J
Jak Angelescu
Guest
Hey guys! As usual I browse through the ‘riffs’ section and there are some things that I notice as a whole. 99% of the content on there is lead-based. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I’m going to go and give some tough love, and I really hope I don’t make anyone angry.
I notice some players on here are having a difficult time grasping the concept of what scales sound the best over the chord progressions, how should they resolve, and even the timing of their lead playing. I was talking with my dad the other day and I said, “I’m still just not that great of a lead player. I’m getting better but I think it’s something I’ll always struggle with.” And he gave me some KILLER advice. He said, “That’s okay. A song can exist without a solo, but a song cannot exist without chords.” That literally made me feel so much better because it’s the truth.
THEN, I was spending some time again on Lesson 24 about the C shape of the CAGED system, and Papa Gates goes into how you can play scales in each of those chord positions, and in some of the previous lessons he demonstrates how the simple A minor pentatonic scale can be played over certain chords and why. I was having some hard time improvising over some blues progressions the other day, as it seemed like no matter what I did, I could only do ONE scale. It wasn’t until I LEARNED the chord progression that I realized exactly where the changes were, and it helped open up my sense of rhythmic feel to the song for soloing and where I could resolve, where I could utilize the “six magical notes” lesson, and so on and so forth. It helped IMMENSELY.
When I first started guitar, I seriously didn’t even TOUCH on lead of any kind (scales included) until almost two years into my playing. I’m not condemning people who do. But during these years I was learning the basics of music theory, time signatures how to count, how to read rhythmic notation, how to read sheet music, and how to get a steady right hand and play to either a grooving drummer or a solid metronome count.
I would like to encourage the players on here to spend just as much time with the basic fundamentals as they do with lead. After all, the only reason why Syn knows WHAT to play over Zacky’s parts is because he KNOWS Zacky’s parts. Being adept with rhythm helped me a lot with the Hail To The King solo, as I was able to hear easily when certain counts and beats of the solo were.
So my weekly advice and encouragement to everyone, is to make sure you learn your progressions and really take the concept of chord changes to heart. Strum your basic campfire chords and make sure your timing is solid. Learn a punk rock song or learn some of Zacky’s parts and try to hear WHY Syn’s solos sound so good over them.
You all are coming along so well! And I’m so happy to know that!
I notice some players on here are having a difficult time grasping the concept of what scales sound the best over the chord progressions, how should they resolve, and even the timing of their lead playing. I was talking with my dad the other day and I said, “I’m still just not that great of a lead player. I’m getting better but I think it’s something I’ll always struggle with.” And he gave me some KILLER advice. He said, “That’s okay. A song can exist without a solo, but a song cannot exist without chords.” That literally made me feel so much better because it’s the truth.
THEN, I was spending some time again on Lesson 24 about the C shape of the CAGED system, and Papa Gates goes into how you can play scales in each of those chord positions, and in some of the previous lessons he demonstrates how the simple A minor pentatonic scale can be played over certain chords and why. I was having some hard time improvising over some blues progressions the other day, as it seemed like no matter what I did, I could only do ONE scale. It wasn’t until I LEARNED the chord progression that I realized exactly where the changes were, and it helped open up my sense of rhythmic feel to the song for soloing and where I could resolve, where I could utilize the “six magical notes” lesson, and so on and so forth. It helped IMMENSELY.
When I first started guitar, I seriously didn’t even TOUCH on lead of any kind (scales included) until almost two years into my playing. I’m not condemning people who do. But during these years I was learning the basics of music theory, time signatures how to count, how to read rhythmic notation, how to read sheet music, and how to get a steady right hand and play to either a grooving drummer or a solid metronome count.
I would like to encourage the players on here to spend just as much time with the basic fundamentals as they do with lead. After all, the only reason why Syn knows WHAT to play over Zacky’s parts is because he KNOWS Zacky’s parts. Being adept with rhythm helped me a lot with the Hail To The King solo, as I was able to hear easily when certain counts and beats of the solo were.
So my weekly advice and encouragement to everyone, is to make sure you learn your progressions and really take the concept of chord changes to heart. Strum your basic campfire chords and make sure your timing is solid. Learn a punk rock song or learn some of Zacky’s parts and try to hear WHY Syn’s solos sound so good over them.
You all are coming along so well! And I’m so happy to know that!
