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Dave Isaacs, Nashville guitar guru and master teacher

The Perpetual Beginner

Core Concepts 5: connect the dots, learn relationships.

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Learning the guitar neck is like geometry: relationships between points in space, and the formations or shapes they create.

To really get to know the guitar well, it’s really helpful to learn these shapes. The guitar neck is a complicated matrix, and the patterns on the neck can really help you learn to navigate it. But in music, of course, these formations represent sounds. So while the visual formations are a convenient shortcut, they’re ultimately just a reference. The real skill is learning to hear the sonic relationships.

 

Every musical sound is defined by the relationship between different notes.

Notes might be played together as a chord, or in sequence as a melody. We can organize these sounds according to the distance between the notes, creating harmonic and melodic intervals. Each interval has a distinctive sound you can learn to recognize. Chords are made up of stacks of intervals that also have recognizable sounds. Learning to identify these sounds is the process we call ear training.

Along with the physical formations on the neck and the sound each one creates, the third relationship to understand is the way the sounds and shapes relate to each other. We could say that these three kinds of relationships deal with three distinct and essential musical areas: technique and “geography” (where things are), vocabulary (what things are) and theory (how things go together).

 

If that seems like a lot of information, it is. But the good news is that you don’t need to know it all before you can play, or even play well.

In an earlier Core Concepts post we looked at how focusing in on a single musical area can help you progress. In the same way, we can choose to focus on a particular area of the neck, a particular type of sound, or a particular set of patterns. Just as with style, the key is to develop a depth of knowledge: to learn one thing really well. That information then becomes a part of your essential vocabulary, just in the way that a chord you learned in the very beginning might be something that you’ve used every day since.

There are many ways to organize this work. The single biggest thing to remember is that it’s very easy to get wrapped up in the fingerings. Those geometric shapes and sequences are important, but they’re just a shortcut to the sounds. Not only that, but any large shape can be broken down into smaller shapes. So a six-note “E shape” barre chord is actually not one shape but many smaller ones. Trying to memorize all of these is daunting, but if you treat the process as an exploration of sounds it becomes a lot clearer and a lot more musical.

The same goes for scales, or any other pattern you might learn. If you memorize a scale as a fingering sequence but don’t get to know the musical relationships, it won’t help you become a strong melody player. This is a trap many people fall into. I come across students all the time that learn fingerings and patterns but struggle to make music with them. Learning the sounds and the way they relate provides the context you need to use these patterns as the tools and raw materials they are.

 

Our entire musical system is based on an interwoven network of sonic relationships.

Every style has a particular set of sounds that are used most often. Becoming a confident and musical player in any genre depends on your ability to learn those sounds and how to use them. Learning the relationships gives you a context that will guide your musical choices, and over time will unlock not just the guitar neck but whole musical worlds.

 

Core Concepts 4: every technical challenge has a mechanical solution

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One of the great challenges for every guitarist is to train the hands to follow directions. Any musical gesture requires a series of targeted movements, placing specific fingers in specific places. Some gestures are much more difficult than others, but ultimately playing any part is just a matter of knowing where you need to land and having the control to make it happen.

This is a really powerful perspective to have, even though it’s a bit of an oversimplification. What it means is that there’s no mystery to how to accomplish anything on the guitar. The instrument is a mechanism, and so are your hands. You might not have the ability right now to do the things a more accomplished player can, but you’re using the same basic tools. Yes, we’re all proportioned a little differently and that can have an impact on what you can and can’t reach. But for the most part, hands are hands and guitars are guitars!

 

What this really means to you is that you should view any technical challenge as a puzzle to solve.

When you find something difficult to play, break it down. You should be able to identify the specific elements of the part. What fingers do you need to use, and where do they need to go? Are your fingering choices smooth and logical? It’s possible to beat your head against the wall for weeks struggling with a part and then realize that there’s a much easier way to play the same notes. This is where one of the challenges of the guitar becomes an advantage. Since so many notes duplicate in different places across the neck, there’s almost always more than one way to play any given part. The right fingering can make a difficult passage easy.

 

Even if something is way beyond your ability, there’s real value in at least understanding how the part is played.

