in the beginning....

Hey guys, I just happened across this wonderful site the other day and I've been browsing through this forum. All that i've read about theory, scales, and what not has really impressed me.

I'm 19 years old I have played guitar off and on for the past 4 or 5 years. I have yet to take a "real" guitar lession, other than from a guy who lived up the road who has played for 20 years and still doesn't know (or atleast he never said anything to me about) scales and or theory. But he got me interested in guitar and tought me to read tabulature, he showed me some chords and a few licks. I would love to take guitar lessions but at the moment that isn't possible.

About 99 percent of what I can do on a guitar came from someone else's tabs. Over the years I've become a decent guitarist. (or so I thought b4 i found this site) Im to the point now where i get a cd, listen to it, get on the net and find the tab, and i can learn the majority of it in a few minutes.

Im one of those guys that knows bits and pieces of a million different songs, from AC/DC to Zakk Wylde but doesn't have a clue about the theory behind it. I've learned the majority of the notes on the fretboard over time and can play a other peoples solos note for note. Thats only because i dont know how to improvise. Everytime i try i get lost and nothing sounds right. SO FINALLY after all this rambling I've come to the decision that I NEED TO LEARN THE THEORY PART! You guys have opened my eyes to the possiblies just as i was reading through these threads. Its like Im starting all over again. I'm willing to learn, only this time i dont know where to start. Someone guide me in the right direction please.

Though I am glad to help at any particular question, it is hard to tell you where to start without knowing first exactly what you know. What I recommend is that first you do a lot of reading about hteory, so that you know what questions to ask. Here is a good website with theory on it, that should help you a lot http://www.zentao.com/guitar/theory . As for where you should start, I advise you learn the major scale in C at least, and the patterns for it over the fretboard.

thanks for the link. im starting to understand some of this.

Been there too Speedyme.

I've found that the best way to learn how to improvise a solo is with blues.

Do you know the pentatonic scale?

--5--8--
--5--8--
--5--7--
--5--7--
--5--7--
--5--8--

Pretty simple, but really cool to improvise.

What I did to help me with improv was to jam this scale against a blues midi file. You can transpose it on the fretboard depending on which key the rhytmn part is. I lack some knowledge of Keys but I usually go by ear. Like I said, I too need more theory.

Someone could probably help us here. Hey guys! would that be a A pentatonic scale?

Where you should start depends on where you want to go with your guitar playing. What kinds of music do you like to play or listen to? (jazz, blues, rock, classical, death metal, etc) What do you want to be able to do? (site read a chart, improvise solos over chord progressions, play classical influenced melody lines, play cool chord progressions for someone else who is soloing, etc...) That will help you determine where to start.

thanks for the advice guys! i play and listen to almost evertying. i love blues, would love to learn some classical stuff, and listen to everything from Lynyrd Skynyrd, SRV, Creed, Ozzy and pretty much everything inbetween. i guess the answer as to what im wanting to do with my playing, i think i want a better understanding of the basics and just to see the "big picture" how it all fits together. i think that would help me alot. I've not learned the Penatonic scale let but im making decent progress now some of the pieces of the puzzle are starting to make sence. you guys have been a great help!! thanks

A really good book (not really theory, but it might help you learn how to sight read) if you are interested in heaps of Genres is the Berklee "A Modern Method For Guitar", simply because you learn to play music that isn't of any particular genre, but rather how chords can come together to create good music. There's no particular style to the music you learn, it is just a good solid base on basic melodies, etc. Of course, it does get very challenging very quickly, Book 1 starts off for beginners but I am not very far into it as it is still really good for more experienced players. Sorry if this sounds like a plug.

Hi ,
i am from Bangalore,India and i have also played for about 5 years without much of theory and this site and zentao.com have been really helpful and enjoyable.

Dear SPEEDYME,
it would be great to share tips on guitaring with you.
see if you want to get back to me at: avinash_sharma7@yahoo.com

Thanks
Kolam