede Shoes, My One and Only Love, My Romance, Night And Day, Now's The Time [blues], Oleo [rhythm changes], One Note Samba, Out Of Nowhere, Over The Rainbow, Poinciana, Recordame, Rhythm-A-Ning [rhythm changes], Ruby My Dear, St. Thomas, Satin Doll, Scrapple From The Apple [Honeysuckle Rose], Skylark, Softly As In A Morning Sunrise, Someday My Prince Will Come, Song For My Father, Sonnymoon For Two [blues], So What, Stardust, Stompin' At The Savoy, Sugar, Summertime, There Is No Greater Love, There Will Never Be Another You, Tune Up, Wave, The Way You Look Tonight, Well You Needn't, When Sunny Gets Blue, Whisper Not, Without A Song, Yardbird Suite, Yesterdays.
Oh okay, make sure to tell the teacher what you what to learn and make sure they agree to it. No use wasting time and money with someone who teaches the same thing to everyone.
If you're looking at learning theory to help with prog metal I recommend reading The Jazz Theory Book. It's pretty dense but it really helps with understanding chords and chord extensions.
> Say if I can't find a teacher right away, how would you say I should try striking that "balance" you talked about? Any resources you'd suggest for each element (technical/musical/theoretical)?
Technical and musical elements are quite difficult to advise on because they are quite individual. Some people are very expressive but aren't necessarily brilliantly technical players and some are brilliantly technical but make music that sounds like robots, and all shades in-between.
If you pushed me I would say that something like Yousician's free lessons will get you off the ground as far as basic technique is concerned. Their free service is perfectly adequate for a complete beginner.
As far as musicality goes that's more difficult to teach. Really you're looking to try and "feel" something while you're playing and it's not quite the same as feeling an emotion - you're trying to feel the flow of the music. I found it helpful when I was first learning to play along to a track and not worry too much about getting it right - just noodle around trying to get into the feel of the thing. Playing with other people helps here too.
As far as theory goes that's easier.
Standard theory (you can call it 'classical' theory if you like but it applies to pretty much any form of music except really early music and more modern experimental stuff):
The AB Guide to Music Theory Part I
Music Theory in Practice Book I
(As you'll see from the Amazon listings there are more books in the Music Theory in Practice series, and there's an AB Guide to Music Theory Part II as well).
Get someone who knows what they're talking about to check your answers!
Jazz theory:
The Jazz Theory Book
Songwriting:
Chord Progressions for Songwriters
Bear in mind that music theory is a bit like art theory in that it's largely descriptive rather than prescriptive - it describes common practice and therefore gives you some guidelines but it's quite possible to follow all the rules and still come up with something that's fucking dreadful. So when you're writing try not to get bogged down with "is it correct?" - just ask yourself "do I like it? does it sound good?".
> What would an ideal (or even okay) progress would look like according to you?
I would say classical guitar grade 1 within 1-2 years is normal progress. If you're ambitious then 6 months to 1 year.
I second this, a really good book on Jazz is The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine.
It explains progression, scale usage, and chord usage in depth.
A big thing is to not let your practice routine stagnate. Take it from a (tuba) performance major who learned most of his stuff without lessons. You need to keep fresh material under your fingers. Pick up the Jazz Theory Book and use some of the examples in there for scale and key studies.
Also, I would highly recommend studying classical rep as well, work ona new solo peice every month, and try to play (and work up) one etude (at least) every week.
You practice should look like this, in essence:
10-15min of warm-up with long tones (focusing on superb sound and tone at ALL dynamic ranges), and easy, finger warming chromatic scales and the like.
30min of etude practice (try to do a new one every week)
30min of solo rep/stuff from band you need to work on
whatever time is left to you doing scale studies and jazz improv.
As far as getting better at jazz, the biggest one I know of is simply transcribing solos of other players and playing them. It takes for FUCKING ever, but if you're serious, it's what you do. Since I only ever play Bass Trombone in jazz band, it's not really worth it to me, but if you're looking to get better at tenor, man, listen to some coltrane and write down what he's doing for at least one chorus and play it with him. You start to assimilate some of the licks he uses and get an innate understanding of how to navigate the chords. Start with blues based songs, since they're the easiest. Move up to rhythm changes when you have solid material for any blues song. After that, man, you'll be set.
ALSO, you can always google and find some great stuff written by other great players, either on forums or on professional player's personal websites. I learned alot of what I know doing that when I didn't have lessons.
If you have any questions, send me a PM and I'll do my best to help out.
I learned a lot from taking classes and private lessons, as well as self study by reading books and analyzing music. I'm not really aware of that many good resources for jazz theory online unfortunately, but there is this site: http://community.berkleejazz.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
EDIT: I love the Jazz Piano Book, it's not really a theory book but I thought it was great. The author has also written a Jazz Theory Book which a lot people seem to like, but I haven't really gone through it yet. Some other options are the Berklee Book of Jazz Harmony and the Jazz Harmony Book
Get your hands on some improvisation books. Doesn't necessarily mean they all have to be just guitar books...jazz theory books will come in handy for any musician. Get your hands on a Real Book Listen to great performers - I'll suggest Pat Metheny, John Scofield, and Herb Ellis for starters. Become really familiar with their music and the way they improvise... when you hear little bits and pieces of things they do and you like them, write them out - transcribe. Hearing and practicing these will enable you to incorporate them into your improvisation, and the more you study and 'shed your heart out, the more you will pick up on how great improvisors do their thing.
Also, practice all your scales... slowly. When you are transcribing, you'll be surprised how much easier it is when you have a good understanding of every type of scale and how they are used (theory books will explain).
Hope this helps. Cheers.
They are both brilliant and will last a lifetime, I've had them for around 5 years and they still blow my mind, and keep me learning.
Some others I own and think a great are:
[Creative Guitar 1 and 2 by Guthrie Govan] ( http://www.amazon.com/Guthrie-Govan/e/B0034Q44JU/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1) In my opinion the best guitarist around. He has a mastery over the guitar at a level I have never seen! These books are excellent a written in a ways that enjoyable and easy to understand
[Single Note Soloing, Volume 1] (http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Guitar-Single-Soloing-Volume/dp/0769209726/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&amp;refRID=0MRB4A99W8P09SX6GMQG) and [Volume 2] (http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Guitar-Single-Soloing-Volume/dp/0739053841/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&amp;refRID=1GGV91GVW1H6MM5AQ6C0) by Ted Greene. Excellent for jazz soloing.
[The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine] ( http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040/ref=pd_sim_b_17?ie=UTF8&amp;refRID=1FP5R211R7V7ZDP5Q4GT) THE book on jazz, this is without a doubt a must own!
If you want to get really deep and crazy take a look at the Scott McGill books:
[Scott McGill] (http://www.amazon.com/Scott-McGill/e/B00J36EZ58/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1)
And lastly for an insane look at rhythms [Advance Rhythmic Concepts for Guitars by Jan Rivera] (http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Rhythmic-Concepts-Foreword-Machacek/dp/0615979831/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&amp;refRID=0J05GGH3PGDQRWPRB298) Metric Modulations, Polyrhythms and Polymeters galore! I feel with most guitarists rhythm is often overlooked and getting your rhythmic playing down separates the men from the boys. It's amazing how good rhythm can make the simplest of solos mind melting.
Miles Davis wrote an autobiography that was really great and told you a lot about the history of jazz, although it didn't give you too much theory. It was called "Miles", i think.
Mark Levine wrote a great book on Jazz theory. https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040
He wrote one for piano specifically as well.
You would benefit from a theory book or course.
http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040
I recommend that one.
Mark levine's book is kind of the standard.
https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040
If I understand what you're saying, then yes, Amaj7 with a 9 will sound good in certain cases. It's actually pretty popular to combine the 7 and the 9 in jazz chords. You can definitely have more than one extension to a chord, it's just pretty cumbersome to write Amaj7 add 9, so most of the time it is omitted to be just A9 or Amaj7.
If this kind of thing interests you (combining different types of chords and adding notes in the chord), definitely get a jazz theory book. Below is one a fairly popular one. It is one of the best ways to progress from amateur to journeyman, in my opinion. Get through that book and you'll be able to play in jam sessions with other musicians, be comfortable talking theory, while elevating your own playing to a degree you probably didn't think possible, etc.
http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040
https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1499754614&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=jazz+theory+book
I used the shit out of this book in high school when I was preparing to go to university. This was also the period where I wanted to move from blues into jazz. If you have technique, then this is a great launching point for jazz. It's pretty comprehensive (until you get quite advanced) and could be used as a sort of desk reference when you're done studying it. It's by far the most useful music book I ever bought in my development. It's super no nonsense and because it's written for people of all instruments it takes guitarists out of that "guitar culture" mindset which isn't always a good thing musically.
To apply the things in the book, listen to a shit load of recordings and start going through the Real Book. Pick out tunes you really like and learn them in basic ways. Look up charts for jazz guitar chord voicings and start comping along with records. Then throw in the melody. Next improvise by messing with the melody. Then start improvising with modes and chord tones. Finally, start transcribing your favorite solos, doesn't have to be just guitar players.
That's how you learn jazz.
Music theory is not different on a guitar than on any other instrument. And it gets very hard to get music theory correct when it is taught by largely self-taught guitarists, because they have a tendency to think every shape they play requires a name (a trait shared by musicians on most chromatic instruments).
Go get a basic music theory book like Music Theory for Dummies or Music Theory: From Begginer to Expert. After youv'e gone through and really understood what's in those texts, you'll be ready for more advanced stuff like Mark Levine's Jazz Theory or Walter Piston's books such as Harmony or Counterpoint.
Alternately you could look at texts on arranging and orchestration at that point as well.
Stay away from instrument specific texts, particularly those related to chromatic instruments (of which the guitar is one) because you'll almost find something that is a well-intended, but mistaken, concept. Also avoid texts aimed at Berkelee school of music. While they are a great school in terms of their performance degrees, they have an odd fascination with modes that is shared by virtually no other music school in the world.
That's the right scale, and you can arrive at that answer using either way of thinking: list the notes of a Bflat major scale, but starting on C; or, start with a C minor scale (C, D, Eflat, F, G, Ab, Bb) and raise the sixth note (C, D, Eflat, F, G, A, Bflat). They're just different ways of thinking about the same SOUND. As with all theory, it's the SOUND that's the key.
As for resources, try the Fake Dr. Levin Zelda modes series: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayBYqpeOAvQ&amp;list=PLJTWoPGfHxQFCOnSiRNVangyEy7IfUDsX)
and, depending on what you're looking for, The JAzz Theory Book by Mark LEvine is excellent (http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040)
That is all very useful information, and thank you for even looking up recordings of all of the songs. Your response gives me a much better idea of how to teach him these pieces. Also, in spite of another commenter, I think I should brush up on and expand my knowledge of jazz. What do you think of this particular book? https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040/ref=s9_simh_gw_g14_i1_r?_encoding=UTF8&amp;fpl=fresh&amp;pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&amp;pf_rd_s=&amp;pf_rd_r=M6709RMPFXXZBNG5JHYH&amp;pf_rd_t=36701&amp;pf_rd_p=a6aaf593-1ba4-4f4e-bdcc-0febe090b8ed&amp;pf_rd_i=desktop
One thing I tried doing was learning every chord in every position and every inversion. I'm not done writing them up, but I have charts for dominant, major, minor, and half-diminished chords I could scan for you. I also have the arpeggios to be played over the chords.
Another thing is to learn are your scale modes. I'll pick either 4 modes in 1 position or 1 mode in 4 positions and practice each scale for 5 minutes.
You could improve your sight reading with this. It's not meant to be studied, but to be opened up to a random page and played.
