Best guitar books according to redditors

We found 2,078 Reddit comments discussing the best guitar books. We ranked the 627 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

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Top Reddit comments about Guitar Books:

u/SodiumThoride · 26 pointsr/Guitar

Maybe look at Guitar Aerobics.

Edit: added linky

u/TangoSierraFan · 22 pointsr/Bass

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:

  • Practice to a metronome. Develop good timing from day one. Tightness is not negotiable.

  • Start slow. If you are not able to play accurately, you are playing too fast for your current skill level. Playing fast sloppily damages progress by cementing bad habits into your muscle memory, which you will then have to undo.

  • Practice mindfully. Don't strum your bass while watching TV. Sit down in a private space away from distractions and focus on your practice. Make goals for yourself, visualize them, and keep your nose to the grinder.
u/How_Does_One_Reddit · 21 pointsr/Guitar

Zen Guitar is a great guitar philosophy book that is an easy read.

u/meepwned · 21 pointsr/Guitar

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:

u/iboughtshoes · 20 pointsr/Bass
u/guitarwod · 18 pointsr/guitarlessons

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:

  • pick a genre and study it
  • build a repertoire of licks
  • practice using said licks along with backing tracks
  • study theory (recommend the book Music Theory for Guitarists)
  • ear training
  • different techniques (sweep picking, hybrid picking, fingerstyle, etc)
  • practice improvising to backing tracks with scales
  • study songwriting

    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.
u/d_a_macleod · 17 pointsr/Guitar

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!

u/jetpacksforall · 17 pointsr/Bass

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.

u/Jongtr · 16 pointsr/musictheory

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.

u/MouthyMike · 16 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/drgolovacroxby · 15 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/mondor · 14 pointsr/Bass

While I do love Vic and Jaco, I think that Standing in the Shadows of Motown should be required reading for anyone serious about playing the bass. I bought it 5 or 6 years ago and still play out of it all the time. Completely changed the way I play and view the bass

u/zodd06 · 13 pointsr/Guitar
u/mrjaguar1 · 12 pointsr/guitars

$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

u/standard_error · 12 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/mhgl · 12 pointsr/Guitar
u/stanley_bobanley · 11 pointsr/Guitar

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:

  1. Never stop being a student of your craft. Be humble and take every opportunity to learn.
  2. Play live frequently! I've met many talented musicians who want to reach a large group of people but don't play shows. There is no big secret to breaking through a scene: The more you appear on stage, the more people see you play.
  3. Professionalism goes a long way. If you're playing a gig for a single person or a thousand people: Respect your crowd. Don't treat a gig like a throwaway ever. Communicate and be engaging no matter the size and demographic. You'll be surprised what one fan can do for you. I once met a guy in a small crowd who had traveled to my city and happened to be there. He liked our set and happened to book shows where he lived; this person became a springboard for us to reach an entirely new market!
  4. It's important that you're well-rehearsed and sound great, but bar owners care about how you treat the business end of things as well. If you want to succeed: Don't get blackout loaded and forget to do things like man your merch table, give shoutouts to the serving staff, and treat the venue respectfully.
  5. Network with other bands. We need each other to help an entire scene grow. I've been having songwriting sessions with other bands in my hometown and it's really fun to crossover and rewarding too.
  6. Learn to sing. I've only ever sang backups but I can hold a tune. This is a very valuable skill, even if you're only singing "Ahhh" in the background. Backup vox can improve a song dramatically.
  7. Invest in your craft. Sound matters! What's the point in honing all that skill if it's not going to sound great. Be on top of changing trends and know when a deal is a steal. You can grow your backline and not break the bank if you're well-educated. All this takes is time and browsing the internet.
  8. Be conscious of your crowd. Looks and gear matter. When I get booked to play solo jazz at a corporate cocktail event, I'm not going to show up with a ratty jeans and a flying-V (rad as that would be). And, while those wallflower gigs are kind of boring, I can charge $500/hr or more and they don't blink an eye. That amount of money is nothing to them and pays my rent / expenses for a month.
  9. Teach! All the time. There is nothing more rewarding than watching a person learn to do something they love and know that you helped them get there. At any level, you can become a teacher. Find a person who needs what you know, and share it with them.
  10. Listen to music. Know what's out there. When you get stuck in a rut as a player, find an entirely new genre. The opportunity to do so, given what the internet is, has never been greater. You can invest in hours of listening at zero cost.
  11. Transcribe music by ear. Knowing theory and being able to read sheet music is great; but a strong ear is the most valuable thing a musician can have. Contrary to what you might think, this is a skill that can be taught and learned. You might be horrible at it to begin with, but if you frequent Ricci Adam's MusicTheory.net every day, you will improve. I used this to quiz myself during my degree; great tool.
  12. Know your value and don't be afraid to demand it. Music is a business and you will be your only agent for a long time.

    Books:

  13. The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick.



u/EagleGum · 11 pointsr/videos

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.

u/Cenobite · 11 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/cbg · 11 pointsr/Guitar

My two cents:

  • Electric - a cheap electric is far easier to play than a cheap acoustic. While it will be important to build callouses and finger strength (both of which are facilitated by playing an acoustic steel string), I feel it is far more important for you to enjoy playing and make some initial progress. If you can get some momentum in learning/playing, then you can start worrying about strength, endurance, etc. If you give up after 3 months b/c your hands hurt and you haven't made any progress (b/c it hurts to practice), strength, endurance, and everything else is moot. However, if you really want to play acoustic, consider starting with a nylon-string (classical) guitar.

  • I would look for a used electric, probably something like a Mexican-made Fender or a lower-end asian-made guitar (Ibanez, Jackson, Schecter). Many folks like the Epiphone entry-level models... I haven't played one so I can't say.

  • As I said above, electric is more likely to get you quickly to the point of playing something interesting and enjoying it.

  • In my experience, most guitarists do not read music. (Many have only a superficial understanding of theory and some don't even know scales or chords by name). Significant portion of those that do read cannot sight-read (self included). Anyway... it's perfectly reasonable to learn to read while learning to play. Barring that, tablature is widely available and very popular. Well-made tab is useful and often will include rhythmic information.

  • Get started by learning some riffs and songs you like. Also, learning something like the 12-bar blues will let you start playing with friends and that can greatly enhance your enjoyment and learning.

  • Being self-taught is fine. Many guitarists never take lessons. I personally have benefited a lot from taking private lessons. However, practicing and playing new stuff will get you a long way. I recommend getting a good book to use as reference. The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer is a personal favorite.

    Have fun and good luck!
u/erebusman · 10 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/gorillab_99 · 10 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/ToxicRainbow27 · 10 pointsr/Bass

Standing the Shadows of Motown is the book that has had the single greatest impact on my playing overall.

The first part is a cool bio about James Jamerson and the Motown studio origins, and then it is super well done transcriptions and explanations of his bass lines which are some of the most innovative and influential bass lines of all time. The book also comes with cd's (if those are still relevant) of the songs with bass mixed to front so you can play along which was super helpful. Using that book taught me the bulk of note reading, taught me the mechanics of writing bass lines that compliment melodies, rhythms and complicated arrangements and really cemented a sense what is groovy and what is catchy.

I cannot recommend standing in the shadows of Motown enough https://www.amazon.com/Standing-Shadows-Motown-Legendary-Jamerson/dp/0881888826

u/dday859 · 10 pointsr/Guitar

Anyone ever heard of the book "Chord Chemistry" by Ted Greene...

http://www.amazon.com/Chord-Chemistry-Ted-Greene/dp/0898986966

u/br33dlove · 9 pointsr/Guitar

Lots of great books out there. I don't see anything for classical guitar on your list, but I highly recommend The Christpher Parkening Guitar Method Volume 1, and Volume 2, as well as [Pumping Nylon: The Classical Guitarist's Technique Handbook] (http://www.amazon.com/Pumping-Nylon-Classical-Guitarists-Technique/dp/088284721X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416410512&sr=1-1&keywords=pumping+nylon+by+scott+tennant) by Scott Tennant.

u/catdumpling · 9 pointsr/Luthier

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.

u/LukeSniper · 9 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/schumart · 8 pointsr/musictheory

I'd recommend picking up a copy of the book "Building Walking Basslines" https://www.amazon.com/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Builders/dp/0793542049

​

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.

u/jaffa56 · 8 pointsr/Bass

This book is pretty good. Most of it is about James Jameson, but in the back are loads of his Motown basslines accurately transcribed by some of the top session musicians. Comes with some CDs of them playing the bass lines too. Some of the bass lines are pretty solid, but there's some easy ones in there too.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Standing-Shadows-Motown-Legendary-Jamerson/dp/0881888826/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527806266&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=james+jamerson+bass&dpPl=1&dpID=61pAjXGCGzL&ref=plSrch

u/dearoldavy · 8 pointsr/Guitar

Ted Greene - Chord Chemistry

The best chord theory resource out there in my opinion. There is a reason it's been around for over 30 years and people are still referencing it.

It's not free, but $12.49 isn't a lot for the knowledge you'll gain.

u/mykey777 · 8 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/Liamosaurus · 7 pointsr/Bass

I got this book when I was interested in pursuing jazz and it helped me learn a lot https://www.amazon.com/Evolving-Bassist-Rufus-Reid/dp/0967601509

u/adeadart · 7 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/EtherCJ · 7 pointsr/Learnmusic

Everything this guy said is gold. I would add a couple things.

  • If you are completely new to guitar and not adverse to spending money:
    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.

  • You really want to pick a few songs that you really like and want to play as your goals. It helps you with focus and inspiration. And if you tell us what type of music you are looking to play to start I can recommend more books or websites.

  • For guitars you really get a lot more bank for the buck for a few bucks more. Basically from 100 up to 600 dollars the guitars really improve every bit you spend. However, BloodyThorn is right about wasting guitar equipment. This is why there is so much used equipment on craigslist.

  • For buying a beginner guitar, don't be afraid of buying used. Try craigslist. But if you have a friend that plays, get him to come along and help check it out. And if you decide to keep with the guitar and you outgrow the guitar after a year or two, then you can always use a guitar that you can afford to lose. Much nicer to take your second $150 guitar with you on a boat than your only $700 (or $2000) dollar guitar.
u/I_Have_Big_Melons · 7 pointsr/Bass

I just started doing the drills out of this book with a metronome. It seems to really be helping my playing. It's kind of a bitch at first though... My wrists were killing me after going through a few of these the first time.

http://www.amazon.com/Bass-Fitness-Exercising-Handbook-Guitar/dp/0793502489/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449673805&sr=8-1&keywords=bass+fitness

u/Pelusteriano · 7 pointsr/Guitar
u/jtpinnyc · 6 pointsr/edmproduction

For guitarists, I would recommend Ted Greene's classic "Chord Chemistry" book. Ted was a bit of a far out hippy and the book is pretty "out there" but he was one of the all time chord masters and I learned so much about chords progressions, voicings, substitutions and voice leading from this book. http://www.amazon.com/Ted-Greene-Chord-Chemistry/dp/0898986966

u/Dyspeptic_McPlaster · 6 pointsr/Bass

First off, you don't have to spend a fortune to get decent gear, we are in the golden age of cheap, decent gear. I would look at the Squire CV or VM line, both are really great instruments for the price. If fenders aren't your thing Ibanez also makes some really good entry level stuff.