You might not be able to reach a particular note or play a part up to speed, but if you’re clear on what the hands have to do you’ll be able to practice in a much more targeted and powerful way. This makes it possible to learn to play songs that are way above your baseline skill level, if you’re patient and methodical enough. Practicing is a process, and taking mechanics into account makes that process much more effective.

 

 

Core Concepts 3: what’s your musical direction?

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When I was first learning to play, I didn’t have a specific musical direction. I played the rock music I loved, studied classical guitar seriously, and played in jazz band, at school. I wanted to know everything about everything, and read the monthly issues of Guitar Player and Guitar World magazines cover to cover. Everything I read reinforced the feeling that a real pro ought to be able to play just about anything.

This was a good attitude for a hungry teenager. Having a wide musical interest was great musical preparation for a career as a player. When you don’t know what your next gig is going to call for, it helps to have the ability to handle anything that might get thrown at you.

 

The average casual player has different needs.

I don’t mean to say that it’s not good to be a well-rounded player, because I don’t believe more knowledge ever hurts. But one thing I hear from students over and over is that they feel they’re dabbling without any focus. Some get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information out there. One student told me, “I have hard drives full of gigabytes of guitar lessons, but I still can’t play the way I want to”. This can lead to “option anxiety” and ultimately paralysis. No wonder people get overwhelmed!

If we look at the players that inspired us to pick up a guitar in the first place, though, it seems to me that most of them were stylists. They staked out a musical territory and created a personal sound out of that sonic landscape: a kind of musical home.

 

This week’s core concept is built on that idea: that while versatility is essential to the pro and has value of its own, it doesn’t have to be your goal from the outset.

The stylists we all admire got to know their musical territory well, and the best mastered the style and sound in a way that set a new standard. But few could play everything with the same level of skill and conviction, and ultimately that’s not what most fans want from an artist anyway. We can fall in love with individual songs, but being a fan means connecting with the musical personality. Developing that personality demands a deeper familiarity of the music you play, a command of nuance and suble detail.
This is hard to develop when you’re skittering across the surface trying to pull information from everywhere. Building real skill takes focus, not just in the sense of concentration on a task but concentration on a style and sound. When you get to know the music in greater detail, you’re going to play it with more conviction and confidence.

 

So just because your favorite YouTube channel has three hundred lessons on playing in seven different styles, you don’t need to explore them all right away.

Pick a direction first. Find your musical home and get to know it well. This might remain your focus for a lifetime, or it might just be a starting point. If you find you’re losing interest, pick a new direction. But recognize the value in really getting to know the music you play, and stick to it for as long as it feels good. It will make you a better and more confident player in the long run.

 

 

 

Core Concepts 2: talent is an advantage, not a requirement

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When I was teaching kids, parents would sometimes ask me if their child had any talent. If a child showed a natural affinity for music I would happily tell them so, but it always struck me that they were really asking a different question. What these parents really wanted to know was whether music lessons were a worthwhile investment. They wanted to know if their kid “had it”, or whether they didn’t show enough latent potential to justify the expense of the lessons. But the mindset behind that question is one of the great obstacles to the average person learning to play music.

 

What we call “talent” is simply a level of innate understanding and natural ability.

It’s a beautiful thing and certainly something to be celebrated. But talent isn’t a predictor of success in any area, nor is it a requirement. The gifted will progress much more quickly, and some will achieve heights the average person can’t touch. But when it comes to music, the ability to build a sound foundation as a player has very little to do with talent. It’s a question of ease more than potential: some will get to that baseline level without any struggle at all, while others fight for every small improvement.

The inherent problem is that if you believe you don’t have talent, those struggles are that much harder to push through. It’s difficult to persist at anything when some part of you is questioning whether you’re even capable of doing it well. Ultimately, a focus on talent is elitist: a belief that only the best should play music at all. It also misses a fundamental point in that even the most gifted people still need to do the work. Of course, the most gifted people ARE more likely to do the work, because they get to a point of gratification more easily. It’s more fun more quickly, and so they do it more and more intensely. Their talent is to make it easier to persist and do the work that building real skill requires.

 

For the average person that wonders whether they have any talent, the question is pointless at best and damaging at worst.

