I need help..

[six_string_axe]

so.. i have been playing guitar for like 5 years now. i have always mostly played to songs i liked and learned new songs i thought where cool, but i never really understood scales/modes, anything to do with theory. i mean i learned scale patterns but i am always like wtf is this really, im confised, what is this? and just confused me. i mean i could learn and play the scale pattern but didnt really know what to do with it and just forgot about it. i watched guitar videos and tried to learn but still never got it because idk i guess all of the diff topics throw me off? i dont even know. lately i have been coming up with cool stuff i wrote. but what i want to learn is how to jam, just playing, improvising, whatever comes to mind and just jam. my jam is really just playing riffs from songs. i am really good at playing songs though, i can play pretty technical songs and play them really clean.

 

[Damus]

I'll try help and keep it short and to the point.
scale = grouping of notes that sound good together
mode = flavour of the sound e.g. minor is sad =(
know the genre you like (i like metal)
then know the scales commonly used in that genre
for metal its Minor, Pentantonic, Harmonic minor, Phygian etc.
Choose 1! but dont start with pentantonic ffs ull never move forward unless you push your self.
So e.g. Ill choose minor
start with 1 string and play it up the string
then choose a spot to play it virtically up and down the neck (there are 5 positions before it starts to repeat)
learn all 5 positions by doing 1 at a time.
Once you know them all your done...
Ull notice with the mode thing that allot of the time the scales are exactly the same.

ok boring.... yes! you dont have to actually memorise every scale. but learning them once and having a reference of it somewhere is what youll find most helpfull.
Implementing chords to melodies and melodies to chords will help you figure out how it works, so do both e.g. Make a chord progression... then find a scale the works with it. Then make a melody then make a chord progression that works with it.

The end. Just keep in mind that its a guide line, making good music comes from being critical of your self. You need to KNOW that its good and you have to compare your work without bias against the bands or musicians you like and see if its on par...

 

[Damus]

As for the common tricks involved with song writting, its best to download a tab of a song you like, chuck it in guitar pro and see what everyone else is doing. Try figure out why certain things sound good, youll notice people break the rules and certain things just make no sense! But eventually you will come to terms with what is possible, youll learn harmonies and when its "ok" to change modes and so forth.

 

[Damus]

Also dont be fooled into thinking that theory is the only way to make music. Some of the most advanced students of music theory are unable whack out a master peice.
Song writting is a skill in its self that takes practise and no amount of theory will allow you to bypass that.

 

[Solodini]

Theory is really just giving a name to something which crops up regularly, so you can communicate a complicated idea in few words. As Damus mentioned, a scale is just a group of notes which sound good together. The different types of scales are just different spacings between the notes.

All of these things contribute to developing musical vocabulary which is what you need to jam, write and improvise. That vocabulary doesn't necessarily need to come from learning theory but theory can make it less of an arduous trial and error situation. Music is a language in a similar sense to how English, French or any other language is, except music is more expressive and less articulate to specific concepts.

As a baby/toddler/child/teenager/adult develops their vocabulary to better communicate verbally, you go through the same stages musically if you don't want to just regurgitate exactly what you hear and want to say something for yourself instead. You can learn vocabulary from examining other people's music, learning it and how it works then quoting that in various contexts to see how musically relevant it is. You can take that large musical quotation of a full lick and chop it into 2/3 note chunks, rearrange them and see if they're still as effective in that context. The more of that you do, you start to see connections which work and how you can combine them.

Theory basically outlines the work others have already done to those ends. Theory tells you that certain notes will go together one after the other, if you only play a few of those but at the same time then they'll sound good but only on certain beats or if they follow/lead into a certain other combination.

My book walks you through it in simple terms and applies it to making music and writing/creating/improvising. It's probably worth you having a look. Just click the links in my sig, below. I'm usually around here to help you out if you become stuck or have any questions, too.

Hope that helps put you on track a bit.

 

[six_string_axe]

I'll try help and keep it short and to the point.
scale = grouping of notes that sound good together
mode = flavour of the sound e.g. minor is sad =(
know the genre you like (i like metal)
then know the scales commonly used in that genre
for metal its Minor, Pentantonic, Harmonic minor, Phygian etc.
Choose 1! but dont start with pentantonic ffs ull never move forward unless you push your self.
So e.g. Ill choose minor
start with 1 string and play it up the string
then choose a spot to play it virtically up and down the neck (there are 5 positions before it starts to repeat)
learn all 5 positions by doing 1 at a time.
Once you know them all your done...
Ull notice with the mode thing that allot of the time the scales are exactly the same.

ok boring.... yes! you dont have to actually memorise every scale. but learning them once and having a reference of it somewhere is what youll find most helpfull.
Implementing chords to melodies and melodies to chords will help you figure out how it works, so do both e.g. Make a chord progression... then find a scale the works with it. Then make a melody then make a chord progression that works with it.

The end. Just keep in mind that its a guide line, making good music comes from being critical of your self. You need to KNOW that its good and you have to compare your work without bias against the bands or musicians you like and see if its on par...

could you link me to a simple tab of all of these scales? when ever i try to find them i seem to get lost. i want to make sure im looking at the right stuff before i start learning them.

 

[TheKindred]

Musicopedia - The Definitive Musicians Reference Resource

...but just rote memory isn't your friend here. Learn the relationships and intervals and how they apply in each situation.

 

[Damus]

could you link me to a simple tab of all of these scales? when ever i try to find them i seem to get lost. i want to make sure im looking at the right stuff before i start learning them.

I really don't beleive in babying people too much, you have google and you should do a search and then compare infomation to see if it matches.
However because I have seen wrong infomation out there I will recommend "Advanced FretPro" for learning scales, its free software that you can download from download.cnet.com

 

[six_string_axe]

I really don't beleive in babying people too much, you have google and you should do a search and then compare infomation to see if it matches.
However because I have seen wrong infomation out there I will recommend "Advanced FretPro" for learning scales, its free software that you can download from download.cnet.com

ok this looks cool. but man i dont know what im looking at, i clicked a scale and thers a bunch of green dots.. i dont know what to do with those? im only used to learning scale patterns using tabs and theres so many scales and chords, im so suck a music theory novice. i can play all of the idk ''popular chords?'' and obscure cords easily but i can only name a couple of them, e and maybe c?

 

[Solodini]

Give my book a go. It'll explain it all to you.