Being one with your guitar... how?!?!

[Cassius]

Iv heard that jazz guitarists can hear or know the notes before they play them. Now i can do this when improvising slowly. Takes a little thought! When i play faster i tend to just know in my head the root note and mess about a little...... which is shameful!!! I got all these cool musical ideas in my head but cant express them at a decent speed

 

Does anyone have any advice on how to get better with the fretboard and its sound? Just practice copying melodies and stuff?

 

I really wanna improve my soloing, thanks for any help!

[thamiam]

Singing.

Don't play anything until you sing it, and play only what you sing.

The voice is the bridge between your ears and your fingers.

Try this over the next few months:

1)Sing a simple melody you don't know on guitar (Twinkle, Tinkle or some such.)
2)Sing it over and over again. Think about the next note you are going to sing before you sing it.
3)Sing just one phrase at a time, and then play it without looking at the fretboard
4)Sing it in a different key and do it again.
5)Get a play-along (Aebersold, etc.) and trade phrases with yourself. Sing a phrase, then play it, this time in time with the chords and rhythm (as opposed to before, where it was without context). You'll notice this starts to sound a lot like the Call-and-Response patterns of Big Bands, Delta Blues, and about a hundred other things.

[555]

You have to practice enough so that the notes come through you, not from you. You do the drills, scales, arpeggios, chord studies until there's no thought involved. Then when you're lucky enough to play with other mucicians who have done the same, it's majic. Every lick, prhase, scale, rhythm has been played before, but not by you, the way only you can. Get your chops together and you can find out. Never think about what note to play. Just play

[Fred5]

Originally posted by Cassius Iv heard that jazz guitarists can hear or know the notes before they play them. Some might, as with any style. One could claim that if you don't know what a note or a lick will sound like before you play it, you really don't know what you're doing. Like painting by numbers - "this is supposed to become a picture of a dog at some time..." Kinda... Now i can do this when improvising slowly. Takes a little thought! When i play faster i tend to just know in my head the root note and mess about a little...... which is shameful!!! I got all these cool musical ideas in my head but cant express them at a decent speed That's everybodys problem. Except for people that play only notated music. They follow the dots on a paper. The rest of us follow dots in our heads Does anyone have any advice on how to get better with the fretboard and its sound? Just practice copying melodies and stuff? That's a good way to get better at it. I really wanna improve my soloing, thanks for any help!

Another good thing is to be able to identify
intervals 'cause that's what all scales, patterns,
melodies, whatever are made up of. Even chords,
since when you spell them out, they are sets of intervals: 1-3-5-7 for example. Four notes, three
different intervals.

Scales too, are sets of consecutive intervals.

On neat trick to learn what a certain interval
sounds like is to pick it out of some - to you - well known melody. "Somewhere over the rainbow"
the first interval in that tune is an octave.
Sing it ior whistle it, then play it, learn the sound of the interval... become one with it
The guitar is just a bunch of intervals

[thamiam]

Originally posted by Fred5 One neat trick to learn what a certain interval sounds like is to pick it out of some - to you - well known melody. "Somewhere over the rainbow" the first interval in that tune is an octave. Sing it ior whistle it, then play it, learn the sound of the interval... become one with it The guitar is just a bunch of intervals

Good point. Here are some other famous intervals.

Perfect Fifth - Beginning of the 'Star Wars' theme.
Major Sixth - First two notes of the 'N-B-C' chimes.
Perfect Fourth - Beginning of 'Here Comes the Bride'

Be careful, though. I was taught these in college, and now it is impossible for me to hear an interval of a perfect 5th without thinking of Bill Murray belting out 'Staaaa-aaaar Waaa-a-a-a-a-ars!"

[Fred5]

Originally posted by thamiam Be careful, though. I was taught these in college, and now it is impossible for me to hear an interval of a perfect 5th without thinking of Bill Murray belting out 'Staaaa-aaaar Waaa-a-a-a-a-ars!"

Scary stuff indeed! Actually it happens to me
while playing, either I accidentally play it myself or somebody else phrases or harmonizes in a way that start some tune in my head. Sometimes it's just funny as {censored}, sometimes I can get really confused. Btw, I don't do drugs.

[Terje]

Originally posted by Cassius I really wanna improve my soloing, thanks for any help!

 

 

Then you should work on your rhythm playing. This is the biggest stumbling block still for all of us. Rhythm is so important. Intervals are important too but rhythm is King.

 

The advice given by the others is great too but don't forget rhythm.

[Terje]

Originally posted by Fred5 Btw, I don't do drugs.

Yes you do! You've just described a very healthy drug that you appearantly do every day.

[Kirk95]

1> spend 1/2 hour a day just playing melodies you know by ear....Beatles songs, nursery rhythms, top 40...anything

2> practice playing all your licks through the cycle of fifths.

3> spend 1/2 hour a day transcribing licks off records

[IamBurnout]

Learn how to play guitar in the dark.

If you can't see what you are doing, you will have to go by touch and sound.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMM.