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Dave Isaacs, Nashville guitar guru and master teacher

The Perpetual Beginner

The Perpetual Beginner: why everyone should go back to basics.

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I started using the phrase “perpetual beginner” to refer to guitar enthusiasts/hobbyists/students who have played for months or years but don’t feel like they’re improving any more. Almost everyone hits plateaus and blocks, but so many people build that basic vocabulary and never go beyond it. Some have learned lots of information – chords, licks, “strums” – but still can’t through a song confidently. This blog is meant to offer guidance and methods to break through to that next level of playing. But no matter where you are in your guitar journey, the concept of the perpetual beginner can apply to everyone.

Advancement without improvement

When I was teaching kids primarily, I would start with a new student by asking them to play for me. Obviously a complete beginner wouldn’t be able to do that, but I would see many students who had taken lessons for years and still couldn’t!  They might have a list of pieces they had learned to play, even difficult ones. But they hadn’t built a repertoire.

Building a repertoire means that you have a list of songs you CAN play. And often, learning a song or piece once isn’t enough. Learning happens in stages, a series of gradual climbs punctuated by plateaus. The best way to get past a plateau and start climbing again is to back to basics. So I brought these students back, sometimes from a level 5 book back to level 1. Almost all of them found it frustrating at first, because no one likes to be demoted. But that changed almost immediately, because they almost always found they could play the beginner music in a way they hadn’t been able to before. This is hugely motivating, and also allowed us to get into musical details that would have been too advanced the first time.

Peeling the onion

I believe learning music is a circular process. I experience it as working through layers of detail: from the big picture, we move into specifics. Work on that detail for a while until you’ve gone as far as you can. Then leave it alone and move on to something else. After a while, come back to it and take another look.

Each time we come back to the song fresh, we have peeled away another layer and can attack problems more clearly. We have absorbed the basic things to a point where we can focus clearly on the trouble spots. With repeated practice, muscle memory takes over and the fingers know where to go. But knowing how to play a piece of music well takes more than knowing where to put your fingers!

We can break down the process into five stages or layers:

1. The right notes/chords in the right order
2. Committing those notes/chords to memory, in sequence
3. Playing accurately with consistency
4. Playing with feel
5. Playing without thinking

This is a simple process, it just takes time. But it’s very effective because it allows your mind and hands to learn consciously and then allows time for you to absorb that information into your unconscious. In thirty years of teaching and thirty-five years of playing, I’ve watched this process and experienced it myself over and over. And the beauty is that it works no matter what you’re working on. It can be simple or complicated…the complicated stuff just takes longer because there’s more to learn. But either way, the way to solve any problem is to break it down to its most basic elements. Approach it like a beginner learning it for the first time. The difference is, the process happens much faster on the second go-round. By moving from the macro to the micro, we reset our learning process and come at the new challenge with a fresh perspective.

Keeping practice fresh

Advanced players know this process, because they’ve gone through it over and over. They also know that without repeated new challenges, improvement stops. So let your practicing stay fresh by breaking it up into sections or categories:

1. New music you’re just beginning to learn
2. Specific challenges in music you’ve learned before
3. Developing fluidity and flow in music you know well

In other words:

1. Learning music that’s completely fresh
2. Taking a fresh look at music you know
3. Progressing from conscious to unconscious playing.

It’s a powerful process, and you’ll go through it again and again for your entire musical life. Very simply put: approach everything you practice as it it were new to you. Find things that are new to you in music that isn’t. And take new approaches to music you know well. In Zen philosophy, there is a concept called “beginners’ mind”. Cultivate this and you’ll always have a way to keep practice engaging and effective.

 

Be a real guitar hero: 5 ways to play better rhythm

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When you think “guitar hero” what do you picture? (Look out, the clichés are flying already…cue the fog machine!)

I’ve had many students start their first lesson by saying that they’re “not a guitar player” and don’t really need to be “good”. But you don’t have to be a guitar hero to be a good guitar player: being a good player means having the ability to deliver what your music needs. A good player plays with authority, it doesn’t matter how simple or complex the music is. That authority comes through practice, gradually building confidence and skill. The most essential skill is good rhythm.

