Playing Good Guitar

1. With the music playing, make a list of all the instruments you can hear. There could be: drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, piano, synthesizer, trumpet, saxophone, violins, vocals(singing) etc. Using headphones may make things clearer. Make a note of how many of each there are, and if any have effects added, e.g. distortion, delay(echo) etc

2. Listen through again following only one instrument. Is it playing all the time? Is it carrying the tune or supporting it? Is its part mainly melodic (a tune), harmonic (chords) or rhythmic?

3. Try humming or tapping along with the instrument you are listening to, regardless of what the others are doing

4. Do this for each instrument in turn

5. Now go down your list and try to switch your attention from instrument to instrument at will. This takes practice, but is a very important skill to develop

HOW TO: PLAY BY EAR - 1. FIND THE TONIC AND KEY

[Before you start, make sure your guitar is in tune]

1.To start with, ask your teacher or check Total Guitar for the key. Play the tonic (the note the key is named after) on your guitar along with the CD, and hum it too. This is the note that all the melody(tune) and harmony(chords) are based on.

2. Once you have a feel for the tonic, try working it out yourself, like this:
Put the CD on, then stop it and imagine the end of the song (one of those 'big endings' that bands do live). Now hum the last note they would play. Keep humming it while you try and find it on your guitar - if it's a note you don't yet know, look it up on a fingerboard chart. Check it against the CD and repeat the process until you're happy you've got the right note
Practice doing this with lots of different songs, and check your answers each time with your teacher or Total Guitar

3. Find out if the key is major or minor - With the CD on, play the note 3 frets higher than the tonic, then the note 4 frets higher than the tonic - one will fit the music much better than the other. 3 frets (known as a minor 3rd), and the tune is in a minor key, 4 frets (major 3rd) and it's in a major key. For example, if you've worked out the tonic to be E, and the note 3 frets higher fits best, then the song is in E Minor. To check, play the tonic chord as major and minor and see which fits best

HOW TO: PLAY BY EAR - 2. MELODIES YOU KNOW

1. Once you've decided what the key is, learn the scale

2. Play the tonic chord (the chord with the same name as the tonic note) and hum the first note of the melody. Is it the tonic? (check with your guitar) If it isn't, keep humming and play up the scale until you find the note

3. Hum the first 2 notes of the melody. Play the first note, then ask yourself whether it goes up or down from there. Is it a small step? - then try the next note in the scale. If it's a bigger step, then keep going until you find it

4. Keep going like this until you've figured out the whole thing

5. As you do more of this, you will find that you start to recognize the scale notes - here are some tunes that start on different notes in the major scale to help you

Tonic - 'Frere Jacques'
2nd - 'Yesterday' (the Beatles)
3rd - '3 Blind Mice'
4th - 'Never Had A Dream Come True'
5th - 'London' Burning'
6th - 'Please Mr Postman'
7th - 'Best of My Love'(Eagles)

HOW TO: PLAY BY EAR - 3. CHORDS

Some Essential Theory

Chords are made by taking a note and adding the note a 3rd above it (2 steps up the scale) and the note a 3rd above that (2 more steps up the scale). For example, make a chord of C by starting with the note c, counting 2 steps up the scale of C major (c d e f g a b c) to e, then another 2 to g. So C=ceg - on your guitar play a chord of C and check what each note is

You can make a chord from every note in the scale by adding notes in 3rds - eg F=fac, G=gbd etc. Chords are numbered by the note in the scale they're made from - so in the key of C, C is chord I, F is chord IV and G is chord V (use Roman numerals). Play chords I, IV, V, IV in the key of C on your guitar (Wild Thing)

Now we'll change key to G (scale = g a b c d e f# g) Chord I is G, what are chords IV and V?(just count up the notes in the scale)

Now play Wild Thing (chords I, IV, V, IV) in the key of G. Compare this with Wild Thing in C (play them a few times each). Now any song using chords I, IV and V in the key of C you could play in the key of G. Now play Wild Thing in the keys of D and A

Last Point Some chords are minor - it depends on the distance from the first note in the chord to the next one. 3 frets and it's minor, 4 and it's major. eg key of C: chord I = ceg, c to e is 4 frets (try it), so it's a major chord. However, chord ii = dfa, d to f is only 3 frets, so it's minor (Dm). Major chords are written in capitals (I IV V), and minor in lower case (ii iii vi)

1. Work out the tonic and key

2. Learn the chords for that key - or at least chords I, IV, V and vi

3. Many songs start with chord I, so play it on your guitar, then start the CD and compare the first chord - is it the same?

