Kind of a double edged sword. My mathematical abilities are far above average; even my calculus professor was amazed at my ability to punch numbers into a calculator while performing other calculations in my head (I never showed my work!!)
As far as music goes, I think all humans have the ability to understand music, often referred to as the "universal language." The ability to play the guitar (or to suck like I do) depends more upon mechanical ability and dexterity than actual musical ability. The idea that Jimi Hendrix picked up a six string and immediately made it sound awesome is laughable. Few can imagine that he had to practice just like everyone else.
No doubt, musicians have well developed hearing; Cognac makers have well developed sense of smell. This comes from years of focus. Tonal recognition and relative pitch are skill that can be developed over time. Most musicians don't have "perfect pitch"; some do. Having perfect pitch will not build dexterity in the fingers!!
The videos are of the maestro demonstrating what you need to practice; there are no suggestions (none needed.) He is demonstrating how to practice and what to practice. You then incorporate what is in the video into the Daily Practice Routine.
I try to do as much as I can, but as a beginner, I tend to focus on the basics of motion, meaning I do a LOT of trills, ladders, spider, chromatic scales, etc... which tend to help me build dexterity, strength, speed, accuracy, and flexibility.
I also work with a metronome whenever possible. IF you don't have one yet, get one that is LOUD. I have a small electronic one and I can't hear the damn thing unless my amp is almost turned completely down.
I have memorized the PB 14 position scale position system in the key of G. Chromatically, G sharp is the next key. As the maestro, do you want me to memorize the other 11 keys in any particular order?
Go to the main page, click on Lesson PDF/MP3 Files, the first link is Guitar Lessons PDF, 3/4 of the way down there is the PDF file download link for the 5 position. You should be able to download about 90% of the links on this page.
Johnny Winter, Warren Haynes, Sonny Landreth, Derek Trucks, and to a small degree, Jeff Beck are all known for their prowess at slide guitar.
So far, my slide playing sounds exactly as you would expect as I don't practice too much due to horrible sounds. Are there any PB lessons or PB "like" lessons to put those of us slide heads on the right path to awesomeness?
When learning scale forms (say after you have all 14 positions of the Gmaj and minor memorized), is it beneficial to follow the circle of fifths, chronological order, or does it make absolutely no difference whatsoever in which order I learn the 14 position system for the other 11 scale tones?
If I am not being clear, I understand that ALL scale tones should eventually be applied to the 14 position scale system. I am curious as to whether or not a specific order is more beneficial to musical understanding.
If 12 bar blues is based upon a I, IV, V progression and I learned the 14 position of the G, will learning C (IV) and D (V) give me a benefit in the ability to solo over a G major blues song or should I just move on to A as the next 14 position system to memorize and not worry so much about the order of precedence?
Not looking to beat a dead horse, but I am curious about something and would like everyone's input.
Is self imposed regression a form of progression?
I have been studying the PB technique/system for over 9 months and have made many gains. I have the 14 position Gmaj system memorized and about 1/2 of the melodic minor as well as the Em and Am pentatonic positions. Over the past few weeks, I have pretty much abandoned doing any scales or intervals in favor of going back and trying to perfect the spider exercises, ladders, trills, chromatic movements, etc... I now realize how important these "basics" really are, despite the progress I have made in becoming fluent in scale runs.
I understand that the generic answer is to practice everything as much as possible. I saw of video of PB performing the spider exercises with a metronome (which I "almost" always have on), and I thought I was pretty darned fluent with spiders, but doing them with a metronome showed me a serious defect in my ability. My chromatic scales were coming along until I posted a video and noticed I was sliding my fingers along the strings which produced a loud squeak (sloppy), and so I am back to 16th notes at 45bpm (no more squeaks, but landing on the incorrect string.)
Am I putting too much emphasis on the basics? I don't seem to be able to make much progress practicing anything for only 10 minutes, so I tend to focus my one hour practice sessions on only 1 or 2 exercises, usually 30 minutes each, continuously.
Thank you for your input. I read somewhere a long time ago, "Speed develops through accuracy, accuracy does not develop through speed" so I keep the metronome where I am just on the edge of making mistakes.
One question: In the video, you can clearly hear my fingers causing the wound strings to squeak when moving up and down the same string. Is this just a factor of playing or is it due to sloppy technique? (The loud squeaking starts at about the :40 second mark in the video.)
Brian here. I live in Texas, but currently on a two month vacation in Rio, Brazil. I am a new student of Pebber Brown, but I am not new to his techniques. I am going to attempt to upload a video of me playing the chromatic scales according to what I suppose the professor wants to see in order to evaluate my skill level.
As as 12 year veteran of 2 different branches of the military, I have thick skin so please be straightforward. One thing I must remark about is the volume level in the video is much worse than when I am playing. I concentrate on all notes being the same volume and I am pretty darned close, but the video sound would state otherwise.
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