Most players spend far more time playing rhythm than lead, no matter how skilled they might be at playing solos. (Then there’s the way the role of the guitar has changed in contemporary music…guitar solos and virtuosity are almost an anachronism). But all music, from any era, is about rhythm. Guitar is a rhythm instrument. Virtuoso guitar heroes like Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen had great rhythm, and so did John Lennon and Johnny Cash.

A great rhythm riff can be as much of a hook as any soaring chorus, and just as powerful:

So with all that said…if you “only” play rhythm, own it and learn to do it well. Here are 5 things you should make a priority to improve your rhythm playing:

1. Develop good timing.

Practice with a metronome, with drum loops, with songs you love, and with other people. You should treat rhythm as a musical skill that deserves attention on its own. Learn how to FEEL the beat, not just count.

2. Learn to strum with fluidity and confidence.

Too many people just focus on the ups and downs and never notice how stiff their playing is. This is a topic I’ve written extensively on, check out my “Strum Secrets” posts for valuable tips.

3. Grow your chord vocabulary.

This might mean finally mastering those frustrating barre chords, or learning new “color chords” to add flavor and interest. You’ll keep on using the basic open chords for your entire playing life, but there are so many other things you can learn to do and many of them aren’t difficult at all.

4. Play songs.

The whole song, beginning to end. If you don’t sing, sing anyway – or at least in your head – to make sure you get through the whole thing. Can you hold the tempo all the way though? Is it challenging to maintain a rhythm pattern for three or four minutes? These are basics that create a foundation for everything else you learn to play.

5. Play with others.

It’s one thing to be able to play along with a metronome, but it’s something else entirely to fit into a group and groove. Play simple parts and simple songs to start with…you don’t want to be distracted by the guitar part. Concentrate on being a part of the whole, and how your part relates to the others. After a while you won’t have to think so hard and you’ll be able to just feel it.

Why Does It Hurt When I Play?

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I should say at the outset that this is not meant to be medical advice. Serious chronic pain should be addressed by a professional. But understanding some basic mechanics can help you tell the difference between a signal to change something and an impending or developing injury.

I’m not talking about the sore fingertips beginners develop as they work on building calluses. This can be frustrating, but not a sign of a deeper problem. Sometimes switching to lighter strings can really help with this, or tuning the guitar down the ease the string tension. But the fact is, calluses take time to build and the fingertips might hurt some in the process. This is normal and to be expected.

Where do you feel it?

The most common places people feel pain from playing guitar are the base of the thumb, the wrist, and the forearm.

Most of the time to pain starts as simple muschand painle fatigue. There are lots of small muscles in the hand and arm, and intricate work like guitar playing can work them harder than your body is used to. You may have been told that you need to just “push through it”, but I disagree. “No pain no gain” may apply to building strength in the large muscles of the body, but the hands are a different story. If you’re being told to “just press harder” – and I rarely say this – find a new teacher.
There are three main factors I’ve observed that contribute to hand and arm pain, and fortunately there are simple solutions than can help.

1. Find a more natural hand position.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from a student that a teacher told them to just grip harder. Some people even use the word “grip” to describe chord shapes. This is bad advice, plain and simple. Your goal is to develop relaxed control, and that doesn’t come from working harder. The best approach is ergonomic: using the mechanics of the hand to produce maximum force with minimal effort.

Provided that your guitar is set up properly, the best and clearest tone will come from an efficient hand position. Your finger should rest on the strings, not squeeze them. Pay attention to the shape of your wrist and fingers. The strongest natural position is a straight wrist with slightly curled fingers:


Allow the thumb to fall where it wants to, and don’t worry about whether it extends over the top of the neck – it usually will. Remember that a lot of the specifics here depend on the proportions of your hand and the size and shape of the neck…there’s no absolute “right way”. But if you feel like your hand is making a claw like the Wicked Witch of the West, you’re definitely bending everything too much!

If the notes aren’t ringing clearly, make an adjustment to your hand or wrist. Let the fingers fall as naturally as possible on the strings. As a rule, your fingers will be more curled on the thinner treble strings and more extended when you reach for the thicker basses. Your wrist should be basically straight but not rigid. Think of the wrist as a hinge that can move forward or back. Play with this until you find the most relaxed position. If you feel compression or pain in the wrist, you’re probably bending it too far. Make sure your guitar neck is at least slightly elevated, that will help.

