Not useless for musicians part II (spinoff thread)

brokenstrings · Post by **brokenstrings** » Friday Oct 19, 2007

Good thread, Knowing a little theory will help you write songs in a big way. I hate writing music when your just stabbing away at different chords trying to figure what works. The theory is like a road map.

brokenstrings · Post by **brokenstrings** » Friday Oct 19, 2007

I constantly use the minor and major pentatonic in improvisation. I have found several notes that don't fit the scale, but manage to sound amazing in the correct part. I have several different "pet patterns" that I use as well.

Knowing this gives me total freedom in a guitar solo or fill. I used to learn solos note for note as in the recordings which really took a lot of time and was kinda monkey see monkey do. I prefer to put my own spin on a song especially during the solos.

MeYatch · Post by **MeYatch** » Friday Oct 19, 2007

you should try changing the pentatonic scale to match the different modes as I outlined on page one. I'd like to hear what it sounds like.

brokenstrings · Post by **brokenstrings** » Friday Oct 19, 2007

I really should get off my ass and hit the books again. I was screwing around with the Phrygian mode some months back and it had a kinda Santana spanish feel. Worked great sometimes, but over some things it sounded like total clams.

Banned · Post by **Banned** » Friday Oct 19, 2007

I like to use modes as a musical "flavoring", at least for improv. Stick with straightforward stuff mostly, but toss in some characteristic modal notes to spice it up, like the Phrygian minor 2nd. Kind of like finding that chunk of ham in your beans. Then you're all like, "hella cool, a chunk of ham, bro. Score."

metalchurch · Post by **metalchurch** » Friday Oct 19, 2007

Jimi, that's the best ever!

whitedevilone · Post by **whitedevilone** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

KICKASS BOOK: Al Di Meola & Bob Aslanian's A guide to chords,scales, & apeggios.If you're serious about improving & can spare 30-45 mins a day to your Ax this book is the shit.Cost about $15 and everything is layed out in lesson form.I've had it for over 10 years and it never seems to fail me.Sight reading is required but mostly for the scales so it's pretty easy to figure out.It's a Di Meola program so it's sink or swim type of lesson book but it's well worth it.

ToonaRockGuy · Post by **ToonaRockGuy** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

You could digest and learn all this...

...or become a drummer.

Gallowglass · Post by **Gallowglass** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

whitedevilone wrote:KICKASS BOOK: Al Di Meola & Bob Aslanian's A guide to chords,scales, & apeggios.If you're serious about improving & can spare 30-45 mins a day to your Ax this book is the shit.Cost about $15 and everything is layed out in lesson form.I've had it for over 10 years and it never seems to fail me.Sight reading is required but mostly for the scales so it's pretty easy to figure out.It's a Di Meola program so it's sink or swim type of lesson book but it's well worth it.

It hasn't failed me either. BTW, spend the extra $10-15 and get a metronome too.

whitedevilone · Post by **whitedevilone** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

God ain't that the truth!!!!I ask dudes if they practice with a metronome and they look at me as if i've asked thier mom out LOL!!One of the truest ways to log your progress.Ckick,click,click,click.....

Michael Troy · Post by **Michael Troy** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

A wise man once said...

"Play with your ears...and if it SOUNDS good, it IS good"

Michael Troy · Post by **Michael Troy** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

whitedevilone wrote:God ain't that the truth!!!!I ask dudes if they practice with a metronome and they look at me as if i've asked thier mom out LOL!!One of the truest ways to log your progress.Ckick,click,click,click.....

...lol yeah, absolutely. To quote another wise man..."The metronome is GOD!!"

whitedevilone · Post by **whitedevilone** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

Got mine click,click,clicking away right now.

Michael Troy · Post by **Michael Troy** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

Gallowglass wrote:
It hasn't failed me either. BTW, spend the extra $10-15 and get a metronome too.