3. Hearing the chords. Try listening to the Bass, as in rock music this often plays the root note of the chord

4. For each chord, play through as far as you've got, then try and hum the bass note of the next chord while you find it on your guitar. Work your way through chords I - vii in the key until you find a match. If you can't, other possibilities are - bVII, the chord 2 frets down from chord I (eg C in the key of Dmajor), bIII (eg C in the key of A major) and bV (Bb in the key of E)

5. Many songs use the same chord changes - in the Tin Pan Alley days, common changes were given names like 'Sears Roebuck' (a department store) and 'Ice Cream Changes' (I vi IV V). Try and spot these in songs you know. Some Common Changes are:

I V IV - Yellow, Brimful of Asha, Breakfast at Tiffany's
I IV V IV - Summer nights, Hang on Sloopy, Louie Louie, You've lost that lovin' feelin', The joker, Wild thing
i VI III VII - Save tonight, One of us
I vi IV V - Stand by me, Every breath you take
I V IV - First date, 3 steps to Heaven
I V vi IV - Torn, So lonely, Fall at your feet, No woman no cry, Since you've been gone
I V I IV - Teenage dirtbag, Fat lip
i VII VI VII - All along the watchtower, Stairway to Heaven, Don't fear the reaper, Blurry

HOW TO: COPY RECORDED MUSIC ON YOUR GUITAR

Key | Chords | Riffs | Licks | Transcription | Using It

This is a crucial skill that all musicians need to work at - all the greats spend a lot of time doing this - it is the one common thread that comes up again and again in interviews - Van Halen learning Clapton, Clapton learning Buddy Guy, Buddy Guy Learning T-Bone Walker and so on, back and back. Each musician takes what they want from recordings of those that went before and makes their own thing from it

I would recommend making this a regular habit - remember that trial and error play a big part in all this to start with, so stick at it

It's a good idea to transfer the bit that you want to copy to a cassette, loop it on your CD player if possible, or, if you have a guitar FX pedal, see if it has a lick/riff sampler function which will record a short section of music and play it back more slowly

In the meantime, here's a tune to copy a bar at a time. Each section uses 3 notes on 1 string, all in the key of Em, with a Nirvana type backing. Don't worry about the sound quality from the Midifile, just get the pitches right. There's an 8 bar intro, then start on string 1

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The Key - play the tape and sing the tonic (note 1 in the scale),then find it on your guitar. Now play the tonic chord along with the music and decide whether it's major or minor

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The Changes - do the chords remind you of a pattern we have covered in class? (Perhaps only part of it) If so, then work out what they will be in this key, and try them against the music. If not, then start from the key chord(chord I), and try related chords - ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii, or bVII until you hit it

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Riffs - are there any repeated patterns in the music? Just get the starting note on your guitar to begin with. Then decide if it goes up or down from there, and whether it is a small or large jump. Experiment on your guitar till you find the note, then keep adding until you have the whole thing. Look out for scales, arpeggios(chords one note at a time), pedal notes(the same note recurring), and sequences(similar patterns of notes at different pitches) - this goes for solos as well

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Licks - most solos are built up from licks, so try to break any complicated parts down into its constituent licks. Guitar players nick these from each other over the years and use them again and again - especially when improvising. If you work on a particular guitar player, you will soon get to recognize their favorite ones

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Transcription - it may help to write down the notes as you work them out, either in tab or conventional notation. Remember though, these are only temporary aids - to be able to use licks etc in your own playing, you must learn them by heart, and practice them in every key