I'm also a fan of speed and dexterity exercises. You don't have to shred, but sometimes you need to get from point A to point B in a hurry. After playing these for a while, you'll also feel less fatigue. My favorite books for this are John Petrucci's Wild Stringdom and Frank Gambale's Technique Books
Also, if you really get into jazz, I highly recommend The Jazz Theory Book. It will help with your improvisation and teach you how songs are structured, which will help you with other genres. A more classic theory book that's good is The Complete Musician.
After you get technique stuff down, it all comes down to where you want to be as a player. What do you want to play? Do you want to write? Do you want to do covers? Maybe you want to teach.
Sorry this was so long. I love teaching music myself, so if you want to learn anything specific, PM me and I should be able to help you out and send you some materials.
I recommend The Jazz Theory book by Mark Levine. If you want to understand how to build chords, chord progressions, and improv, it's a great resource. You can buy it online or torrent a PDF easily enough.
The classic book is George Stone's "Stick Control".
Some web resources:
http://www.freedrumlessons.com/articles/drum-rudiments.php
http://www.rudimentaldrumming.com/
Stick Control. Most drummers will say it's best to start with this book but I'll be honest- it's not fun. Don't expect to be wowed by drumming with this book. It's meant to build good form/technique and other solid fundamentals that are very important to drumming.
Either way, if you're looking for something a bit more exciting, I'd say search youtube for beginner lessons on the kit and/or your pad.
Good luck!
Just want to echo that 30 minutes a day is more than enough. Of that time, I would spend 10 minutes on rudiments and the rest on whatever you want.
>What all will I need to get started? Practice pad, sticks, kit, metronome?
If you buy an electronic kit, I wouldn't worry about practice pads. I'd recommend picking up Stick Control, learning the rudiments, and an introductory book such as Fast Track or Tommy Igoe's beginner DVD. Once you feel more comfortable, I'd recommend picking up Groove Essentials and New Breed.
For stick, I generally recommend starting with Vic Firth 5B hickory sticks. Of all the sticks I've tried, those are the most absolutely average. Weight, balance, size, etc. From there you can move into thinner (5A, 7A) or thicker (2B) as you want, but 5B is a good starting place, hickory is the best wood to learn with (and play with forever, imo, but that's debatable), and Vic Firth is fairly consistent.
Vic Firth's stick size comparisons. The standard sizes used by the majority of drummers, from smallest to largest, are 7A, 5A, 5B, 2B. Everything else is just incredibly minor tweaking that some people like.
https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1472953106&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=stick+control
Daily practice- never forget it! Also, Syncopation as mentioned below is very good, and I would also recommend this. They're both great books.
YouTube lessons can be helpful, but almost certainly never as helpful as an instructor. YouTube lessons can't see you making mistakes and can't correct them. You can't talk to YouTube lessons. They're alright for beginners but I would definitely recommend getting some one-on-one advice, even from people who aren't professional teachers.
There's this amazing book called Stick Control: For the Snare Drummer (https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040 ) and it's full of great practice exercises that can help both you and your son. It's not a full kit book, but it's meant to strengthen your sense of rhythm and technique, and can help with speed aswell if you use a metronome. If you don't want to buy the book, I'm sure there's a .pdf somewhere, but the book is always better in my opinion.
Don't waste your money on Drumeo and Drumeo Edge. The whole Drumeo program is basically watching somebody else play drums and trying to mimic it. I can't speak for other online drum lesson services as I don't have much experience with them.
Find some music you like on YouTube, and use the speed feature to slow it down and really listen to what the drummer is playing. You can start slow and break it down and slowly increase the speed until you're playing it just as fast as the drummer in the song. It's a great way to teach yourself how to learn songs.
Learning drums takes a lot of patience (and can be quite expensive!) so I'd advise you to take great care in how you hit your drums. Drumsticks aren't very expensive and neither are drum heads, but when you're nailing them so hard you break one a day, it adds up quickly. Same goes for cymbals, but those are quite expensive aswell.
When you buy the second kit, I'd advise you to invest in a mid-range kit, not too great, but not garbage either. When you listen to songs and then your drums sound crappy, it's quite discourage. Get some mid-range cymbals as well, Paiste offers some pretty good beginner's cymbals.
Not OP, but check out Stick Control by George Lawrence and The New Breed by Gary Chester.
These two books helped me get over the hump of knowing what I wanted to play, and actually being able to play it effortlessly and cleanly.
Get lessons if at all possible. You'll progress much more efficiently that way.
Also get Stick Control and practice the patterns to a metronome.
https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040
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Most drummers forget about the rudiments that make up the grooves. These will give you patterns to go off of and tighten up everything you do around the drum set. Doesn't need to just be done on a snare. Practice on the snare, snare+tom, Hi-hat + snare, etc. Come up with some cool stuff, and help you understand the building blocks that make the groove.
My advice would be to pick up a copy of ‘Stick Control for the snare drummer’, and practice the exercises in the book for half an hour each day. When I was in my highschool marching band, this was THE book for improving speed and control.
Edit: you will also want to work on practicing the exercises at different speeds and volumes.
https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=for+the+modern+snare+drummer&amp;qid=1570196885&amp;sr=8-3
First you're going to want to start by focusing on your stick grip. Learn how to hold the sticks and whenever you play always pay attention to your form and grip. At least at the start.
Next, go for rudiments. they can help you get your chops up while get you better at reading snare music.
After that, get some snare solos and try them out. Remember to concentrate on your grip and form.
Also this is a great book. One of the best snare books out there:
http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040
And remember, practice makes permanent, so make sure you're holding your sticks in a way that won't hinder your playing and make you have to relearn it all later on. Have fun!
Here's my disclaimer: if you don't have access to a drum and at least one other person to practice playing clean with, you're already at a disadvantage. No pad feels exactly like a drum and when it comes down to the wire in an audition, what determines who makes the line is usually who can play clean consistently no matter where he is in the line.
Buy this:
http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/1892764040
No matter where you want to march, it will be your ultimate tool. It will lay the foundation of your playing, and it will give you amazing facility on the drum. Play through all of it. Play through it at every dynamic. Play five lines and crescendo the whole thing. Do whatever you can to essentially turn the thing inside out on itself so that you get as much experience playing things your hands have never felt. The key here is repetition. You want to shed layers so that your hands become so refined that anything you're asked to play is practically second nature.
Once you've played through the entire book ten times, buy this:
http://www.amazon.com/Accents-Rebounds-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/1892764067
Repetition, repetition, repetition. Variation, variation, variation. If something sounds disgusting, practice it until it's beautiful. You need to dedicate substantial time to practicing, and you need to always practice with a metronome. I advise against most phone metronomes, because they tend to be inconsistent. I recommend practicing for 90 minutes and then taking a 30 minute break. Practice consistently. Don't do eight hours one day and then take a week off. Two or three hours a day is ample practice time. You've got to be deliberate and take your practice time seriously if you want to make it. If you're unsure about whether or not you want to march, I'd advise against auditioning because the people who really want it are usually the ones who make the line.
Get on YouTube and check out some different lines from the past maybe three seasons. Listen to as many as you can and see which lines really pique your interest. Then get on Google and look for audition materials (either from past years or current materials). A lot of corps require you to buy their audition materials so if that's an issue for you, you could try another corps. Or you could step up your game, get back on YouTube, try to find some videos of the drumline warming up, and figure out their exercises on your own. Be wary though; that's a pretty significant undertaking.
My best advice is to take initiative, and to try harder than you want to. You'll have to do both of those things if you spend a summer with a corps anyway, so it's better to start now. Best of luck to you.
One half of drumming is the learning to control 4 limbs at once thing. I guess some might call it coordination.
One of my favorite ways to practice or work something out is to sit in a chair and play on my legs with my hands. Pick some songs that have grooves that you like and try to work out the parts for each limb and tap away.
Costs $0 and you can play anywhere all the time...
If you want to build speed and practice rudiments there is no better place to start than Stick Control: For the Snare Drummer. If you can make it through this book, you are well on your way!
So far everyone has replied with an incorrect answer.
The correct answer is
STICK CONTROLLLLLLLLLLL
If you own stick control I would recommend going through that while doing quarter notes with your left foot and hitting 1 with your kick.
There are many ways to do this, but this is how I started and I thought it worked well. You can also just incorporate your left foot into any rudimental stuff you are playing on the snare or around the kit. For example, try playing a paradiddle. If you can do that, then try to keep time with your left foot on 2 and 4 while doing it. Then try hitting all the downbeats with your left foot. Then try eighth notes, etc. . . .
If you practice this enough, eventually you will forget about your left foot entirely and it will just be second nature!
You should buy Stick Control.
It'll help you with the basics. The first page in the book is one of the most useful pages in any drum book ever.
The guy who suggested rudiments is absolutely correct.
Proper technique is hugely important, so reading up on or watching some videos about that will help you immensely, if you haven't already.
I would also suggest finding and practicing some stick control exercises. Stick Control by George Lawrence Stone is a great book filled with really helpful exercises.
Listening to, watching, and playing jazz can be a great help as well.
Source: percussionist for ten years
Do you teach with stick control?
I'd say get the book Stick Control, maybe a cheap metronome and do exactly what it says. Buy a good drum pad. These things will improve your playing to a new level, not to mention decrease fatigue. Drumming behind a drumset isn't all there is to playing drums. Dig it.
Hope this helps somewhat.
Hello!
The first thing that you have to do is pick a system to help you memorize the fretboard, because 21-22 frets across 6 strings gets confusing really quickly. The system I recommend to everyone is the CAGED system, and you will find that it's the most commonly used system for understanding the fretboard. There's a great book that breaks down the entire fretboard using CAGED called Guitar Fretboard Workbook by Barrett Tagliarino. Here's an Amazon link - https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011
That book will give you a system to work with which acts as a foundation for your understanding of the fretboard. If you're looking to memorize all the notes on the fretboard as well, here's how I did it. Pick a note, C for example, and play all the C notes across the 6 strings. Then pick another note and play every instance of that note across the 6 strings. Start with maybe one or two notes a day, then slowly work your way up till you can do all 12 musical notes. Of course, there are many other ways to memorize the notes, but this exercise should suffice for now.
I hope I was helpful!
There are two books that really helped me piece everything together in terms of music theory and fretboard theory:
This book really helps connect the sounds you hear in your head to the notes on the fretboard. I'd say this book alone can help most self-taught guitarists clear up any questions about the instrument that they might have. By the way, this book uses the CAGED system, so if you're somewhat familiar with that already, this book will provide even more ideas that you can use using this system.
This book covers most of the music theory you'd need to know when it comes to contemporary western music. As the others have pointed out, theory is descriptive and not prescriptive, but it does speed up your learning a lot when you actually know the names of certain chords, scales, chord substitutions, etc.
Checkout the Guitar Fretboard Workbook by Barrett Tagliarino - https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011
It was this one https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?adgrpid=61759654491&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw-vjqBRA6EiwAe8TCk_Ln-r2FD3gcrJpk1_RPEFpS1ovc0k5HK7PSpzZd_u1QIHh4pg8w6BoCrZ0QAvD_BwE&amp;hvadid=274696380219&amp;hvdev=m&amp;hvlocphy=9015257&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvpos=1t1&amp;hvqmt=e&amp;hvrand=17314199214672980168&amp;hvtargid=aud-647846986281%3Akwd-298712877107&amp;hydadcr=15396_10362670&amp;keywords=fretboard+workbook&amp;qid=1566501188&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-2
Just got the Guitar Fretboard Workbook by Barrett Tagliarino so been working through that.
For a guitarist, I recommend this book - lots of good explanation, practical exercises, and all tied back to practical music making:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011
https://www.justinguitar.com
Start with the beginner course, and work your way through the intermediate course. These are basic but they will give you a solid foundation to build from. Maybe after that go for the Guitar Fretboard Workbook and/or Fretboard Logic SE. Should put you well on your way.
