General Music Chat

Hello all, im an aspiring musician who has been practicing religiously for some time now, im very happy with my skillset thusfar, but, i need to study all things music, so ive come here for homework assignments. What I ask of you is to give me things to study that would make a well rounded musician, because i plan to soak up as much info of music as possible, it is my life, and has always been. Although i am happy with my ability like i said, i just dont have too much knowledge of music in general, my knowlege goes as far as knowing how to pick up a guitar and play it, but not knowing what im playing or what im doing haha, and i dont know where to begin on my studys, so ive come here to get on the right track, i hope you all can help me you would have my extreme gratitude, thanks.

Not sure what information in particular you are seeking.

I might suggest you take a class such as this one:
https://www.coursera.org/#course/guitar

I could suggest seeking other musicians to play with - there are many 'open jams' in the Boston area (depending on what type of music you want to play).

There are youtube (and other online) lessons and examples available.

I have given 2 free music THEORY lessons here, but it only seemed to roil the feathers of cherished fellow board people here and replies were generally full of scorn and conceit, although I know planetguy was just joking..
in other words just use "feel" and that will suffice if they are correct.. it's a language for god sakes..

Dayne - I saw those and didn't respond. I didn't have anything to add, and I don't really care much about music theory, but I didn't want to post anything derogatory either. If you're into that fine by me, if not, I don't care either. So I just stayed out of it.

Moloko - Look around online. From what you posted I don't have a good idea what you're looking for, but you can find all kinds of info online concerning just about any facet of music you can think of from history of the classics to biographies of contemporaries.

For example, I just typed "blues" into google, and got a wiki first thing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues

I didn't read it, just copied and pasted the link.

Just in blues, you can find info about Chicago blues, St Louis, Memphis, Mississippi (where several blues legends came from, including BB King) and so forth.

Look up Mozart you get similar results. First couple of links include biographies and a Wiki.

Ditto for any facet of music you can think of, just look it up. There's plenty info out there to keep you busy till at least next week...

That leaves me out . . .

I didn't post anything derogatory. I posted facts.

Pick this up. (No joke)
http://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-compl ... 1592574377

Learn all the notes on all your frets

Learn at least your major and minor scales - you'll want that pentatonic stuff as well for blues.

I found it very helpful to study up on intervals, scales, modes and chords - and how they relate to each other, eg:
The notes in a diatonic scale can also represent the chords appropriate to the note in each of the seven tones. They are represented like this:

I ii iii IV V vi(diminished) (lower case minor, upper are major). There are also chromatic scales that utilize all 12 tones.

These guys are the foundation for the scales and modes we know and love.

Each element in the diatonic scale has an associated mode. It gets pretty interesting when you dig inn.

Useful website is GuitaristsOnlineSurvivalGuide http://gosk.com/
A tool that is worth it's weight in gold and costs next to nothing on Amazon is the Chord Wheel. (based upon the circle of fifths) Believe me, you will have a lot of 'aha' moments with that.

Talbot

I have given 2 free music THEORY lessons here, but it only seemed to roil the feathers of cherished fellow board people here and replies were generally full of scorn and conceit, although I know planetguy was just joking..
in other words just use "feel" and that will suffice if they are correct.. it's a language for god sakes..

i don't recall giving you any grief, dane. i do recall saying in one thread that i'd never heard plagal cadences discussed outside of the classroom so didn't consider them very useful....but surely that couldn't have ruffled your feathers much.

in the other thread i expanded on your discussion of 9th chords and offered up some stuff along those lines.


ok, for our OP....i'm gonna have to say that you need to make the effort to come up w a specific question (or questions).

when i get a new student i always ask them to bring a list of what they believe to be their strengths and weaknesses AND....they MUST tell me what it is they wish to learn. it's not enough enough to just shrug and just offhandedly say "uh, well...ya know, i want to get BETTER".

we ALL "want to get better"!

start thinking about what knowledge you're lacking, find ways to articulate it, and then star taking steps to go about rectifying it.

Learn all the notes on all your frets

Learn at least your major and minor scales - you'll want that pentatonic stuff as well for blues.

I found it very helpful to study up on intervals, scales, modes and chords - and how they relate to each other, eg:
The notes in a diatonic scale can also represent the chords appropriate to the note in each of the seven tones. They are represented like this:

I ii iii IV V vi(diminished) (lower case minor, upper are major). There are also chromatic scales that utilize all 12 tones.

These guys are the foundation for the scales and modes we know and love.

Each element in the diatonic scale has an associated mode. It gets pretty interesting when you dig inn.

Useful website is GuitaristsOnlineSurvivalGuide http://gosk.com/
A tool that is worth it's weight in gold and costs next to nothing on Amazon is the Chord Wheel. (based upon the circle of fifths) Believe me, you will have a lot of 'aha' moments with that.

Talbot

great stuff there, mike. that's a MOST excellent post!

I have given 2 free music THEORY lessons here, but it only seemed to roil the feathers of cherished fellow board people here and replies were generally full of scorn and conceit, although I know planetguy was just joking..

I don't think anyone's feathers were ruffled Dane. Several posters responded with questions as to why you felt cadences were important to players and songwriters like us. If you choose to be offended by these questions rather than expanding on the concepts, putting them in perspective, and breaking the concepts down so others can understand their significance, how do the lessons benefit other players?

An honest question with an absence of scorn or snark.

if just one person got some good out of it, I was successful.. if theory is not the correct word, or if a plagal cadence is not a real phenomenon, then I apologize to all..

You avatar picture reminded me of his story and his early struggles in life. His wandering about led up to meeting Charlie Patton. Charlie mentored him for a bit taught him how to play chords how to play the blues. But howlin lived what he sang and played.
So I guess find your Charlie or the best you can and steal the best licks from them but put your own twist to it. Surround yourself with like minds and better players than yourself.
As for the mechanics of chords there are a million resources to use. The most important thing though is to practice (it's just muscle memory). Then find yourself a good drummer and learn how to groove with it.
One other thing regarding knowledge go back and learn about the earliest blues players... they were pioneers to a lot of what you hear today and for the past 60-70 years.
Good luck to you and post some music.