2. Playing with chronic tension.

Most of us carry at least some amount of tension in our neck and shoulders. This can severely limit the flexibility and strength of your hands: the small muscles of the hand are supported by the larger muscles of the upper arm and shoulder. It’s amazing what a difference it can make in your strumming when you pay attention to your shoulder rather than your hand! You may find that you raise one shoulder higher than the other, or that you rotate your upper body in awkward ways. When we’re focused on the hands, it’s easy to ignore that fact that they’re attached to the rest of you.

Another problem area is the forearms. If your hand position is tight, your forearm muscles are likely to tighten up too. This is a problem for both hands: too much grip in the fretting hand, or too much tightness in the strumming wrist and arm. The forearms should be light and relaxed: let the support come from the upper arm, and think of the forearm as the way to move the hands. The movement needs to initiate from the fingertips…think of the forearm as a hollow tube, led by the fingers.

3. Overpracticing or mindless practicing

Put simply: take breaks and rest your hands between practice segments. DON’T mindlessly go for the same quick movement over and over. Execute the movement, relax and refocus, do it again, relax and refocus. These moments of “letting go” really do help the muscles stay more relaxed. Then every fifteen minutes or so, put the guitar down for a moment. Be aware of your posture, too…if you’re slouching on the couch, you’re probably making your hands work harder than if you were standing with a strap or seated upright.

If you’re a performer and your hands hurt after a show, try to recognize if you’re bearing down harder than you should when you play. Anti-inflammatory drugs like Advil and Aleve are helpful if your muscles are sore, and soaking the hands can help too. There are also various topical remedies that can help. But remember that these are treatments for the symptom, not the problem. Be as aware as you can, manage the pain when it flares up, and get medical advice if it persists.

What about warmups?

If you’re practicing properly – starting off slowly, relaxed, and controlled – then the warmup will happen naturally. There can be value in gentle hand and finger stretching, but it’s also easy to overdo these and hurt more than help. Think of your first few minutes when you pick up the guitar as time to get reacquainted. Almost anything can be an effective warmup if you’re paying attention and not rushing through it. On the other hand, “warmup” exercises can do real damage if you do them too quickly, and especially if there’s tension in the hand when you do them. Pay attention to what your body tells you!

The Perpetual Beginner: how to use a capo as a tool, not a cheater!

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Capos are for cheaters, right?

Wrong! Yes, you can use a capo to make a song easier to play by allowing you to use more comfortable chords, or to raise or lower the vocal range of the melody. But what you’re actually doing is transposing: either actually changing the key of the song, or allowing you to play in one key while sounding in another. This lets you be much more flexible and versatile on guitar!

Do The Math

When we play a song, the chords have a specific relationship to each other based on the position of each chord’s root note in the scale. We can number the seven notes of the C major scale like this:

C=1     D=2     E=3     F=4     G=5     A=6     B=7

We number the chords the same way. So in the key of C, a C chord is 1, while a G chord is 5. The numbers work the same way no matter what key we’re in. Even more importantly, the relationships have a consistent sound no matter what key we’re in. We can really exploit the way this works on guitar by using a capo. Try this exercise:

Play an open position C chord, followed by a G, then back to C.

Place your capo on the 3rd fret and play A – E – A.

Move the capo up the the 5th fret and play G – D – G.

Move the capo to the 10th fret and play D – A – D.

You should notice that although the notes get higher, the chords sound very much the same. This is because the C and G chords can actually be played in different places all over the neck. The capo essentially makes the neck shorter and the pitch of each string higher. So when you play that A chord with the capo at the 3rd fret, the notes sound higher than they would be if you played it without the capo. The capo at the third fret raises the pitch of every note by three semitones or half-steps. So the notes you’re hearing are actually the notes of a C chord. We’re just using what we might call an A shape to reach them. The same applies to the next two examples.

If you do the math and count your way from A to E, G to D, and D to A, you’ll notice that you get the same number each time: 1 and 5. So what you’ve done is play a 1 – 5 – 1 progression in what looks like four different keys, but actually sounds in the same key each time.

It’s about the sound!

Now consider that if you learn more chord relationships and capo positions, you can play in every key in multiple places! Each capo position has a distinctive sound. In fact, the sound of some songs is defined by the use of the capo.

The Secret Formula!

Here’s a simple formula to help you find:where to put your capo to play a specific chord, or what chord is actually sounding.

