The Sound Hounds

10 mistakes amateur guitarists make when performing.

1. Tuning on stage

Tuning your guitar should be the last thing you do before getting on stage. If you get out of tune while playing, unplug the guitar and use an electronic tuner. The other members should talk to the audience while you are tuning to keep them distracted. Do not tell the audience you are stalling while the guitarist tunes. This is a perfect time to tell a joke or introduce the members of the band individually.

2. Doodling

Playing riffs on guitar between songs is a no no. When performing, keep the guitar silent except during the songs.

3. Blowing the element of surprise

When the leader calls out a song many musicians are insecure and you can hear them playing the riff in a last minute effort to make sure they know it. The audience knows what song they are about to play. The element of surprise is lost.

4. Rushing the tempo

When performing, our adrenaline is up because we are excited. We tend to play faster or speed up. This is very common. I have been guilty of it myself. When performing, the last thing you should do before starting a song is concentrate on the tempo.

5. Silence between songs

If there is a delay between songs because of technical problems be prepared to talk to the audience. Entertain them with a joke or a story.

6. Acknowledging mistakes

Making a mistake or hitting a bad note is not the worst thing that can happen on stage. The worst thing is letting the audience know that you made a mistake. Do not grimace or sneer when you make a mistake. It is very likely the audience won’t realize you made a mistake unless you tell them verbally or with body language. Never let on. Just move on. Never apologize for mistakes or make excuses for shortcomings. Just do your best and let the audience decide for themselves if they like it.

7. Stepping on a guitar cable

Many guitarists step on their cable. It comes unplugged and makes an obnoxious sound through the amp. This problem is simple to fix. Run the cable through your guitar strap above the strap button before plugging it into your guitar. Make a habit of this and it will never be a problem.

8. Not using dynamics

Play much softer when the vocalist is singing or an instrumentalist is playing the melody. If you are accompanying with rhythm guitar it should be much lower than the melody.

9. Using foul language

Never use foul language on stage. It’s a great idea not to use it off stage either.

10. Dressing bad

You are entertaining people. Give them something nice to look at as well as something nice to hear.

STANDARD NOTATION VERSUS TABLATURE

There are two types of music notation typically used by guitarists to learn music: standard notation and tablature (tab). Standard notation is the traditional notation used by most musicians. When we speak about reading music or sight-reading, we are usually referring to standard notation. It is a comprehensive system that allows you to read and write music. Tablature, on the other hand, is a simplified system of reading and writing music, which applies only to string instruments

ABOUT STANDARD NOTATION

1) Standard notation is the language of all musical instruments. If you play together with musicians that are using standard notation, you can understand each other’s concepts and communicate using the same terminology.

2) By learning the alphabetical names of the notes, you are also learning where the notes are on the fretboard of the guitar.

3) While you are learning to read music, you are also learning how music theory works, through concepts such as rhythm, keys, harmony and scales. So in essence, you get a bigger picture of music.

4) Since standard notation is such a comprehensive notation system, it expresses details that can not be expressed using tablature.

5) If you intend to study music in school and college, or do research about music, you will need to read and write standard notation.

ABOUT TABLATURE

1) Tablature is easy to read, so beginners see progress faster and they get excited and encouraged.

2) Tabs show you exactly where to play the notes on the fretboard.

3) Tabs for pop songs are easy to find.

4) You can use tablature for playing other string instruments.

5) When playing altered tunings, tablature does not change, so it is less complicated.

A WORD OF WARNING ABOUT TABLATURE

Tablature presents a risk that should be considered. Since tablature is easier to read, and beginners are able to play songs using only tab, many times they are tempted to procrastinate learning standard notation. It is important to keep in mind that doing so will represent several disadvantages for the student.

If you don’t learn standard notation, you will not be able to communicate appropriately with other musicians that play other instruments. Also, since tabs do not teach you the alphabetical notes on the fretboard of the guitar, you are not learning music theory as it applies to the fretboard.

Given that tablature usually doesn’t give you the details of the music, it presents some limitations. The fact that you will not find tabs in school or higher learning institutions will present limitations also. Standard notation is essential to study classical music and jazz. Tabs are more prevalent in pop and folk music.

So, knowing standard notation will make you a well-rounded musician. It will save you from awkward moments, when you sit down with other musicians, and you realize you are unable to participate. Although it is true that learning to read standard notation is more challenging than learning to read tab, it is also true that, when you learn it, you experience a greater feeling of success. I encourage you to make learning standard notation a daily regimen. Tabs are fine and fun, but don’t neglect sight-reading standard notation.