Playing music is gratifying and fun at the simplest, most basic level. The real question you should be asking is, what can I do to increase the fun factor in playing music? The better it feels to play, the more you’ll want to do it.
This Core Concepts series will help you find answers to this question. Make friends and get comfortable. Find other people to play with and learn to be a good listener. Embrace simplicity as you build your skills. The bottom line is, everyone should be able to make music in some way, that that starts with the belief that you can.

 

Core Concepts 1: make friends with your guitar

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Core concepts are the key ideas that make players into musicians. If you struggle with the guitar or just need some new ideas, this new series will help show you how to become the player you want to be. To start things off, we’re looking at fundamental number one: make friends with your guitar.

People will sometimes ask how long it takes to develop basic confidence playing the guitar.

Some people are immediately comfortable, while others still feel awkward after months or even years! Most will fall somewhere between those two extremes, and even the most naturally gifted are going to struggle sometime. It’s very common for the average person to get discouraged and question whether they “have it” at all.

But playing music is not only for the gifted, and every aspect of playing an instrument can be quantified and taught. Best of all, playing music can be equally satisfying no matter how simple or complicated the song might be. So your immediate goal should always be to be able to play something well, not necessarily something challenging or difficult. That comes later. The satisfaction comes from the experience of playing confidently, and that means making friends with the instrument first.

What does it mean to make friends with your instrument?

It starts with getting physically comfortable. This can actually be one of the biggest challenges for some people, especially for singers that are already comfortable onstage without a guitar. Having an ungainly box hanging around your neck takes some getting used to! But understanding a few simple principles can really help.

First of all, recognize that playing CAN feel natural. Watch any skilled player – actually, anyone skilled at practically anything – and they make it look easy and fluid. That’s not just because of their skills: in fact, it’s the other way around. The skill is possible because the approach is natural. In other words, they play the instrument in a way that lets the body move the way it’s meant to. For example, a relaxed, “default” or “neutral” hand position on guitar doesn’t look any different from a relaxed hand away from the guitar. Yes, sometimes we need to bend the wrist or extend the fingers, but the hands should always return to neutral. When they don’t, it looks and feels awkward, and that awkwardness makes playing more difficult.

If you think this is an issue for you, pay closer attention to how the instrument feels.

Try just sitting or standing with it, without playing, then gradually introduce small gestures. Forget everything you might have been told and just ask yourself whether it feels comfortable to execute the movement slowly. It’s amazing how often I’ve seen someone who has struggled for months or years radically change their comfort level in playing by just paying attention to what feels and sounds good.

Sometimes this means ignoring something you might have been told, and sometimes it means taking the advice to heart. Well-meaning advice can still be misleading if it’s taken out of context, and the person offering it may not have the right perspective. The fact is, there are few absolutes regarding technique other than that both your body and your instrument follow basic principles of mechanics. “Making friends” means that the two work together as naturally as your skills will allow. This doesn’t actually require a lot of experience to notice: there’s a difference between unfamiliar and awkward, and a more relaxed and efficient approach will almost always feel and sound better. But the only way to really know is to explore.

Once you establish a comfortable friendship with the instrument and the music you play, your commitment will win out over any particular frustration or challenge.

And isn’t that the case for any healthy relationship?

Get rhythm: timing and feel.

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If you believe you have no natural rhythm, you’re wrong.

Rhythm is actually as natural as breathing, or a heartbeat. We use the term “pulse” in music for a reason! Your pulse might be faster or slower depending on the situation you’re in, but if it’s irregular you know there’s a problem. We walk in time too, mostly. (Try walking OUT of time, you’re likely to look like this).

The fact is, rhythm is everywhere in nature, including your body. So learning to apply it in music might come more naturally to some than to others, but everyone does in fact have “natural rhythm”.

 

When we talk about keeping time in music, we’re really talking about coordination.

There can be a difference between perceiving steady time and being able to articulate it. To really develop a musical command of rhythm, you also need to be able to play with it: to count, group, and subdivide time in a variety of ways.

When I was in my first year of music school, all the students were required to take a class called “musicianship”. The textbook was called Elementary Training for Musicians, but it seemed to be far above elementary:

(In fairness, this is from page 100, but still….)