There are three variables here, and if you know two you can find the third:

1. What fret is the capo on?
2. What chord shape are you playing?
3. What chord is actually sounding?
The formula works like this:

Chord shape + capo position = sounding chord.

In other words, take whatever fret the capo is on and count that number of steps up the chromatic scale (all twelve notes). This diagram will help:

 

 

Keep in mind that notes can be “spelled” as sharps or flats, which is why some notes have two names.

Let’s say you have a song in the key of F but you have trouble playing barre chords. Or maybe you just prefer the more ringing sound of the open chords. To find where to place the capo, start with the note F and count DOWN the chromatic scale to the nearest open chord name: A, C, D, E, or G. This will give you the fret number where the capo should go to make that chord shape sound as an F.

E shape = 1 half-step down from F = capo 1st fret
D shape = 3 half-steps down from F = capo 3rd fret
C shape = 5 half-steps down from F = capo 5th fret
A shape = 8 half-steps down from F = capo 8th fret
G shape = 10 half-steps down from F = capo 10th fret

Identifying the sounding chord

Conversely, let’s say you have a capo on the 3rd fret and you’re playing G, C, and D. To find what chords are actually sounding, count UP the chromatic scale three frets:

G shape + 3 half-steps = Bb
C shape + 3 half-steps = Eb
D shape + 3 half-steps = F
It will probably take some time before you really get to know the chromatic scale, but you’ll probably memorize the patterns you use most pretty quickly. After a while, you’ll be able to try out different capo positions to play the same song. If you’d like some reinforcement on the theory, check out this related post: A Crash Course in Capo Transposition.

 

And remember, sometimes we might choose a capo part because it sounds better, not just because it’s easier!

 

 

The Perpetual Beginner: more on how to play barre chords comfortably.

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It’s an ongoing struggle for lots of people at the “long-term beginner” stage. I wrote a few weeks back about the pesky F chord, which is the first barre chord most students learn. The B minor usually comes next, because there are “cheater” version of both. But what about B major?

The “A-shape” B chord

The B chord is often overlooked. The open position B7 will often work just as well, especially in the common open keys of E and G. But some songs call for a simple major chord, and the 7th won’t always sound right. Even more importantly, learning the B form gives you a way to play sharp and flat chords (Bb, C#, etc) by simple moving the shape up or down the neck.

 

A simple way to get here is to play an open position A chord, using this fingering:

Notice that we’re using middle, ring, and pinky on the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd strings. This is a common fingering for A, and if you have a hard time getting three fingers to fit across those three strings this is the best solution. But we’re also using this fingering to keep the index finger free.
Slide the A chord two frets up so you’re now sitting on the 4th fret. We’ve just moved the A triad (the three primary notes of the chord) up a whole step. The shape on the fingerboard is the same, but we’ve raised the chord’s pitch from A to B. So we can refer to this formation as an “A shape”, but the chord is a B.

The trick now is the barre. Drop the wrist, extend your index finger, and lay it across the strings. You might find it’s most comfortable to let your fingertip extend past the top of the neck, or you may reach just as far as the A string. Find a spot that allows you to lean the index finger slightly to the side, to “pinch” the high E string with the edge of your finger just above the knuckle. It’s the same technique we used to form the F chord in “5 Tips To Stop Avoiding Barre Chords” a few weeks back.

What if the chord isn’t ringing?

If you find your finger won’t reach the strings to form the barre, experiment with where you put your fret hand thumb. Play with how much you allow the wrist to bend. Also make sure that the middle, ring, and pinky notes are sounding clearly. Keep the finger curled and your fingertips on the strings.

Some people are more comfortable using the ring finger to cover all three strings instead of the three-finger approach we just tried. This creates a second barre across the inside strings 2, 3, and 4. The best way to approach this is to allow the ring finger joint to bend back slightly, but don’t push too hard. Don’t worry about whether the high E string sounds or not…this will depend on the flexibility of your finger. If the high string is muted, the chord will still sound full and complete as long as the other notes are ringing.

Time for a finger workout

Even if you can get the chord to sound, though, you may need also to work to develop your finger independence. Try the following exercise slowly. Don’t try to hold all the fingers down at once or strum the entire chord! Instead, practice planting each one individually, building the shape as you go. Use the fingers you would to play the full shape, but only hold down one note at a time:

Remember, the trick is to work the fingers individually. Practice this exercise very slowly…play it through two of three times a day for a week and then try holding notes down together in different combinations:

– Hold 2 notes at a time (as you add notes, keep your finger on the previous note and let it ring over. Release the note as you add the next.