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Using It - Once you have learned a particular lick or solo, make it part of your own music by putting it in everywhere you can - especially when jamming on other tunes. Don't get stuck being only able to reproduce it as part of the original song. Admittedly, this is more difficult, but it is ultimately much more satisfying, and who knows, your ripped off licks could be the vital ingredient in your next platinum-selling album(especially if you play them faster and louder than anyone else - after all, isn't that what rock's all about? - ask Nigel Tufnell)

When you think you've got it, or if you get stuck, ask your teacher

And finally - don't be discouraged if this seems hard at first. The more you do it, the easier it will become; just by trying you will learn a huge amount about music and the way it is put together - which you can then use in your own music.

HOW TO: FORM A BAND

Form a band | Repertoire | Rehearsing | Performing | Jamming | Timing | Recording

The standard rock lineup is guitar, bass, drums and vocals, but any combination is possible, as long as it provides rhythm, melody and harmony - that is, a beat, a tune and some chords. Strummed guitar can provide both harmony and rhythm, so just add a melody and you're there. Actually, just acoustic guitar and electric lead sound good together. As a rule, the smaller the band, the easier it is to organize rehearsals, hear each other, transport gear, work out arrangements and avoid arguments - plus you get a bigger share of any money you make

Bands generally form in 3 ways, take your pick - 1. You wake up one morning with an urge to be Kurt Cobain (but alive) and start looking for a bass player and a drummer. 2. You join a band that already exists but whose guitar player has swapped his guitar for an N64. 3. A group of mates just mysteriously coalesce and say 'Let's form a band - you can be the bass player'(no one ever says 'I'll be the bass player') With all of these, be flexible, so that everyone gets to play some of the music they like - you can't be too choosy about repertoire at this stage - just getting started is the important thing

Rehearsing Top

Where? Unless you have a soundproof detached house and deaf neighbors, you can't really rehearse at home or in the garage. Your school music department is a better bet, or you should be able to hire a local church hall/scout hut cheaply/free if you ask the vicar nicely

Prepare Make sure you have the chords/words with you, and practice your tricky solo bits beforehand. Make sure everyone in the band has a copy of the songs you want to do - and listen to them for the week before, especially for the songs the other band members chose, and you don't know so well

Goals It's easy to waste time when rehearsing, so set clear goals, e.g. "We're going to learn these 3 songs in the next 2 hours" and stick to them

Setting up is everyone's job - don't plug in and start playing while the singer is still unloading the PA - cut setting up time and make everyone feel good by doing your bit - you are a band, so Let's Work Together

Golden rule No. 1 is Don't noodle - play unaccompanied solos while you're waiting - you can do this at home, or after everyone has left

To warm up, have a jam on a tune you're all familiar with

Repertoire Top

Whatever style you play, think about your audience and put at least a few crowd pleasers in - generally the last number in the famous band's live set(eg Enter Sandman, if you play metal)

Performing Top

A massive subject - I'll add to this when I have time, but the most important thing is to enjoy what you do, and communicate this to your audience - whether this is by leaping about or by being moody and magnificent is up to you. Really get into your performance, and they will too

Jamming Top

Jamming is fun, makes the band 'tight' and is a chance to try out all those tricky licks you've been working on at home. You'll get more out of it with these simple tips

Record Everything!

Listen/Communicate listen to the whole effect, not just your bit, and try and respond to what's going on - dynamics, intensity, musical ideas, etc. (eg try 'answering' a phrase from the soloist or copying the rhythm of a drum fill) You can also use hand/body signals - hand down means 'quieter', guitar head up means 'get ready to end' etc

Share the solos - give everyone a go (even the bass player), and don't muscle in after one chorus if they look like they want to continue. Make the soloist sound good by 'appropriate accompaniment' - turn down or even off so they can be heard clearly, and respond to what they do - while they are soloing, they are the leader and you are the rhythm section and follow their musical direction

Vary the dynamics - don't just play flat out all the time, try taking it right down, then back up again (it worked for Nirvana), and the band should follow you

