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Hi All
I have canceled my new annual subscription, however I can still use all info as a premium member until May 2025.I made the decision to cancel today only because I feel like as a new beginner player..I need to start out with the very basics of learning to play electric guitar.
I stated today with just studying and learning..All the notes on the fretboard. I have a big wall poster that is large fretboard with all the notes and it’s placed right in front of my dest that I sit at with my guitar in my lap in a nice comfortable padded chair.
I feel for me that I need to start here and at the beginning until I can pick through all the notes on the fretboard, hear each sound each one makes until I can memorize each and everyone…then I will challenge myself to do it with my eyes closed and by sound only.
Once I feel comfortable with this first self task ( however long it will take me to do this) I will then move onto my next task of making cords ( which I haven’t done yet and I’m 4 months into being this journey) will take time to learn and know what each cord sounds like. I work long hours even though I’m age 60 and have family to take care and a farm…so I have to make time to practice and I do love the time I can practice and will continue to do so.
I also have several family members who are seriously sick and are very concerned with there wellbeing and family comes first over any hobby that I have and love and to top that off I have a younger daughter getting married in August 24…
I love this site and all the hard work that is put into each and every lesson along with the down to earth teaching.
I will continue to view video lessons from time to time for the duration of my contract.
Heck I may sigh up for another year if I fee like I can understand more about any of these lessons than I currently do.
I’m still happy that I picked a guitar to learn to play. I like a good challenge and this challenge will take me quite a while to learn the basics.
I’m only learning to play guitar for mysel ..no one else but me.I’m looking forward to good stuff to come but first my sick family members need my prayers and support first and foremost.
Sometimes unexpected medical issues pop up in our bodies and surprises us out of the blue so to speak. I’m thankful I have an older daughter who is a NP and family members on my wife’s side who are also in the medical field. I know they all are involved in helping our sick family members (who live in many different states in the US.
Thanks!
Music heals the soul..
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Hi Dwayne,
Sorry to hear that life is getting in the way of your guitar journey.
I’m not sure that learning every note on the fretboard is the most ideal use of your valuable time an may quickly become tiresome. Very few people can identify a note by it’s sound, that’s called “perfect pitch”. What you may learn, eventually, is how a note sounds relative to a root note, ie. an interval like a major 3rd or a flat 7th. You may start to hear how a major chord sounds vs a minor chord, or learn to identify basic chord progressions. These are worthwhile tasks to learn while learning other things.
I would look at patterns that open up the fretboard, ie. the CAGED system and how a given root note sits within all the various connected voices of a CAGED chord. This will show you the octave pattern all over the neck and teach you the notes on the 6th and 5th strings (and therefore the 1st string). I would see how triads sit within and around the CAGED chords especially on the two highest string sets. This will teach you notes on the top three strings as you identify the triads and allow you to play all over the neck.
Learn the major scale and some basic music theory, ie how chords are constructed. Learn the 5 positions of the major scale.
Learn some simple chord progressions and try to make some music with them using the major scale and triads. Seeing how pentatonics fit into the picture can streamline your ability to make some music.
I guess my point is guitar learning isn’t always linear. All the things you learn along the way start to reinforce each other and merge into a larger picture, so try to keep it varied and fun along the way.
If you need a more structured approach for beginner guitar I would probably recommend “Justin Guitar”, it’s free and very well put together. I think he might have a community forum as well. It’s nice to have the support of a learning community.
Best of luck.
John -
I was in the same boat with you two years ago and quit AM for awhile, thinking the same, among family issues also. I did not see the beginner guitar course before I quit. Go to Active Melody Site Map at the bottom of the page and then go to Courses. There is a beginner guitar course I highly recommend while you still have an active account. All the info the moderator provided is also a great way to focus on aspects of playing, not practicing. I am learning that knowing the intervals, seeing them as numbers, and the major scale, and the CAGED shapes (start with C or G only) has helped me play. Playing an instrument will really help your brain and dexterity. I hope you can squeeze in a little time each day to help improve cognitive function. I’ll be praying for you and your family.
God Bless and keep you!
Deb -
Wow, Dwayne – that’s a bummer. I know how you feel, because I was recently diagnosed with bladder cancer, and dealing with it is almost a fulltime job. With all you’ve got going on, I’m wondering if it’s even worthwhile for you to try to learn to play a guitar. Maybe when some of your family’s health issues are resolved, you can get back into it again. In the meantime, why don’t you consider learning some easier instrument that would be compatible with a guitar, so you could maybe play self-duets when you eventually get back into guitar. For example, I dabble in harmonica, ukulele, bass, mandolin, and a few other exotic instruments. And sometimes I record myself playing a rhythm track, and then I jam along with my harmonica or mandolin. Just a thought.