As far as learning, nothing you have learned so far is a waste as long as you build on it. I would start out just getting used to playing the bass, both physically and then once the bass feels natural in your hands and you think about playing bass lines instead of guitar lines when you are playing, dive into jazz as a bass player.

The Evolving Bassist is one of the books that I see commonly reccomended to beginning jazz bassists.

Welcome. :)

u/Astrixtc · 6 pointsr/Bass

That book is ok, but This one is the holy grail. It's written for upright bass players, but totally applicable for electric as well.

u/TheLessonIsNeverTry · 6 pointsr/Bass

I don't know about the workout you are referring to, but Bass Fitness is a book of exercises to be drilled to a metronome for about 15-20 minutes per day with the aim of improving strength, speed, and dexterity.

u/Cat_Shampoo · 6 pointsr/Bass

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!

u/Ratharyn · 6 pointsr/Bass

Sounds like you're going about it the right way. Speed is about muscle memory so there isn't a quick way to learn it. Start slow, with a metronome, and build up the speed when you've perfected the slower tempo. Muscle memory sticks with how you learn it, if you practice perfect slow technique then that's the technique that develops, if you fudge it to rush to faster tempos then that will be reflected in your technique.

I can highly recommend this book:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bass-Fitness-Exercising-Handbook-Guitar/dp/0793502489/ref=asc_df_0793502489/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=311325854090&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12459488065697696982&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045629&hvtargid=pla-450362569161&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

It's a great selection of finger twisters that will really help both hands.

u/Bracket_The_Bass · 6 pointsr/Bass

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

u/iriselizabeth · 5 pointsr/guitarlessons

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&qid=1313039330&sr=8-1 & http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313039376&sr=1-6 were both really good and helped me with understanding the fretboard and general mechanics of guitar.


Hope this helps! Good Luck!

u/sunamumaya · 5 pointsr/Guitar

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:

  • give you tools for identifying the notes on the fretboard. I highly recommend this book, in addition to whatever method you choose.
  • the CAGED system - essential knowledge. Once you master this, you'll easily be able to play: the chord, the arpeggio, the major scale and modes for each of these five shapes, anywhere on the fretboard.
  • accent the role of the major scale (the Ionian mode of the diatonic scale), because if you know its shapes in all five (CAGED) positions, you already have the shapes for all other modes, and using modes becomes simply a question of choosing the respective harmony, not learning new shapes. Also, by simply removing certain notes from it, you automagically get the pentatonic scale. You get the idea, most common use scales and modes may be played using the major scale patterns.
  • teach you intervals and how to build chords, which are simply intervals stacked on top of each other
  • point out the use of arpeggios in soloing, as opposed to scale soloing only, this makes a world of difference if you want your solos to be interesting
  • teach you rhythm and how to play in time, even (or perhaps especially) when soloing

    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.
u/darkbob · 5 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/mikelybarger · 5 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/PhantomGenocide · 5 pointsr/Guitar

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...

u/gtani · 5 pointsr/banjo

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

u/Gizank · 5 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/guitarnoir · 5 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/pigz · 5 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/subutai09 · 5 pointsr/Guitar

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...

u/samuraiguitarist · 5 pointsr/Guitar

I really found zen guitar helpful with the more philosophical aspects of being a musician

u/DixonBass · 5 pointsr/Bass

Having just done an enormous essay as a critical evaluation final assignment at my last year of a BMus Jazz course on technique and hand/wrist troubles - i recommend you check out these 3 books, they completely changed my playing style, for the better!

Electric Bass technique Builder, Todd Johnson:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Johnson-Electric-Technique-Builders-Alfreds/dp/0739051555

The Bassist's Guide To Injury Management, Prevention and Better Health, Kertz, Randall D.C:
http://www.bassbooks.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=1229

Bass Fitness, An Exercising Handbook, Josquin Des Pres:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bass-Fitness-An-Exercising-Handbook/dp/0793502489

You may also want to look into 'The Alexander Technique' - as this gives great information about postures and stance and how you wear your instrument.

Also - has your bass been professionally set up? If the strings are too high you can get the action lowered, this greatly improves fretting ability.

u/mosghost · 5 pointsr/guitarlessons

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.

u/PublicEnemaNumberTwo · 5 pointsr/Guitar

There are a couple of great books by Dan Erlewine, "The Guitar Player Repair Guide" and "How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great".

u/wigs837 · 5 pointsr/Guitar

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

u/JacquesBlaireau13 · 5 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/TheAlmightyFur · 5 pointsr/Guitar

I came up learning before the internet was big (like pre high speed where video wasn't a super viable option, and content wasn't so much in regular people's hands) and spent a lot of time reading books, articles, and message boards.

Dan Erlewine became my biggest teacher in books and This book was my bible for a while.

I originally started getting into it after getting the third degree by a mom-and-pop shop when I brought a bass in for repair that I didn't buy there, but when my friends in school would see the things I was doing, they'd ask me to work on their stuff too.

Been a while since I've actually had to wrench on anything guitar wise, but I still keep up with some of the new stuff coming out and browse new catalogs when I get them in the mail.

Edit: I also had the first edition of this book and it seemed to be more related to guys who play and are just getting into working on their own stuff.

u/[deleted] · 5 pointsr/Guitar

Coming at it from a jazz standpoint, William Leavitt's Modern Method, or Sal Salvador's Complete Book of Guitar Technique. Salvador's one contains a good few studies.

Mick Goodrick's Advancing Guitarist is particularly famous.

u/seis_cuerdas · 5 pointsr/classicalguitar

Some of the more common ones for guitar are the 120 studies for right hand development by Giuliani, the 20 Sor studies (segovia), the melodic and progressive etudes by carcassi, and the Segovia scales (even though they are pretty useless IMO). There is also Pumping Nylon by scott tenant as well as Brouwer's Estudios Sencillos and Nuevos Estudios Sencillos if you are looking for something more contemporary.

u/pvm2001 · 5 pointsr/Guitar

You can't buy a factory made classical guitar that is truly high quality. Yamaha makes great beginning classical guitars. I wouldn't pay over $500 for anything with a "brand name," if you're looking for a nice classical then start looking for luthiers or a dealer in your area that sells luthier guitars(either should let you try their guitars before you buy).


D'addario Pro-Arte strings are generally regarded as the all-around best classical guitar strings, and fortunately they're also the cheapest. Go with normal or hard tension if you like more resistance.


The book Pumping Nylon is a great technical resource for classical guitarists at any level.
http://www.amazon.com/Pumping-Nylon-Scott-Tennant/dp/088284721X

http://www.amazon.com/Library-Guitar-Classics-willard-Series/dp/0825614759/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

^ Volume 1 and 2 of that guitar classics book are great for finding rep out of, they have great music from different eras, composers, and difficulties.


More specifically, studies by Sor, Carcassi, or Brouwer are great for beginning pieces. You can move from there to pieces by Tarrega, Villalobos, possibly some easier Bach like BWV999 or Cello Suite#1. Really anything you want. For best results, seek our recordings and videos of well-renowned(not just some shmuck on youtube) guitarists. Use these to make sure you're not playing wrong notes, inspire your own interpretation, and possibly steal their fingerings if it's a video.

u/el_tophero · 5 pointsr/Bass

Well, with no song structure and no harmonic or melodic element to the music, it makes sense that the bass would do lot of repetitive rhythmic stuff. I don't know of many bass players who regularly jam with a drum circle, so I don't think the whole set-up is common. But I'd guess your reaction would be - it's not super interesting or satisfying to play along with the same rhythm for 20 minutes.

Some ideas:

u/NoLooob · 5 pointsr/Guitar

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

u/babybritain · 4 pointsr/musictheory

Very good method. I suggest checking out the book called Fretboard Logic.

http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060

u/Nero_the_Cat · 4 pointsr/Guitar

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.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Aerobics-One-lick-day-Maintaining/dp/1423414357

u/PierreLunaire · 4 pointsr/Bass

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.

u/eerock · 4 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/thatoneguywhogolfs · 4 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/Take42 · 4 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

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

u/TangoThanato · 4 pointsr/Guitar

The Guitar Handbook is one of my favorites.

u/Adddicus · 4 pointsr/Guitar

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

u/Epicureanist · 4 pointsr/GetMotivated

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.

  • Download it here (It's a safe download, I uploaded it myself. Shhh!)

    Zen Guitar - Philip Sudo


    don't click me! :)

  • Even more awesome, it not only changed how I view music but also my life. This is personally better than Effortless Mastery, as what you read in the book not only affects your music mindset but spreads into your life. Buy It

    Two Final Tips

  1. Just get into the habit of practicing, even if it's only for 5mins everyday. Make sure it's at the same time.


  2. There's a cycle. Practice -> Improvement -> Motivation -> Practice -> Improvement - Motivation ->


    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)
u/kakaharoo · 4 pointsr/Guitar

zen guitar - more about a mindset then theory...

u/skyraiderofreddit · 4 pointsr/Bass

Always warm up before playing. Take 5 minutes to do a 1 2 3 4 finger pattern up and down the neck. Bonus points if you use a metronome.

Switch up the pattern for a good finger dexterity practice exercise. E.g. 1 3 2 4, 1 4 2 3, 4 3 2 1, etc...

Start by doing these across one string and then slowly start incorporating multiple strings.

This book is a great resource for these types of exercises.

Good luck!

u/EssMarksTheSpot · 4 pointsr/Bass

Just to add onto this if you're like me and enjoy having a physical book to work through: shout out for Josquin des Pres' Bass Fitness exercise handbook. The exercises in there start out with "simple" permutations on one string up and down the neck and then branch out into more complicated spider-type exercises. These exercises really aren't anything you couldn't find online, but I have a lot of trouble following a routine if it isn't already written out for me.

I've been working through the exercises for about a month and I can already see some progress when it comes to fluidity and crossing strings. Definitely recommend it!

u/Thewes6 · 4 pointsr/Bass

Semi-related, if you're looking to learn/improve your walking basslines, this book is what you want. It really is fantastic.

u/j0llysnowman · 4 pointsr/Bass

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:

u/sourdoughbred · 4 pointsr/woodworking

My brother build his acoustic (Spanish style) on this book. I also read it. Rally well done. Tells you everything you need to know and what tools to buy or build. Luthierie involves lots of making your own tools and jigs.

Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology (Guitar Reference) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0811806405/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_qdYXDbRJH8KWG

Back when we were building guitars, the place to buy supplies was LMI (Luthieier Mercantile) and StewMac (Stewart Macdonald). Now there are probably things to can buy on amazon.

u/WBuffet · 4 pointsr/Bass

A truly awesome book !


