maybe one thing that can be added is to "make practice sound musical" --quote jaco pastorius--. For example when playing scales don't go 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, but go like 1 2 3 - 2 3 4 - 3 4 5 - 4 5 6 in groups of 3 or in groups of 4 or 5 or whatever... Or when doing appregios, find a chord progression mebbe like C to Dmaj7 to Eadd9...etc etc or stuff liddet and shift around. You will see that these stuff will automatically come up in your improvisations. Don't make practice a practice. Or something like that...

I personally think tabbing is quite a waste of time. I think watching videos are a better way of learning. That way you can learn the hand postioning and the techniques being used rather than just where to press. The way i learned my first bassline was listening to a record in super slow motion with everything slowed down and distorted (some stupid function on windows media player lets you do that). It took me about a week to learn the entire solo. But things like this get better with time. It still takes me a lot of time to transcribe a solo piece by ear, but look at it this way, you are training your relative pitch and in my opinion it's more important than perfect pitch.

And blacktrix is right about getting a decent band. It's until you start playing with people who are better than you that you start learning new things. Which i think is one of the reasons why pros hate playing with noobs. Most of them anyway...

Start practicing scales after the fifth fret. There is sadly no other way i can think of right now....

Dude,practise is important.familiarise urself with the fretwork and tone.

appregios.and then start by playing C/Am pentatonic scale if u wanna start.Proceed slowly until u can improvise on songs.Go for simple 4 chord songs first...

i would however be very careful on pentatonic scales. Because this is a problem that almost every musician or better said guitarists and bassists face.

The first scale that i started practicing was pentatonic. I learned all the notes of every pentatonic scale all over the fretboard. And after that all my solos sounded the same. So umm, don't overdo pentatonic. It's so dangerous because that one scale usually fits over every chord in many modern tunes today. And i think i'm not speaking for myself when i say that we are all lazy after we find something that works all the time.

well fi you play the same licks of cuz they will souind the same....
look at ZW... SRV.... Eric clapton...
all pentatonics but they can something sound so different with just a few changes with bends... vibratos... and note choice

*sorry but putting ZW up with SRV (to SRV fans)

In the beginning it's like thatlar, take each step slowly. Try learning classic solos like Comfortably Numb, Stairway To Heaven, Hotel California, Cream's Crossroads and you'ill see the pattern. Then slowly you'ill start ripping off their licks.

It depends on how you use lar. Frank Marino, SRV, Frank Gambale, Eric Clapton, they are all users of pentatonic scales, yet they can use is all so differently and distinctively. It's how your approach it that matters. Just looks at SRV, he could play a whole show with pentatonics (With some mixolydian licks thrown into) yet he could keep it fresh lick after lick.

if its so i think i''ve made a mistake.i've not learned other scales other than pentatonic alone.Reason:lazy,too dependant.i don't have other resources to learn.i've learned everything myself.i don't have an exlectric axe also...sighs...no wonder what i play sounds boring..

Yep scales and pentas will always be useful. When slapping/soloing I normally stick to the circle of 5ths. As long as you stay within the circle, your solos would normally come out sounding right.

Yeah. I noticed that I mostly repeat my pentatonic paterns all the time because I rely too much on my pentas.

I now try to listen to a wider range of music besides metal for more lick ideas.... good examples are SRV and Prince..... yes. Prince. The Purple dude. Say what you want about his sexuality...... but he has MAD guitar skills.

And it's ok to put SRV and ZW in the same category..... why do you think it's a sin to do so?

Price is fjooking good, and he can play tonnes of other instruments, as well as a pro could!!! His bass and drums playing are pretty good too I heard. He's just plain underrated.

No, it's not ok.

Seriously, Zakk's a pretty accomplished guitarist, but SRV is much more hardcore. And I'm not talking about his drinking skills.

prince is a multi talent. He can play anything at almost pro level.