A WORD OF WARNING ABOUT STANDARD NOTATION

On the other hand, some musicians become excellent sight-readers but they neglect the art of improvising. They are not comfortable unless they are sight-reading. When they are attempting to participate in folk jam sessions they struggle. So, try to create a balance between sight-reading, and improvising using your ears without sheet music.

If you have questions please post them on my blog or email me. I’ll be glad to answer them if I’m able.

guitarlessonsbybrian.com

There are five types of 7th chords.

The five types of 7th chords are major 7, dominant 7, minor 7, diminished 7, half diminished 7.

The major 7 chord has the intervals 1, 3, 5, 7. The nomenclature (symbol) in the key of c is C or C MAJ7.

The dominant 7 has the intervals 1, 3, 5, b7 (b = flat). The nomenclature (symbol) in the key of c is C 7

The minor 7 has the intervals 1, b3, 5, b7. The nomenclature (symbol) in the key of c is C min7 or C-7.

The diminished 7 has the intervals 1, b3, b5, bb7 The nomenclature (symbol) in the key of c is C dim7 or C o7.

The half diminished 7 has the intervals 1, b3, b5, b7. The nomenclature (symbol) in the key of c is C m7b5.

For more info on chords visit guitarlessonsbybrian.com

There are only five types of triads. A triad has three notes. There must be at least three notes to create a chord. Three notes played simultaneously (in harmony) create a triad. They are the smallest chords.

The five types of triads are major, minor, diminished, augmented, and suspended 4.

The major triad has the intervals 1, 3, 5. The nomenclature (symbol) in the key of c is: C or C MAJ

The minor triad has the intervals 1, b3, 5 (b = flat). The nomenclature (symbol) in the key of c is: Cm or C –

The diminished triad has the intervals 1, b3, b5. The nomenclature (symbol) in the key of c is: Cdim or C 0

The augmented triad has the intervals 1, 3, #5 The nomenclature (symbol) in the key of c is: C aug or C +

The suspended 4 triad has the intervals 1, 4, 5. The nomenclature (symbol) in the key of c is: Csus or C sus4

For more info on chords visit guitarlessonsbybrian.com

I installed a LR Baggs M1 Pick-up on my new Allen Rich guitar last night. They are very easy to install. The only hard part is replacing the end pin with the input. It needed a 1/2 inch hole. It is a good idea to get a pro to do this. Allen brought his drill and drilled the hole for me. Complete installation took 30 minutes. I plugged it into my old Roland JC120 and it sounded great. The Baggs pick-up and JC120 sound great together.

Afterwards we stopped by Zachary’s Cajun Restaurant to give it a try. I wasn’t disappointed. Andy Rodriguez is the host of an open mic on Thursdays. So the guys had some great Cajun food while the musicians took turns entertaining the guests. Zac’s is very casual, very friendly people, and great food. I love their jambalaya, I get hungry blogging about it.

I have a new guitar. It was custom built by Luthier Alan Jay Rich. I had a gig three nights in a row this past weekend at Café du Bois in Kingwood. I left my Martin D35 at home. I love my new acoustic guitar. The back and sides are constructed of Texas Mesquite. This guitar is so unique and I love the tone! This guitar is high quality workmanship and competes with the big names.

Here are the details:

Guitar Type Dreadnaught

Scale Length 25.4”

Top Alaskan Sitka Spruce with Herringbone Rosette Inlay Spruce “Martin-Styled” Scalloped X-bracing

Back and Sides Texas Mesquite

Neck Mahogany neck with mortis and tendon joinery Mesquite Headstock Veneers

Fingerboard Rosewood with Mother of Pearl dots

Bridge Rosewood Bridge with Rosewood pins

Bindings Ebony

Finish Low Gloss Lacquer

Built By Alan Rich Dec 2009

I added more guitar goodies during my Christmas vacation:

1) Basic barre chords

2) Blues and pentatonic scales in all twelve keys

3) How to practice guitar

4)  Chords and interval maps in all twelve keys

5) Becoming a guitarist: Evolution of guitar resources since the 1960s

They are free. Go to guitarlessonsbybrian.com and click on guitar goodies.