Amazon Link

u/magicjavelin · 4 pointsr/Bass

http://www.amazon.com/Standing-Shadows-Motown-Legendary-Jamerson/dp/0881888826 is well worth a look at for some classic Jamerson lines. But it is notation only, so if your music reading is weak you'll need some practice before starting.

u/captain_penis_hair · 4 pointsr/Guitar

Ted Greene's Chord Chemistry

For chordal stuff, he is one of the absolute greats and I cannot recommend him enough. This book contains pages and pages of shapes for every type of chord you can think of, but also goes on to teach you how you can apply them and reharmonise from a guitar point of view.

His website with lots of free lessons and chord melody tunes. You can get the gist of his stuff here. The book has also got all hand written chord boxes like the stuff on his site.

Example of his playing

Tommy Emmanuel talking about the book Bitches love Tommy Emmanuel.

u/the_emptier · 4 pointsr/jazzguitar

have you tried all inversion, every string set, all drop voicings, open string voicings, all altered/color tones. keeping the same note on top, moving the top note up or down by only steps (no skips). triad possibilities?

take a look at the sidebar > even though you're not working on chord melodies, barry galbraiths chord melodies have really great voicings, and they have chord symbols so you can just cop them all.

this book is good too

http://www.jazzbooks.com/jazz/product/BG3#.Vye2JaODGko

this lage lund DVD has been the basis of all of my chordal development lately, however, i will say it starts from a very advanced standpoint

ted greenes book is kind of convoluted but its got a million shapes to check out

http://www.amazon.com/Ted-Greene-Chord-Chemistry/dp/0898986966

http://jazzheaven.com/videos/how-to-play-jazz-guitar-lessons/lage-lund-jazz-guitar-chordal-vocabulary-masterclass/

duo albums to check out:

ed bickert fucking slays on this

http://www.allmusic.com/album/mutual-street-mw0000878202

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Living_(Ella_Fitzgerald_album)

for ultra scary time here's a ben monder PDF

http://www.jazzguitarlessons.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/ben-monder-lessons.pdf

u/USS-SpongeBob · 4 pointsr/Luthier

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.

u/TheWoodBotherer · 4 pointsr/Luthier

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

u/MojoMonster · 4 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/thelowdown · 4 pointsr/Bass

http://www.scottsbasslessons.com

This was one of my first books. It starts off fairly easy, but gets moving pretty quick.

This is the Tao Te Ching of bass.

This was one of the books that helped get my technique to where it is today. I'm not sure if the new version has all of the same exercises.

Always read notation. Tab becomes a crutch, and the quicker you learn notation, the more you'll use it, and the better you'll get at it. It's a skill, it's frustrating at first, but it's worth it.

This is my favourite Music Theory book.

Transcribe music. Not only learn how to play it by ear, but learn how to write it down as well. It's really hard at first, but it's probably the best thing you can do to learn to jam, interact with other players, and communicate your ideas to anyone at any level.

Want Chops?

Find a qualified bass teacher in your area. Don't go to that guy who plays guitar and teaches bass on the side and only uses tab because he's never had to read. It may not seem like it, but there are differences in technique that an experienced bass player/teacher would know that a guitar player may not. Find a teacher that pushes you every lesson and makes you want to sit in a chair for hours working on technique, transcribing, and listening.

On top of getting an instructor, scour the internet for every piece of information you can get. At first you'll get some bad advice, but you'll find that there is a lot of great information out there. Always test the boundaries of what you're being taught by anyone with the information you're absorbing for where ever you're getting it. One of the best teachers that I had said "If you're teacher tells you there's only one way to do something, it's time to find another teacher".

I'll give you more great advice from a different teacher. He was this old grizzled player that played Jazz before, and after, Jazz was cool. He said:

"There are only three things you need to do to be a successful musician. One: Show up. If you show up every time you're going to be ahead of 95% of the rest of the musicians out there. That means every lesson, every rehearsal, every gig, every time.

Two: Know your parts. If you show up every time, on time, and know what you're supposed to play, you're going to be ahead of 99% of the players out there.

Thirdly: Play your heart out. If you show up, on time, know what you're playing, and love what you're playing, no matter what it is you're playing, then you're going to be in that 1% of musicians that actually get steady gigs."

Have Fun.

u/Dioxic · 4 pointsr/Guitar

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&qid=1322260893&sr=8-5

u/AILDMisfits · 3 pointsr/metalguitar

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.

u/RiffWizard · 3 pointsr/Guitar

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

u/FootballBat · 3 pointsr/Guitar

Check this out. Dan Erlewine is the the author of the guitar maintenance bible/koran/talmud; this should put you on the right path.

u/Xanthum1 · 3 pointsr/Guitar

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&qid=1454246945&sr=8-1&keywords=guitar+repair

u/EndlessOcean · 3 pointsr/Luthier

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.

u/dagaboy · 3 pointsr/Guitar

Just get this book, a set of radius gauges, an 18' straight edge and an action gauge. You should be fine.

u/kiteandkey · 3 pointsr/gratefulguitar

Based on the description of your Strat, it sounds like it has the vintage 7.25" fretboard radius. String bending, especially in the higher registers, is know to be problematic on that fretboard radius for exactly the reasons you describe.

Essentially, you need to do a proper setup to try and lessen the problems you're describing. If you're unfamiliar, doing a setup on a Strat involves adjusting things like the truss rod for neck relief, the bridge/claws to determine how you want your tremolo setup, the action, the intonation, and the nut. In essence, everything that your strings touch that can affect how they function mechanically.

You can learn how to do this yourself even if you have no experience. Dan Erlewine has a great book to tackle just this sort of stuff called How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great and you can snag a used copy on Amazon for the price of a new set of strings, practically. StewMac, the company where he works and that sells supplies for guitar building, has also started releasing some very helpful YouTube videos on different aspects of the setup. You can also poke around r/Luthier for any tips you can find there (though there's a lot of shorthand that would be tough for a beginner to get into).

My advice to you would be to buy the book, read it over a weekend (it doesn't take long to get from cover to cover), buy a few tools to get the job done and learn how to setup your own guitars so you'll always be able to make sure they're in perfect playing condition and won't have to rely on your local Guitar Center.

Basic tools you'd need include either a pre-assemlbed kit if you want to go the expensive route or a few of the individual components from elsewhere:

  • My advice would be to get the StewMac String Action Gauge (it's worth it going for this specific brand name here since it's higher quality and has better makrings than the ones you'll find on Amazon),
  • Some small screwdrivers and wrenches that'll fit what you need (again, this set from StewMac is pricey but it's very good for its purposes, you can certianly find all the hex wrenches, etc elsewhere for less) if you don't have them,
  • Some radius gauges (here's the set I have)
  • A straightedge (not necessary, since you can use a string on the guitar and calipers or even an old guitar string to measure relief--but the straightedge does make things a lot easier)

    If you can install a stereo, hang a picture and put together a puzzle, you can set up your own guitar.
u/tmwrnj · 3 pointsr/Guitar

You'll certainly need a truss rod tweak and might need to slightly adjust the intonation. It's not difficult to do yourself - check out Dan Erlewine's book for full instructions on how to do your own setups.

u/ewall09 · 3 pointsr/Guitar

Firstly, I never recommend going to GC for a setup...GC is the WalMart of guitars. Instead, I highly recommend going to your local guitar shop where there are people dedicated to setting up guitars, and do so on a daily basis.

Knobs are usually just 'push on, pull off' toppers, so it is very possible the plastic 'head' of the control knob simply wasnt tight, or the threading on the pot itself was stripped, therefore not gripping that knob as well. If you bought it at GC, it is possible it was a recurring problem since before you bought it.

Note that there is a difference between 'acoustic' buzz (unplugged) and 'electric' buzz (plugged in). It is okay for a little bit of fret buzz on an unplugged electric guitar...this doesn't necessarily mean that the action is poor. However, if that fret buzzing passes through to your amplifier, you need to adjust your action.

Alternatively, if you are getting very terrible buzz, you may need to adjust the bridge itself (where the 'thumbscrews' you mentioned are) and raise the action. It is not very difficult, but if you don't feel confident take it to a guitar tech.

Here is an article going through a setup (albeit slightly more advanced) of a Les Paul guitar.

Here is a basic YouTube video discussing various pieces and how they affect action on a Les Paul.

In this video, Joe Walsh does a pretty decent job explaining the basics of a setup on a Les Paul.

Also keep in mind that thicker strings on a guitar = more tension on the neck.

Don't be afraid of your guitar! You only learn from adjusting it yourself. It can be intimidating at first, but once you do it several times you will feel much more confident. Like I said, don't be shy about taking it to a trained technician at a local guitar store.

I hope this information was helpful.

EDIT
Also, for some quality reading material, check out Dan Erlewine's 'How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great'....very useful to have sitting around

u/kasakka1 · 3 pointsr/Guitar

You need to pinpoint where the buzzing happens. Anywhere on the neck could mean action is too low. On the first few frets could mean that the nut is too low and needs to be replaced. In the middle of the neck could mean that there is not enough relief to the neck so trussrod should be adjusted. Remember to adjust truss rod in only a 1/4 turn at a time. Leaving the wood to settle for some time is a good idea too.

An easy way to check for relief is to hold a string in the middle of the neck at the first and last fret and then tap the string around the middle of the neck (takes a bit of dexterity or use a capo on the first fret). There should be about a credit card's thickness between the string and the fret.

Sometimes the fretwork on a guitar is not very good, a fret might have lifted from its slot, worn unevenly etc so you end up with some buzzing no matter what. Then you should take it to a pro for fret leveling.

I highly recommend you pick up this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Electric-Guitar-Great/dp/0879309989

It has tons of info on setup and repair.

u/2FishInATank · 3 pointsr/guitarlessons

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.

u/_Occams-Chainsaw_ · 3 pointsr/musictheory

> 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.

u/Jesusthe33rd · 3 pointsr/Guitar

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&refRID=0V593FDV2H8756D7K3DK

u/integerdivision · 3 pointsr/musictheory

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.

u/SomedayVirtuoso · 3 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/dlm85 · 3 pointsr/Bass

For Motown, Standing in the Shadows of Motown: The Life and Music of Legendary Bassist James Jamerson is a must have. http://www.amazon.com/Standing-Shadows-Motown-Legendary-Jamerson/dp/0881888826

u/emptyshark · 3 pointsr/Bass

A lot of bass players swear by this book and for a good reason too. I personally don't own it, but when I used to take lessons my teacher would use it and my playing improved tremendously. If you wan't to learn why bass is played like it is today, get this book.

As for my listening reccomendations:

Paul McCartney (The Beatles)- the man practically invented pop rock bass playing.

John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin)- you would think that the guy playing in the biggest hard rock band of all time would be rather straightforward, but he could do it all. JPJ came from a studio player and could do jazz, blues, funk, you name it. He and John Bohnam could straight up hold it down.