Develop material - many bands start off with a musical fragment - a riff, chord change, etc - and jam on it until it becomes something useable. Be prepared to stop and start to pick out the good bits, and Record everything

Timing Top

This is the key to a great band - what they used to call 'swing', nowadays 'groove'. To develop this, try setting up a simple groove and playing it until it sounds good on its own - anything else is just decoration. The bass and drums should lock together as one solid unit - listen to Sly and Robbie, John Bonham/John Paul Jones(Led Zeppelin), Wendell Marshall/Butch Ballard(Duke Ellington), Rad and Zia(Ozric Tentacles) and James Brown's rhythm section

Recording Top

As a rule, record everything, you can always wipe it later. It will give you an idea of what you sound like and what you need to work on, and in future be a record of how much you have improved, and a source of happy memories! (Also handy as a source of samples) If you record on Minidisk, the quality can be good enough to use on an album.

HOW TO: MEMORIZE MUSIC

We have all heard of people that have memorized the entire telephone directory, or all 48 preludes and fugues of Bach's Well tempered Clavier - these people's brains aren't any different from ours, it's just that they practice memorizing things, and the more you do it, the better you get. Before people could read, it was commonplace to commit things to memory - poetry and music, stories, history and lists of ancestors - that we would now write down, so people became good at it. You have the same apparatus as them, just waiting to be put to use! Here's how:

1. Break the music down into small sections - a couple of bars at most

2. Concentrate on one section at a time

3. Start off slowly and gradually increase speed to correct tempo - a metronome will help here

4. Once you have learned the individual sections, put the piece back together by working on two sections together, then 3 etc

4. Constantly test yourself - only look at the music when you get stuck, and then only long enough to correct your mistake

5. Start with a different section each time - otherwise you learn the start really well, and the end not at all - sometimes start at the end

6. Play it in front of an audience at every opportunity - for some reason this really makes it stick

How To: Compose

HOW TO: IMPROVISE

Most improvised solos are actually put together from musical material that the player has already learned - phrases and licks borrowed from other players or invented at home. So;

1. Learn some licks Listen to your favourite solos with your finger on the pause button. Listen to a short phrase, stop the CD, then hum it to yourself and try to play it on your guitar. Or learn some of the licks for your grade

2. Memorise by playing each one over and over, and in different keys, until you can play any one at will, without thinking

3. Practice joining them up - playing them one after another, in any order. Try to keep the flow going

4. Put on a backing track in the right key from Guitar Invasion or Total Guitar, then do step 3 again along with this. Initially don't worry about any chord changes in the backing - just get used to the sound of the licks against the rhythm, and keep an ear on where the beat is

5. Once you're comfortable with this, try making it sound more musical by leaving spaces between phrases, picking licks that fit against the chords, altering licks to fit the chord changes, varying the rhythms and timing you play them with and using other notes from the scale too

6. Spend some time every day doing this, and make sure you improvise over every new tune you learn

More Advanced Stuff
Ultimately, the aim is to 'hear' the solo unfold in your head, then play it. To do this you need to be able to;

1. Play what you hear - practice playing by ear. Spend time every day copying CDs and the radio, playing tunes you know by ear and breaking down other people's solos and copying them

2. Generate musical ideas - borrow from the greats(they needn't be your own ideas) - there is less improvisation in rock these days, so the 40s to the 80s have more material to work with. Obvious great improvisers are Hendrix, Clapton and Beck, but also try T Bone Walker, Freddie King, BB King, Buddy Guy, Al Di Meola, Rory Gallagher, Richie Blackmore, Yngwie Malmsteen and Allan Holdsworth. Also, listen to jazz, where the whole point is to improvise - try Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt and Wes Montgomery, as well as other instrumentalists like John Coltrane, Art Tatum and the greatest improviser of the 20th century, Charlie Parker

3. Understand the chord changes - to create a musical solo, you need to 'hear' in your head the chord changes and know how each note in the scale will sound over them. Practice soloing over common chord movements, and experiment with different melodic lines to link them

4. The best improvisations create a new melody out of nowhere - the quality of the improvisation will reflect your understanding of music at a deep level, so the more you understand about music, the better the solo - listen to Charlie Parker, where his best solos, improvised on the spot, are as beautiful as any composition one could spend months over, combining licks, runs, quotes and new ideas in a unique and seamless whole.