Happy pickin’

Brian

Becoming a Guitarist: Evolution of Resources Since the 1960s

By: Brian Turner

When I was a baby, technology was too. Watching The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show on TV was the spark that ignited my life-long love for the guitar. Shortly after that, my parents bought a console record player from a department store called Woolworths. They called it HI-FI meaning high fidelity which was the newest technology. I was certainly impressed. Someone in our family bought the album Meet The Beatles which was their first American release. I played that record over and over. I couldn’t wait to get off of the bus from school. I’d run in the house and go directly to our Hi FI set and put the album on. We also collected a few 45 records, and also an album of Alvin and the Chipmunks singing Beatles’ songs. To this day, every time I hear P.S. I love you I hear Alvin singing it in my head.

So, when I began playing guitar in 1968, technology and I, were both very young. There were only 3 ways to hear music: AM radio, the record player, and TV. The radio was usually a small transistor. The record player played the 33-Lps (long playings), and the small 45-records. The 33-Lps usually had about 15 minutes of music on each side; while 45s had two songs, one on each side. The department stores usually had a bin with an assortment of records. Occasionally a small record store would open that had a bigger variety. Music on TV was limited. We had shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show and The Smothers Brothers Show that had music for young people occasionally. We had Hee Haw, and The Grand Ole Opry TV shows that played Country and Western Music. Lawrence Welk played traditional music that appealed to older people. Saturday morning cartoons played classical and jazz occasionally in an attempt to expose children to the classics.

Guitars for beginners were usually purchased at the local department stores such as Woolworths, Grants, Whites and Sears. They usually had two or three acoustic guitars, and one or two banjos, to choose from. Sears, which was the biggest department store, had the Silvertone brand that was popular, and not bad guitars.

There were only a few music stores in Houston at that time. The closest music store to me was H&H Music in downtown Houston. The local drug store sold picks and strings. There was only one brand of strings called Black Diamond. They were very thick, but that was the only choice. To tune the guitar you could buy a tuning fork that gave you the A note when you strike it against your elbow. You tuned the A string to the note and tuned the other strings to that string by ear.

The most popular method book was the Mel Bay Modern Method, which only taught traditional folk songs. However, with the rise of rock-n-roll, the kids wanted to play the songs that they heard on the radio, but the written music for popular songs was very limited. You could find sheet music for some popular songs, but they were arranged for piano, with just guitar chord diagrams stamped above the notes, so you could only strum the chords. On top of that, the chords were very simplistic and the voicings were usually incorrect. Also, because they were trying to accommodate pianists, they changed the original keys. This caused much confusion for young guitarists attempting to learn songs that were originally written on guitar, such as most of the Beatles songs. Guitarist usually resorted to learning the songs playing by ear. We would sit beside our record player, with guitar in hand, trying to move the needle of the stylus bit by bit to learn our favorite songs. Hence I ruined many records by scratching them, but I got better eventually.

As rock music became more and more popular among young people, the songs started becoming longer, and bands began to get away from the two-minute song format. They would have extended versions that, in some cases, lasted as much as 15 minutes (i.e., In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida). FM radio came on the scene to accommodate this music: the music of the young hippies.

Around 1969, the eight-track cartridge came on the scene. So, for the first time, you could choose what to play in a car. You could listen to your favorite bands, over and over, without having to hear commercials or stuff that didn’t appeal to you. However, they were useless for a guitarist trying to learn songs since you could not rewind them. You had to listen to ten minutes of music before you got back to the song you wanted to work on. Also, quite frequently, when trying to pull an eight-track tape out of the player it would get hung on the heads of the machine, and tape would go everywhere. The eight-track went the way of the dinosaur, and I don’t miss them. I’d rather see the dinosaur come back.

Not long afterward, the eight-track was replaced by the small cassette tape. This was a major breakthrough for the ‘play by ear guitarists’, because we had the ability to rewind the tape piece by piece. However, the Life expectancy of a cassette wasn’t very long. They would develop squeaks, and drag.

Sources to learn to play guitar were very limited in my neighborhood in East Houston so, as soon as I was able to get a job, and drive downtown, I started taking guitar lessons. With the growing interest in guitar among the kids, more publishers began competing with Mel Bay, publishing songs and instruction material in traditional notation arranged for guitar. Several guitar magazines sprung up with songs arranged for the guitarist. Some of the most notable were Guitar Player, Guitar for the Practicing Musician, Flatpicking Guitar, and Guitar World. Not only were they arranged for guitar, but they were written in tablature notation, which is easy to read, so guitarists that couldn’t read traditional notation, could learn their favorite songs, note for note. These magazines started popping up at music stores, news stands, and book stores. Serious guitar students would subscribe to them and have them delivered to their doors monthly. I subscribed and collected so many, I eventually had to discard some because they were taking over my garage.