Geddy Lee (Rush)- Sure Rush is technical and flashy (that's kind of the point) but Geddy Lee is the epitome of power trio bassists. He carries the melody, fills space, holds down time, and sings. At the same time.

u/insomniacfc · 3 pointsr/classicalguitar

Scott Tennant has a book out that will keep you busy: http://www.amazon.com/Pumping-Nylon-Classical-Guitarists-Technique/dp/088284721X

u/Zalamander · 3 pointsr/Guitar

For those who may be reading this that play Fingerstyle or Classical, I can't recommend Scott Tennant's book Pumping Nylon enough.

u/CodeDomination · 3 pointsr/Guitar

https://www.amazon.com/Ted-Greene-Chord-Chemistry/dp/0898986966

This book is pretty much the chord bible.

u/rsm5068 · 3 pointsr/Guitar

A good starter book on chords: Chord Chemistry by Ted Greene. Recommended to me by a former teacher, I still use it all the time and will probably never stop.

u/Drinkos · 3 pointsr/Guitar

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

u/grahamvinyl · 3 pointsr/Luthier

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.

u/Naked_Otis · 3 pointsr/Luthier

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)

u/benjorino · 3 pointsr/Guitar

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 ;)

u/polishedbullet · 3 pointsr/Guitar

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:

  • Be prepared to spend more money than you expect. There is always something that goes wrong that will need replaced.

  • If you have little/no experience in woodworking, make sure you know someone or multiple people who are. They will prevent you from making an irreversible mistake.

  • Find a good forum to ask for help on. I used the Guitar Building and Customizing forum on Ultimate-guitar.com. Watching some of the professionals on there build is really eye-opening and extremely helpful. They are more than willing to help you and answer your questions.

  • Buy a book that you can bring with you to wherever you will be working on the guitar. I used this book.

    If you have any more questions, just PM me!
u/TheWordFromMars · 3 pointsr/Luthier

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!

u/Garage_Donkey · 3 pointsr/Bass

I always go back to "Improvisors Bass Manual" by Chuck Sher... after 30 years, I still haven't mastered it, but I always use it again if I haven't played for a while

u/Rogue-Rage · 3 pointsr/Guitar

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

u/Forgery · 3 pointsr/Jazz

I found Building Walking Bass Lines helpful when I first started. Another must-have is The Evolving Bassist by Rufus Reid.

u/shulmaneister · 3 pointsr/doublebass

The Evolving Bassist by Rufus Reid

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0967601509

u/stripmyspurgear · 3 pointsr/Guitar

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

u/bigbassdaddy · 3 pointsr/doublebass

Rufus Reid is a God.

The Evolving Bassist

u/StrettoByStarlight · 3 pointsr/Jazz

I think this is the bible you are referring to, written by this guy.

u/NickCorey · 3 pointsr/Guitar

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&qid=1348759781&sr=8-1&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&ie=UTF8&qid=1348759708&sr=1-1&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&ie=UTF8&qid=1348759937&sr=1-3&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&ie=UTF8&qid=1348760257&sr=1-1&keywords=jazz+theory+book+by+mark+levine




u/sixty_hertz · 3 pointsr/Guitar

Also there is this.

u/BetterGhost · 3 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/kelly325 · 3 pointsr/Guitar

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&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links

u/wildeye · 3 pointsr/Guitar

"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.

u/smcha4 · 3 pointsr/melbourne

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.

u/rcochrane · 3 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/troll_is_obvious · 3 pointsr/Guitar

The Guitar Handbook should be handed out with every first guitar.

u/Aireroth · 3 pointsr/Bass

In addition to /u/redditsmcgee's solid advice, try and slow the song down a bit (with Reaper, for example). Or practice it to a metronome at a slower pace. Once you get it down at a lower tempo, start increasing it. Try and put in the conscious effort to play relaxed as well.

There are also a variety of exercises out there to help build up your strength and stamina, e.g. Bass Fitness

u/JJ_JJ_JJ_JJ · 3 pointsr/Bass
u/GuruGita · 3 pointsr/Bass

I play anyone the exercises from this book for 5-10 minutes with a metronome.

https://www.amazon.com/Bass-Fitness-Exercising-Handbook-Including/dp/0793502489

u/auntbabe · 3 pointsr/Jazz

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)

u/LOLREKTLOLREKTLOL · 3 pointsr/Bass

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.

u/ThatNolanKid · 3 pointsr/Bass

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

u/twotoomanycats · 3 pointsr/Bass

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).

u/Chili_Time · 3 pointsr/Bass

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&qid=1481028149&sr=8-10&keywords=hal+leonard

u/Dallas_Stars_Fan · 3 pointsr/Bass
u/Bodhammer · 3 pointsr/rocksmith

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!

u/connecteduser · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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&ie=UTF8&qid=1320691780&sr=1-2

u/Municipalis · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/GrantNexus · 2 pointsr/Guitar
u/Lean6ix9ine · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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

u/substream00 · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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 :)

u/bossoline · 2 pointsr/guitarlessons

I would do 2 things:

  1. Buy some pocket strings so that you can practice some basic hand positioning, stretching, dexterity drills, scale shapes, and chords. I found that stuff to translate very well to an actual guitar.
  2. Start working on fretboard memorization. Pick up the Guitar Fretboard Workbook. I've found it to be a really good resource with tons of exercises that you can do with just a pen. Of course, it's ideal to reinforce that knowledge on an actual guitar, but you can go back and do that when you get one. Going through it twice will probably be helpful.
u/CashWiley · 2 pointsr/rocksmith

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.

u/elephant_chew · 2 pointsr/rocksmith

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.

u/breisdor · 2 pointsr/guitarlessons

You would probably like this workbook on Amazon.

u/matzab · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/redditor_here · 2 pointsr/Guitar

Here are two books that helped me exponentially:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0634049011?pc_redir=1413778480&robot_redir=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/063406651X?pc_redir=1413771056&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.

u/ShutYourFuckingTrap · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/elzilcho90 · 2 pointsr/LearnGuitar

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

u/citou · 2 pointsr/musictheory
u/ordinaryagent · 2 pointsr/AskReddit

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.

u/SnowblindAlbino · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/DogPooFairy · 2 pointsr/Guitar
u/SatanOffspring · 2 pointsr/Guitar

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/063406651X/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1419216756&sr=8-2


Just got that book and it makes it vary easy to understand. I would definitely recommend it. Even has quizzes too

u/thaddio · 2 pointsr/Guitar

(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.

u/mainsoda · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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

u/azvibe · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/presidentender · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/tallpapab · 2 pointsr/Guitar

Perhaps it's this popular book that I have and like The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer

u/GTroy · 2 pointsr/Guitar
u/geetarzrkool · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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

u/Phil_Tact · 2 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

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.

u/iamelroberto · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/casull · 2 pointsr/Jazz

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.

u/baldylox · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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

u/MadMelvin · 2 pointsr/AskMen

Try this book, it really helped me to look at my instrument and my music in a new way.

u/holeshot1982 · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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

u/Aquaren · 2 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

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!

u/sektorao · 2 pointsr/Bass

Check out Bass fitness book, you can download pdf here.

u/TimLoz · 2 pointsr/expertinayear

This is a great book once you get technique down. I've been playing professionally for about 8 years now and this book really took me to another level about 4 years ago, I wish I'd known about it sooner.

But first and foremost is technique. Learn good habits and everything else will be a lot easier.

u/blackmarketdolphins · 2 pointsr/Bass

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)

u/Dr_Poop69 · 2 pointsr/Bass

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

u/guerogrande · 2 pointsr/Bass
u/dexterity_scrapple · 2 pointsr/JazzPiano

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.

u/Zebra2 · 2 pointsr/Bass

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.

u/gmstudio · 2 pointsr/Bass

This book makes the whole thing dead-easy to learn and understand.

http://www.amazon.com/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Instruction/dp/0793542049

u/blackb1rd · 2 pointsr/Bass

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

u/SubstanceOfMemories · 2 pointsr/Bass

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.

u/belly917 · 2 pointsr/Bass

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!

u/XVI_Carlos · 2 pointsr/Bass

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).

u/stonistones_ · 2 pointsr/Bass

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.

u/henryoak · 2 pointsr/Bass

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/BallPuncher2000 · 2 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

/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.

u/smashedguitar · 2 pointsr/Bass

Get these two books.

u/mordac2 · 2 pointsr/Luthier

Excellent Stuff by Ervin Somogyi

The Responsive Guitar

Voicing the Guitar DVD

Older but still Excellent
Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology

Basically a step by step for a steel string
Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar: Complete Instructions and Full-Size Plans

Edit: Formatting

u/grizzdoog · 2 pointsr/Luthier

I was a violin maker for ten years. I went to violin making school for about four years. I had basically no woodworking experience with woodworking aside from one shop class in high school. Just get some tools, a good book and give it a shot. This book is super cool: https://www.amazon.com/Guitarmaking-Tradition-Technology-Guitar-Reference/dp/0811806405/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523510264&sr=1-1

I build about ten classical guitars following the instructions from that book. It's fun to read too. Lots of pictures!

If you want to learn to build guitars maybe think about getting a kit and trying that first, or build a dulcimer from a kit. Building a dulcimer will give you a basic idea of instrument construction.

First and foremost be super patient with yourself and get some band-aids.

Also, don't try and make your living as a luthier! :P I struggled for years until I came to my senses and got a normal job.

u/guitarpickerjim · 2 pointsr/woodworking

Get this book. It works through a steel string and classical guitar step by step.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0811806405/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_wjJzCbT5APB9G

u/coffeefuelsme · 2 pointsr/Luthier

I make enough from guitar building and repair to be able to fund it as a hobby in itself. You're looking at a significant initial investment in tools, workspace, and marketing in a market that's pretty saturated with factory guitars and independent builders. I hope someday to build up a customer base large enough to make this a career, but until then I enjoy it as a hobby and an art that pays for itself. As an art, I'd suggest picking up a couple of books:

Guitar making tradition and technology and Make your own electric guitar.

Both of these will give you a great background on how to build an instrument. The links in the sidebar will be very helpful to you as well.

One thing that has been helpful to me is engaging in your local music community. I live in an area of the US with lots of churches and worship pastors that need their guitars worked on. I work on their guitars and every now and then do builds for them that meet the needs they're looking for. I don't know what your community looks like, but engaging with musicians where they're at and building up a report is the beginning to a self-sustaining hobby and hopefully will carry you to a business.

Best of luck to you!

u/joolean · 2 pointsr/Luthier

I'm thinking of starting with either:
Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology
or
Acoustic Guitar Making: How to Make Tools, Templates, and Jigs
anyone have experience with either of those?

u/tkforeverer · 2 pointsr/Luthier

This might be up your alley.

u/AgaYeah · 2 pointsr/Luthier

I'm currently building my first acoustic guitar, I didn't know anything about woodworking before starting, so I don't have a lot of experience but here are my thoughts:

I don't think you need a drum sander, at least not yet. You can do a nice job using a well sharpened plane, a caliper and a methodical approach. Invest in a good quality #4 or #5 plane, they're expensive but worth it and learn how to sharpen it, seriously your job will be a lot easier if you know how to sharpen your tools. In fact, i'd even consider taking a class.