You dont even have to blow any cash (though I own one as well)
Sometime I'll use this online one when I need a louder click thru my computer monitors.
http://www.metronomeonline.com/index.php?style=cool

whitedevilone · Post by **whitedevilone** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

Now that's cool shit!

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

I come from the Jeff Berlin school of bass. I hate metronomes!

Jeff B. urges you to say "no" to the metronome. LOL

Michael Troy · Post by **Michael Troy** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

bassist_25 wrote: I hate metronomes!

Its a Love/hate relationship for me lol....It really works wonders but OMG do I hate the sound of

CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK...

MeYatch · Post by **MeYatch** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

whitedevilone wrote:KICKASS BOOK: Al Di Meola & Bob Aslanian's A guide to chords,scales, & apeggios.If you're serious about improving & can spare 30-45 mins a day to your Ax this book is the shit.Cost about $15 and everything is layed out in lesson form.I've had it for over 10 years and it never seems to fail me.Sight reading is required but mostly for the scales so it's pretty easy to figure out.It's a Di Meola program so it's sink or swim type of lesson book but it's well worth it.

Does this book start out simple enough that I can teach myself to sight read with it as well? Also, I assume this is a book for guitar, and is probably written in treble clef. What use is it going to be to me to learn to read treble clef?

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

MeYatch wrote:What use is it going to be to me to learn to read treble clef?

IMO, any well-rounded musician should be able to read both. It's not very hard really. Everything is just one ledger higher on treble cleft than it is on bass cleft.

MeYatch · Post by **MeYatch** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

I want to learn to sight read, but then I think if I ever invested the time to get decent at it, I'd just get rusty again, because I can't think of any use I'd have for it. Other than just go out and buy sheet music and play show tunes for the fuck of it.

Gallowglass · Post by **Gallowglass** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

MeYatch wrote:I want to learn to sight read, but then I think if I ever invested the time to get decent at it, I'd just get rusty again, because I can't think of any use I'd have for it. Other than just go out and buy sheet music and play show tunes for the fuck of it.

Learning to sight read is a great tool, but more than that in my experience if you ever want to seriously compose for more than just your instrument you will have to learn to read and write in both clefts. I never really realized how important reading & writing music was until I started transcribing our songs to paper. Weird shit came out of it like, "Are we really playing in 17/8 (yep, we were)", figuring out if stuff like time signatures and actual note durations is invaluable. Again, a metronome helps.

MeYatch · Post by **MeYatch** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

I have been composing in guitar pro, its kind of like sheet music for retards. I can control the note duration like actual music, and the actual music is displayed, but I can put the notes in with tab.

I know how to read rhythm notation (I used to play drums in school) and I understand how to read music, I've just never had any call to practice it to the point where I'd be any good at it at all.

Gallowglass · Post by **Gallowglass** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

Guitar Pro is awesome. It's really good for hearing if what you're trancribing actually sounds like what you've put down. If you want a great excercise, next time you compose use the standard notation at the bottom instead of tabs. After that, you might want to go back and adjust the automatic fingering for the tab section, because it tends to put everything as close to the open position as possible (which isn't automatically the best way to finger a riff, especially if you'r thinking legato etc.)

Merge · Post by **Merge** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

Is there a free version of Guitar Pro??

Banned · Post by **Banned** » Saturday Oct 20, 2007

Gallowglass wrote:
MeYatch wrote:I want to learn to sight read, but then I think if I ever invested the time to get decent at it, I'd just get rusty again, because I can't think of any use I'd have for it. Other than just go out and buy sheet music and play show tunes for the fuck of it.
Learning to sight read is a great tool, but more than that in my experience if you ever want to seriously compose for more than just your instrument you will have to learn to read and write in both clefts. I never really realized how important reading & writing music was until I started transcribing our songs to paper. Weird shit came out of it like, "Are we really playing in 17/8 (yep, we were)", figuring out if stuff like time signatures and actual note durations is invaluable. Again, a metronome helps.

J, what song is in 17/8 time? I'm trying to guess, but no luck.