Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

Hi, I am subscribed to Guiter Wisdom for almost a year now and find the content very interesting and useful.
Great instructions and also recommendations on how to approach the learning process. Your YouTube channel is a great addition to the lessons as well.

I put myself in the advanced beginner range, working on my technique, learning the theory, triads, improving my skills with practice.
I enjoy learning from the videos, but sometimes I am getting puzzled with examples in the videos.
In most cases I understand the theory and the topic of the video, but sometimes when you give examples I go like "What has just happened?". I go back reduce the playback speed to 0.75 and watch again and it sometimes helps, but not always.

For example, I recently watched B17 "C Major Scale. Major 3rd and Minor 3rd intervals".
I understand the major scale, understand intervals, and since I learned the triads I understand the examples in the video. I heard about chord progressions before. So I was doing fairly well understanding the lesson, but when you go "So you can do..." and start playing the example I get puzzled. Could not immediately connect to the parts of the lesson I just watched. Even when you go "So, what happened is ..." still did not help. I saw a C chord and G cord, and I know that G is 5th chord in C major scale. But it still did not help me clearly understand what you were playing in that example.

I wonder what can I do in such cases when I suddenly loose the thread on what is going on in the lesson. 

Thank you for sharing! Thank you so much for subscribing TFGW.
This is so important for me.

So you understand basic intervals but when I show you some examples then you get lost.
Maybe this caused your basic ear training level & the fretboard knowledge are little lower side.

Try this. After you understand basic C Major scale.
Then can you play F Major scale on 1st string?
Can you play G Major scale on 3rd string?
Please think about notes.
1) F G A Bb C D E F
2) G A B C D E F#
You noticed that you need to use "Flat" or "Sharp" to make same interval as C Major scale.

Try this on single string.
1) Do Mi, Re Fa, Mi So, Fa La, So Ti, La Do, Ti Re, Do.... Can you hear these notes before you touch the notes?
2) Do Re Mi Do, Re Mi Fa Re, Mi Fa So Mi, Fa So La Fa, Do La Ti Do, La Ti Do La, Ti Do Re Ti, Do....

Please let me know.
Thank you.

Tomo

Tomo,

Thank you for explaining the lesson. I will try to focus on ear training more.
I was playing the scales myself before, but using scale shapes on the neck.

And I can surely hear when I play the wrong note on that scale. And I was playing the major scale on a single string as well to get better with the intervals in it. I think it is going to take a while before I get better at picking up the examples by ear.

Another gap I need to close ASAP is to learn all the fretboard so that I can tell the note immediately just by looking where my finger is placed anywhere on the fretboard. Right now I am quick for doing this for 1, 5, and 6 strings. I need to focus on the 2, 3, and 4.

I also think that the part of the problem for me why I get lost is that I am an engineer (software engineer) in my profession. And my engineering mindset tells me that I need to understand the rule or example before I can start effectively use it.

Basically from your explanation before I can infer:

In your example you were playing chords from C Major chord progression: I, IV, and V chords. C, F, and G - all Major chords. And you were harmonizing around these chords. I need to rewatch the example again and understand what is going on in each particular case to see what was happening around each chord

You're very welcome! My pleasure!
Yes, please focus on more ear training so you can hear more details by listening.
You can recognize intervals / colors of phrasing or chords.

Single string approach is really effective and good! Key is to play those notes extremely slow.
Please take 3-4 seconds on each note so that you can hear each intervals better.

To understand the fretboard is to learn Major scales on each strings with super slow pace.
Plus learning all Major triad inversions will teach you the fretboard.

Maybe you can focus on learning 6th string & 5th string with Major Scale.
This way you can tell any root note of chords.

You can try learning circle of 4th: C F Bb Eb Ab Db Gb (F#)
B E A D G C.... repeat!

Guitar learning can make you very patient. I love working on anything around guitar! So much fun!
Smart people tends to have difficulty learning guitar because wanting to know the result or answers before....

Basically there is no fast way to learn guitar and be patient and don't be afraid to do slow & repeat a lot.
Learn something simple so you can follow. One at a time!

Thank you for sharing!
So happy to hear all these.

Tomo

Thank you for giving me further instructions on how to practice! Appreciate it very much!
Will keep working on these.

BTW: while working on the exercise you recommended

> 1) Do Mi, Re Fa, Mi So, Fa La, So Ti, La Do, Ti Re, Do.... Can you hear these notes before you touch the notes?

I came to realization why the Major scale chord progression (Major, Minor, Minor, Major, Major, Minor, Diminished) is like this.
This is because how major and minor 3rd intervals are distributed in the Major scale!

Fully agree - It is fun learning music theory with the guitar

You're very welcome!

Yes! You need to hear any notes before you play them so do everything super slow!
If you can't hear, then play them with super slow pace.

Major 3rd & minor 3rd ... very cool sound! Triads are so awesome too!
Do slowly to understand the sound and please enjoy them!

Basic music theory is so important to understand with the sounds.

Thank you.

Tomo