As for power tools, the only one you absolutely need is a router / laminate trimmer, no way you can route binding channels without one, and it'll be great for working on the rosette and the truss rod slot.

I used a DIY bending iron powered by a light bulb, cost me about $40 and an afternoon to build one, it did a decent job, except that I wish it had a different shape with different radii, also it can be a bit tricky to set it to the right temperature, maybe it'd be easier using a torch but i'm not sure. If you can afford it could be a good idea to buy one, it seems to be the kind of tool that last a lifetime.

The advice about getting new tools when you need them is a sound one, otherwise you risk buying stuff you don't really need. At the beginning you just need a plane, a couple of chisels, a backsaw, measuring tools (caliper, straight edge...) and clamps.

Buy Cumpiano's book, read it and check luthiers blogs, forums and videos they're a great source of information. A blog that really helped me is that one he even has a [list] (http://acousticguitarbuild.blogspot.fr/2009/01/essential-tools-and-materials-to-get.html) of basic tools you need, check it out.

u/turo9992000 · 2 pointsr/Guitar

Heres one, and two.

u/zigzagmang · 2 pointsr/Guitar

Guitar Grimoire hands down

u/musiqman · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/Xenoceratops · 2 pointsr/musictheory

>tailored more to someone wanting to make music instead of just read it.

GAS and obsessing over gear is a bigger problem for guitarists than reading music or sitting on abstract knowledge about music. (Not sure which you meant.)

>Preferably something that is more specific to guitar playing instead of just general music theory

You ever seen Gooby, the 2009 Canadian film about a kid in a comfortable living situation being helped through some growing pains by a giant imaginary teddy bear when his family moves from one suburban neighborhood to another? When you learn "guitar theory" (or most "theory" directed at a specific instrument; even "piano theory" is pretty awful) rather than music theory proper, it's like replacing an original trilogy Star Wars film with a Gooby.

Anyway, when I was a youngun, I bought The Guitar Grimoire because it looked cool and had little dots for where to put my fingers. I also went through a good chunk of Ted Greene's Jazz Guitar Single Note Soloing, Volume 1 because it had "jazz" in the title and had little dots for where to put my fingers. William Leavitt's guitar method is solid in that it doesn't make many theoretical mistakes (doesn't actually do much theory though), but its strength is really in building technique, musicianship and reading.

u/ThunderInSask · 2 pointsr/musictheory

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

u/etor · 2 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

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.

u/Cuddles6505 · 2 pointsr/Guitar

Fuckin Done Link

u/mariox19 · 2 pointsr/books

I'm going to guess any answer will be controversial, but you could try Dan Erlewine's book. Erlewine is affiliated with Stewart-MacDonald.

u/srr728 · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/discogravy · 2 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

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).

u/kerm · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/paulrpotts · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/serion · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/AcousticSounds · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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&ie=UTF8&qid=1480433072&sr=1-1&keywords=the+guitar+player+repair+guide

u/electrodan · 2 pointsr/Guitar
  1. Allen wrench set, various screwdrivers, various pliers, guitar polish, and a clean cloth will get most things done.

  2. Plug it in and try all the knobs and switches, the switch is going to do it's thing or it won't. Your pots or "knobs" will either work or not, and they might make a bunch of noise and need to be replaced or sprayed with contact cleaner.
  3. There isn't a really short answer to this, heaver or lighter strings may or may not require a truss rod adjustment and/or intonation adjustments to still play fine. If you want your action and intonation perfect then adjustments will have to be made.
  4. Replace it.
  5. Put something between the trem block and the body like this guy does you can use just about anything but a block of wood is quite common.
  6. Replace it.


    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.
u/HoneyBucket- · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/motwist · 2 pointsr/guitars

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.

u/AdverbAssassin · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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/

u/Anolin · 2 pointsr/Guitar

This is one of the best resources for this subject:

http://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Electric-Guitar-Great/dp/0879309989

u/KleyPlays · 2 pointsr/Guitar

>If you were to pay for someone to restring, intonate and adjust your guitar how much would you be willing to pay for it?

I'd buy this book and learn to do it myself. Actually, that's exactly what I did years ago.

>Guitar center is a bit cheaper but the dude has dicked me over on repairs once before already.

Wouldn't go there. Find a guy you feel like you can trust. A significant part of this type of service is that you as the customer feel like you are getting value for what you're paying. A setup is not necessarily a one size fits all stagnant concept. The way I setup my guitars is very different than a friend of mine. Just different preferences. You want to be able to communicate well with this person and trust that they'll take your guitar in the direction you want it to go in terms of playability.

u/m37a · 2 pointsr/Guitar

Tuners probably aren't your issue with staying in tune. If anything a new nut or possibly bridge saddles could help if the strings are getting stuck when bending or using the trem bar. After that, for me would be pickups/electronics.

I don't know much about starcasters, but a newer squire affinity series would probably be a step-up and can be found used very cheap, at or around $100.

Also, nothing beats a good setup by a qualified tech or use some of your money to buy this book and tech yourself the basics.
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Electric-Guitar-Great/dp/0879309989

This will help you figure out exactly how to figure out what is going wrong with your instrument and how to fix it.

u/slickwombat · 2 pointsr/Guitar

Great points. For radius, I got a set of stewmac metal under-string ones as a gift; an even better idea for most would be picking up this great book, which actually has a set of plastic radius gauges included.

For tuners, also true. Biggest protip there is probably checking your hole measurements before you buy replacements, I'll never make that mistake. Again. :/

u/72skylark · 2 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

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.

u/warriorpostman · 2 pointsr/musictheory

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

u/byproxy · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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/

u/NotGoing2Say · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/jambobo · 2 pointsr/Bass

I'd highly suggest this book

A lot of the charts are kinda hard to read, but there's a ton of great songs ('Darling Dear', 'For Once In My Life', 'What's Going On' to name a few), music to practice a long to, and a couple little exercises as well

u/DEUCE_SLUICE · 2 pointsr/Bass

Start from the beginning: James Jamerson.

Get Standing In The Shadows of Motown. It's got everything you need.

u/shrediknight · 2 pointsr/Guitar

Kitharologus: The Path to Virtuosity by Ricardo Iznaola

Pumping Nylon by Scott Tennant

I also recommend reading Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music by Glenn Kurtz, it's all about the author's life as a disillusioned professional guitarist who gives up on music only to return to it later in life for his own enjoyment. Essential reading, especially if you ever think about quitting.

u/sleaze_bag_alert · 2 pointsr/Guitar

work through the original Aaron Shearer books (I linked book 1, there are 3, you should at least go through the first two and maybe some of the supplemental ones) . If your classical technique is decent then you will breeze through them pretty quickly but you might pick up a few subtle things like playing rest-stroke with your thumb at the same time as free-stroke with your fingers and vice-versa. Once you are good there there are two books you should buy: Pumping Nylon for the various exercises it has. They are very good if you play them regularly. Then buy The Library of Guitar Classics. It is a big spiral bound book of repertoire that looks like a lot of those piano-rep books. It has music ranging from easy to very hard and from the renaissance period all the way through the romantic era with pieces by Tarrega and Albeniz. There is a lot of really good rep in there. There is also a second volume of the book that is almost as good. When it comes to more modern music buy the Villa-Lobos book and work through some of that stuff. It is a great book that was edited by - if I remember correctly - Frederick Noad. There are also some really good books with the complete Bach cello/lute suites (although some of that can be found in the books I already mentioned).

If you REALLY want to kick your ass, see if you can dig up a copy of the Abel Carlevaro right hand book. It is like the Giuliani 120 studies on steroids. I have never struggled that hard to play an arpeggio in my life! I think it is this book but I am not sure. I had a really old photo-copy of it and I don't know where it came from.

u/Apparently-Wrong · 2 pointsr/Music

I've been playing and practicing for 2 years 4 months at this point. For the entire first year of practice I utilized the Seinfeld Method of Productivity. My goal was to practice guitar for at least 30 minutes a day.




This helped me get to the point where I felt comfortable handling the instrument and was actually able to start to get some more creative enjoyment from it.




The important thing here is deliberate practice. Meaning, don't lose focus, figure out what you're going to be working on for that 1/2 hour and stick to it. This could be theory, chords, alternate tunings, etc. Just make sure to cover the basics somewhere in there. I bought a great book to help me with the fundamentals, Pumping Nylon. This book is for folks getting into classical guitar. Though, in my opinion, all guitarists ought to start with classical if you'd like to develop the best/most efficient techniques in your right and left-hands.



Beyond that- I'd say the most important component is passion. Ask yourself why you're willing to put in so many hours into something. Come up with reasons that keep you excited for the next thing!



For me, my passion comes from the fact that, in this lame world we live in, magic doesn't exist. I'll never be able to pursue my childhood fantasy of becoming a Wizard. However- Music does exist, and, in my opinion, music has many of the same qualities of magic. You can transport a listener into an emotional landscape of your making. You can create a world of sound where you get to call all of the shots. You can ease someones pain, create excitement, wax-poetic about love, you can even create unease and a sense of creeping dread. It's all up to you and how you handle your instruments of sound.



This is what keeps me pursuing the guitar and music. The rest of the world fades away while I'm playing. I suppose it's almost like having a day dream that other people can hear.



I'm not sure if I answered your questions or not :P

tl;dr - Deliberate daily practice and passion seem to be working for me.

u/BattlePogs · 2 pointsr/classicalguitar

The Noad book is a good start. Scott Tennant's Pumping Nylon has a lot of good excercises, too.

u/skoomy · 2 pointsr/Guitar

This technique might work for "this" guy, but don't play like him if you want proper right hand technique. I would try Pumping Nylon for classical songs and exercises.

u/IsaacOH · 2 pointsr/Guitar

This!

Also, everything the man's ever written.

u/whiskers138 · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/HJBones · 2 pointsr/Luthier

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

u/rrawlings1 · 2 pointsr/Luthier

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.

u/IPYF · 2 pointsr/Bass

This is 'the' book IMO:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Improvisors-Bass-Method-Guitar/dp/0961470100/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502853916&sr=1-6&keywords=chuck+sher

Right now you might be like "Dang motherfucker. I told you I was a rock/metal bassist. What's this improvisational jazz shit?". Well this book will do a bunch of things to make you a much better heavy bassist, and a better musician in general. For starters it'll force you to learn bass clef, and theory from basic to advanced. By the time you're done with this book, you'll be kicking literal arse in every conceivable genre. Take it from another, albeit former, metal bassist, this is the book you want to get your paws on.

u/InterruptedI · 2 pointsr/Bass

I'm all about this book

http://www.amazon.com/The-Improvisors-Bass-Method-Electric/dp/0961470100

But like everyone is saying, learn scales (and modes), arpege, and bass lines. Transcribe lines, play with records and people.

