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Using Stabilisers on the Guitar Part One: Reducing the Neck

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Using Stabilisers on the Guitar Pt 1: Reducing the Neck People have a better memory than they give themselves credit for. The key is how people try to remember things. For example, if you can order things out in a logical manner, you are not relying on memory. You are actually relying on order to remember itself. Why make things harder than they have to be? Collocation and Landmarks If you know that in a shopping street, one shop comes after the other, you don’t need to remember exactly what number the shop in the street has. If you know where one note is located, you don’t have to actively remember each and every note. Rather what it’s near. If we make landmarks all over the neck, we can base everything else around them. On most guitars there are 20 frets. This means that there are four sets of five frets. If you break down the guitar into these groups, your life will become much easier. You can simply learn each group independently, or two of them really well! This will r
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The Best 12 Page Book on Music Theory Ever? Evan Burgess Reviews ‘The Chord Wheel’

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An easy read! There are a huge amount of learning resources for the guitar. This means the first thing is to work out how to cut through the deluge of information. The Chord Wheel isn’t just for the guitar, but is really useful for a typical guitarist’s mentality. This is because the theory isn’t so complicated it is off putting. With the guitar, any hint of music theory can be hit by a reverse snobbery of “I don’t need to know that”. This is because the guitar is played as a mostly intuitive instrument. To many intuitive instrumentalists, all talk of theory is reduced to a “square” subject. Feel and emotion are often more valued to a guitarist. But this book is very unique in the fact it simply helps you find the complimentary ingredient if you already have a nice riff or progression. Imagine the situation, you have a verse and a chorus, but you just don’t know how to transition between them or to add something extra midway through a song. The front of this book is
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Win a 5 Lesson Absolute Beginner Guitar Package!

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The guitar is a fun and versatile instrument. It can also be very cheap to learn. If you wish to learn the guitar or know someone who does, feel free to enter this absolute beginner package! In the five lessons, you will learn how to tune a guitar, change strings, form chords and play basic melodies. As well as practical skills, theory will be covered too. Discover how scales work, what keys are and how to use them.  To win this competition simply e-mail Evan@cirencester-scene.co.uk with an answer to this question: What are all the strings of the guitar called (i.e the notes they are tuned to)? For the lessons instruments will be provided. Lessons must be in Cirencester.
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How to Learn Chords: Core Concepts

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A C Chord, one of the few chords where the lowest note is not the root. Chords are a group of notes played on one instrument at exactly the same time. They are usually played rhythmically and are the foundation of a song. Chords serve to give the melody a container to stand out in. Melodies are like the tasty liquid in a cup. To most people they are the most important aspect of music, in the same way everyone will say they are drinking a cola, but if they didn’t have the cup there would be no way to enjoy the cola! It is the same with chords. You need them to carry the tune. I always try to approach the guitar from the most functional view point. I want every student to be able to sound good if they want to perform. That’s it! This means theoretical learning is not drilled as hard as conceptual frameworks. Here I will explain good concepts when learning chords! If you have ever seen Futurama, there is an episode where it is revealed the spaceship they use does not tra
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Lines on the Guitar: Strings and Frets Explained

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Lines on the Guitar: Strings and Frets Explained At the beginning the guitar is a bit like the Amazon, full of impenetrable cross thatched lines. Don’t bring out your machete yet, there are ways to navigate this jungle! Vertical lines are made by the strings, then horizontal lines made by something called frets. These are metal bars. They don’t exist on some stringed instruments like the violin, double bass or cello. The word fret itself is interesting because in most dictionaries you’d be hard pressed to find an entry regarding guitar frets. It can mean a worn or eroded place, but in the context of the guitar it is the division from one note to another. In all, this cross thatching effect can look very confusing to an untrained eye. So I will break it down into smaller parts. Horizontal Lines A closer look! Guitar diagrams are always drawn with the lowest string at the bottom. There are six strings on the guitar. From the guitarists perspective, looking dow
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