Practicing Scales/Boxes

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
Just did a quick review of PS&TM and I only heard Griff say the word "minor" once and never heard him say the word "root".:sneaky:

He only refers to "the Pentatonic Boxes".;)

And one lesson on the "Shredding Pattern" (which is the one time I heard him actually say "minor").
 
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CaptOblivious

Blues Junior
another lefty lament - right is left and left is right - or is right up the neck or down the neck and as hard as I try the mental transfer is a pain.:LOL: Chord diagrams fuggetaboutit and don't get me started on counting oops that's on me:thumbdown:

I know should have been a righty, should have been more careful as a 13 year old before inadvertently slamming my left hand through a plate glass window leaving only three fingers controllable and half the hand with no feeling knows he will pick up a guitar in his 50's.

Christ crying in my beer and it's not even 8 a.m.
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
Even for "rightys", the top string is on the bottom toward the floor, you go up a string by going down toward the floor, a down pick is down toward the floor, yet a down strum goes up through the strings.

I always preferred saying up and down the neck, which would benefit "leftys".

Even then, you can go up a scale by going down the neck.o_O


And even when playing a right or left-facing scale from a root within a right or left-facing Box, the direction is opposite if you play from the root an octave above (or below).:confused:

And going up a scale may be right or left-facing, but coming down is the opposite.:rolleyes:

And yet we all chose to play guitar.:)
 
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TerryH

Blues Newbie
Griff’s email was very opportune. Since starting to learn to play I have had such struggle with, for want of a better description, “finger skills” that everything else has taken a back seat. I am afraid that I have been one of the many people who have not used this tool before until yesterday. Even If I will never be able to play at breakneck speed something like this is actually much more useful. I think it’s a brilliant tool.
 

Silicon Valley Tom

It makes me happpy to play The Blues!
Oh hell. I know the names. I just don't know where they live! :D
Now that is the most accurate description that can be had! We may know the names of the notes, but where the heck are they located? o_O

You learn the location of the notes on the guitar neck, and then you change the tuning. :unsure: PUNT! You think I am kidding? All bets are off. :whistle: Baby, I have been there!

Oh yes, and this goes for sight reading too! You can sight read but what happens when you change the guitars tuning? Please do not ask. I have been a victim of this dilemma since 1952. But yet, I attempt to survive. Sports fans, it ain't easy! :(

I must say that playing piano has been much simpler. The white keys are c-b and black are either sharp or flat. My first piano lesson when I was 6, was to find Middle C. As long as your piano is in tune, you are doing alright. Those white and black keys do not change. With the guitar, anything is possible! :ROFLMAO:

Another thing about the piano is that the progressions are linear (horizontal) . With a guitar, it is truly AFU! Especially when you change the tuning. :confused:

Tom
 
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PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
You learn the location of the notes on the guitar neck, and then you change the tuning.

That's why I plan to spend the rest of my life playing in standard tuning. That way when the notes aren't where they are supposed to be it because the guitar needs tuning.

I must say that playing piano has been much simpler.
Yeah, but you can't take an acoustic piano to a campfire sing along! :D
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
I was in a "discussion" once where a fellow member told me that "where the notes are on the guitar" depends on the "design of the fretboard".

First I pointed out that even though we talk about "notes on the guitar", you don't see any notes on the guitar. Just places to put your fingers so that when you pluck a string you hear a pitch you want that has been "notated" and given a duration in time.

Also, that the "notes" aren't where they are because the frets are where they are. It's the other way around. The frets are where they need to be so you can place your finger(s) behind them to produce the pitches you want.

He didn't go for that.

Then I pointed out that you don't need frets at all. (Violin family, etc.). Nor do you even need a board. You could stretch a string between 2 doorknobs and play it with some kind of slide. (Knife, coke bottle, etc). Plucking the string would still give you a fundamental frequency and if you put the slide halfway across you'd get an octave and a third of the way would give you a Perfect 5th and so on.

And in the end......

You might have already suspected.....

He blocked me.
 
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MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
"A note is never flat; nor is it sharp. It plays at precisely the pitch it means to." ~ bastardized from a quote that Tolkien never actually wrote. :Beer:
 

Silicon Valley Tom

It makes me happpy to play The Blues!
That's why I plan to spend the rest of my life playing in standard tuning. That way when the notes aren't where they are supposed to be it because the guitar needs tuning.


Yeah, but you can't take an acoustic piano to a campfire sing along! :D
Well, it is "possible" to take an acoustic piano on a campfire sing along. You see, no electricity is needed, so that limitation does not exist. However, I would not want to take my Steinway on such a venture. Possible, but totally impractical.

After moving the piano it would have to be tuned.

We bought a piano when I was 6, and it cost $50 to have it transported four miles within San Francisco. When I was 12, we sold that piano to a neighbor directly across the street, and the cost to move it was $50. Imagine the cost to move a piano for a campfire sing along? And then you have to return home with it! :cry: Why is the acoustic guitar such a valuable instrument? :)

After due consideration, I must agree with you. "You can't take an acoustic piano to a campfire sing along"! :eek:

Tom
 

Jalapeno

Student Of The Blues
Even for "rightys", the top string is on the bottom toward the floor, you go up a string by going down toward the floor, a down pick is down toward the floor, yet a down strum goes up through the strings.

Most of the time any confusion seems to always goes away when I tell students that "up and down and higher and lower etc." is a reference to the musical pitch and not to the location on the guitar. Higher sounding notes are always referred to as upward regardless of where they land on the fretboard.

Eric
(I know you know that Paleo, I'm just putting it out there in case some beginners are still confused as to why up is down :Beer:)
 

Mr.Scary

A Blues Legend in My Own Mind
I know one of Griffs courses has the left facing right facing scales in it but can't remember which one. Does anyone recall?
 
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