Sunjamr Steve
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Thank you all for your heart felt comments. I really do appreciate it.
I know in time situations will work themselves out somehow and I believe that.
Family Health issues that are being dealt with are in the hands of the creator ( whoever you believe your creator is in the spiritual unseen world or in a physical world that can be seen) who work through healthcare professionals to do the best they can to diagnose and to make us feel better and in some cases a medical issue just disappears and stuns everyone.
In will continue to practice my guitar ..I don’t give up I just light up and keep moving forward where the light guides my along this road less traveled…and for me it’s learning to play guitar.
Thank y’all and Brian is a great teacher and I do learn from others because there is always a different way, step, procedure to do one thing another way and achieve the same results
Music heals the soul..
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I’ve always considered music as the best medicine. At one point I had a closet, an old chair, a $200 guitar. I’d borrow music.
In today’s world we have the ability to search the U.S. library of Congress for guitar methods. Methods really haven’t changed here in the U.S. in 200 years. The Melodie’s have been lost unless you are colonial music buff, or play civil war tunes. But the similarities are the same. The books start with learning the scale in the Key of C, which includes sight reading through a few Melodie’s. Within a few weeks a student would learn the basic 1, 3, 5 notes of the key of C, played as triads in different places and on different strings. After 30-50 pages the authors have a student play the F as a sharp and they would have the key of C, A minor, G, and E minor. The basics. And then you spend decades going down the rabbit holes. Active Melody can be placed right on top of the basics. You can pick and choose what to emphasize.
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Daniel H
I agree Music is the best medicine.I have decided to keep learning and playing my guitar in the mist of the storms..so, to speak. The family members who have been critically sick have been doing better emotionally and starting to feel better because of the caring doctors and there never ending test for weeks and searched for weeks the national data bases to find out if any other doctor or doctors have treated such rare medical conditions.
The searching resulted in a handful of doctors that have treated this rare condition and the proven treatments started last week.
No cure..but the treatments are working and that’s a positive…for how long the treatments will work…is in the hands of a higher power and a positive attitude of our family members…they are in good spirits and will be going home from the hospital soon.
I’m looking forward to having a phone conversation with them both in the near future
Y’all have a good evening
Music heals the soul..
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Well, it’s been a while since I have posted in this thread.
I have quit playing guitar right after the end of this thread conversation.
I have decided to start learning to play guitar again…slowly I will ease into it.
For some reason since I quit…I get the feeling that I’m missing out on the joy of music…and my guitars are calling me back from the other room they have been placed into..
Cheers to a new beginning…
Music heals the soul..
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I did the same, I will be back after I get some more experience, I’m not a new player, I played some 30 yrs ago, but I never had music theory, its not rocket science, print off the circle of 5ths, the major, minor, blues and pentatonic scales, write the notes on each one with the chord triads, major and minor intervals, each major scale has a relative minor, they are the same scale. Also study the modes, Ionian, Dorian, Lydian… etc I understood modes when explained on a piano diagram, Seems like a lot but don’t be overwhelmed, don’t worry, there’s a lot of repetition and overlapping. And you don’t need to master it, just get familiar with it, most of all PICK UP THE GUITAR AND PLAY, learn the notes of the Low E (high E) and A, you will have half of it done the rest will fall into place with the patterns and CAGED system. The guitarfretboard.com has lots of fretboard diagrams, open the image in a new tab, ctrl P for print, and blow it up as big as you can for one page. I bought some 1/4″ colored sticky dots, lots of contrast on black and white paper, I put dots on all the 1 3 and 5 notes in each major scale, viola, the CAGED system. Also on a different paper I labeled all 7 major scale notes with each note having its own color. You will see a pattern. The key is find a way to encode it in your brain, then it will stick, for example the pneumonic… Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie, EADGBE Don’t mess with sticking dots on the sharps or flats unless they are in the scale. Break it down into small bite size lessons, just watch some you tube vids on playing short licks and stuff, practice all the major, minor chords. Just noodle around in the guitar, it doesn’t have to be music, just have fun. Hearing the notes and chords is crucial, now when I hear songs on the radio, I’m like that’s a C7 chord, or that’s in the Key E Train your brain to hear tones, it works. I’ll be back AM dude.
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Thanks All!
I did sell (1) of my electric guitars yesterday…I’m now left with (2) guitars..1- LTD 256 and 1- Wasburn acoustic (very cheep it was).
I still have too much personal stuff going on to put in the practice time that I would like to put into learning so, I’m gonna back off a bit and just use my acoustic when I feel like practicing.. it’s just a pick up and noodle around on the couch type of guitar.
I pray that the members and family members that have posted in this thread..are fleeing well/better …being sick is no fun and it sucks the energy right out of the body and mind.
Have a good day!
Music heals the soul..
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