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011 http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&amp;refRID=0C972VD8ZWFB78C2JGQ6 i have these two books i have been reading them and will soon get rocksmith, i play drums so i already understood the notation for rhythm, and the theory for melody i find to be interesting and not that hard, i own an ibanez as73
>How do I properly utilize practice time without a mentor?
A good book written as a series of lessons building upon one another leading toward your goal.
Get one or two books and work through them studiously. Don't skip the parts you don't like, and be honest with yourself.
Two I can recommend in line with your goal:
If I were you I'd look into Justin Guitar for a solid base and to just get you playing songs. He's produces the best internet lessons I've seen and they're all free. He's an amazing teacher and is very entertaining in his lessons. Start with the beginner's course and work your way to intermediate and then into specific areas you want to learn.
I also enjoyed this book. It covers basic music theory and how to navigate the guitar.
Guitar Fretboard Workbook gave me a great working understanding of the guitar
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011/
This isn't a video but I like this book for learning the fretboard:
http://amzn.to/2yCxJWj (affiliate link)
It covers not only the CAGED shapes but also how you can tack scales on them all around the neck. Same thing they teach at MI.
Its cool This book though i have never read it i have only heard good this about it from this sub. BUT i would start with music theory.net cus^its^free
Kolb is good.
This is the book I use, it's immensely helpful (esp. since it's tailored specifically for guitarists). I highly recommend it, since it's tailored specifically to guitarists. I've gone from knowing nothing about theory to having semi-proficient knowledge and I'm only halfway through.
This is a good general guitar music theory book, might be too basic for you, but it does go pretty in-depth and offers a complete look at theory:
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1499878432&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Tom+Kolb
The finger issue is something that will go away eventually, the important thing is to really practice your rudiments and changes so that you can make them feel like second nature. As for the theory I recommend having a look at theory "books" in particular.
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X
I've tried learning theory online. but I come across far too many distractions with so many options on many different websites, I picked up this one book a while back and its taught me pretty much all the basics and all the relevant information.
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X/ref=asc_df_063406651X/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=312115090752&amp;hvpos=1o1&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=10978274432193040356&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=m&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9022854&amp;hvtargid=pla-448656493380&amp;psc=1
this is the book I had, if guitar is not your instrument just ask what they have at you local music store, but you should always buy from your local store vs. online unless your local store is a guitar center.
Thanks for the links and videos, I'll dive in depth into those. I also ordered:
Music Theory for Guitarists: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask (Guitar Method) https://www.amazon.com/dp/063406651X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_Xln3VhwSHiFF
And
Alfred's Basic Guitar Method, Complete: The Most Popular Method for Learning How to Play, Book, DVD & Online Audio, Video & Software (Alfred's Basic G https://www.amazon.com/dp/1470631407/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_WIiVhvj3WgX2F
I'll take it one bite at a time, thanks a ton!
Well, what do you want to get out of learning theory? Many intro theory books and classes focus on learning the rules of functional harmony and writing 4 part choral stuff, which you probably aren't interested in.
If you're interested in stuff that directly applies to guitar, I'd suggest a book like this. https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X
Hal Leonard Guitar Method Music Theory (Book/Online Audio) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/063406651X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_vGFJzbN555WS0
This book, Music Theory for Guitarists, might help you.
Hi, if you're serious about learning theory; consider picking up a book like this one.
This is a good book.
cool thanks for the link. I was actually wondering about this book
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1290017675&amp;sr=8-1
My best advice for you is to find a project for focusing your improvement. It's fun to be able to jam in different styles and settings, and it's a worthy long-term goal, but it's impossible to tackle so many things at once. Find a band to start/join, doing covers or originals. Or find some people to jam with every week. Or take lessons. If you can find a good teacher, lessons will be the best thing for you. Even if you can learn a ton on your own, you'll always have questions along the way that are best answered in person by a master player.
Once you find that project to focus on, center your learning around it. Figure out what theory will be useful. (I second smackhead's endorsement of musictheory.net. Also, Music Theory for Guitarists is a great theory book.)
Learn songs by ear as much as possible. It improves your ears, fingers, and mind. Even if you forget how to play it later, you'll improve through the process, and have that extra experience with you. Imagine learning 1000 new songs in the next year. You'll develop the ability to hear a song in your head and know how to play it, so that you'll never have to remember how the tabs go.
And for some serious motivation, check out some articles on my guitar blogs: From the Woodshed and Deft Digits. Good luck!
This is a good book. It's focused on guitar so you can apply what you learn quickly, and it's not expensive.
http://amzn.com/063406651X
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Handbook-Professional-Acoustic-Electrice/dp/0679742751/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1518343169&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Guitar+handbook
Lessons with a good guitar teacher can go a long way too.
The book I learned with
Read this book cover to cover
/u/LeSel's comment should clear up this particular problem, but as general advice: don't try to learn this stuff off random web pages. Get a book that explains things logically. You can get Denyer's Guitar Handbook for less than a buck on Amazon plus shipping and it will save you many, many hours of frustration.
I started in the late 90's when I did not have internet access at home so these were my resources....
The Guitar Handbook - https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Handbook-Ralph-Denyer/dp/0679742751
Constructing a Solidbody Guitar Roger Siminhoff - https://www.amazon.com/Constructing-Solid-Body-Guitar-Complete-Technical/dp/0881884510
And I saw how Leo did it in "The Fender book" - https://www.amazon.com/Fender-Book-Complete-History-Electric/dp/0879302593/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1473794173&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=The+Fender+Book
That and watching a lot of episodes of "The New Yankee Workshop" and seeing how I could apply that knowledge to building a guitar.
Like cap said, any book with information you don't know will help regardless. With that said, I'll still share the book that helped me immensely when I was beginning to learn: "The Guitar Handbook" by Ralph Denyer
I could not stress enough how much this book taught me. When I was in 8th grade only 2 years into playing, I would take this book out from the school library over and over until I moved on to high school in 10th grade. I read the thing front to back twice, taking pages of notes and practicing at home. There is so much information in this book that it's hard to believe how I've never seen someone recommend it before. It taught me more than any website has, including Ultimate Guitar which I also visited at the time (not to discredit the place). It teaches you technique, music theory (very, very extensively), repairs, performance technique/technology, etc...
Alright I'm done fapping over it haha, but case-in-point: I highly recommend this book. For $4.50USD used, it's a steal.
There is a Guitar Handbook written by Ralph Denyer. Buy him a copy and it will be a perfect place to learn about chords, intervals and scales. Buy a real book please, not ebook.
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Handbook-Professional-Acoustic-Electrice/dp/0679742751
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What is a book equivalent to this, but for bass guitars?
https://www.amazon.ca/Guitar-Handbook-Professional-Acoustic-Electrice/dp/0679742751
If you want a recommendation, this book is widely regarded as being a must-have for all aspects of guitar, it has a pretty good section on maintenance and setup. I learned that little tidbit from it.
I am avoiding playing songs by ear, right now. I'm learning to walk before I run by simplifying it and focusing on the sounds of scales. I'm working on my music theory knowledge alongside my ear. I'll play the scale from a book I'm working in, and listen to the sound of the scale, notes, and chords.
This book.
Read Zen Guitar.
Listen to OnBeing with Krista Tippett and Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend .
Dig into your Why? with gentleness and love.
Buy this book.
Read it once a year.
this book changed my life
http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Guitar-Philip-Toshio-Sudo/dp/068483877X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1318347960&amp;sr=8-1
You need to consider why you want to learn guitar. That will answer some of your questions in itself.
For instance, do you intend to become a professional, virtuoso concert guitarist? If not, what difference does it make if you won't be as good as you could have been if you'd started earlier?
If you're like me, and you play for the pleasure of playing, for the joy of making music, how good you are doesn't really matter. I play because I love playing and I always have, even when I was just starting out and awkwardly struggling through my first chords. Practicing is never work for me because it's fun.
That's not to say that I'm not constantly trying to get better -- I certainly am. But this isn't a job or competition for me, it's something I do for fun and enjoyment. Let yourself have fun with it and the rest just doesn't matter. So if you're having a hard time learning to play something, but you're enjoying the learning process, it's all good. If playing the guitar is a chore for you, why bother? It's supposed to be fun.
So I say to you, go try it. Try to enjoy it. Find your way of making music with a guitar. If you love playing, keep it up. If it's just drudgery to you, let it go. There are no guitar police out there who will throw you in jail if you "aren't good enough" or you don't learn the "right way". There is no "right way". If you are enjoying making your own music then you are good enough and you're doing it the right way!
This is a wonderful book on the subject.
I think I know what you mean. I have been playing for 3 months, for the past month I have played maybe 2 or 3 days of the week for less than an hour a day. It's not because I don't have the time, I could play 6+ hours if I really wanted to. I sure did when I first started playing.
I don't think I'm losing interest in guitar because I have been reading books, watching videos and browsing forums related to guitar. I think I'm just feeling down and downright lazy as fuck right now. It might be that I'm afraid of playing because I know I'll put myself down when I can't play something right.
That said, I have been reading the book Zen Guitar. It gives an interesting outlook on how you should approach playing guitar.
I read this book when I was in high school, over a decade ago. I really dug it then. Seems to fit here.
https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Guitar-Philip-Toshio-Sudo/dp/068483877X
I started at 19, but came from a musical family and came off of tinkering with guitar for 13 years prior and a steady gig in school on the trumpet. Got my first bass at 19 as it was the mid 90's and grunge was hot and there were so many opportunities to be in a band but nobody wanted to play bass.
Don't get discouraged! Ask anyone here; playing bass is not only a lot of work but it's a "growing" experience. Unless you're Mozart people just don't pick up the unwieldy instrument and become proficient over night. Notwithstanding the muscle training just to get past that awkward stage where you have to stop and think about where you put a single finger on a string, there's the whole emotional aspect, as well as the mental, academic and spiritual components of bringing music to life. The only way to become an "experienced players" and gain "experience" is to experience the journey; if you can get into a band quickly do it. Your playing will advance exponentially.
Check out the book called Zen Guitar. It's very easy, short and enlightening as well as watch some of Victor Wootens teaching vids. He has some great concepts that will change how you look at bass and music.
Good fortune to you.
This reminds me of a book I read recently called Zen Guitar. At first it seems kind of hokey but then you realize that there is some really good ideas there.
A lot of most excellent recommendations here, BUT before you even get started on technique, I highly recommend you have a read of this:
http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Guitar-Philip-Toshio-Sudo/dp/068483877X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1375205950&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=zen+guitar
The books I recommend for guitarists and musicians aren't so much instructional as they are tomes of wisdom.
The first is Zen Guitar, which is helpful in shaping your attitude towards playing guitar, improving, and interacting with others.
The other is The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten. Kind of new-agey, but also a ton of advice that isn't really taught in instruction books.
If you're just looking for instructional books, however, William Leavitt's books are good, as are Troy Stetina's books.
You should get a piano bench that is adjustable. I started with the one linked below, although I'd shop around as the price may have jumped up. I don't remember spending 50 dollars, but considering it's lasted 6 years I guess it was worth it. It's not 100% adjustable since it has "levels" and you might end up needing a height between levels. The acoustic piano benches that are fully adjustable cost $200+ though. A bench at the proper height will help avoid back pain after playing for a little while.
Scales are good to learn, you can do this as a warm up. I just listed two that seem to come up often and only had a single black key in them. I wouldn't recommend learning only scales as that would get boring. My teacher would have me do one scale as a warm up and when I could play it two-octave, hands together, including the 3 primary chords and inversions, and the arpeggio (the book we used had all of these on one page) then we'd move to a new one.
