Author Topic: BC-101 • Common beginners questions answered (Read 205813 times)

joueur de guitare · « **Reply #225 on:** January 20, 2016, 05:06:52 pm »

Quote from: notbulby on January 20, 2016, 05:03:53 pm

This might be a silly question but how long should we be on stage one of the beginner course before moving on?

It's been a week since I started and I already notice that my fingers aren't as sensitive anymore and don't ache as much when I press down on the strings. The only problems I seem to have are muting of the strings which I try and correct as much as I can but I just wonder to myself sometimes how long students should theoretically take at this stage. I want to know so that I know if i'm doing too much or not enough in my practices.

Thanks!

Read this. When to move on to the next stage.
http://www.justinguitar.com/en/BC-119-PRACTICEstage1.php

Have you got all the bullet points down?

suzidownunder · « **Reply #226 on:** January 23, 2016, 03:45:55 am »

Quote from: av8torfl on September 05, 2013, 09:50:32 pm

My sticking point seems to be the songs. I feel comfy with chords and chord changes now, but when I play, or try to play the songs, grrrrrrrr. I have a hard time both memorizing them and then remembering the strum patterns. I do ok if I am playing along with Justin, but when I attempt the song with no backup rhythm I get frustrated. Any advice?

Hi I suffer from life long chronic silent migraine and as a result my recall is very bad. I too have a great deal of trouble remembering the order of chords in songs. I write them down as I go even though I have them already in front of me. It really helps!

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Khatru · « **Reply #227 on:** February 19, 2016, 02:27:41 am »

I was having a few bad days where I couldn't seem to do anything right. I think maybe I was staying at the same thing for 2 long. Trying to play brown eyed girl for about a month but it just didn't sound right and forget the intro, I can't get that with any accuracy. I am in stage 4 but hadn't tried any of those songs. I decided to try killing me softly and things just seemed to turn around and things were going right again. After about a week of seemingly going nowhere or maybe backwards the last 2 nights have shown great progress except changing to B7, that's fairly slow. I also started playing Show Me by Jon Anderson which is fun and fairly simple.
Learning songs just takes repeatedly playing them, eventually you get it, at least once, then you'll forget for a few more tries. Quite the adventure at my age.

Fmaj7 · « **Reply #228 on:** February 19, 2016, 05:58:39 am »

Quote from: Khatru on February 19, 2016, 02:27:41 am

. After about a week of seemingly going nowhere or maybe backwards the last 2 nights have shown great progress except changing to B7, that's fairly slow. Quite the adventure at my age.

For me it´s a bit like climbing a hill: a bit upward a bit downward but while walking consequent we reach the top. And the 50+ can climb on Everest, K2, so what: B7 is not really a problem

Fmaj7

stanleyarmstrong · « **Reply #229 on:** March 03, 2016, 10:45:12 pm »

I know that the "A" chord is made up of the triad A,C# and E. What makes the chord an A and not C# or E?
Has it to do with frequencies?

nickboothmusic · « **Reply #230 on:** March 03, 2016, 11:06:01 pm »

Quote from: stanleyarmstrong on March 03, 2016, 10:45:12 pm

I know that the "A" chord is made up of the triad A,C# and E. What makes the chord an A and not C# or E?
Has it to do with frequencies?

It's basic music theory at that point.

An A major chord is made of of A (the root), C# (the third), and E (the fifth).

A C# minor chord is made up of C# (the root), E (the minor third), and A# - the fifth in this one makes it not an A major chord. If you changed the E to an F, you'd have C# major.

An E chord is E (the root), G# (the third), and B (the fifth). The only note that has in common with an A chord is the E.

Now, of course, all of this is assuming basic major chords. It starts getting more fun to figure out what a chord actually is when you get into flat 7 9th Augmented chords.

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shadowscott007 · « **Reply #231 on:** March 04, 2016, 01:37:24 am »

Tweak: C#m would be C# E G#.