Try to focus on the I and V (this is a very general rule, don't feel grounded by it) when constructing your lines. Always be in time. Yada Yada Yada

u/jleonardbc · 2 pointsr/doublebass

3 hours would be great. It's mostly important that most of your practice is strategic and goal-oriented. There are good books out there about practicing well; check'em out.

Things you'd do well to practice/learn about other than sheer technique on your instrument: theory, ear training (be able to identify intervals and chords by ear), transcribing (writing down music by ear), walking bass, sight-singing and rhythm skills.

One good book I was fortunate to discover in high school (maybe early college?) is Chuck Sher's The Improvisor's Bass Method. It doesn't hold your hand too much, but it'd give you lots of ways to practice and think about scales as well as ideas of things to look for more resources on online.

u/jmone33 · 2 pointsr/Bass

You need a target or goal or an end point. I was in a similar funk as you. I needed to figure out WHAT I wanted to work on and be better at. I was stuck making 30 second funk covers for Instagram but not really making any progress. You can play scales all day but if you're not learning them to play over chords then what's the point?

I've found what works best for me is to get a book. For instance say you wanted to work on improvising and writing better lines, then pick up something like this book and just read it cover to cover. You're now making progress towards a single goal.

You mention not being able to play those fast Geddy licks. Is that the goal? Then start trying to learn some Rush songs. Start slow. Get an app to slow down the song so you can hear it, and work on your speed.

Your timing feeling off? Get a syncopation book.

u/AusMaverick · 2 pointsr/musictheory

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.

u/DRock4WC · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/bassp1aya · 2 pointsr/Bass

Rufus Reid's book on bass is an excellent source for breaking down walking lines: https://www.amazon.com/Evolving-Bassist-Rufus-Reid/dp/0967601509.

I always tell students to find recordings of lines they connect with and enjoy and then transcribe those. You get a three-for-one lesson if you transcribe yourself from the album. You learn the actual line, train your ear to hear the intervals, and inadvertently pickup on the oh so important subtleties of the style.

u/mikeyk55 · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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&qid=1412696309&sr=8-1&keywords=guitar+aerobics

u/writtenloudly · 2 pointsr/Guitar

Fretboard Logic was an absolute game changer for me.

u/Nazeeh · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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&qid=1462400123&sr=8-1&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!

u/koooch · 2 pointsr/Guitar

Also this book have a lot of really cool exercises for picking (alternate-picking, string-skipping etc.)

u/MorningFrog · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/greqrg · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/Fuckitall2346 · 2 pointsr/rocksmith

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

u/the_freudian_slit · 2 pointsr/Bass

Practice is important, but the focus should be on learning good upright style position playing, especially in first and second position. And learning to really incorporate open strings in your playing, as that definitely helps you 'calibrate' unconsciously. Learning to walk changes like that will easily dial it in, esp. if you start working to tempo. Use iReal Pro and just practice random Real Book changes, or the standard jazz exercise sets available.

I have students switching to fretless pick up the Rufus Reid book [The Evolving Bassist] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0967601509/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_40YQCb7935GP8) to learn double bass position playing and walking/2 feel lines. (I use the [Chuck Rainey](The Complete Electric Bass Player, Book 1: The Method https://www.amazon.com/dp/0825624258/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_p3YQCbKQKWVWG) books for fretted players, which i heartily recommend in general, btw)

Mostly its a matter of getting a steady, repeatable hand position in the lower registers and letting the muscle memory develop.

Perfect intonation is a goal, but i never worry about it when i get moving in a line or solo. Developing a good vibrato and approach/slide covers a lot of minor mistakes. And on stage, no one will notice a few cents out of tune especially if you play expressively and use good vibrato and slide movement on approach notes.

u/joffa101 · 2 pointsr/rocksmith

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

u/not_rico_suave · 2 pointsr/guitarlessons

I've heard a lot of great things about Fretboard Logic.

u/FinsterFolly · 2 pointsr/rocksmith

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&qid=1407603235&sr=8-1&keywords=Guitar+aerobics

u/LatinoPUA · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/thepathlessfollowed · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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

u/gepoch · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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&robot_redir=1

u/Miguelli · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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?

u/johnaldmcgee · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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.

u/es-335 · 2 pointsr/Guitar
u/Malice4you2 · 2 pointsr/Guitar

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

u/smadab · 2 pointsr/guitarlessons

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.

u/noobucantbeat · 1 pointr/Guitar

get Guitar Aerobics and practice that shit every day!! I've been doing it for the past 6 weeks and i'm loving it, can really see some improvement. LEarn music theory and all that jazz too

u/Conquestadore · 1 pointr/Guitar

Give guitar aerobics by Troy Nelson a try, the book has lot's of structured lead guitar exercises suitable for all levels.
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Aerobics-One-lick-day-Maintaining/dp/1423414357/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

u/CopRock · 1 pointr/Guitar

I've only been playing for a year, but two things are head-and-shoulders over the rest: the beginners course on justinguitar, and the book Guitar Aerobics.

u/TheCraftyWombat · 1 pointr/Guitar

Buy the book Guitar Aerobics, as shown here. It's got everything you need to keep loose, build up skillz, sharpen your technique, etc. Just a few minutes per day (EVERY DAY!), and you'll see rapid progress.

u/camelFace · 1 pointr/Bass

Sorry for the long post -- I don't want to be discouraging, the best times I've ever had were playing or listening to jazz. The feeling is indescribable.

Most importantly:
Getting some lessons from a jazz bass player will help big time. If for nothing other than some direction, a teacher can be a huge help.

On "walking a bassline":
Boiled down, you will be tasked with outlining the chord movement and keeping time by playing (roughly) quarter notes with a slight emphasis on beats 2 and 4, as opposed to 1 and 3.

The rhythm is critically important. You might be the only timekeeper playing at certain points. This doesn't mean you have to always be playing quarters, but you do have to be focused and have solid time: other people will depend on you. You can make embellishments -- the more effective the less frequently they are used -- leave rests, play long notes, imply a different time signature, etc. My favourite part of playing jazz is walking chorus after chorus and jamming on different rhythms with the drummer.

Harmony is your other job. This has to do with note choice. Like your rhythm, this will become more sophisticated with time but start simple. In a small group you'd have more flexibility but big bands will necessitate a straightforward approach: in short, chord-tones are good, avoid-notes are bad. You might need to get comfortable playing in some weird keys but if the band is centred around a horn section, you'll be playing in Bb and Eb a lot. Learn some melodic minor harmony, the m.minor, augmented lydian, and altered chords are all very common sounds in jazz and you'll need to be comfortable navigating these.

Albums to listen to and their bassists:
Miles Davis - So What (Paul Chambers)
Oscar Peterson Trio - Night Train (Ray Brown)
Modern Jazz Quartet - anything at all, these guys are awesome (Percy Heath)
Bill Evans Trio - Waltz for Debbie, Portrait in Jazz (Scott LaFaro) - It feels weird mentioning these guys without also saying something about Sunday at the Village Vanguard, but this is about walking lines and LaFaro was on fucking fire for that recording.
Diana Krall - Live in Paris (John Clayton) - Lots of straight standards, exemplary accompaniment from John Clayton.
Keith Jarrett Trio - Up For It (Gary Peacock)
The Quintet - Jazz at Massey Hall (Charles Mingus) - Superband with Bird, Dizzy, Bud Powell, Max Roach, and ol' Crazy Mingus. Dig the beboppy goodness.
Thelonius Monk Quartet ft. John Coltrane - At Carnegie Hall (Ahmed Abul-Malik)
Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm section (Paul Chambers) Same rhythm section from Miles' "So What," cool recording with egalitarian distribution of solo time fairly ahead of its time, and entirely fueled by heroin.

The albums are all fairly straightforward with plenty of walking going on. You might even be able to find a few at the library and there are plenty of more examples online. Sorry for the lack of electric bassists -- these are all DB players -- but the prevailing variation in jazz is the double bass. Truthfully, a huge part of the sound that characterizes a "walking bass line" (and other ostinato bass lines frequently used in jazz) is the quick note decay of an upright bass. The note envelope is very smooth on an electric bass by comparison and as a result many electric jazz players elect to accompany in some other distinct manner.

Some materials:
Rufus Reid's "The Evolving Bassist," is aimed primarily at new upright jazz bass players. Some of the DB-specific information might be unnecessary but this is absolutely the best instructional material on jazz bass I've ever seen.

Mike Downes' "The Jazz Bass Line Book" is, like you might expect, about making great basslines. Downes is a monster and his book is bitchin'.

tl;dr - This is a big question, and there's no real easy way to answer this. Basically, it's asking "How do jazz bass." Getting started is deceptively simple but great musicians have made their entire careers off of beastly walking.

u/icyplains · 1 pointr/Guitar

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&qid=1393944064&sr=8-1&keywords=fretboard+logic

u/Pandromeda · 1 pointr/explainlikeimfive

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.

u/kaype_ · 1 pointr/guitarlessons

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.

u/jaromdl · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/owenloveslife · 1 pointr/Guitar

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!

u/Erdos_0 · 1 pointr/Guitar

Buy a book called Fretboard Logic it will really help in making things much easier.

u/niandra3 · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/stay_fr0sty · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/eleven_eighteen · 1 pointr/guitarlessons

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.

u/HopefulMusician · 1 pointr/Guitar

>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:

u/jaredks · 1 pointr/Guitar

My favorite is Fretboard Logic.

u/jumpinin66 · 1 pointr/Bass

https://www.amazon.ca/Modern-Walking-Bass-Technique-Richmond/dp/9995982447

This is a great book. It's based on 12 bar blues in several different keys and gradually introduces more concepts. It's a great place to start and will also help if you're new to sight reading.

https://www.amazon.com/Evolving-Bassist-Millennium-Comprehensive-Developing/dp/0967601509

This one too

u/Bassologist · 1 pointr/Bass

The Evolving Bassist by Rufus Reid.

http://www.amazon.com/Evolving-Bassist-Rufus-Reid/dp/0967601509

It started me off reading music 88-89ish, still relevant today. It's a classic.

Sorry I'm so late to the party.

u/rambopr · 1 pointr/Guitar

last year i bought like 3 guitar books. two were mostly theory, but my favorite one was Guitar Aerobics. Its basically a book full of riffs, broken down into 6-7 categories of different mechanical skills (alternate picking, barre chords, rhythm strumming patterns, sweep picking) spread out every week, with backing tracks and sample sound banks of the riff being played. Every day you have something different.

it starts off basing everything on the Am pentatonic and starts building on complexity as it progresses
I didn't really stick to it daily, but i really think it still improved my mechanical abilities a lot. I was basically only using downstrokes to pick but now i find myself naturally alternate picking even across strings.

my favorite aspect of it is that if you don't know how to practice, amd at a certain point in time you only have 10 minutes can open up the book to where you left off, do one of the exercises.

at <15$ on amazon it's cheaper than a guitar lesson but works great for supplementing your spontaneous "i have to learn this song" moments by helping you get the chops to handle harder stuff

u/elodie65 · 1 pointr/guitarlessons

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!

u/butter_ze · 1 pointr/Guitar

There are two books that really helped me piece everything together in terms of music theory and fretboard theory:

  1. Guitar Fretboard Workbook - https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011/186-4219067-7272960?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

    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.