Now I'm going back and playing the scales of any pieces I'm working on at the time during warm-up. I do 4 octaves contrary motion. So it starts out normal then half way left hand starts going back down and right hand keeps going up. When right hand hits the 4th octave it starts going down and left hand starts going up again. Makes them feel fresh. I can learn scales faster than pieces so soon I'll have to start rotating scales in that aren't tied to pieces.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GUR8V8/ref=s9_acsd_top_hd_bw_boCu1_c_x_3_w?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&amp;pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-2&amp;pf_rd_r=ZWXDVWB0S7AT05JJVCKX&amp;pf_rd_r=ZWXDVWB0S7AT05JJVCKX&amp;pf_rd_t=101&amp;pf_rd_p=ab2b2dba-42b7-45ce-8379-d10e65c92e8d&amp;pf_rd_p=ab2b2dba-42b7-45ce-8379-d10e65c92e8d&amp;pf_rd_i=11966001
Edit - this is the new book I use for scales. The old one was fine but this had a little more info in it. There were some sections at the beginning that explained how scales were formed before getting into the usual big list of all of them.
https://www.amazon.com/Scales-Chords-Arpeggios-Cadences-Complete/dp/0739003682
> s
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Scales-Chords-Arpeggios-Cadences/dp/0739003682
This one?
Aw, I'm sorry you're feeling sick and bummed out. I'm in the same exact boat! I'm got super sick yesterday, and today I'm feeling no better. And this week is my Spring Break! I had plans to be outside and stuff. Sigh. I guess it's better that I got sick when I didn't have school though. =/
I saw this video last night and I couldn't help but smile! It's silly, but I like Taking Back Sunday a lot, and I thought it was really cool of them to do this. Plus, the chorus is like...genuinely awesome, haha! And they showed bunny and chinchilla puppets (I have a bunny, and I had a chinchilla that passed away two years ago).
If that doesn't put a little grin on your face, then this ought to do the trick! =D
Oh, and here's my item: piano practice book.
Please feel better and thank you so much for hosting this contest!
lol the Liszt studies are not at all appropriate for the level of the Alfred Level 1 book.
OP, get the Alfred's Complete Book of Scales, Chords, Arpeggios & Cadences:
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Scales-Chords-Arpeggios-Cadences/dp/0739003682
Buy a book on chords and learn them (at least all the basics). Learn transitions from major to minor, etc. You will start to ingrain the natural progression of notes in your head, as well as what other notes would work harmoniously with your loops, samples, etc.
I took piano for a while, but I've been out of practice. This book is helping me get back into things.
Check out www.musictheory.net, maybe download an app like Functional Ear Trainer to get your relative pitch up to par and get Scales, Chords, Arpeggios and Cadences or a similar book. I would recommend going through it with your teacher, not trying to rush through it.
I do! Don't have a lot of beats so far but I'm working on it haha. You can check them out here if you want.
Also if you really want to learn music theory I recommend the book "Music Theory for Computer Musicians" by Michael Hewitt, you can also "borrow" it online if you catch my drift. It's a series of 3 books if I'm not mistaken (second covering harmony and third one composition). Then maybe you'd want a piano scales book (like this). Knowing your scales is pretty important if you want to compose music, you'll have to practice those and the book is really helpful for that. You can also find free versions online of similar books (I think r/piano has a link for one in their beginner's guide).
But again, really not that necessary for lofi hiphop unless you want to go deep. Music theory however is not wasted knowledge, so go for it if you're really motivated.
music theory on youtube
https://youtu.be/Ud9CpGOG1GE
see if you can hook up your instrument to a computer or get a modest priced/used one that can and get synthesia
https://synthesiagame.com
pickup this book; you can take the cdrom that comes with the book and load those midi files into synthesia. This will allow you to ensure you are doing the exercises in the book correctly
https://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Group-Piano-Adults-Book/dp/B0071F9BIY/ref=sr_1_26?keywords=Alfred+piano+book&qid=1572991464&sr=8-26
Learn the landmark system (instead of the typical Every Good Boy Deserves Chocolate and FACE methods of learning the Treble Clef
https://youtu.be/jSOU-J9KHbg
I also recently had this book recommended to me but it has not arrived yet
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Scales-Chords-Arpeggios-Cadences/dp/0739003682/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=chord+book&qid=1572991814&sr=8-6
I just started using this app to train my ear to identify notes
https://mdecks.com/politonus.phtml
My method so far about 8 months into learning. My best friend is a professional musician (lives far so can't help me practically) and unlike some opinions floating around he was very encouraging of using Synthesia as long as I continued to pursue actual music reading in parallel. There is a button on Synthesia to show the sheet music so you can do both. That said sitting with just the book or a piece of music that is familiar in front of you and forcing yourself to spend some time with it alone is very fulfilling and will come slowly as you work with all of these materials. Good Luck!
Well, my best advice (if possible) is just to pick up any book that has a combination of scales and basic chord progressions (like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Scales-Chords-Arpeggios-Cadences/dp/0739003682/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1343850716&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=piano+chords+scales) and spend a few months working everyday learning them on piano or a keyboard. When you're making a song if you know ahead of time what key you want to write it in and then limit yourself to the notes available in that scale you'll find that you feel a lot more in control. If that's not possible you could try to pick up a music theory textbook, but in general those tend to be geared almost exclusively towards people that are going to be composing with pencil and paper (AKA Sibelius) in the Western Classical tradition so a lot of the rules they impose early on (avoidance of parallel/hidden fifths and octaves, some of the rules dealing minor scales) won't really apply what so ever to the stuff you're trying to do, but if you're interested in doing modulations (fancy smancey word for key changes) or utilizing weird scales like the half diminished you're probably gonna want to pick up a music theory textbook eventually.
NOW if you wanna go really deep down the rabbit hole, I'd pick up this book: http://www.amazon.com/Theory-Harmony-100th-Anniversary-Edition/dp/0520266080/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1343851092&amp;sr=8-3&amp;keywords=schoenberg
It's partially a music theory textbook but it's more an investigation into why harmonic structures work the way they do. Schoenberg's theory relating bass notes to chords completely changed the way I make music.
Hopefully that wasn't too confusing.
I bought the Scales, Chords, Arpeggios and Cadences: Complete Book recently, and was surprised to see that the recommended ("used by most pianists") LH fingering for C, F and G arpeggios is 5 4 2 1. (Although it does mention that for some people 5 3 2 1 might be more comfortable.)
How the hell is 5 4 2 1 more efficient or comfortable than 5 3 2 1? Am I losing anything (i.e. making something else in the future more difficult for myself) by sticking with 5 3 2 1? I can do 5 4 2 1 too, but it feels a bit awkward, especially the 1-4 transitions.
See this thread for why sheet music rarely matches what was originally played. However, some publishers are starting to publish accurate transcriptions of the originals for those people who want them. For the Beatles, someone in that same thread posted a link to The Beatles: Complete Scores which is supposedly quite accurate.
If you are a musician, pick up a copy of the Complete Scores. It's about 80 bucks (53 on amazon!), and contains the sheet music for every instrument for every song they ever recorded.
http://www.amazon.com/Beatles-Complete-Scores/dp/0793518326
http://www.amazon.com/Beatles-Complete-Scores/dp/0793518326/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1323857349&amp;sr=1-1
I have this one. It has the complete score for every Beatles song except for maybe Free as a Bird and Real Love. The only problem I have with it is that it's very thick because it's got 200+ songs on it. There's a lot on the page because it's got string arrangements/guitar tabs so that might not appeal to her if she only wants the piano music. It's worth checking out though.
Seconding the suggestion to just play through as much material as you can. I also learned a lot about orchestrating by doing transcriptions, and you could do the same with The Beatles. I'd recommend picking a few of your favorite songs and trying to write out exactly what you hear without looking at a score of any kind (rather than just playing out of a fake book.) Then check your work and correct any mistakes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0793518326/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_UE.9wbEM9B55C
I don't know about websites but here are two books for The Beatles and Queen that may be good for your purposes.
Beatles: https://www.amazon.com/Beatles-Complete-Scores-Transcribed-Score/dp/0793518326
Queen: http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/best-of-queen-transcribed-score-sheet-music/5679977
As always it starts with playing something very simple and singing over that... playing quarter note chords on the piano with a few chords and figuring out a melody with your voice is a great way to start... watch some videos of people playing and singing at the same time, you'll notice that the parts they play will sometimes get simplified when they are singing, and then become more intricate when they can focus on just the parts.
I would like to point out that many piano books aren't actually the exact way the artist plays the song, in fact most of the songbooks include the melody line in the right hand that should be sung, and not played...
If you were to get the Beatles Score Book, you'll quickly realize that a lot of the melody lines are sung over a chord progression that is much easier than playing the chord progression and the melody line while singing the melody line as well...
It's great, huh? Once you get some lead guitar going, then this book is pretty much the ultimate.
http://www.amazon.ca/Beatles-Complete-Scores/dp/0793518326
It's not without the wrong note here or there, but the level of transcription is pretty much beyond what you get in most books. Every guitar part, every piano part, bass guitar, drums, embellishments. It's pretty much all there.
This is what you'll see:
http://jaygoodmanbass.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/somethingpg1.jpg?w=497&amp;h=321
If you love the Beatles music with a passion to learn the intricacies of it all, I highly recommend this book. I typically refer to it as my Beatles Bible. And yes, it's expensive, but well worth it.
Edit: HOLY CRAP! I didn't realize it was only about $60. When I bought it as a teenager in 1995, it was about $250. Buy this book! You won't regret it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0793518326?pc_redir=1414140432&amp;amp;robot_redir=1
That Hanon book of scales and exercises made me straight up quit taking lessons!
Mind you I was like 9 years old or something and I wish I kept at it as my left hand is now useless....
Hannon exercises are GREAT for finger dexterity and stamina. I've used them for years.
http://www.amazon.com/Hanon-Exercises-Acquirement-Independence-Schirmers/dp/0793525446/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1321469844&amp;sr=1-1
I've used these when I first started. Assuming you are able to sit and doing musically boring exercises these are a good way to build the muscles in your hands. However I recommend you find someone to listen to you to make sure you're timing and technique are on point.
you can try Hanon or Czerny
https://www.amazon.com/Hanon-Virtuoso-Exercises-Complete-Schirmers/dp/0793525446
https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Method-Beginners-Op-599/dp/0793525675/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=0793525675&amp;pd_rd_r=99a4ecb3-d10e-11e8-bdc5-8929d75e6129&amp;pd_rd_w=rcva6&amp;pd_rd_wg=2EWZ1&amp;pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&amp;pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&amp;pf_rd_p=6725dbd6-9917-451d-beba-16af7874e407&amp;pf_rd_r=X17PZ9CXNGYQ9JEAG7X0&amp;pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&amp;pf_rd_t=40701&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=X17PZ9CXNGYQ9JEAG7X0
I know it's a contentious group of pieces, but I've had incredible luck with Hanon. If you can read music and play hands together, I highly recommend it.
I took lessons for 13 years, but since I've been in college I've been self teaching. I've always really loved piano and I have decent technique, but I never really learned things in a way that wasn't sloppy. I decided I wanted to change that, and I sat down and learned all 3 parts of Hanon exactly as instructed in the book. It's not a perfect method, but I play through it every day now and honestly my technique is miles beyond what it used to be. I wish I had learned as a beginner so badly it hurts.
So my suggestion to you is this: buy this book (http://www.amazon.com/Hanon-Virtuoso-Exercises-Complete-Schirmers/dp/0793525446/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1414561983&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=hanon), play through it every day (no matter how boring it may get) exactly as instructed. It takes a little under an hour to play the whole book at tempo, and I imagine you'll be preoccupied learning all of the etudes for quite a while.