And to me most of claptons pieces sound the same. You can twist the pentatonics however you want, but until you throw in a few notes (chromatics are usually used to get some bluesy effect) to sort of alter the pentatonics all your solos will sound the same. If you stick strictly to the 5 notes on the pentatonic scale, you're doomed to a boring solo. It's the same with harmonic minor (aeolian?), dorian and lydian modes. These are some of the most overused patterns or scales used in soloing. I know, because i use them and all my solos sound the same . So it's just my tip to be very careful with pentatonics. It's useful when you get lost then you can always fall back on it and find your way into your solo again. But my personal view is, force yourself to stay away from it if you can. I even find scales sometimes less useful, because there is very little relative pitch training. This makes it harder to jump around the fretboard as you are stuck to always playing one note after the next. Appregios and intervallic exercises are in my opinion the hardest. Because you have to start thinking and counting. And after you practise that, scales will be a breeze. That's my opinion anyway.

I'm not saying pentatonics are bad. But just very very very very very overused by many many many many musicians....even the pros.

there we go.....sorry for preaching the long sermon....

This post has been edited by Bassix: Sep 4 2006, 08:06 PM

You need a knock in your head.

Put it this way, if I give you a guitar and you're only limited to te pentatonic scales, along with a 12-bar minor blues backing track, you'ill still unable to play it as tastefully as Clapton.

The blues is always limited to the pentatonics, it's not what notes you use, is how you place it over the chord that matters. Any blues fan would agree with this.

SRV Prince aiyo Michael Jackson wannabe
i seldom listen to his song ..when i were a bit young i saw one of his mtv... man he is so ghey and trutatratra ding dong 1999 after that i completely turn of the radio if his song been play by ghey DJ

Yes. I agree.... Pentatonics are DEFINATELY overused.... unfortunately, it's also one of the "easiest" scales to master..... but there are many different "styles" of Pentatonics also....... and it takes a super pro to make it their own.....

Take for exmple........ Zakk and SRV!!!!!
(editor's note: This is going to be good)

Zakk uses the basic pentatonic patern, but does super fast alternate picking to create it's own super choppy style and also mostly repetitive box patterns.....
SRV mixes up his Pentatonics with extra notes..... but plays it super smooth and goes through the entire penta scale.

Both using basically the same Pentatonic scale, but to each their own method and style of playing.....I respect AND admire both Zakk and SRV's style btw...... and yes..... have to agree.... SRV is waaaaaaaaaaay hardcore player then Zakk...... but then again, SRV is a certified LEGEND. Even Zakk will admit that SRV and Randy Rhodes are better players then him

And Shane........ MORE Threading the VERY thin line now...... Please don't dismiss Prince if you just heard ONE song.... Listen to the new 3121 album...... soulful guitar playing, some VERY impressive licks and a certified guitar legend in his own right.......

This post has been edited by blacktrix: Sep 4 2006, 08:20 PM

"i only know one solo, but i know a thousand different ways to play it" - Angus Young

He has this home studio that he sets up and usually he'ill invite musicians to jam/record in his house. Apparently he has made more recordings than he could ever remember and there must be thousands of songs in the vault.

Once he recorded a Steve Vai track (For the Love of God I think) just because he loved it. Michael Jackson wannabe? For starters, he doesn't dance and he's not interested in little kids.

And oh, he plays guitar very well live. Just check out the Grammy performance with Beyonce or the tribute to George Harrison.

who recorded 'for the love of god'?
clapton?
iirc that song requires a double locking trem to play it

Definitely not Claptonlar haha... Prince... I couldn't remember which Vai track, I'ill check, but it could be For The Love of God.

yeah that's why i quit guitar a long time ago. Now i only do strumming...hahaha. I didn't mean to insult clapton, in fact i'm quite a big fan of his. Maybe a better way to put it is, clapton has his own style. You turn on a clapton song and you'll know it's clapton.

However i have to sort of half agree and half disagree on the blues thing. The blues scale is not exactly pentatonic as in just the 5 notes. It's some sort of weird scale with a flat 3 and a flat 5 somewhere. and some chromatic thingy in the middle after the 3rd. But yes, it is based of the 5 note pentatonic scale. Sorry for the inexcusably bad bad bad theory. I'm working on it...hehehe

But i'm a stubborn guy and still insist on taking caution when playing pentatonic solos.

Nolar, I'm not directing at you. I mean even I give any guitarist a guitar, they wouldn't be able to play it as well as Clapton too.

Some can use the pentatonic tastefully, but some just sound like every other guitarist (Me included ). That's what seperates professionals with amatuers I guess.