Hoping to break my streak

[gabrielschneider223]

Hi all. I'm a pretty casual bedroom guitarist, looking to learn more skills, songs, and gain a deeper understanding of the why and how of music. I've been playing for a few years and worked through a few online courses before. BGU v2 seems great and I'm excited to jump into it.

One thing I've struggle with other online courses is finding songs that compliment the skills I'm learning that are also at an appropriate level. I either end up going through the courses and at the end, not having any real songs to reinforce for the skills I just learned; or I try to find a song that uses the skills and it's either way too easy or way too hard (usually the latter).

It would be amazing if at the end of a lesson, it says "now that you've learned _______, here are links to some song lessons you are ready for". But I can't seem to find that in any online program.

Is there anything in Griff's courses that help? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get over this hump so I can get more songs under my belt?

 

[BraylonJennings]

In the forum General Music and Guitar Learning, there is a thread that lists what songs each solo goes with. Many of the courses teach complete solos, so this will give you a start. In addition, in most lessons Griff will name songs that certain riffs, grooves, or techniques will work well with or are derived from. BGU was specifically designed to get you to be able to get up and play with nearly any blues song that a band leader calls out. It sounds like what your looking for. There also dozens of jam tracks available. Most are based on popular blues tunes or are directly related to course lessons.

Hope this helps.
Play on

 

[Silicon Valley Tom]

Is @Paleo there to answer this question?

My take on this subject is that there are sources for popular music, most of which are not accurate, and lawyers waiting to sue anyone who publishes a copyrighted piece of music. We have had discussions on this forum over the years about this topic. A friend of mine was sued for playing a copyrighted piece of music in public. That was not a pleasant experience!

There are publications like Fake Books that have versions of popular pieces of Blues music. It is safer to publish licks and riffs that may be aimless and legally safe. That is enough said on that subject!

Tom

 

[JPsuff]

The internet is flooded with backing tracks for virtually any genre you can think of.
Let's say you've gotten a good Blues solo in A minor under your fingers. Go to YouTube and type in "Blues backing tracks in Am" and scroll through what comes up until you find something you like.

I'd look for something a bit more challenging than what you're accustomed to because playing what you know really doesn't make you get any better.
Right off the bat, you'll find that solos are generally not interchangeable. For example, a solo for a Blues track in Am at 60 bpm will not necessarily work for ANY Blues in Am at 60 bpm and that's where you learn and get better.
Learning one song with the solo for that song is fine and a necessary step along the way. But to be a real player, you need to know how to adapt what you know to other tracks, some of which are close to what you know but most will be just different enough to make you adjust what you know to fit a new track and now you can play two tracks.

After that, you try other tracks, adapt to those and now you know even more.
This helps to build your ability to play a variety of tracks but most importantly it builds confidence in your abilities and that will encourage you to push the envelope even further. Before you know it, you'll be playing to a variety of tunes and possibly even styles.
All of this shouldn't take the place of what you're learning, but rather it allows you to take what you've learned and apply it to the real world so that one day if you find yourself jamming with others and someone calls out a "Jump Blues in B", you'll have the tools and the confidence to say, "Great! Let's go!"

 

[PapaBear]

Welcome to the club!

 

[TimothyDavies220]

Hi all. I'm a pretty casual bedroom guitarist, looking to learn more skills, songs, and gain a deeper understanding of the why and how of music. I've been playing for a few years and worked through a few online courses before. BGU v2 seems great and I'm excited to jump into it.

One thing I've struggle with other online courses is finding songs that compliment the skills I'm learning that are also at an appropriate level. I either end up going through the courses and at the end, not having any real songs to reinforce for the skills I just learned; or I try to find a song that uses the skills and it's either way too easy or way too hard (usually the latter).

It would be amazing if at the end of a lesson, it says "now that you've learned _______, here are links to some song lessons you are ready for". But I can't seem to find that in any online program.

Is there anything in Griff's courses that help? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get over this hump so I can get more songs under my belt?

Start with your ears. Does it sound like something you might be able to play? If I put on Steve Vai I can tell straight away most of his music is too hard for me. But Chuck Berry... that's my level, but some songs are bit too fast, possibly, to play with all downstrokes. But thats okay I'll work up to the speed even if it means revisiting the song from time to time over the next year or two.

If a song is too hard, just play a simplified version of the song. You don't have to play every note of the solo as it was recorded. You don't have to capture every single rhythmic nuance. As you get better at the instrument you can revisit songs you have learned a refine them, adding more detail or correcting errors.

If I am playing by ear, that "simple version" approach is how I always start off. First just figuring out the chords and a rhythm pattern that seems to fit. Later I try to fill in the details.

If I am learning from tab, I have actually found it is still best to learn a basic version of the song first, just to get a feel for what I am playing (and to get it in my head). Then will use the tab to fill in the details that are too hard for me.

Sometimes I'll give up a song for a while. It's just too hard for me. So I find something easier. But I can always revisit that hard song later on.

Where to find song lessons? Guitar Tricks and Truefire both have song lessons. But otherwise there are thousands of lessons on YouTube. Some come with PDFs, Guitar Pro files or tab on screen.

Here are a couple of links.

My.Tabs gives slightly simplified versions of popular songs. But they sound really good and are great to play along to.

Mr. Tabs

Join Patrick Dwyer as he teaches you to play guitar the way he learned - by jamming along with your favourite rock riffs and solos. A dedicated teacher of over 10 years, Patrick posts accurate no-bull guitar tab videos weekly. Support this channel by becoming a Patron and access backing...

www.youtube.com

JustinGuitar

Justin Sandercoe is one of the world’s leading guitar teachers. His website, JustinGuitar.com - home to over 1,300 free video guitar lessons - has helped millions of students to learn guitar. Justin was a pioneer of internet tuition and he saw the opportunity to make high-quality guitar...

www.youtube.com

Justin Guitar has lots of song lessons on YouTube and usually states upfront what level player the song would suit.

My personal favourite is Anyone Can Play Guitar mainly because he does a lot of Post-Punk stuff that no one elese teaches. But he also has some blues, rock and roll, country and surf guitar.

Anyone Can Play Guitar

I'm Adrian. Welcome to my YouTube channel. I cover all manner of guitar-related stuff, with a particular emphasis on the alternative and the subversive: things overlooked or ignored by the majority of YouTube guitar channels. There's a new video here every Friday. Thanks for subscribing!

www.youtube.com

There are so many lessons on YouTube though. Think of a song you want to play and you'll probably find something. I even find it helpful when I come across a lesson by two different teachers and there versions are bit different. You can learn both.

 

[MikeS]

First, welcome to the Forum.
Next: All of the above is great advice, the only thing I'd add is that you have to have the song/solo in your head before you will really get good at it. If you are trying to read it off a sheet of paper, it will be MUCH harder to get it where you want it. Memorize the music (Chord changes, solo fingerings...). Griff often says "If you can't hum it, you can't play it".

 

[Many Moons]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Jami]

Welcome!

 

[Tangled_up_in_Blue]

Hi. There are many other online tutors that teach a particular skill/technique and then reference an appropriate song/s that use it. The better ones (IMHO) also have a separate tutorial for the referenced song. These could be Blues, Rock, Pop or any other genre. It is not so difficult to find something you like at your level. Griff has always shied away from teaching specific songs (standfast his own compositions), so you will not find that here. Griff often mentions many songs that have this or that particular feel, but you will not get song tutorials as recorded by x or y artist.