I'm a firm believer that we can all craft ourselves into excellent pianists, and all I think you need to do that is repertoire and a will to practice and make a sound that you like. Once you have the technique from the Hanon down, you can get started on any number of pieces. Another very good method is Bela Bartok's Mikrokosmos, which my mean, Hungarian teacher made me slave away at for years. It comes in 6 volumes, the first of which is (http://www.amazon.com/Mikrokosmos-Pink-English-French-Hungarian/dp/1423493044/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1414562208&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=mikrokosmos).
If you were to learn a significant amount of the material from either of those methods, you would be a significantly better pianist. If classical piano isn't necessarily the route you want to go, you'll still be well served by either/or.
The most important thing is to play whenever the urge strikes you, in my experience. It becomes a bit of an addiction, but there's such a huge world of piano music out there that you'll never grow bored with it, and you'll certainly never run out of things to do. Best of luck.
>build functional skills for comping, figuring out lines, and soloing over backing tracks / tunes
I have this book called "Reading Lead Sheets for Keyboard". It's nice because it teaches general skills like that, as opposed to just learning how to play a given song or chords. Also teaches some theory and will leverage what you know. There are probably other books like it but that's the only one I've used.
I'm sure you'll have a blast twiddling knobs and learning the synth, but I'd recommend reserving some time for structured key practice. Set it on a simple epiano/organ/brass patch and leave the knobs alone for a bit while you practice your scales, chords, arpeggios, etc. Hanon is a classic source for good exercises, but tough (expect to spend many days on the first few pages).
I also find it's good to practice monophonic key skills separately, as it's a very different thing.
When I was younger and actually had time to practice and play, I did scales and it actually helped my left hand to gain strength and keep in tempo with the right. Especially the pinky and ring finger, which tend to be the weakest.
I actually learned from this book and it really helped.
Try arching your wrists a little more and work on your technique by playing scales, arpeggios, and exercises. I recommend this book :https://www.amazon.com/Hanon-Virtuoso-Exercises-Complete-Schirmers/dp/0793525446.
Hey man, I'm kind of the in the same boat you are. By that, I mean
I used to play for about 7 years with lessons once a week, but I never really practiced much and put effort into it. At the beginning of this October, I started to take it up again and started playing every single day, making sure to do scales, play from Hanon, trill exercises, argpeggios, etc... and then moving on to playing my pieces. I play anywhere from an hour to seven hours a day depending on how I'm feeling instead of playing video games or watching tv and average about 3-4 hours a day. The last piece I had played before quitting a while back was Chopin's Nocturne Op.9 no.2, but it was an absolute wreck. I was able to completely refine it within the month of October and I moved onto other stuff. I tried tackling some Rachmaninov and Beethoven, but they were beyond my skill level for now so I decided to table them and I'm currently in the middle of refining Claire de Lune and taking another stab at Rachmaninov waltz I tabled. Claire de lune a fairly simple piece, at least technically, and if you've learned a basic George Winston song, it should be well-within reach. You might have fingering troubles with the chords and the key is a little hard to play in, but that's about it.
Practice your major and minor scales. They are a huge part of fundamentals that people overlook way too often. They help with fingerings and memorization of the keys on the piano.
buy a copy of this http://www.amazon.com/Hanon-Virtuoso-Exercises-Complete-Schirmers/dp/0793525446
it has a ton of exercises ranging from trill exercises, scale runs, arpeggios, chord trills, etc... Play a few of the first 10 exercises every day maybe 3-4 times and it's a great warm-up. It's immensely useful in building up your hand strength and stamina so doing it everyday is a must. Use a metronome while doing this because keeping tempo and not rushing/dragging will be very important. It also helps to monitor your progress as you get faster and faster. Play the exercises as fast as you can without messing up 3 times perfectly before moving onto the next tempo.
Break the piece into multiple chunks. They are pretty clear sections of the song so work on each section individually until you get each section down perfectly. Write down fingerings on tricky chords or runs so that you can remember them and not have to fumble around the next time you come across it. Take it nice and slow. Rushing it will only take more time in the end. I wouldn't worry too much about tempo and just worry about getting the notes right for now.
In the end though, getting a teacher is probably your best bet as they can give you more detailed instruction. What I said for you is if you're looking to pursue this without any instruction similar to what I'm doing right now. My goal by the end of this year is to be able to play Chopin Etude Op. 10 no. 4 by the end of this year practicing about 3 hours a day at least a tempo of 140 (I think I can do it). I currently am not taking lessons either, but I personally am not at the level yet where previous training hasn't covered me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIKdCTmcTLs
This is my goal for the end of the year if you're interested.
For Technique I recommend either Hannon or Czerny. Czerny can get really difficult, so I'd start with Hannon first. Don't do the whole book, the end pieces are pretty much impossible.
My advice:
Buy this book to learn your scales.
Buy this book to strengthen your fingers.
Google how to read sheet music. You can learn the basics from many sources.
I recommend the PianoWorld Adult Beginner's Forum to hang out at.
Search the google, search that forum, and browse the index of quarterly recitals on the forum to find beginner level music that you enjoy listening to.
Find the sheet music for the pieces you'd like to learn on IMSLP. It is best as a beginner to find version with suggested fingerings (small numbers near the notes).
And get to work learning what you want to learn. Print the sheets, study them, take a pencil to them, write the notes in English to help you learn to read.
You'll undoubtedly come across symbols you won't recognize from your basic google search. When that happens, look the symbol up here.
Many people recommend the Alfred books and such, and though I'll admit I've never tried them, I have seen many people lose steam because the music in the Alfred books isn't appealing to them.
It won't happen overnight, but if you truly are interested you will stick with it. The method I have outlined is what I did. I took two lessons and didn't like them. It's been nearly five years but I am at the point where I can learn to play Chopin preludes and nocturnes, and sound half-decent. I don't claim to be an expert, but you can learn to play piano as a hobby with minimal resources.
a purchase Url for OP: https://www.amazon.com/Hanon-Virtuoso-Exercises-Complete-Schirmers/dp/0793525446
Worth noting that it is available free, but getting it bound is worth it in my opinion.
That falls under the same umbrella as music theory and is really helped with a teacher. Scales and exercises help you develop the muscle memory that guides your fingers when you read music. This book is the go to for many piano teachers. Work through the exercises slowly at first and slowly speed yourself up. It really works unusual finger movements that help you learn how to navigate the keyboard as you play. Will also help with your reading.
I can think of two very good books. I'd buy them both, honestly.
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Walking-Bass-Acoustic-Electric/dp/0793580420
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Friedland/dp/0793542049
Yeah, I'm reading his walking basslines book, features jazz blues.
http://www.amazon.com/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Builders/dp/0793542049
I'm guessing at these blues jams nobodies gonna call out for a jazz blues.
So to a beginner bassist I would recommend two different study materials.
First buy this DVD, Groove Workshop. It's basically a lecture with exercises on the different components of music as it relates to the bass. One of the largest take-aways is that the notes you play are WAY less important than how you play them. They don't have the clip on youtube, but here is him doing something similar live. On the DVD it's just incredibly well done. He lists all the notes in a G major scale, then only plays the "wrong notes" (notes not in the scale) as Wellington lays down a chordal pattern in G. He then switches to playing in G major and the moment he does this, the G major sounds terrible. When he was playing out of key it was aesthetically pleasing, but when he switches to in key he changes how he's playing and it sounds more discordant.
Second, buy this book on building walking basslines. It's a great introduction to walking bass lines. The point here isn't to remember the notes, but rather the patterns and the feel of "walking".
But for more immediate tips do this. Play the root on the kick, the 5th on the snare, and embellish with the octave and 7th in time with the drummer's fills. You can move up to the 5th by hitting the 4th and down from the 7th with stops along the way at the 6th and the 3rd. If you really want to outline the chords play the root 3rd 5th, but be warned this sounds tired very fast.
The above is just my opinion and is provided merely as a quick outline to start getting the feel of moving around a chord.
Fundamental to jazz bass is being able to play/compose/improvise a walking bass line. Building Walking Bass Lines by Ed Friedland was a huge help to me in learning to compose and play walking bass lines.
There's a book called "building walking baselines" that opened my eyes on the subject. I forget the author. I'm on mobile so I'll try to find it later and post the details. The basic idea is using chord theory to decide how to approach and leave each main note.
Edit: here's the amazon link:
building walking bass lines
This has a bunch of easy standard tunes with everything, including the bass, written out:
http://www.shermusic.com/new/1883217156.shtml
Plus it'll give you scales and arpeggios for all the chords for each tune.
Here's a sample:
http://www.shermusic.com/samples/cold-duck-time.pdf
It's great for getting a handle on how Jazz works and also for starting up a combo.
Also, Ed Friedland's excellent book can help you:
http://www.amazon.com/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Builders/dp/0793542049
“Building Walking Bass Lines (Bass Builders) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0793542049/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Z8qNDbFB7YZWN
There’s a second volume that goes deeper, but this is about the best intro level book I’ve found. Ed Friedland FTW. Great backing tracks, too.
I'm working through this book - https://smile.amazon.com/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Builders/dp/0793542049/ and next one https://smile.amazon.com/Expanding-Walking-Bass-Lines-Builders/dp/0793545862/ is waiting its turn.
Lessons help A LOT, especially when first starting, but also books can help you get a feel for things also, I recommend this one. Some easy songs to start with are ones by the Arctic Monkeys (Do I Wanna Know?, Why's You Only Call Me When You're High) the Beatles (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds) and the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Otherside, Californication)
Since you seem to enjoy working through things on your own, I'd suggest working from front-to-back with a good bass method book, like Ed Friedland's 3-volume set. You'll be able to move through the early material easily, but it will force you to read. Reading is essential to moving forward and you can't really develop a complete understanding of theory if you can't read.
As others have said, joining a band is a great idea for moving past your plateau. In addition, you can use playalongs (music with all the instruments except for bass) from youtube, the web at large, or through programs like Band-in-a-Box or apps like iRealb. These are all good for working on rhythm and developing your own lines.
A little late to the party but you sound just like me dude, was playing tabs and could do a few scales, but when I wanted to start playing triads and stuff, I needed to learn sheet music. I bought this book off Amazon and sat down 10 hours a week going through it. It does a good job of going string by string, showing you the notes applied to actual sheet music. There’s some tab examples but after a month or so I didn’t need them anymore. It really helps if you say the note you’re playing as you play it too.
Hal Leonard Bass Method - Complete Edition: Books 1, 2 and 3 Bound Together in One Easy-to-Use Volume! https://www.amazon.com/dp/0793563836/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_C.xyCbV7M9AWF
if you are self taught,i would highly recommend the book hal leonard bass method,with that you can learn how to read music and pretty much all the theory you need (well for now at least,after this book feel free to explore other things) like learning the fretboard ect and if you just wanna read tabs the second book (theres 3,but you can buy one that contain all 3) include tabs as well as regular notation and you can skip some things in the book to learn scales and such.
https://www.amazon.ca/Leonard-Bass-Method-Easy-Use/dp/0793563836/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1480454305&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=hal+leonard+bass+method
There are a lot of ways. To learn theory, you can ask your teacher, or, if you're self taught, look for some books. Ed Friedland has some great books and I suppose most books and DVD's from Hal Leonard are great too. Berklee Press sells awesome books as well. You can find a lot of lessons online, but it's a lot harder to find valuable material, in my opinion.
The best way to learn about genres is listening to enough music and play as much as you can. When you learn enough songs, you'll automatically learn to apply that when you're creating your own lines. Starting from a book may be a good way to get you started, but the knowledge you learn will be too limited. Learning the songs by ear is a good way to train your musical ear, but there is no shame in buying some songbooks too.
The most important thing is to apply everything you learn. Try to create your own bass lines, loop some chords and play around with your scales, maybe analyze some songs, stuff like that.
Fretboard Logic is a pretty good place to start in terms of learning how theory applies to the guitar. Guitar Grimoire series is a pretty good reference tool for scales and chords. I'd definitely check out the videos too, the books are pretty much strictly reference but the DVD is pretty thorough in how to actually use it for practice.
