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I have been teaching myself and was more heavily into guitar when I was in my twenties. paranoid schizophrenia surfaced while I was deciding I wanted to pursue acting.
It didn't work out well.

I don't want to bore you with stories but I am beyond all the delusional rock star crap. I am 34 and I am studying business in college, finishing up while on disability. During the summers I want to get more heavy into my guitar playing.

I want to get good at recording instrumentals, I don't care if I have nothing to say but I want to get better at guitar, chord progression, songwriting. That's half the battle.

I am a big Elliott Smith fan, want to be able to have his skills or any skills , It doesn't necessarily have to be like elliott but I am suffering from mediocrity. I just want to holy grail for guitar skills. I ordered a Robert Johnson guitar licks DVD to study this summer while off of school. Not sure if delta blues will help.

If anyone can tell me a good book on songwriting or a good book on guitar scales, (because I only know my doh, ray me's.) Please do so, I feel maybe instructional video would be helpful as well because I am not the brightest knife in the bulb.

I have this crazy idea that after I graduate college , is to stay on my disability and go to Berkeley college of music and sneak around campus to find their curriculum on guitar playing.

Can someone help me achieve better knowledge of my instrument. I am desperate. Thanks

Avoid marathon practice sessions.
Instead use multiple spaced short skill focused training methodology.

And check out these links . . . K

http://www.justinguitar.com/en/AA-001-AboutJustin.php

http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/

Sorry to hear all that stuff. By the way it's Berklee. So just what is your disability?

middleageman wrote:I have been teaching myself and was more heavily into guitar when I was in my twenties. paranoid schizophrenia surfaced while I was deciding I wanted to pursue acting.
It didn't work out well.

I don't want to bore you with stories but I am beyond all the delusional rock star crap. I am 34 and I am studying business in college, finishing up while on disability. During the summers I want to get more heavy into my guitar playing.

I want to get good at recording instrumentals, I don't care if I have nothing to say but I want to get better at guitar, chord progression, songwriting. That's half the battle.

I am a big Elliott Smith fan, want to be able to have his skills or any skills , It doesn't necessarily have to be like elliott but I am suffering from mediocrity. I just want to holy grail for guitar skills. I ordered a Robert Johnson guitar licks DVD to study this summer while off of school. Not sure if delta blues will help.

If anyone can tell me a good book on songwriting or a good book on guitar scales, (because I only know my doh, ray me's.) Please do so, I feel maybe instructional video would be helpful as well because I am not the brightest knife in the bulb.

I have this crazy idea that after I graduate college , is to stay on my disability and go to Berkeley college of music and sneak around campus to find their curriculum on guitar playing.

Can someone help me achieve better knowledge of my instrument. I am desperate. Thanks

if mywillie had not been censored, I'm quite sure he would have gave you some good pointers.. music is one of the "seven intelligences" some people are limited and will never attain adept status on guitar from sheer lack of talent..quit beating a dead horse if you are maxed out.. I always wish mathematics would have come easier for me, also one of trhe "seven intelligences" but I was not blessed with the correct brain wiring to get good at calculus, also, mywillie could have given pointers on calculus but he was censored...

Consider taking some advanced lessons from someone. You won't get much 'sneaking around Berklee'! Play with others, one of the best ways to improve.

Here is one way:

"If you want to learn how to make songs yourself, you take your guitar and you go to where the road crosses that way, where a crossroads is. Get there, be sure to get there just a little 'fore 12 that night so you know you'll be there. You have your guitar and be playing a piece there by yourself...A big black man will walk up there and take your guitar and he'll tune it. And then he'll play a piece and hand it back to you. That's the way I learned to play anything I want."
from "Tommy Johnson" by David Evans (London: Studio Vista, 1971).

I'm curious;
what dose "I only know my doh, ray me's" mean?

Great lessons by seasoned pros:
http://truefire.com/landing.html

Taking advanced lessons from someone and moving to a music heavy city or find musician friends isn't a bad idea. Plus I will try true fire.

I am just getting back into music , it's not like I have been trying for 10 years straight. I used to be able to finger pick "memory lane" before I went psycho but I am pretty sure it didn't sound as good as I thought it did. I can never be as crazy as ES either. I'm in a good place.

I am healthy now mentally and getting good grades in college. I had unrealistic goals and three psychotic breaks around 2008-2011. I am going to try to learn Robert Johnson this summer but once college starts up again I really need to focus in order to succeed. It is going to be hard to put aside time for an instrument because I know the time I will give it won't be enough.

I really just want to write and record some cool music I am proud of because I know making it big is few and far between and being on tour wouldn't be so great for my mental health either

If I really had my stuff together I could balance a job and a band. So I have some goals to talk over with my therapist. Sacrificing everything and staying on disability for musicis a dumb idea because my plan is to get a successful job and get out of poverty after college.

JCP61 wrote:I'm curious;
what dose "I only know my doh, ray me's" mean?

I don't know any other guitar scales other than that one. "do ra me fa so la te do" ya know like in the sound of music lol.

strictly speaking that's a song,
not really a music lesson
but any song can teach you some music theory I suppose

try doing your do ra me's over stairway to heaven
now that would be a music lesson!

middleageman wrote:

JCP61 wrote:I'm curious;
what dose "I only know my doh, ray me's" mean?

I don't know any other guitar scales other than that one. "do ra me fa so la te do" ya know like in the sound of music lol.

You already know one scale you just described it above. That is the C major scale.
Music is a journey and there is no easy way. Like anything else in life you get out of it exactly what you put into it! It takes tenacity to move forward good luck!

Suggestion: forget about your left hand. A monkey can make chords and play scales.

Your right hand is your friend - that's where music lives - that's where rhythm comes from. Listen to junior wells and jack bruce do Mary Had a Little Lamb - unreal - take something basic and eat it alive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7moBSaWkH8

Nothing helped me more than figuring that one out.

Good luck

Talbot

oops - meant Buddy Guy. But my heart was good!

Talbot

J-HALEY wrote:

middleageman wrote:

JCP61 wrote:I'm curious;
what dose "I only know my doh, ray me's" mean?

I don't know any other guitar scales other than that one. "do ra me fa so la te do" ya know like in the sound of music lol.

You already know one scale you just described it above. That is the C major scale.
Music is a journey and there is no easy way. Like anything else in life you get out of it exactly what you put into it! It takes tenacity to move forward good luck!

well, if you can play that scale over two octaves (and in fact you're playing it in the key of 'C' ..that's actually SEVEN scales that you can play.

check it out:

c d e f g a b c = CMaj
d e f g a b c d= Dmi (dorian)
e f g a b c d e = Em (phrygian)
f g a b c d e f = FMaj (lydian)
g a b c d e f g = G7 (mixolydian)
a b c d e f g a = Am (aollian)
b c d e f g a b = B half dim (locrian)


these are referred to as "modes" (named in parenthesis)....if you play every other note in the scale.... c e g b for the C scale ...that will give you a Cmaj7 chord

do the same thing for each scale and you will have spelled out chords for each mode (d f a c =d min7 chord)...(.e g b d = Em7)