Shadow

nickboothmusic · « **Reply #232 on:** March 04, 2016, 03:57:10 am »

Quote from: shadowscott007 on March 04, 2016, 01:37:24 am

Tweak: C#m would be C# E G#.

Shadow

Yes, that. The correct way. Lol.

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jtbrown1 · « **Reply #233 on:** March 04, 2016, 03:28:55 pm »

Quote from: stanleyarmstrong on March 03, 2016, 10:45:12 pm

I know that the "A" chord is made up of the triad A,C# and E. What makes the chord an A and not C# or E?
Has it to do with frequencies?

You're starting to dive into music theory. The answer to your question will just cause you to ask other questions, but the A chord (really, the A major chord) is made up of the root, third, and fifth of the A major scale.

An E chord would be made up of the root, third, and fifth of the E major scale, which would be E, G#, and B.

Same theory goes for the makeup of a C# major chord.

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Majik · « **Reply #234 on:** March 05, 2016, 12:43:56 pm »

As others have said, you're venturing into music theory here.

One of things alluded to in the answers above is that it is about intervals (the "root, third, fifth bit"). To understand this you need to start delving a bit into scales and scale theory and, possibly most importantly, to understand intervals and their role in scales and chords.

At the end of the day, the short answer is certain combinations of intervals played together have a certain "character" and we have standardised on how we name these. There are sound reasons behind this standardisation (it's not totally random) but until you start delving into music theory you will struggle to understand the reasoning behind it.

If you do want to start to learn this stuff, Justin's Practical Music Theory is a great place to start.

Cheers,

Keith

Nocturnal1961 · « **Reply #235 on:** May 20, 2016, 11:32:58 pm »

How should I take care of left fret fingers. I got good hard callouses on finger tips but still get grooves. The deepest grooves seem to come from doing E. So when doing minute changes like D to E or A to E the finger fall right into place for E but flub up trying to do D or A. I thought when callouses came These groves would not get like this any more. What can I do to remedy this?

de_conne · « **Reply #236 on:** May 23, 2016, 08:54:47 am »

@Nocturnal,

I would say practice, practice, practice.

Callouses have little to do with how your fingers change chords. They will just make it less painfull after a while.

Keep at it!

regards,
de_conne

Rossco01 · « **Reply #237 on:** May 23, 2016, 02:48:38 pm »

@nocturnal I remember this well and thinking that the grooves wouldn't disappear but they do. At the moment it's because you're only moving between the three chords you know. As you learn C, G, minor chords, slash chords etc, you'll be placing your fingers slightly differently and this means the grooves will start to disappear. It happened to me it'll happen to you.

guitar65riff · « **Reply #238 on:** May 31, 2016, 09:11:51 am »

I've been playing for 40 years and still get grooves if I play for a long time. Ignore them. It's not important

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Joerfe · « **Reply #239 on:** May 31, 2016, 09:39:12 am »

I get grooves after playing a few hours but they even out during the night.
When I was a quite new beginner I had to use an emoryboard to deal with the skin but now I never have to anymore.

aswin · « **Reply #240 on:** June 17, 2016, 03:27:00 pm »

Hi. I don't know if this has been asked before in any of the forums, but how should I keep or store the guitar when not in use?

joueur de guitare · « **Reply #241 on:** June 17, 2016, 03:39:44 pm »

Quote from: aswin on June 17, 2016, 03:27:00 pm

Hi. I don't know if this has been asked before in any of the forums, but how should I keep or store the guitar when not in use?

In a case/gigbag, hanging on the wall, on a guitar stand. The latter isn't recommended if you've got kids or pets

Not by direct sources of heat, including sunlight (we don't get that in the UK anyway...), or leaning against furniture.

Joerfe · « **Reply #242 on:** June 17, 2016, 04:14:38 pm »

Quote from: aswin on June 17, 2016, 03:27:00 pm

Hi. I don't know if this has been asked before in any of the forums, but how should I keep or store the guitar when not in use?