Of course you can get pretty much all of this information for free online if you're willing to sift through forums and youtube videos, etc., but if you don't mind shelling out a few bucks these tools really do pack a lot of information into a simple package.
The Guitar Grimoire is the closest to this I know of personally. Most of these motifs have to do with scales, or standards. It's less about specific moods, but obviously, the blues scale has a feel to it, and a jazz scale has a much different one. As for any work on the psychology of music (i.e. instilling a certain feeling), I've not come across this but it's possible that it's out there (I've not looked).
I've been using this book and it's been amazing.
The Guitar Grimoire: A Compendium of Formulas for Guitar Scales and Modes https://www.amazon.com/dp/0825821711/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_AjiNDbG7RNZBY
Hey there. While it is not exactly "online", I can only recommend to spend some money for this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Grimoire-Compendium-Formulas-Scales/dp/0825821711
I did buy this about 3 years ago when I also wanted to go more into theory, understand why scales are there, why Chords are in the shape they are etc, and this book is full of answers.
It helped me alot in understanding why I do stuff, which helps alot if you want to Play at a Jamsession or just with other musicians. Knowing why you do what or why a chord works with another chord/Scale opens the world for experimenting with this and making your very own music.
The book is not really "theory for dummies" simple, however if you are able to put a bit patience in it, and read it carefully, it will open a new world, and stuff will make sence that you currently have not even noticed its there.
I learned from a teacher for like 5 years and used a wide variety of texts. The Standard Guitar Method was my preferred series of lesson books, while The Guitar Grimoire is probably the most useful single book if you know how to use it. Cheesy as it may be, a subscription to Guitar World magazine is great because it provides you with fresh material every month, at least some of which will be useful (both in terms of technique and sound). The Alchemical Guitarist was my favorite column back in the day, it provided me with a lot in terms of solo improvisation and theory. It warped my entire approach to the instrument, because I became so much stronger in lead roles.
The guitar grimoire. https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Grimoire-Compendium-Formulas-Scales/dp/0825821711
I know more by heart than you do. I also know how to use them.
You should check out The Guitar Grimoire series. This particular book has every mode of every 5, 6, 7, and 8 toned scale in context, in staff and tab, with the scale overview at the beginning of each scale section broken down into how the modes fit together and how they're created with super easy to translate charts and a list of chords each scale and mode works over.
It's tremendously comprehensive, as is the rest of the series. What's more, it directly shows how each example can be used in real music, because the author knows a lot of traditional theory as well as having explored set theory in a more comprehensive way than you have. He's also got books for chords, one for common chord progressions, one for exercises and more. It's a great series and highly recommended.
Edit: OH YEAH! He also relates everything from guitar back to a piano overhead shot so you can see how it lays out on the piano roll, so in a way this single book doubles for both guitar and piano.
I'm self taught and I explored anything I could come up with. I like math, therefore a Matrix like webpage inspired me to work on scales.
1+1
http://i.imgur.com/TaN53.png
means 1st of Dorian. The major scale's intervals are known as 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. You'll pretty much see this noted in any scale reference book. The Guitar Grimoire is a good example. http://astore.amazon.com/themachiguita-20/detail/0825821711
The Dorian mode has a flat 3rd and 7th. 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7
In short, a whole column would go where the red arrow is in the following pic. http://i.imgur.com/KxEb4.png The other columns would go where the other 6 highlighted arrows are.
Therefore, it's best just to learn CoFmachine Chart 1. Same thing.
I may get voted down here, but I have found this to be a good investment. (It's less at places other that Amazon).
http://www.amazon.com/The-Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide/dp/0879309210
I recommend this... http://www.amazon.com/The-Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide/dp/0879309210. It's how I learned. Although I'm nowhere as good as the guy I take my stuff to. But it's only a half hour drive for me.
If you're making an electric, and if you're allowed to use ready-made guitar necks and bodies, I'd do that. Making a neck completely from scratch is serious business - lots of math (fret placement) and more than a little skill. The two most popular companies that come to mind are Warmoth and USA Custom Guitars. Both are reputed to be very high quality. The electronics are probably the easiest part - google and you will find tons of info on that.
Note: Making the nut properly will require special nut files and more reading to understand the angle and shape. A handy string gauge will also be helpful since you can't just set the strings an even distance apart - the thickness of the lower strings will throw everything out of alignment. Go to the Stew-Mac website for nut files and a string gauge if you'll be needing them.
Book recommendation: The Guitar Player Repair Guide. - it'll give you enough of the basics to get started with general guitar set-up, making nuts, leveling frets etc.
Dan Erlewine's Repair Guide https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-3rd/dp/0879309210
I've been doing occasional repair work for guitars and other fretted stringed instruments for several years now (i.e. new nuts/saddles from bone, adjusting intonation, and minor fret work). Your problem is most likely a combination of high action and scale length being too short. This is common on cheaper ukes. Contrary to what others might have posted, I do not recommend filing the nut slots unless it's difficult to fret notes at the first fret, and if you've never done it before, I don't recommend fiddling around with a nut at all - unless the uke is only a cheap $20 one, then grab some jewelers' files and have fun with it. You'll learn quickly how NOT to fix a nut if you do it wrong heheh.
To fix a short scale length (the vibrating area/length of the string between saddle and nut), you'll need to move the saddle further away from the fretboard. This is done by carving a new one that allows for this adjustment. That might require widening the saddle slot somehow by removing wood from the side of the slot that is furthest away from the strings and then inserting a shim for the saddle in front of it when you replace it etc. There are lots of ways to do it. Please don't mess around with the nut - that's not usually the cause of the problem. Look more toward the saddle.
For my ukes, I always make a new saddle - one that is lower than the original, and from bone for better tone. I carve intonation compensation into it if required, similar to what you'd find on an acoustic guitar. Most of the time the factory nuts are fine, but sometimes I have to use nut files to deepen them (there is a limit to this - technically a string should only have half of its thickness within a nut slot - it shouldn't disappear in there - if it does, then I remove material off the top or make a new nut entirely so that string depth is optimal). Again, only try that if the 1st fret is hard to play. As a quick check, press down on the 3rd or 4th fret, and then see how much clearance you have at the first. If you have more than 1 or 2mm under the string at the 1st fret while holding down at the 3rd or 4th, then the nut slots may be too high for that instrument. Have a luthier look at it then. In fact, have a luthier help you with anything involving the removal of wood or bone, unless the instrument is inexpensive.
Check out this book for info on how to set up a stringed instrument. It's written for guitars, but it'll give you a good idea of the correct shape of necks, scale length, angle of strings from saddle to nut etc. The principles are the same.
Edit: Scale lengths (vibrating area of the string between nut and saddle) that are too short result in sharp notes as you play up the fretboard. Scale lengths that are too long result in flat notes as you play up the fretboard. To check your scale length / intonation, play a harmonic at the 12th fret and then compare with the fretted note itself. If the fretted note is too sharp, then the scale length is too short and the saddle (that little white piece of plastic/bone at the bridge) needs to move back to lengthen it. You should have the same pitch between the 12th fret harmonic and the fretted note at the 12th fret. Excessively high action can also cause intonation problems because you're stretching the string as you fret it. Fix the action, then adjust the intonation, and your problem should disappear.
This book
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-3rd/dp/0879309210
This is sort of the Bible for that stuff.
The Guitar Player Repair Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/0879309210/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_VVeyCbXSV4P73
Check out some of the Dan Erlewine books and online videos. You can get the books in all the usual places, they're fantastic resources for all things guitar repair/modification. His guitar players repair guide is awesome and gives you different levels of information from casual diy to in-depth expert for each type of repair.
Looks like you need to adjust your action height or your truss rod - or both. Your nut may be cut too low, or your bridge, maybe both. You might also have some fret height issues.
You can google how to fix these things. They are not hard.
If you want a reference, then buy this:
Guitar Player Repair Guide 3rd Edition
http://www.amazon.com/The-Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide/dp/0879309210
This is the best book on guitar repair period.
It goes though the absolute basics, all the way up to extreme repairs.
If you are interested in learning how to do this yourself there is a great book on the subject. Combined with the right tools (straight edge, hex wrenches, feeler gauge) it should still run less than $50. It's not complicated and just requires a bit of patience.
I use stands all of the time. If you are one to lean your guitar against the amp/wall etc. if you don't have a stand available then a stand is your best option. Les Pauls are prone to breaks where the head meets the neck should they suffer a fall, but i've never seen a stand cause any damage.
This book has been a great help. It covers everything from changing strings to major repairs.
This book will be a life saver for any basic DIY repair.
Here's a list of basics that I bought recently to give you an idea:
Feeler Gauges
Hex Key Wrench Set
String Action Gauge
String Winder
Contact Cleaner for Electronics
Neck Rest
I already have various sized screw drivers, but if I didn't that would be on the list as well.
The above would be enough to do a basic setup: adjust truss rod, adjust action, get into the guts and clean the electronics. Everything will fit in a beat up old shoe box haha.
Along with YouTube videos, this book is a good reference guide. It has everything from basic repair and maintenance information all the way to repairing a broken neck or trying to repair a messed up truss rod.
>I certainly am, how'd ya tell?
Americans say shit, Britons say rubbish. Essentially your curse words sound classier.
What do you mean by impedance? What does the natural resistance of a wire sound like?
Despite this, I have yet to fix this very annoying feedback that I hear in both the amp and in my Mac (so I suspect it has something to do with the pickups). Before I do that, I must catch up on some basics.
I used Rock Guitar for Dummies to start, then I purchased this for more specific guitar tweaking.
I also took tools to my strat and tried a number of things, and now it plays/sounds amazing.
I've built my own partscaster (relatively) from scratch, and I've only brought my guitar for a setup once. Setups are easy and fun: you get to know your instrument much more... personally. You know the G-spots knowhatimsaying. I learned how to finish, setup, route and sanding. The only thing I still can't do is nut-filing and fret-stuff, because like you I lack the tools.
If you know how to solder (easy to learn too), then electronics is a breeze. I would never take my strat to a shop for a pickup swap.
If you're serious/curious about learning, I recommend Dan Erlewine's excellent book, it contains pretty much everything you need to get started, and then some.
Nobody said building a guitar was easy, but nobody said it was boring! You'll cherish that instrument, with all its bumps and edges and faults, because it will truly be yours.
In lieu of a big spiel, buy this book.
The Advancing Guitarist
The Advancing Guitarist will be useful to you from beginning to end. Everything is explained in a concise, easy to understand way.
That being said, it is probably best used in combination with a method book.
The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick
If you can somehow find a way to work through The Advancing Guitarist you will be well versed in theory and soloing. It is a tough read though so take everything with a grain of salt
Hell yeah. There is a reason why a lot of metal guitarists also get into jazz (eg, Marty Friedman).
Here are my recommendations:
The Advancing Guitarist
You'll need to learn how to read musical notation for this, but it's worth it.
Victor Wooten: Groove Workshop
It's a bass video and it's not even about technique, in particular. But it's filled with incredibly insightful advice for musicians of any kind. Highly recommended.
Thinking about your original post more this might not be the book you're looking for.
For straight up the best in guitar theory I'd recommend:
https://www.amazon.com/Advancing-Guitarist-Mick-Goodrick/dp/0881885894
This is the book all the guitarists went nuts over while I was at Berklee.
Even before that I would suggest Effortless Mastery: http://kennywerner.com/effortless-mastery
This book is essential for anyone getting serious into playing music and looking into theory.
I'm not crazy about his music, but I got a lot of mileage out of "Rock Discipline" by John Petrucci and, more abstractly, check out "The Advancing Guitarist" by Mick Goodrick.
Oh, and you're looking for something a little more free, I'd recommend GuitarCardio.
