Saturday, October 30, 2010

Finally a guitar teacher with a method that makes sense!

Veteran guitar player of 26 years just couldn't seem to find anyone or anything that could teach guitar theory to him in plain & simple terms. Read his story.


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Play Until Yer Fingers Bleed!
Mr. Desi Serna

Website: http://Guitar-Music-Theory.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/guitarmusictheory
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MrGuitarTheory
YouTube: http://youtube.com/GuitarMusicTheoryTab
Podcast: http://bit.ly/ac4cDk

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Phish Possum Trey Anastasio Guitar Solo

In the song "Possum" by the jam band Phish you can hear lead guitarist Trey Anastasio play over a 12 bar blues type progression using a mixture of scales and keys. Jump to around 3:31 for an idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCzS1jCa9uY


I explain the theory behind blues guitar scales and demonstrate how to apply and combine major and minor pentatonic scale patterns, major scale patterns and mixolydian mode in my free guitar theory podcast episode 10.

Blues Guitar Theory
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/guitar-music-theory-lessons/id258401691

The Phish video is definitely following what I lay out in the blues podcast. Each chord is treated like its own key. Multiple scales an tonalities are combined to create the overall blues, country and jazz sound.

Combining scales and keys like this results in A LOT of note choices. This in turn means that there are A LOT of licks and phrases that can be played. Trey may be too far ahead of most of you. If you want to work toward soloing at this level, then be sure to master simpler styles first. Staying in one key is a good start!



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Play Until Yer Fingers Bleed!
Mr. Desi Serna

Website: http://Guitar-Music-Theory.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/guitarmusictheory
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MrGuitarTheory
YouTube: http://youtube.com/GuitarMusicTheoryTab
Podcast: http://bit.ly/ac4cDk

Friday, October 22, 2010

Minor Scale Modes for Guitar

Minor scale modes are based on the same scale & chord progression patterns that guitarists use for major scale modes. http://bit.ly/ceINDY

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

At What Point Does a Guitar Player Know it All?

Mr. Desi Serna,

My name is Miguel Sanchez and I am a Junior student at Marquette University High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I am currently in the process of writing a paper for my English class and my topic or main focus was to look at different views on Guitar playing and what or where is the point in a guitar players career in which all can be known. To rephrase it a bit better, how can someone truly know or distinguish the end of a guitar, all that is possible to be learned. I gratefully will thank you for your insight and thoughts on this matter.

Thanks,
Miguel S.


Thanks for the email Miguel. Wow, what a profound question. There doesn't appear to be an end to the guitar, or at least no one has reached it that I'm aware of. Styles and techniques continue to be improved upon. The creative process continues to yield new ideas. The amount of subtle differences between the skills and artistry of different guitarists is as varied as the differences in the physical features and personalities of people in general. Since the uniqueness of individuals hasn't reached a limit yet, I don't suspect the end of guitar playing is close to being reached either (if it can even be reached at all).

There are some spiritual implications to this topic that I find interesting. Consider that music is not something we make possible, but rather it's something that is already possible and we simply discover it. Mankind's knowledge and skills, along with sound and the ways in which sound can be manipulated are ultimately made possible by a creator. In fact, the Bible says, "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse (Romans 1:20)." There's a reason why music exists and works the way it does.



So how much is there to learn about guitar playing? Well, the creator of guitar playing says of himself, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:9)." Considering the infinite source, I'd say the possibilities are endless! And as a believer in Christ, I'll have all of eternity to discover new things about guitar.

Play Until Yer Fingers Bleed!
Mr. Desi Serna

Website: http://Guitar-Music-Theory.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/guitarmusictheory
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MrGuitarTheory
YouTube: http://youtube.com/GuitarMusicTheoryTab
Podcast: http://bit.ly/ac4cDk