  2. Music Theory for Guitarists: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask - https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465543987&sr=1-1&keywords=guitar+music+theory

    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.
u/hugo4711 · 1 pointr/Guitar

Checkout the Guitar Fretboard Workbook by Barrett Tagliarino - https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011

u/TheCrispito · 1 pointr/Guitar

Just got the Guitar Fretboard Workbook by Barrett Tagliarino so been working through that.

u/u38cg2 · 1 pointr/musictheory

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

u/occult91 · 1 pointr/rocksmith

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&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

u/nonoohnoohno · 1 pointr/Guitar

>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:

  • Guitar Soloing - MI Press
    • if this doesn't resonate with you, substitute another highly regarded book. It has to be a curriculum though, and not a series of licks, or tricks, or techniques.
  • Freboard Workbook - also MI press
    • this is foundational, and well-worth anyone going through.
    • you may be able to go through this quickly if you have a lot of it already down. But do everything it says, studiously. i.e. Say the parts aloud it tells you to say aloud. Play the parts it tells you to play. Most important: Get a pencil and extra neck printouts and work through the parts it tells you to.
    • this book should take a beginner 1-2 years to work through. Breezing through it quicker will result in deficiencies in your understanding and long-term retention of the material. Your time will probably be less, but I point out 1-2 years because if you're being honest with yourself, you won't glance at it and skim past stuff you aren't 110% sure you have down pact.
u/GrrBeck · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/gr8whitesavage · 1 pointr/Guitar

Guitar Fretboard Workbook gave me a great working understanding of the guitar
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011/

u/Hexspa · 1 pointr/musictheory

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.

u/promadpony · 1 pointr/Guitar

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

u/lwp8530 · 1 pointr/Guitar

I imagine it would, he seems like a pretty good teacher and doubt he would leave something as important as that out.

But one book I've heard good things about on this subject is [Music Theory for Guitarists by Tom Kolb] (http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X)

u/david-not-goliath · 1 pointr/Guitar

Kolb is good.

u/Otterpanda · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/debtfreeforme · 1 pointr/Guitar

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&qid=1499878432&sr=8-1&keywords=Tom+Kolb

u/PhiltheguitarmanX · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/jonezy35 · 1 pointr/Guitar

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!

u/TheGlassAct · 1 pointr/Guitar

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

u/AeonOptic · 1 pointr/macdemarco

Hal Leonard Guitar Method Music Theory (Book/Online Audio) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/063406651X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_vGFJzbN555WS0

u/redditfan4sure · 1 pointr/Guitar

This book, Music Theory for Guitarists, might help you.

u/Lerke · 1 pointr/Guitar

Hi, if you're serious about learning theory; consider picking up a book like this one.

u/TheAethereal · 1 pointr/guitarlessons

This is a good book.

u/JoeWalkerGuitar · 1 pointr/guitarlessons

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!

u/krekulon9 · 1 pointr/Guitar

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

u/DerKaiser023 · 1 pointr/Guitar
u/danihendrix · 1 pointr/Guitar
u/theabolitionist · 1 pointr/Guitar
u/UncleBodin · 1 pointr/Guitar

/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.

u/Mad-Mike_R83 · 1 pointr/Luthier

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&ie=UTF8&qid=1473794173&sr=1-1&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.

u/BrettyB88 · 1 pointr/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.

u/sunscapes21 · 1 pointr/Guitar

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

​

u/ZeroEclipse · 1 pointr/Guitar

What is a book equivalent to this, but for bass guitars?
https://www.amazon.ca/Guitar-Handbook-Professional-Acoustic-Electrice/dp/0679742751

u/mooglor · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/carpeggio · 1 pointr/guitarlessons

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.

u/bewareofmolter · 1 pointr/AskMenOver30

Read Zen Guitar.


Listen to OnBeing with Krista Tippett and Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend .


Dig into your Why? with gentleness and love.

u/betaleg · 1 pointr/Guitar

Buy this book.

Read it once a year.

u/VernonDent · 1 pointr/guitarlessons

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.

u/space_owl · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/dnicholsonjr · 1 pointr/Design

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

u/Fendersocialclub · 1 pointr/Bass

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.

u/happy_noodle · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/diggerB · 1 pointr/Guitar

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&ie=UTF8&qid=1375205950&sr=1-1&keywords=zen+guitar

u/YouFuckingRetard · 1 pointr/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.

u/dirkdice · 1 pointr/Bass

It sounds like you're doing everything right to set yourself up for success. As someone else mentioned, you can use one finger (many of the greats did), but if a pick works, stick with (many of the greats did this, too). I personally have to recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/Bass-Fitness-Exercising-Handbook-Guitar/dp/0793502489 . It's boring, but if you start slow and build up you speed with these exercises, you'll get the dexterity you're looking for.

u/Belgand · 1 pointr/Bass

Both Bass Aerobics and Bass Fitness are aimed at helping with these sorts of things.

Fitness can be very dry and is more of an exercise book with, in my opinion, lots of basic patterns then stretched out. Personally I don't need tab/score to say "play 1-2-3-4, 1-3-4-2, etc. until you go through every possibler iteration of fingering across every string", but it has that sort of exercises along with others.

Aerobics, on the other hand, is trying to be much more musical. Each etude is intended to be both exercise along with actually sounding like something. So, for example, it starts off by using pieces that consist of a lot of chromatic runs. The problem is that the speed and difficulty tend to ramp up pretty fast and it devotes what I feel is far too much space to slap. The later chapters are far more challenging than I feel is necessary. I'd suggest more of a low-stress, high-rep approach personally.

Oh and to get back to what I mentioned earlier one of the exercises I keep coming back to is to go through every iteration of fingering in a one-finger-per-fret position, e.g. 1-2-3-4, 1-3-4-2, 1-4-2-3, 2-4-3-1, etc. then start moving those across the strings with first one and then multiple fingers always playing on one string while the others move up and down:

E --1--2--3--4--1-----------1---------
A -----------------2--3--4------------
D -----------------------------2--3--4
G -------------------------------------

Work through this and eventually you'll have covered every possible fingering. As always use a metronome to keep your timing consistent starting slow to build up muscle memory and then slowly increasing the speed.

u/andresonbass · 1 pointr/Bass

Check out Bass Fitness. I scanned this a while ago, but I dunno if I still have the file around. Pretty awesome for finger strength and independence.

u/HeyGirlsItsPete · 1 pointr/Bass

If anybody here is looking for a good list of warmups and exercises to do to build up speed, accuracy, and finger strength, I strongly recommend checking out this book.

u/jdch28 · 1 pointr/BassGuitar

Short answer: Practice.

​

Not so short one: Practice. Practice. Practice.


The Spider exercise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6qAay10W8g

​

There are like a trillion variations for The Spider, but that'll give you an idea. That kind of exercises are great for training fingers, just make sure to practice them slowly (with a metronome, dammit) and to avoid taking your fingers off the fingerboard once you fret the next note on a string (that will avoid two things: flying fingers and that karate chop thingy you mentioned). Notice how the guy in the vid is fingering them.

​

I also recommend the Bass Fitness book for training those fingers.

u/ZombieRitual · 1 pointr/Bass

I wouldn't normally recommend a book, but Bass Fitness has the perfect exercises for getting your left hand fingers to get used to moving independently. If money's tight, just take a look at the first few pages on amazon and you can get an idea of what the exercises are. Play even just those first few chromatic patterns up and down the neck again with a metronome and your motor control should start to shape up pretty quickly.

u/bucklaughlin57 · 1 pointr/Bass

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.

u/Kinetic_Static · 1 pointr/musictheory

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.

u/maroonblazer · 1 pointr/Bass

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.

u/anderfin · 1 pointr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

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

u/skipsinclair · 1 pointr/doublebass

“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.

u/Beastintheomlet · 1 pointr/musictheory

I can say as a fellow bassist that my big first step into undstanding and using theorywas when I got Real Book and started doing walking bass lines between chords. Walking basslines are really one of the places where understanding chords is really important on bass because we are playing more than just the root or the fifth.

When it comes deeper understanding of harmony and chords, it kills me to say this, it's helpful to know how to play just a little guitar or even better some piano as you can start to connect the sound and movement or chords better by playing them. Bass, while being the supreme instrument, isn't a chordal instrument. We can play chords on bass but it's really not the same as how they sound on chordal instruments.

If you need help on how to get to started on walking bass lines I've heard good things about the Book Building Walking Bass Lines.

u/TheNinjaLord · 1 pointr/Bass

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)

u/Gefiltefish1 · 1 pointr/Bass

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.

u/elbows2nose · 1 pointr/basslessons

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


u/AzraelVerusLucifer · 1 pointr/Bass

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&qid=1480454305&sr=8-1&keywords=hal+leonard+bass+method

u/Nohoshi · 1 pointr/Bass

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.

u/frenchst · 1 pointr/Guitar
u/d3singh · 1 pointr/Luthier

I decided to make a guitar last December, and I have no prior woodworking or handyman knowledge. I used the Cumpiano book, which gives instructions on how to build a steel string and a classical guitar.

I am now pretty much done my guitar (a classical), just doing the french polishing steps, so I can tell you from experience that that book will tell you exactly what to do, albeit you'll need to apply some common sense now and again.

One thing I will mention is that I had to buy a fair amount of tools, mainly chisels, planes, rasps, sharpening equipment, etc. The book also tells you what you need to buy.

u/DarkHollowDulcimers · 1 pointr/woodworking

Stewmac sells plans, as does GAL.

Ukulele would definitely be easier for a first build.

Guitarmaking by Cumpiano and Natelson is The Book with all the info needed to build classical and steel-string acoustics with either dovetailed or pinned neck joints..

​

​

u/megasota · 1 pointr/woodworking

I built one using this book

http://www.amazon.com/GUITARMAKING-Guitar-Reference-Jonathan-Natelson/dp/0811806405

Its really a great walkthrough with nice pictures and descriptions. I really didn't need any major power tools either.

u/mmmguitar · 1 pointr/Guitar

Look on amazon for a general book on guitars, for example

Should be good enough. See my reply about scientific process, its what your teacher is doing.

In this instance the information is quite obvious but the exercise is still important.

This is the sort of level of info that you don't find really in scientific papers etc / a little more difficult.