Accessories improved also. Strings of every size and gauge imaginable: heavy, light, extra light, heavy top, light bottom, on and on. The electronic tuner came on the scene. I bought my first one in 1979. It was the size of a loaf of bread, and it cost $440 then. Now you can buy one that fits in the palm of your hand for $20. Or, you can get a free tuning app on your phone.  A tuner is a big advantage since it saves a lot of time spent tuning. Simply tuning the guitar was not so simple for beginners before the electronic tuner arrived.

So, technology and I have grown together. When the digital age came along, bringing the fabulous CD, I was already a guitar teacher. Now my students were able to learn from a CD, and rewind them, just like I did with the cassettes, but much faster, and without messing them up so fast. Also, many guitar method books include ‘play along CDs’. This has been a major step for the guitar students. Now, they can have the music in front of them and play along with the CD. In addition, many of the CDs have a slow version along with the normal tempo.

Moreover, we have the best inventions since the electric guitar: the computer and the Internet. When I got my first computer and printer, a friend told me there were tabs (tablature notation) for thousands of songs on the internet and they were free. I was so excited that I stayed up all night printing out songs. However, after reviewing the tabs, I noticed many were inaccurate. They were the individual’s interpretations, and most were done by amateurs. Some were better than others. Then, web sites on every guitar subject under the sun sprang up. I was like a kid in a candy mall. So much candy! Where do I start? What I didn’t know was that tons of new kinds of candy were coming…

Then we got music software for the guitarist such as Band in a Box by PG Music. With this program you could do many things. You can type in the chords you want in a song, and you can select a style (such as jazz or rock), and you can select the tempo (or speed). And you select what instruments you want in the band such as bass or drums. Hit a button and you have a band in a box to practice with! This is great for practicing. Another great program is The Amazing Slow Downer. With this software you can vary the tempo; you can isolate, and loop small pieces of songs you wish to work on, and you can alter the pitch, if your guitar is not tuned to the song. Streaming services such as Apple Music (replacing Itunes) are great tools. With Apple Music you can type in the name of a song and you may get a hundred or more recordings of versions by different artists. You can sample a segment and buy the one you like. This is great because you don’t have to buy a complete CD when you only want one song.

Another major breakthrough is Youtube. With Youtube you can see your favorite artist performing the songs you love, and you can find people showing you your favorite riffs. You can also slow the video down in settings.

Written materials have progressed also. Mel Bay, the author of The Mel Bay Modern Method, who started selling his book to music stores out of the trunk of his car, traveling from town to town, has passed away. His son Bill Bay has taken over, and today they are the leading supplier of guitar books, with hundreds of titles to choose from. And The Mel Bay Modern Method is still sold.

When I began teaching guitar in 1977 I would use The Mel Bay Modern Method to teach students to read music. There were a few supplemental books available that taught scales and chords. There was also some classical music arranged for classical guitar. I had to create all other materials in hand writing. In the early 80s I would go to the local print shop and Xerox (make copies of) my hand written work sheets. This was expensive, so I printed the most important sheets only. When the computer and printer came on the scene in the 90s, I was able to buy music notation software. This allowed me to create sheet music, matching the quality of professional publishers. Today I just create my own method books in the comfort of my home.

Recording has become easier also. In the 70s recording was expensive. You had to hire a studio, paying by the hour. It wasn’t cost effective for the average Joe. With the improvements in technology, you can now record using software and accessories in the comfort of your home. Now I can publish quality products at an affordable price without leaving my house.

As a guitar instructor, a major asset to me is that, with my software, my computer will play back the music I write. This brings a lot of conveniences. First, I can hear how my written music sounds, and check the accuracy of what I have transcribed. I can vary the tempo also. I post worksheets on my web site where students can access them with their device. They are also available to the public at guitarlessonsbybrian.com

Nowadays, if I decide to learn a song, I can chose a recording from Apple Music, export it into The Amazing Slow Downer so I can slow it down, and take it apart piece by piece while looking at the sheet music in standard notation or tablature. And, I can also see how it’s done on Youtube. How is that for progress? We’ve come a long way baby!