– Hold the three fingers on the 4th fret as a chord and let the index finger move back and forth between strings 1 and 5.

– Hold the entire chord (this will be the most challenging).

Give it time, these forms can take a while to master. Also keep in mind that even a little bit of daily practice is very powerful when you practice with intent and focus. Every bit of effort helps move you forward when you practice attentively.

 

The Perpetual Beginner: the Nashville Number System, practical theory, and your capo.

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The Nashville Number System is a method of musical shorthand devised in the late 1950’s by Bill Matthews of the Jordanaires (most famous as the vocal quartet backing Elvis on his early recordings). It’s a great example of the practical use of music theory. With a little knowledge you can use the concepts behind the NNS to learn a song by ear, figure out a capo position to play in, or transpose a song to a new key.

The basic concept to understand is that a song is generally said to be “in a key”. That means that there are certain notes that are most likely to be used, and others that are likely to be omitted. The particular pattern of the notes creates a “key center”: a musical home base that determines how you hear the relationships between notes. Once this is established in your ear, you will perceive (consciously or unconsciously) that the patterns in the music will generally lead you “home” at the end of the song or sequence.

To illustrate this point, play the following 7 notes. Use the tab if you don’t know the note locations:

C    D    E    F    G    A    B

 

 

 

You’ll probably notice that the last note sounds unresolved, that the musical idea feels incomplete. You’re right! Now play this example:

C    D    E    F    G    A    B    C

 

 

The difference between the two examples is one note, but it makes all the difference! Notice how the final C note in the second example creates a sense of completion that was missing from the first one. This sense of resolution – of a return to home, to stability – is the essence of how our musical system works, and the most important conceptual meaning of the term “key” or “key center”.

Understanding this puts the math in a whole new light. The numbers we use in the Nashville Number System come from the position of a note in the scale sequence: in the key of C, C is 1, D is 2, E is 3, and so on. That’s the math. When a musician reads the number chart, they determine the chords by counting the scale tones up from note 1, and playing the chord that corresponds to the resulting letter. (There’s more to know than that, but for our purposes it’s the main thing to understand).

The trick is to realize that because of this “gravitational” property of our musical system – the sense of “pull” we feel from note 7 of the scale when it isn’t allowed to resolve to note 8 – the numbers also stand for relationships between notes and chords. Accomplished musicians know what those relationships sound like simply by looking at the numbers. No matter where we start, we know what 4 will sound like as soon as we hear 1. This is because the numbers show a relative relationship that is both mathematical and sonic, and we can learn to recognize the sound of each one.

 

So what does this mean to the perpetual beginner? You already know that a capo allows you to change the key of a song by raising the pitch of all the chords equally. This preserves the sonic and mathematical relationships between them. When you start to learn the number system and the basic layout of the guitar neck, your capo suddenly becomes a much more useful and versatile creative tool – NOT a cheater!

This is the point where we need to start memorizing some things. To keep things simple for now, let’s start with three chords in 3 keys:

C 1F 4G 5
D 1G 4A 5
G 1C 4D 5

Read from left to right and play the 3 chords in each row, ending by repeating chord 1. Try this in all 3 keys and you’ll hear the common relationship.

If you memorize the 1, 4, and 5 chords in these 3 keys, you’ll have multiple ways of playing in other keys by using the capo in different places and starting on different chords. For example, you can play 1-4-5-1 in D without the capo by just playing D-G-A-D. Now capo the 2nd fret and play C-F-G-C. Then capo the 7thth fret and play G-C-D-G. The notes are different, but the overall effect and sound are very much the same!
Obviously the specifics will take time to learn, and we’ll explore this further in subsequent posts. For now, start by memorizing the 1, 4, and 5 in the keys of C, D, and G. Experiment with different combinations of numbers, plugging in the appropriate chords. For example, 1 4 1 5 in C would be C F C G, while the same pattern in G would be G C G D. Listen for the similarity in the relationship between the chords. After a while, this becomes easy, and you can learn by hearing the those relationships instead of doing the math. Ear training is a process that takes time, but the skills are something everyone can learn.