I'm self teaching myself but don't use any of those online apps since I don't have a laptop. I bought this instead:
http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167
I complement it with youtube videos to see how it sounds.
You can most definitely be self-taught. Whether or not a teacher would help you learn faster is dependent on what teacher you get.
I do, though, suggest you get a "guide" of some sort. That way, you don't wander off in youtube land learning about things that... you're not really ready to learn because you haven't learned the basics.
I used the "later beginner" version of this exact course: https://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167 I'm turning back to the piano now and grabbed this adult version and liked it (oddly enough, it was a tad too easy for me -- probably because I was playing other instruments in my absence from the piano so my sight reading and theory is still good).
It's $16 physically, cheaper electronic (only get it electronic if you can print it or if you have a full sized tablet). I bet you can get the physical copy super cheap used. Let this (or some other course) guide you on what supplemental material you should be looking up on youtube. :)
Get a cheap keyboard and a beginners music book.
http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1312068291&amp;sr=8-2
It's also way easier to compose on the piano than just about anything.
It's never too old to start. Invest in a digital piano with a weighted action and find a teacher. A Yamaha P-45 is a good starting point.
https://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1486665654&amp;sr=1-2&amp;keywords=Beginner+piano+for+adults
A book like this is a good starting point, but a teacher would also have some great suggestions for beginner material.
There's the adult books and the kids ones. I personally use the kids books.
Kids Series 1A
Adult Series 1
I started with the Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course It teaches you how to play with the right hand first while learning how to read the sheet music (you do learn the sheet music at the same time, it's just starts out VERY basic.) I had a teacher (it only cost like $12 a lesson) and I sped through all three books in a year and I'm now grade 5 conservatory. It takes practice, practice and more practice. But the Alfred's course was really helpful and it explained everything perfectly.
Hey there!
Since you don't have any musical background, a great place to start is learning how to read sheet music and general music theory. A great website for you is http://www.musictheory.net/
Under lessons, you can learn a ton about sheet music.
To be honest, I'm not a great Piano player. I just recently picked it back up. I do, however, have a musical background and even with the information I have, it is still difficult to pick up. I don't have a teacher but I will eventually get one whenever money isn't so tight. Piano isn't something you learn how to play overnight nor is it something you can "master". You can always improve and there is always something to learn.
The last piece of advice I could give you is buy a workbook! It's especially helpful. I personally recommend:
http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167
Good luck and have a blast on this new journey you're about to embark! Remember, don't give up! You got this!
would any of these be adequate?
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I'm not sure about your skill level so it's hard to make a general suggestion, but I've found that Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer is great set of exercises for all skill levels
http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953
Ted Reed's Syncopation is a classic book:
https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer-Publications/dp/0882847953/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=TMB5JKB4B4EBBBSM4QX7
You can play with your palms on your lap and tap your foot to learn these rhythms and it will help your playing. Download a free metronome for your phone or go to metronome online.
Read rhythms everyday, it doesn't matter what they are or what book they're from, just read them. Take it slow and sync up with a metronome so you can learn what notes line up and what don't. This a great book by Ted Reed called 'Syncopation' (jazz drummers will know what I'm talking about). There's a section near the back that is considered the bible for learning coordination, but I think it will also help your situation. I think it starts on page thirty-eight or forty and it goes through lessons one until eight. Put a metronome on and shed that stuff everyday and you'll develop some great rhythmic vocabulary as well as better yourself at reading and performing more complex rhythms. Check out this [link]http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1410966323&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Ted+Reed%27s+syncopation) for the book!
Happy shedding!
Edit: Well... the link thing didn't work out, but you get what I mean.
Yep, that's the stick control book. I believe the Syncopation book refers to this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953
2 practice pads and 2 sets of sticks (so you can play with him)
http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953.
The standard recommendation is to find an instructor. I would see if you can find a local high-school kid who is a good drummer and would give lessons. Lessons through a music store can be hard on the wallet. You'll be able to pay for those a little later.
I'm playing guitar, but my teacher recommended this for rhythm work:
http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953
There’s a legendary book about this exact subject, it’s essential for any drummer to spend time with it. What a lot of people like to do is take the rhythms from the book and orchestrate them around the drums for some really fun sounding licks and exercises.
Burn it in. This book is key:
http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953
I started out playing drums and this book is one of the most useful tools I was ever given. Since I started playing guitar I have used it to help build my strumming and picking dexterity. It might help you.
https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer-Publications/dp/0882847953
Stick Control and Syncopation for the Modern Drummer
Two of the greatest.
Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer by Jim Chapin and Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer by Ted Reed
Get this book, and never stop learning
Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer (Ted Reed Publications) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0882847953/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_K4FDCb9D1W7YC
read from this and set it to scales, or anything you'd like
https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer-Publications/dp/0882847953
Don't be too worried about it. In 8th grade they're not expecting you to be some kind of master.
If this is something you're serious about, pick up this book: http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1377065599&amp;sr=8-6&amp;keywords=snare+drumming
It's a fantastic introduction once you get the basics of how to read notes. It starts off fairly simple and gradually moves into more intense exercises but with some imagination and possibly a good teacher's guidance it can take you very far.
Also, get a metronome and use it! Start practicing with good habits now and they won't be a hinderance to change later on. Look up lessons on youtube, check out drumming sites online, it's an amazing time to learn music with so many free resources online.
The biggest thing I can think of is for you is to practice musically and not just straight forward notes. Throw accents in, change up the dynamics.
Here is a prime example from Jojo Mayer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTM7khtBeXc
I can also suggest to you some books.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1892764040/temancom
This is possibly the best drum instruction book on the market, it will do wonders for your playing.
http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953
And this book too, work your way through these books and you can do anything.
That should read Stick Control and Syncopation for the modern drummer. I believe these are what the OP was referring to.
http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/1892764040/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1344616777&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=stick+control
http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1344616777&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=stick+control
Your welcome. This one as well is awesome. Gotta love the turn of the century black and white but that's where all the bad asses came from.
http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y
Buy this and a metronome.
Read it.
Breathe it.
Sleep it.
Buy this book.http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0882847953/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?pc_redir=T1
I'm a drummer learning guitar and this book is an excellent source for rhythmic variations.
I'm using this.
I also agree lessons are very valuable. But if you are committed to learning on your own, check out Alfred's Adult Piano Course.
$10 on amazon
Adult All-In-One Course: Lesson-Theory-Technic: Level 1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0882848186/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_JU.FybXF1KYT6
I use this one: https://www.amazon.de/dp/0882848186/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_q40lDbXHNB465
But I don't know if there is any difference between the content of those two books.
Amazon sells a Kindle version: http://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-In-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic-Level/dp/0882848186/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1407330259&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=alfred%27s+adult+all+in+one
You can read Kindle books in your browser: http://read.amazon.com
I wouldn't recommend this for piano books, though! You want a spiral bound book (which Alfred's All-in-one is) that you can lay open on your music stand.
Ah okay. Maybe you could find a teacher online who will consider bartering with you - if you can trade something with them - so you can still get lessons and save up. Barring that, you could do one a month line u/and_of_four suggested.
There's a reason that we're all so heavily encouraging getting a teacher - because it's crucial in getting a good start. :)
But okay, the book that I use with my adult students is Alfred's Basic Adult All-In-One Level 1 - it has the lessons, songs to play, and theory exercises. I haven't seen too many of the "teach yourself" books, so I don't know how much theory they have.
"webpianoteacher2" seems to be a good YouTube piano teacher. I haven't watched a ton of his videos but he seems to fairly comprehensive and seems to be comprehensive in his teaching coverage. "Lypur" seems good too, but his sound is really bad quality.
Edit: phone apparently posted before I was ready. Editing for adding links and more info.
I see that this book is well reviewed on amazon. Getting through a book like that would take me long time, and it looks like the fingering info is spread out through the book.
It makes a lot of sense that I should play in a more efficient way, and not the comfortable way.
You must live somewhere quite isolated! A book I have used and one that many here like to recommend is Alfred's Adult all-in-one
https://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186/ref=asc_df_0882848186/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=312166025508&amp;hvpos=1o1&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=4115900581850900449&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=1015504&amp;hvtargid=pla-332970365722&amp;psc=1
Amazon URLs don't require anything after the last "/", it's all for tracking how you got to that page. All that's necessary is:
http://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-In-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic-Level/dp/0882848186
Aflred All in One - A reliable go to for the complete beginner to get them using both hands, reading music, understanding chords and keys etc.
Improvising Blues Piano - Great book for intermediate to later beginners looking at exploring contemporary styles.
Exploring Jazz Piano - Similar to the blues one but using jazz which requires a higher level of complexity.
There are a lot of resources online - youtube etc, but I prefer books so when I decided to teach myself how to play around 2 and a half years ago I used Alfred's Adult all-in-one, progressive sight reading, and Easy classics to moderns.
Once I felt comfortable enough with sight reading, I just started buying whatever I liked. I also sit down and transcribe the music I like. Just got done learning this track from pride and prejudice, and it barely took a week to learn! It's so wonderful to see my fingers flying across the keys, I can't even describe it.
You might also like flowkey.
Good luck, and I'm sure you'll thank present you for starting - say 5 years from now, when you're sitting at your piano and feeling generally amazing after a particularly good improvisation :)
I'm a big fan of this -
https://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=9MHG9KN1JWKRC1DS1Y68
Heard amazing things about the Hanon books for technique building as well.
Adult All-In-One Course: Lesson-Theory-Technic: Level 1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0882848186/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_gBUqNe4W5SUlR
I just started myself and teacher had me buy this... so far so good
Yeah, so when they say "can read music" they probably mean "can play 'three blind mice' on the piano from a written staff with a minute to practice". They'll teach you all you need to know about chords, intervals, scales, etc.
If you have access to a piano, get yourself a basics book or the first chapter or two of a comprehensive book and you'll be golden (I like this one for basics with goofy cartoons and this one for comprehensive adult learning). Piano is definitely the best instrument for visualizing music theory and learning staff notation, because the staff notation translates very directly to the keyboard.
You mean to this one? Cz he have more versions.
https://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186
I found this a great resource along with a grade 1 piano solo book.
You will of course know the theory being taught but you still need to learn how that translates to the piano. Plus it's laid out logically in that it teaches a technique then gives you a piece which utilises that technique.
This is pretty good! It's impressive you were able to work that out by ear.
If you can learn to read sheet music, that will really help you out a great deal. If one issue you have is reading rhythms, you need to use a counting system. (The system I use is described in this PDF.) An excellent resource for reading rhythms is the book Rhythmic Training, which you can get inexpensively, especially if you buy it used. (Edit: note that this book is for professional/college level musicians, so if you can't get all the way through, that is completely OK. But going through the first few chapters slowly and steadily and clapping the rhythms is probably a good idea.)
For reading notes on clefs, you kind of just have to do it. It takes a lot of practice and will be slow going at first, but will get easier. One book for piano that includes both the very basics of music theory and some things on technique is Alfred's Basic Adult All-in-One Course. Maybe you could ask for Book 1 for Christmas, if you celebrate Christmas?
As far as technique goes, one thing I notice is that the index finger of your left hand is collapsing at the first knuckle (screenshot). That shouldn't happen. You might find this video (by piano professor John Mortensen) helpful on what your hand should look like when you play.
Good luck as you keep playing!
I'm sort of in the same situation as you; I'm 31 and hadn't played since I was 11. For the past two weeks, I've been spending time at the music library of my university:
I haven't started playing songs quite yet, my motricity and coordination are not quite up to par, but I found my old books such as Technic Is Fun (vol. 1-3) and a book of simple Mozart songs that I'll probably be picking up in the upcoming week.