HOW TO: PERFORM

Perform whenever you can - a coming performance focuses your practice, gives you a standard and a deadline to aim at, and means you have to learn the tune all the way through, not just the intro and the guitar solo

Soundcheck 1. Always do a soundcheck, and always have someone (you or someone who knows what they are talking about) listen from where the audience will be . The sound 'out front' will always be completely different from what you hear onstage - this is just a guide to keeping in time, not a balanced auditory experience
2. As a rule, the quieter you play, the easier it is to get a good balance between instruments
3. Try and be objective when setting levels - think 'how does the overall mix sound', not 'I need to be louder 'cos I'm 'lead' guitar

Memorise the material Bits of paper with chords/lyrics look terrible, plus you'll play better and with more confidence if you've memorised the stuff. Also, the more you memorise,the easier it gets. To learn lyrics, just sit down with CD and work them out/write them down - by the time you've finished, you'll virtually know them

Tune up No excuse for playing out of tune these days with electronic tuners everywhere - make sure everyone uses one just before you go on

Prepare the stage Make it look right - move guitar cases + bags out of the way, put up a suitable backdrop (Perhaps with the band name on), arrange some moody lighting and generally do everything you can to make it An Event

Project the music Play with conviction (like a convict? - ed) and to your audience, not each other, or the floor. Don't overdo the posing, but do put in a bit of 'Mak Schau' to get the point across

Communication with the audience Keep announcements clear, simple, and humourous if possible, treat the audience as your friends and aknowledge applause. Heckling - ignore it, everyone else is thinking what a prat they are, and you can drown them out just by playing the next number

Communicate with each other Clearly signal beginnings, endings, sections - verse, chorus, solos etc. If their coordination is up to it, the drummer can count in by clicking their sticks together, while the musicians can use the common 'Stage Commando' signals - eye contact means something's going to happen, guitar head up means get ready to end (when it goes down), hand signals voume up and down etc. The singer can put in 'Take it to the bridge' or 'One more time' or 'Take it' to signal solos, etc

Playing in ensemble Try and get the band playing together accurately and with feeling - cultivate 'groove' by listening to the ensemble and not dragging the beat or pulling ahead

Mistakes Don't worry about them - everyone makes them, the audience never notices, and as soon as you make one, it's history

The most important thing is to have a good time, all the time, and let the audience know it

HOW TO: GET INVOLVED

Make music outside lessons - work with other musicians; learn from each other, plus it's a great way to socialise

Form a Band - the quickest, most fun way to learn - it doesn't matter what level you are at, either - just get out there and do it!

Use magazines like 'Total Guitar' - all the music I am asked for turns up here (often the next issue)

Look for things you can't do and go for them - they are a chance to improve

Try and copy everything you hear - all the great musicians do lots of this

Play any kind of music on any instrument - electric guitar is not just for rock!

Write your own music - nick ideas from other people and make them into something new, just like the Wombles

Make tapes of your own music for friends and family - some of the most interesting and enjoyable music I have heard came to me like this

Practice every day - there is no substitute for putting the time in - 'hour power'

Listen to everything - especially unfamiliar music - rock/pop/jazz/classical/Indian/African/early music etc(remember you can't tell whether you like something or not until you've heard it at least 3 times) and try to play it

Have music on whenever possible - as you get up, cleaning your teeth, mealtimes, etc

Listen to recordings of the greats and copy their playing - if they can, you can

Develop your ear so that you can play what you hear - never just repeat familiar finger patterns

Never turn your nose up at any kind of music - think like a professional; it's not what you play, it's how you play it

Don't just play things that you already know - set yourself challenges

When it's ready, play it to an audience - it will make you listen

Don't let your ego get involved - e.g. stop you playing something simple/make you play as fast/loud as you can all the time/be competitive - compared with J.S. Bach we are all beginners

Playing by Ear

Wiggling the Fingers