However, a decent book on guitars will be a reliable enough source.

u/NakedSnack · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/Stargaters · 1 pointr/Music

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).

u/xeqtioner0 · 1 pointr/Guitar

I've been using this book and it's been amazing.

u/YouLuckyAsshole · 1 pointr/guitarlessons

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

u/Killybee · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/MyVeryOwnRedditAcco · 1 pointr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

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.

u/PunkJackal · 1 pointr/musictheory

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.

u/Neztok · 1 pointr/CoFmachine

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.

u/degenk · 1 pointr/Guitar

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

u/RedWire75 · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/semper_ortus · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/Calico_Dick_Fringe · 1 pointr/ukulele

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.

u/House8675 · 1 pointr/Guitar

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

u/burkholderia · 1 pointr/Bass

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.

u/Chumkil · 1 pointr/rocksmith

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.

u/malignant_logic · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/SynapticSpam · 1 pointr/IWantToLearn

This book has been a great help. It covers everything from changing strings to major repairs.

u/seeyoucreepin · 1 pointr/Luthier

This book will be a life saver for any basic DIY repair.

u/pixelbaron · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/toxicvarn90 · 1 pointr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

>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.

u/neocontra · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/Leumasperron · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/zuldar · 1 pointr/Guitar

Thanks. I have some on his books on my Amazon wishlist. Do you happen to know how the book you suggested compare to this one of his?
http://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Electric-Guitar-Great/dp/0879309989/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

u/sosomething · 1 pointr/Guitar

Buy this book, read it, and don't look back.

It's all in there and the author does a fantastic job of explaining everything. Basically the guitar setup bible. Excellent resource and very highly regarded.

I recommend getting this one and sticking to it (rather than, say, watching bunch of YouTube videos) because there is a ton of misinformation out there from well-meaning but misinformed people that will waste your time at best and jack up your guitar at worst.

u/EarhornJones · 1 pointr/Guitar

I always recommend dropping $25 on this book.

It's an easy read, and gives you a great understanding of intonation, string height, truss rod adjustments, etc. The more you know about your instrument, the better you can make it suit your needs.

u/TelevisionAntichrist · 1 pointr/Guitar

In lieu of a big spiel, buy this book.

The Advancing Guitarist

u/bighoooz · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/Entasis · 1 pointr/Guitar

The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick

u/slimjimcharles · 1 pointr/Guitar

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

u/Wild_Blue_Skies · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/NotRightMusic · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/flowm3ga · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/hacocacyb · 1 pointr/Bass

This book also called Standing in the Shadows of Motown is about him with notations and a CD that has bass in one ear and the band in the other.
http://www.amazon.com/Standing-Shadows-Motown-Legendary-Jamerson/dp/0881888826

u/guitar2adam · 1 pointr/guitarlessons

Pumping Nylon is a terrific finger exercise book for left hand and right hand, which I think translates well to all guitar styles.

u/BroseppeVerdi · 1 pointr/classicalguitar

I've known a number of players who sort of consider Scott Tennant's "Pumping Nylon" to be sort of a classical guitar technique bible. I found the speed burst exercises very helpful, myself. The Segovia scales and Christopher Parkening's method books were also somewhat ubiquitous when I was a young player... maybe not like "Hanon" ubiquitous, but very common.

Edit: Added links

u/rufusdog · 1 pointr/Guitar
u/Russia-On-Ice · 1 pointr/Guitar
u/mtg4l · 1 pointr/musictheory

I gather you're on guitar? Two great books by Ted Greene come to mind

Chord Chemistry will give you tons of ideas for new and exciting progressions.

Modern Chord Progressions will show you how much can be done with simple progressions. This one has something like 300 examples for a I vi ii V progression for instance, and they all sound very different. It's a little intimidating at first with the finger stretching but really eye opening as to what can be done on the fretboard.

u/Bbaily · 1 pointr/Guitar
u/andystructible · 1 pointr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

I know the contest is over... but if your friend is really into guitar:

http://www.amazon.com/Chord-Chemistry-Ted-Greene/dp/0898986966/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368203141&sr=8-1&keywords=ted+greene

It's a book that guitar legends like Tommy Emmanuel recommends. Here's a clip of Tommy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lbvSBNLLoo

u/jrcoop88 · 1 pointr/woodworking

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.

  1. Dimensioning- taking rough lumber to surfaced. Three options are buying presurfaced, using a jointer and planer, or using hand planes. For this step I would go with buying rough lumber and using the jointer and planer at school to surface the wood to size. Presurface lumber would be my second option. It would save you time but be more expensive. While I love hand planes I feel like for buliding a guitar your money could be better spent elsewhere.
  2. Laminating- both the body and neck. Wide boards are more expensive so the body you would probably end up laminating. The neck might also be as well depending on your preference. Get some clamps(you’ll need them) and do the glue up on your own. Just make sure you have enough.
  3. Cutting out the body- options are band saw, router with template, jigsaw, or turning saw. If it were me I would make a template at school then roughly cut out the shape on a band saw at school I would then buy a router and flush trim bit to get the guitar to the exact shape at home. You could do it with just the band saw or jig saw if you are careful. Frame saws are great but will cost more than a jig saw.
  4. Routing pick-up cavities- like the step suggests a router is best for this. If you get a router make sure it has a plundge base. This is also best done with a template to get exactly what you want. You can do this step with chisels which might be cheaper but as the next step will show you should probably get a router.
  5. Routing the neck pocket- This step should really be done with a router. It will give you the most precise cut and you dont want to mess up the neck angle because then you will have issues with the action. Chisles could be used but I still don’t trust myself with chisles enough to do that.
  6. Shaping the neck- here is where hand tools shine. Either spokeshave, rasps or both. finish with sand paper.
  7. Headstock- it is a bit more difficult to tell tools without knowing if you want a fender style vs gibson. You could do any of the shaping with a coping saw though. For the tuners it would be best to drill the holes with a drill press. Brace and bit could be used if care is taken.
  8. Shaping the body. There are some options for the body’s edge i.e. round over, binding ect. but if you want any countour for the arm or belly it will be spoke shave and or rasp again.
  9. Finger board inlay- drill press, hand drill, or brace for round. Chisles for trapezoids
  10. Fretting- Quality back saw would be your best bet. Making a jig for accuracy would help.

    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.
u/jczik · 1 pointr/Guitar

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!

u/GrandMasterC · 1 pointr/Guitar

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!!!

u/6stringnightmare · 1 pointr/Luthier

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.

u/diabeticninja · 1 pointr/Guitar

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.

u/MrCaptainJorgensen · 1 pointr/Guitar

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

u/ChuckEye · 1 pointr/Bass

Chuck Sher's The Improvisor's Bass Method: For Electric & Acoustic Bass is good.

Honestly, my usual recommendation is to buy a keyboard and try to take some piano lessons. The ideas of theory translate really well to keys. Then once you understand them well, you can transfer that knowledge to other instruments.

u/Tabian · 1 pointr/IWantToLearn

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.

u/cpk33 · 0 pointsr/Guitar

its important to learn fundamentals first... know where every C is on the neck and D and so on... then learn how the major scale maps onto the fretboard and slide it around for different keys and modes.

From there you can make up your own arpeggios and improvise using them instead of copying what others have done.

I highly recommend The Guitar Grimoire. It can get redundant, but there's a lot to learn in that book.

u/Angrycrow · 0 pointsr/musictheory

The guitar grimiore really opened my mind to music theory for the guitar.
http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0825821711
It has charts for scales that you will never need and the opening chapters go over music theory in a really dry and simple fashion. I found mine at a used book store. The best thing about it is understanding intervals by mainly focusing on half steps. This book isn't good for other instruments. But if you stick to the charts you get a real good feel for how these arrangements of intervals sound AND good muscle memory practice for your fingers.

u/ateamm · 0 pointsr/Luthier

This is a great reference for setups How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great I just got kindle on my phone and bought it for $10. It has general factory setups and setup of some famous players.

u/Loitering-inc · 0 pointsr/Guitar

I started guitar really late in life and as such, my hand dexterity was really shit. Guitar Aerobics is helping out a lot with increasing my fretting accuracy and speed. I still struggle with the max speed in the individual exercises, but i have noticed improvement week over week.

It's not a cure all and while it may expose areas where you have technique deficits, it won't really be able to tell you what to do to correct it. On the other hand, it's a good addition to and a good warm up in a longer practice session. It's well structured and covers a different technique each day of the week, each week building on the last. It's was definitely worth the $15.

I ripped the CDs that come with it and put them on my phone which made it much easier to use them too. The play along drum tracks are a nice alternative to a metronome.

u/colorsandshapes · 0 pointsr/AskReddit

Buy this book. It totally demystifies the guitar. You can't develop dexterity and technique without practice, practice, practice, and this book will give you the motivate you too do just that.

http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060

u/padraigf · 0 pointsr/Guitar

I'm working through Troy Nelson's Guitar Aerobics at the moment, and it's really excellent. What makes it is the structure: 365 exercises, one for each day of the year. The techniques repeat on each day of the week. e.g. Monday is always an alternate-picking exercise, Wednesday is always a string-bending exercise, etc. The exercises build on each other, they start off easy and get progressively more difficult. But they do so in an incremental and logical way so you don't feel lost (at least I'm not so far, 6 weeks in).

I'm finding it great to help nail the various techniques....you practice a 2-bar hammer-on lick for half an hour, you'll get the technique pretty well down. Whereas if it was part of a longer song, it'd be easy to half-ass it and move on to the next bit before you'd really got it right.

The structure of the book, where you have your practice plan laid out for you for the next year, is a good motivator too.

u/c3dries · 0 pointsr/Guitar

I am 21 (well, almost) and I've been playing guitar for two years now. This is how I went about it. I am in no way claiming this to be the best or most efficient way to learn though. First, I learned the major chords: D, A, G, F, E, and so on (I just googled "major chords"). I constantly played them whether it was while watching TV or sitting down and focusing on it. At the same time, I looked up tabs to music I enjoyed. One of the first pieces I learned was "Green Eyes" by Coldplay. It's a great one because it's got pretty much all the basic chords (and a lady killer if I may say so ;). Also if you take a look at the top 100 tabs on Ultimate-Guitar, those are some good pieces to learn not only because they are good songs, but you'll learn a lot about playing guitar in the process. After about six or so months of this, I really wanted to jam, so I began learning scales. I began with a natural scale, then moved on to memorizing the pentatonic scales. I'm still working on that actually! I recently also ordered this book to help get more comfortable as well as a theory book. At the same time as learning all the scales and things I'm constantly looking up tabs, trying to pick up pieces by ear, and all around fiddling with my guitar! If I ever get frustrated, I put that bad boy down and do something else. Been playing for two years now almost every day and I love it. Just take it slow and easy.

Edit: Grammer

u/a-distorted-reality · 0 pointsr/Guitar

https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484811349&sr=1-1&keywords=music+theory+guitar someone recommended this to me years ago and it actually helped me a lot, even moreso than theory classes I took in high school/college. it's a really quick and efficient way to progress. youtube videos are ok but you might want something more structured and organized with specific exercises meant to train you to identify different concepts

edit: also the [circle of fifths] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths) is your friend