Thanks for the links! I'm up to pages 87~95 of "A Modern Method for Guitar, Volume 1" by William Leavitt. Seems to be a good book for music reading. Seven months of 30 minutes (minimum) daily reading, and I'm still plugging away at it.
(Disclaimer: I'm just a rookie offering my lunatic opinion here.)
Someone playing G Major scale over a G Major chord is still playing a mode - G Ionian.
Modes are scales. G Ionian = A Dorian = B Phrygian = C Lydian = D Mixolydian = E Aeolian = F# Locrian = G Major scale (the scale from which the modes are derived.) Thank you, uderoche, for talking about tonal gravity. That's why I posted about playing the scales slowly over backing tracks to learn the sound of the modes (and, hence, the amount of pull the chord has on each note). For instance, you probably wouldn't want to hang on F# over GMaj7 (or, perhaps, you would); but over D7, F# sounds killer (to me). Each mode has a different personality/flavor/mood/attitude. It's up to you to practice, listen, and decide what YOU like.
I think of scales as the raw notes, and modes as how/when (weather permitting) to use those notes. Still working on this...
Read The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick. Every week. And watch Pebber's vids. Every day. Take notes.
Now, let's discuss the modes derived from Melodic Minor and Harmonic Minor. (That's as far as I've delved into the different scales. Hungarian Minor is next!)
And speaking of backing tracks, does anyone have a boatload of them to download? I've grabbed the tracks from pbguitarstudios (which will keep me occupied for years, I'm betting). Just wondering if anyone has stuff like m/Maj7 & Maj7#5 chords to experiment soloing over.
NOW, I want a complete harmonic analysis of the songs "La Resa" and "Un Dollaro Bucato" in context from the 2009 film "Inglourious Basterds" on my desk by Monday morning.
Good enough? Yours are the absolute best I've seen. The reason I started creating my own was to eventually map out all keys on the neck. (Rather than using pen & paper, I'm using keyboard & computer.) It helps me to learn the notes of each key.
I uploaded the pdf because somewhere in this thread, you said to upload a pdf of all the modes on the neck in the key of G or C. But maybe you were typing to a specific individual, and not to the general forum population.
This is what I have on my music stand as reference when I'm practicing scales. Might look goofy, but this is how I like to see it - one key all mashed together on one page! Created w/ MS Excel and saved as pdf, so the lines don't look as thin and neat as when I print from Excel.
Just throwing this out because I don't think anyone else did. NOT trying to teach. This is what I create and use (just started 3rd month, so I'm studying A Major now). I put Pebber's name on it because he told us to do so in several vids!
Speaking for myself: 10 minutes RIGHT HAND, 10 minutes LEFT HAND, 10 minutes SCALES, 10 minutes CHORDING, 10 minutes EAR TRAINING & SIGHT READING, 10 minutes ARPEGGIOS & PATTERNS, 10 minutes TUNES/REPERTOIRE. That's 10 minutes per module for a total of 70 minutes. (For me, at the 10 minute point of anything, I've just slogged from frozen completely solid to ice cold.) After a month or two of that, I'd realize my technique is progressing at a dead and completely putrified snail's pace, so I would figure out how to make more time for practice.
Practice routines are totally up to the individual. If one wants to spend 50 minutes a day focusing on a single discipline and nothing else, then more power to 'em. It's all up to you. What do you want?
I've exceeded my 6 minute online activity limit, so I'm going back to practice... because it's fun and much more interesting than anything else. Good luck!
Pebber has enough information on youtube to cover daily practice routines for the rest of your life, really. Does he show every single chord? No, but you can map them out and discover many more by chord explorations. Does he cover every single scale? No, but you can map those out. Same for arpeggios. Chords, scales, arpeggios - learn the notes instead of just the patterns, and you'll learn the entire fretboard.
I watch each video more than once, and take notes. I would imagine (though I'm not positive) that every single thing on the daily practice routine has NOT been covered on youtube - they are probably reserved for lessons. But there is enough material on youtube to practice for a long, long, long, long time...
Sign up for a month or so of lessons if you can't find what you're looking for online. With Pebber, I really don't think you'd be wasting any cash. Good luck!
I have to say the quality of the "Picking Techniques Vol. 1 V.2" DVD is excellent, and it's great to have as a reference. Since I've watched (most of 'em more than once) and taken notes on over 130 of Pebber's instructional clips, I figured I should purchase something or at least send a donation. I chose the purchase route. Glad I did - Great instructional vid!
Pebber Brown has awesome qualities for a guitar teacher: great musician (that helps), wealth of knowledge and experience, detail-oriented, motivational, no BS, covers the minutiae of the craft, actually cares (especially if the student cares), has a system that works. Wish I lived on the west coast!
Anyway...
This might be a stupid thought, but...
For future DVD's, I'm thinking a section of "Pebberisms" or "Words to Live By" (or something to that effect) should be included as a menu item. It could be an edited collection of Pebber saying some of my favorite motivational phrases:
"A lack of effort will give you a lack of results." "Endlessly review the basics." "Thumb behind the neck!" "Curve your fingers. Play with the tips." "Pull those fingers in tight!" "Work on your technique!" "Have some dignity when you play - you want to look good and sound good." "Don't be sloppy!" "Good technique takes WORK." "This is your art, your craft - take pride in it!" "Practice correctly!" "Don't let those idle fingers get sloppy." "Be patient. Practice! Keep at it!" "You suck! What are you going to do about it?" "The greater you make the commitment to yourself, the greater you will improve." "Practice your ass off!" "Take pride in your technique!" "Draw and practice." "Think about this stuff all the time." "Never stop working on your technique." "Map it out." "Don't rock the boat!" "Practice smooth with no audible slides or glitches!" "Take pride in yourself!" "Make your timing accurate!" "You have to practice way, way, way more to get good." "... every day for the rest of your life."
What do you guys think? Might be a lame idea, I don't know. I realize the DVD's might have a more professional lean to them (read: serious tone), but I really think a short clip like this would be good. A lot of these phrases go through my mind as I'm practicing - helps me to work at it and bear down when things are tough. The next day, everything is cleaner and more accurate than the day before - because I kept at it when I thought "Cripes, I'll never get this down!" And I have a picture of Pebber with the words "You suck. Now what are you going to do about it?" taped to a wall as motivation, if anyone wants a copy!