Finally, there is one thing that has been absolutely essential to get me to practice an hour every night: having fun! I remember how much of a drag I found piano when I was a kid, I would try to find ways to reduce my practice time in the weirdest possible ways; it's no wonder I quit. Whatever you decide to do, just make sure it's fun for you, otherwise you'll just be miserable.
Good luck buddy!
By Alfred's did you mean this one? I believe the course in university used this instead so if the first one is what you recommend my wallet will thank you.
I'll echo several comments on this thread. Take some time to learn theory yourself. Learn to read music. If all you knew how to do was speak English but never read English you would be missing out on so much beauty. I'm not saying become a proficient sight reader but at least learn about the written language of music.
Some ways to do that are to audit a music theory class at a local college, go through the lessons at musictheory.net, or pick up an easy adult piano course book like the one below which is how I got my start learning to read music before heading to college. The piano is the best instrument to learn how theory fits together on and learning theory on the piano has made me a phenomenally better guitarist.
http://www.amazon.com/Adult-All---One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1452649895&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=adult+piano wh
A great place to start with these musicians is to begin using lead sheets. I've done this with several churches I've consulted with. (I'm work with a few church consulting firms helping churches transition music styles if they need to go more contemporary or blended to be more relevant to their community.) Taking an older church lady who is used to reading the block chords in hymns and using lead sheets to transition them to chord charts has worked 100% of the time. Lead sheets help them follow the count, which is what they're used too, but only gives them the melody to read. Songselect.com and praisecharts.com has all the lead sheets you'll ever need.
As a worship leader it's your responsibility not to grow complacent and learn, learn, learn as much as you can about music. Disciple these junior-high students into great church musicians. Meet them in the middle and share a common ground with them. You learn some theory and they learn some improv. Win-Win. Also, be patient.
If you want a book to learn from, the Alfred All-In-One Course is good for adults.
If you haven't already check out Piano World Forums it is the most active piano related forum I know and the people are very helpful. Someone else recommended you try Alfred's series which is a popular way to start. I'm using Alfred's adult all in one and enjoying it so far.
If you can afford it get lessons. Half an hour a week won't cost much and you can stop yourself from making mistakes that will cause real problems later on.
Alfred's All-In-One Course is the easiest and best book I've tried. I also highly recommend getting a couple of private lessons especially at the beginning to get help with hand technique and other things that you may incorrectly teach yourself.
As of keyboards, fully weighted keys are of utmost importance to learn to play with proper dynamics. I recommend the Roland FP-4
Same boat as you. Skoove is pretty badly designed and seems to semi force you to memorize songs as you said. I'm working through this book right now and I truly believe it will answer all of your questions. Its got a little bit of everything and it will force you to read the music and play in time since the notes wont "light up".
https://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1504196307&amp;sr=1-2&amp;keywords=keyboard
I was in the same exact situation, played guitar with only tabs. The Alfred all-in-one book for piano is highly recommended on this sub and it’s what I’m using right now to learn. It covers theory, reading sheet music, and practical playing - everything you need to get started! Make sure you get the Plastic Comb version which is much easier to handle than a book that keeps trying to close itself.
https://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186
Digital or paper, either way. Here's one on Amazon
Idk that I'd call it a Bible. It's just one good method that is popular among self teaching adults.
Is this the book you're referring to?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adult-All-One-Course-Technique/dp/0882848186
I was going to say "a human teacher" but if it's about money I would suggest this: http://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-In-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic-Level/dp/0882848186
I use that for my adult beginning piano lessons. It's very user friendly and has a CD with it. $20 normally in stores with a CD. Easy to understand and easy to work with solo.
Alternatively if you are disciplined to do so, you can pay the music use fee (at the student services center) for access to the instruments and teach yourself piano.
I did this a few semesters ago. It was a great stress relief and highly enjoyable. If this is something that you might be interested in, this is the book I used, Alfred Adult All-In-One Course. There are multiple other books in this series to guide your profession. Also, /r/piano is a great community to follow for additional help and inspiration.
Sorry for the late response. Regarding learning music theory, are there any books about that and other piano related topics you would recommend? For the time being, I've bought a copy of Alfred's All in One Course book, but wouldn't mind grabbing more books that I can read to improve.
I've heard good things about Alfred's All in One Course. Although I haven't used it personally, I know a lot of people who are using it.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0882848186/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=pia00-20&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;creativeASIN=0882848186&amp;linkId=8814eedac8d512d759e2bbd57c67b75b
You might want to check out the Alfred books. These are aimed at adults and get excellent feedback. Depending on how he takes to it, you might not want to continue with the entire series and branch out into other things more in line with his interests. However, for getting the basics understood solidly and the initial mechanics of pressing the keys etc., then it should prove a good option.
I responded to your post in /r/luthier about buying tools. From what i remember you have access to the school wood shop but for limited amounts of time. I’m going to try and take you through some of the major steps in building a guitar and what tools you could use.
Alright this isn’t a comprehensive list but I’m running out of steam. And some of these are out of order I was too lazy to fix it. As you can see a router would do a lot for you. I know you were thinking of hand tools only but if you could find a way to make the router work it would be the best bang for your buck. I recommend reading this book and figuing out what tools you can buy and use in your situation. There are also look at stuff on Youtube to get ideas.
I did exactly what you're explaining with my dad. The process takes a long time. I'd recommend starting with designing the body. If you want to design your own body, sketch it out, and GIVE VERY EXACT MEASUREMENTS ON THE STENCIL.
This includes the center line. EVERYTHING ON THE GUITAR IS BASED ON THAT CENTER LINE. The neck, pickups, and bridge all have to be exactly on that line.
Also you have to factor the scale of the neck you're planning to get. I got my neck from Warmoth. It's a great neck and I can't be happier with it, but a finished neck is around $250.
Back to the body: What wood do you want to use? Are you going to book end the wood if you're going to use a translucent finish (burst, dye, etc.) or are you going to just paint it? I dyed my guitar and used layers upon layers of laquer (~15 to be exact of museum quality finish).
Hardware is something else to consider. Stewart-MacDonald is a great site for that. Think pots, switches, tuners, bridges (stopbar too if you're doing a Gibson-style bridge), pickup rings if you're not using a pickguard, pickguard, neck plate for bolting the guitar on, etc.
Basically, there's a lot to consider when building a guitar. It's not easy at all, but if you have fun with it, you can build a hell of a guitar. I recommend buying a couple books on guitar building. This is one of the books I got. It's really good and I highly recommend it.
Good luck!
Did this about 12 years ago. Bought most stuff from StewMac.com I would heavily suggest buying their premade neck-fretboards. I did, and it turned out pretty awesome. I bought the maple neck/ebony fretboard for through neck type construction, an alder body blank, bridge, pickups, wiring, and paint all from them. Cut out the body sides and use them as clamping cauls when you glue the sides to the neck. I bought the book "Build Your Own Electric Guitar" and it was a great help. TAKE YOUR TIME!!! DO IT THE RIGHT WAY!!!
[http://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Electric-Guitar/dp/0953104907
](http://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Electric-Guitar/dp/0953104907
)
Buy that, read that.
Many of us started with this book:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0953104907/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_O83MAbMWV71PJ
Nothing you can't find on the internet, but this is one of those areas where there's just too much information out there.
The best way to start, IMO, is to read. Get as much info as you can on the subject. There's a couple of books that are pretty good; This One or This One are good places to start. Another thought is to check out websites like projectguitar.com. They've also got a forum with lots of tips and such.
Finally, it's going to be a big asset if you already know your way around some various woodshop machinery, if you plan on doing it all from scratch. Knowing how to solder helps too.
One final thing. Do't expect to be able to build something utterly incredible your first time around. Start simple; it's easy to bite off more than you can chew. You will make mistakes; it's pretty much guaranteed. Don't worry about it. When you finally finish, you'll have an instrument that you can be proud of.
Good luck!
EDIT: Almost forgot, there's also an /r/luthier subreddit as well.
So far the book "make your own eclectic guitar" has helped me a lot.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0953104907/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
I suggest building from a kit to start out. The shop I work for is an AllParts dealer, so I really like them, an I'll bet if you emailed the boss he'd cut you a deal, but Stewmac.com is good too.
The book I suggested it's really vague on finishing, so I suggest looking up an online tutorial specific to what finish you're doing, YouTube has been a big help, but Stewmac.com has some good tutorials on their site. be sure your clear coat, paint, and sanding sealer all work together I had to start over because no one will give me a clear answer about how to finish an ash body with a stain.
Here's a link to the StewMac videos.
http://www.stewmac.com/online_video.html
The book Fretboard Logic does a good job of applying music theory to the guitar's fretting positions. Goes through chords, scales, and arpeggios. A must have in my oppinion.
The book "Fretboard Logic" really helped me out a lot. It goes over the CAGED system that rcochrane mentioned.
http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1393944064&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=fretboard+logic
Get the book Fretboard Logic. It's basically a CAGED system manual. It shows you how the scales work and how they are connected with chords. Once you get the patterns down and see how they move up and down the neck it's a breeze.
Here: Amazon — Fretboard Logic SE I & II
Is it this one? https://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1491777731&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=guitar+logic+se
On improving your chord knowledge. The best place for you to start would be to find fingerpicking songs you like, learn them, and play them a lot. Through the process of learning songs, you will improve your chord knowledge and your overall musicianship. Also this book.
For your singing/strumming problem, remember, singing is rhythmic and will fall somewhere on or between strums. Start doing simple songs. The more you do it, the better you will become at it. If you try to do it 5 times, it will probably be pretty hard at first. Maybe even perceptively impossible. If you do it 10,000 times though, I promise you it will be easier.
So pick an easy song, play and sing through it a gazillion times. The first few times might seem impossible, but each time you do it, you will learn and become better. Never give up. You'll get it.
On improving your listening (aural) skills, most musicians don't have "perfect pitch", but you can improve your relative pitch by doing some ear-training (www.musictheory.net/exercises). Another great approach to ear-training is by simply figuring out songs by ear.
Also don't forget your metronome is your friend, and playing with it constantly will make you a better guitar player and musician.
From a recommendation by this sub, I've been learning lead blues guitar from a book called "Blues You Can Use". I can't recommend the author and book enough. He also has other books in the series, but I'd start with this one. Then, if you get through his works and still want some more work in the blues vein, the author Joseph Alexander wrote some great stuff, like The Complete Guide to Playing Blues Guitar.
After that, I recommend using a few books on the "CAGED" system of learning scales/chords/patterns. In particular, some that have helped me are Joseph Alexander's The CAGED System and also Fretboard Logic.
Then, if your head hasn't already exploded, use Justin Guitar.
Good luck!
Buy a book called Fretboard Logic it will really help in making things much easier.
A little late, but it kind of depends on what you want to play. But I really like Fretboard Logic and the CAGED system, makes chords/scales pretty logical:
https://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060
But there's a ton of free resources out there too. YouTube isn't a bad place to start.
Oops sorry. This is the version I have: https://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060
There are used options on Amazon.
Buy Fretboard Logic. I'm sure not everyone agrees but those books were a big help to me. Maybe "big help" is a bit much as I still totally suck but that's no fault of the books, just that I don't practice enough. The books helped me to start to see the fretboard as a whole instead of just knowing some chords.
>Maybe there is some amazing guide to music theory that I've never seen before that you may know about? I can't be the only player that's stuck like this?
The book Fretboard Logic SE will put together everything you've learned so far and teach you a good bit of theory as well. Just remember to take it slow and read everything and go over everything he shows, even if you know it already.
You should buy it and support the author, but here's a link to an [ebook](https://mega.co.nz/#!xtVlUIpT!bWa06z5vjOSb8Z27LrMAzVxx57ZmObvMgYb642ajwPc
) if you can't wait:
My favorite is Fretboard Logic.
yup! that helped me the most.
http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1347380647&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=fretboard+logic
not free but relativity cheap.