 

However, looking back at it now the way the book is organized is brilliantly simple, and provides a solid approach to building musical coordination. Each chapter is divided into three sections: action in time (rhythm), action in space (melody), and coordinated action (both together). The “action in time” section begins with a simple instruction to tap a steady pulse. Over the course of subsequent exercises, that pulse is organized into recurring counts to create meter.

Meter is just counting!

Meter, as the name suggests, is simply organizing your steady pulse (beat) into measured groups. If a song is said to be “in 4” then the groups are four counts long, but there’s no separation or pause between them. The beat is continuous, and the count is a cycle:

1          2          3          4          1          2          3          4          etc…

Meter and time signature

The term “time signature” also refers to meter, but goes one step further and articulates what to call the rhythmic value being counted. In most cases these will be quarter notes, but can also be eighths or (less commonly) half or sixteenth notes. This doesn’t change the steady beat, or even tell you definitively how fast to go (tempo, measured in beats per minute or bpm). The difference between 3/4 and 6/8 time, for example, is more a matter of style, feel, and accent than fast or slow. The distinction matters, but it’s important for you to learn to pick up these kinds of details by listening rather than by counting and thinking. For our purposes, all that matters right now is that you can keep a steady beat while counting to two, three, four, or six over and over.

Add a slight accent to each “one” as you count. There’s a good chance you might do this naturally, since our bodies like cycles. The first count of the cycle is called the downbeat, and you might feel a definite sense of landing or arrival each time it comes around.

Let’s differentiate further. This time, count to two repeatedly and put the accent on the second beat. This is called the backbeat. Now experiment with changing the accent back and forth from downbeat to backbeat. You’ll notice that this changes the feeling of the beat:

Downbeat accent:     1          2          1          2    

Backbeat accent:       1          2          1          2         

Most songs will accent one more than the other, and the “feel” of a downbeat-heavy song will be very different from a backbeat-heavy song. You will always hear and feel both beats, but the sense of momentum and forward motion is determined by where that accent falls.

Subdivisions and strumming

Of course, most songs do more than bounce back and forth between two beats. The pulse can be divided up into twos, threes, fours, or even further, and notes can be played on any of the subdivisions. Any rhythm you might ever play or sing will line up with a set of pulses and subdivisions that can be “measured” in time as if you were using a ruler.

Applying this idea to the guitar, we can use pick strokes as our unit of “measurement”. Repeated down-up strums might be counted as “1 and 2 and” or as “1 e & a 2 e & a”, articulating eighth notes and sixteenth notes respectively:

 

From here, you can work out most rhythms by simply alternating between down and up strokes and either striking the strings or not. For example, notice this pattern of down and up strums:

The quarter note pulse is played with downstrokes, while the subdivided eighth notes are filled in with upstrokes in between. If it helps, you can count every subdivision but only strum on the ones where a note appears:

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and

Each italicized “and” is a swing of the arm without striking the strings. If you find this tricky to coordinate, try swinging the arm back and forth and counting out loud: “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and”. Notice how the down swing reinforces the sense of arrival on the downbeats, while the up swing on “and” creates a sense of lift. Viewed this way, it makes sense why these are called upbeats.

Ideas to apply

If you’d like some more practice with applying this idea, download this exercise and apply the strum formulas. It’s important that you think in terms of rhythm and feel, though, not just timing. Try using this sequence:

1. Play a steady beat with repeated downstrokes.

2. Count to four repeatedly to establish the meter.

3. Pay attention to the upstrokes and count the “ands”.

4. Using the steady down-up-down-up as your “ruler”, find how the rhythm lines up with the counts of four. Remember that a single quarter note is played with a downstroke, while pairs of eighth notes are played down-up.

5. Experiment with the feel by emphasizing downbeats (1 and 3) or backbeats (2 and 4). You can also try emphasizing other beats for even more options.

These are relatively simple rhythms and there’s a lot more to explore. But if you can begin to connect the related ideas of steady pulse, meter, and subdivision to the feeling of moving the arm back and forth, your coordination, timing, and confidence in strumming will absolutely get stronger.

For more on strumming accents and rhythm, check out this video lesson from the archives: