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Learning scales etc..


ibanezgfx

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Posted

ive been playin guitar for a while now - 6 years i think - and i never learned my scales/modes etc...

i want to

are there any books that are better than any others?

i have scales and modes in the beginning and fretboard logic. i get kinda bored goin through them

 

how about the guitar grimoure? (i think thats how its spelled)

 

i just want somthin that will teach me good, and wont bore me too much.

thanks!

adam

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Posted

As far as being bored, that's up to you.

I still find the basic 1-2-3-4 exercises interesting!

For me the trick has been to find something to improve upon, and focus on that while doing an exercise. This has the advantage of focusing your mind in your playing, too, instead of being in auto-pilot.

Even with exercises -or songs- that I have played for years there's always some room for improvement.

Think of the Zen masters doing the same repetitive task all day long for years and years and years. They were learning something with each repetition of the activity. (And they were developing MINDFULNESS).

 

Moving on to the material:

 

The books you have are good. You should probably keep on using them, or at least go back to them in a few months.

 

Guitar Grimoire. Excellent resource. Very comprehensive, which is also one of its weaknesses since it has a lot of material that is redundant. For example, it has the patterns in EVERY key. The guitar has the advantage that if you learn a pattern in one key you can then apply the same pattern to any other key, so many of the diagrams in the book are unnecessary IMO. Still, the book is HIGHLY recommended. The DVD is awful.

While the book has the patterns and explanations for many scales and modes, it does NOT have exercises, fingerings, or many technical tips.

 

Practical Theory for Guitar, by Don Latarski. Buy it now, thank me later :)

It covers intervals, scales, modes, chords, and more.

It presents a clear and concise explanation for each scale, 10 fingering patterns (5 condensed and 5 extended versions), and the CD has playing examples using different chord progressions shown in the book. After Don plays through a couple of bars, the next track has the same progression minus guitar for the reader to play his/her ideas. These examples are rather brief, and serve as illustrations only. You can use other backing tracks or record the progressions from the book to practice more.

 

Advancing guitar by Joe Carter has more examples, Most are easy to read in Tab, but for a few you will need to know how to read the rhythmic duration of the notes and silences.

 

There are many great books and DVDs out there, some are better than others, some are more user friendly, some have clearer examples, and so on. The bottom line is that for most people learning something new requires work and effort, and no book will be a substitute for constant practice.

 

As an exercise, finish the 2 books you currently have before starting a new one.

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Posted

It's called dots,you can down load it from the harmony-central site of down loads or try www.bellyjelly.com. It has the all the basic scales and modes,but the fun part is when you add different scales from different cultures( Indian,Middle Eastern and Oriental scales)and find a way to Westernize it with a Distorting amp/guitar! Down load it and have fun learning,I've been playing 26 years and this thing once kept me up allnight!:D:cool:;)

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Posted

Originally posted by AJ6stringsting

It's called dots,you can down load it from the harmony-central site of down loads or try
www.bellyjelly.com.
It has the all the basic scales and modes,but the fun part is when you add different scales from different cultures( Indian,Middle Eastern and Oriental scales)and find a way to Westernize it with a Distorting amp/guitar! Down load it and have fun learning,I've been playing 26 years and this thing once kept me up allnight!
:D:cool:;)

 

That link doesn't work.

 

:confused:

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Posted

My favourite books so far are "Guitar Soloing" and "Advanced Guitar Soloing" by Daniel Gilbert & Beth Marlis:

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0793581869/qid=1128932031/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-7054735-8061751?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0634031007/qid=1128932031/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-7054735-8061751?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

 

You can buy both for less than 40$ (about 150+100 pages and a CD each with practice track for improvisation).

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Posted

In addition to the other recommendations, I have a product called Jam Tracks that is 41 backing tracks arranged by scale type (major, minor, blues, dorian...) for a fun and efficient way to play and practice. I have gotten a lot of response from users who say it has really helped them as a practice tool. More info: www.UnderTheGroove.com

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