Keep it handy. Mine hangs right next to the dinner table. This way I can grab it whenever I feel like it. It is also visible which means that I am constantly reminded to practice and play.
Don't hide it.

stitch101 · « **Reply #243 on:** June 17, 2016, 05:02:27 pm »

On a stand and wall hangers. I have good humidity in my house all year round.
My wife even dressed my guitars up for Christmas.

Macabre · « **Reply #244 on:** June 17, 2016, 06:28:48 pm »

I used to keep my guitars in their cases. However I found myself not bothering then because I was too lazy to get a guitar out. Now I have at least one guitar out on a stand. Currently have two out, as I've left my electric plugged into the amp.

scorpio58 · « **Reply #245 on:** June 17, 2016, 06:51:18 pm »

Quote from: Joerfe on June 17, 2016, 04:14:38 pm

Keep it handy. Mine hangs right next to the dinner table. This way I can grab it whenever I feel like it. It is also visible which means that I am constantly reminded to practice and play.
Don't hide it.

This.

I find because it is constantly on view (or looking at me in a seductive manner) I pick it up and will spend 10 - 15 mins just noodling.

Obviously on top of my scheduled daily practice sessions.

The other Sunday I woke up at 5.30, couldn't get back to sleep, which p***ed me off no end as it is my only day off and if the weather is good normally get out on my motorbike with a few mates for a good blast.

So got up and came downstairs, looked at my guitar, it looked back and said "play me". So I did, for about an hour.

Well I say that but I did make myself a bacon sandwich first, best not to rush things.

The missus came down about 7.30 and said " Oh, so your playing with both your toys today then."

I replied, "I would have played with all 3 but you were still asleep."

Got a gentle slap for that!

The point is - keep it in plain sight, make it part of your environment, make it easy to just mess about on.

Do not hide it away, it will stay hidden, it will not be in your eyeline, it will gradually vanish.

FWIW

ajc24 · « **Reply #246 on:** July 09, 2016, 10:34:52 pm »

Hi guys,

This may seem like an unusual question - and apologies if this has come up anywhere before (I couldn't find it if it has)... I am only a Stage 1 Beginner on the Beginner Course. My practice room is the spare room of my house but, unfortunately, this also seems to be the warmest room in my house during the summer (poor choice it seems)

I find that, when practicing, my hands get very hot and sweaty - especially as I'm trying to apply pressure to press down the strings and build my finger strength in these early days. As a result, my thumb tends to slide up the guitar neck towards the thickest string as I'm changing chords. It's not overly bad and I'm getting used to managing it. But it's still frustrating to have to regularly adjust my grip as I'm playing.

I do believe it's because my fingers aren't quite strong enough yet - definitely as I've built that, this problem has become less of an issue. But still... it's distracting and frustrating.

Is this an issue that others have, too? What can I do to help this, if anything?

Dr Winterbourne · « **Reply #247 on:** July 10, 2016, 12:13:17 am »

Yeah, you want to avoid playing anywhere hot and humid - like the Mississippi Delta or a heaving rock club. Seriously though, you'll just get used to all this stuff.

ajc24 · « **Reply #248 on:** July 10, 2016, 01:38:48 pm »

Quote from: Dr Winterbourne on July 10, 2016, 12:13:17 am

Yeah, you want to avoid playing anywhere hot and humid - like the Mississippi Delta or a heaving rock club. Seriously though, you'll just get used to all this stuff.

I understand that playing in hot places happens - I was just wondering if there was anything I could do to help. Thanks for the tip that it's just something I'll have to deal with

I'm very much a complete novice at this so I genuinely didn't know if there was an alternative.

I'll just keep going as I am

Donald Bones Argo · « **Reply #249 on:** August 09, 2016, 02:06:28 am »

Hi Everyone. I'm new I just found Justin Page about 3 weeks ago. I' ve started the 3 chord exercises. Moving onto the exercise of changing chords that part is kind of rough. I know it takes time. I know everyone is different. But How long is the standard time to spend on this before moving on to the next?