Hey everyone!
I've been playing a little under 2 years now. I've become pretty proficient with my use of the pentatonic scale. I'm now working on targeting the chord tones as I solo. I understand triads and can move them up the next pretty comfortably (I know Tomo's rule is >3sec and you can't do it), but for whatever reason when I'm soloing in a given key, my brain finds it really difficult to see that next shape (although I think in intervals, not shapes so much). Any tips on how to get better at this? ALSO say we are in the key of A, do I keep thinking in A (pentatonic or diatonic) and just add in the notes from the backing chord? Like if I switch to the 4 chord D, do I still think A major, and just add in D, F#, and A? Maybe I'm overthinking this haha
Ha ha! That's basically what I was going to say.
Relax and enjoy.
You could ask yourself if you think what you're playing sounds good. Do you enjoy it? Always try to listen to what you are playing as if you're another person listening to you play. What would the next phrase be that you would like to hear?
I hope this helps.
Thanks, David! Yeah I try to spend a good amount of time in that "does it sound good" head space, but try to think a bit more deeply when practising. My fingers are at the point where they kind of naturally ALMOST play what I want. So close! Thanks again for the tip :) Stay healthy
Jazz might sound more technical if you target the triad notes but in rock, not so much. Also, try not to get stuck thinking in terms of playing a scale or at least not the shape of a scale anyway. You want to play music. You want to develop your ear so you hear that scale everywhere. That's where ear training comes into play. Also, less is often more. Anyone can play a ton of notes, really fast, target every change, etc. To Davids point, relax and enjoy- find your own sound. The point is not to read the alphabet- it's to form eloquent turns of phrase using the vocabulary that is available to you. Eventually, you may want to explore modes and other theory- at which time new worlds and languages will open up to you. It sounds like you are doing great for only playing 2 years but there really is no rush. If you can play a single song well, you are ahead of the game. I've played guitar over 30 years and I've only just begun to learn...but it's a fun journey.
Happy New Year!
Here is Tomo's comment:
"Thanks so much for subscribing to my Guitar Wisdom. Please remember that practicing and performing are different.
"1) You need to play and think slowly and deeply when you are practicing. So, you need to think about each chord in a progression, and you should not be thinking about any chord shapes. Instead, you need to figure out inversions and move through them smoothly. With any given chord, it is always good to have a few inversions handy.
"2) After you practice basic triads over a chord progression, and you can play two triads on each chord smoothly, you can think about phrasing that uses more rhythmic ideas and other note choices. You should not try to create these by yourself (at least, in the beginning). You should learn from the greats, by listening to their old records!
"3) When you are performing, you should not think about scales, like a minor pentatonic or a Major pentatonic. You should think about each chord and about harmony. You need to think about sounds or phrases, especially great conversational phrases. You can think about common tones: A is the Root of the A chord, and the 5th of the D chord, but then you can move to G#, the Major 3rd of the E chord.
"I hope this is helpful."