Let the Rock Commence!!

Last night I had an amazing guitar lesson. I arrived at Tony Guitar’s place on time and was welcomed inside quite graciously by a very cheerful man. I entered into his studio and could hear Tony Guitar’s son (?), Chris Piano, playing some remarkable jazz piano in an adjacent room. After getting myself settled, Tony Guitar and I talked a bit about what I was hoping to accomplish, my musical tastes, and my current skill level on the guit.

Bit by bit, he worked through my knowledge base trying to get a good grasp of exactly where I was in my playing. And then we got to work.

We covered a lot of material for this first class. It was mostly basic stuff, but right out of the gate it’s obvious that this content will greatly improve my playing. By far the most hilariously awesome moment of the lesson occurred as he worked to desegregate chords and scales from their labels. I’ll try to explain

a G major scale goes a like this:
G A B C D E F# G

an E minor scale goes like this:
E F# G A B C D E

Same notes. Just a different order. So Tony Guitar wanted me to separate the requirement in my head that a G scale be only played over a G chord. In fact, you could play it over an Eminor scale without any dissonance. Likewise there are other scales that can be played over each other. An Am pentatonic can be played over an E or a D. It’s just knowing where and how different notes can be applied.

To demonstrate this, Tony Guitar asked me to play an Am pentatonic while he shifted the underlying chords.

I started picking up and down the scale.

At first, he started playing some basic 12 bar blues in Am. Then he shifted to C major. Then he shifted to a true minor which was much darker and more foreboding. Finally, he said “keep playing that scale and listen to what I do now. You’re going to hate this.”

And just like that, we were playing Disco. I don’t know what chords he was using, or the strum pattern, or the groove… but it was Disco and it was hilarious. Point taken Tony Guitar. Point taken.

I got home and practiced for a few hours. I feel totally motivated and I’m extremely excited and thankful to have found this instructor.

READER PARTICIPATION! WOO!
Now it’s your turn to help!

One of my assignments was to amass 20-25 MP3’s of guitar songs that I’m interested in learning. “I have a very distinct plan of what I’m going to teach you,” Tony Guitar decreed, “but I can teach you these things with any collection of songs that you supply.” The rules are simple: I must like the song. I must not already know how to play the song. Problem is, usually when I hear a song I really really like, I learn how to play it – maybe not to perfection… but I get the gist of it. And I’d rather approach this task with a wealth of new funky songs that scream awesome. So if you have any recommendations for great guitar songs that I should include in this bunch, I’d appreciate it. Any genre is acceptable except country. That last rule is my own.

15 thoughts on “Let the Rock Commence!!

  • 10/30/2009 at 1:42 pm
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    What exactly do you mean by “guitar songs?” Are ear-shredding riffs and face-melting solos required?

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  • 10/30/2009 at 1:46 pm
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    face-melting solos are definitely not required. We’re game for anything, even casual relaxed chord progression stuff.

    As long as there’s a guitar part and that the guitar part is semi-important in the tune.

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  • 11/1/2009 at 3:23 pm
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    Tip Toe Through the Tulips.

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  • 11/2/2009 at 12:48 pm
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    Two Points for Honesty by Guster, though Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce would be hardcore.

    Also, sounds like the kid isn’t even his son. I mean they don’t even have the same last name!

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  • 11/2/2009 at 12:54 pm
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    Two points for honesty – no because I hate that song.
    Through the fire and flames – no because it exceeds my playing limitations by extreme fashions

    And yeah, I don’t know how they got different last names like that, but I think it’s legit.

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  • 11/2/2009 at 1:56 pm
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    How about the 59th Street Bridge Song by Simon and Garfunkel? Or some Metallica (Enter Sandman, The Unforgiven?

    As for last names, I don’t have the same last name as my Mom, she reverted to her maiden name & new married name after the divorce, but that doesn’t really work for the father/son case here. It could also be a stepson?

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  • 11/2/2009 at 1:58 pm
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    Actually, tony Guitar’s last name isn’t Guitar. and Chris Piano’s last name isn’t Piano. Just a privacy thing since I don’t know either of them well enough to openly declare their persons.

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  • 11/2/2009 at 2:08 pm
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    Gah. You know I seem to be especially bad lately at taking EVERYTHING everyone says seriously. I think work is stressing me out way to much. I need an intervention! I also tend to get more annoyed than I should when people get bent out of shape about kids having different last names than their parents.

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  • 11/2/2009 at 9:57 pm
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    1. Justin King is ridiculous on acoustic guitar. I’ll get you some stuff upon my return. Some of it is bound to be past your skill level (particularly the dual neck guitar craziness, which I argue is magic), at least without a solid hanful of fairy dust.
    2. Heavy Metal! While the screaming throaty lyrics aren’t for everybody (or arguably, anybody), the guitar skills are undeniable in a lot of awesome songs. Schenkster can probably chime in here. I’ll do some research…
    3. Who can argue with old Megaman songs???
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHczaI8t7-4

    Rock on!

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  • 11/3/2009 at 10:59 am
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    Another song idea, Keb Mo’s – Life is Beautiful, I’ve fallen for this song lately and it has a nice little guitar bit.

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  • 11/3/2009 at 12:08 pm
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    Michael Jackson: Beat It, up to and including the solo, which much to my chagrin is Van Halen, not Slash as I previously thought.

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  • 11/3/2009 at 12:50 pm
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    Ryan Adams & the Cardinals “Magnolia Mountain”
    Ryan Adams & the Cardlnals “Easy Plateau”
    Ryan Adams & the Cardinals “Let It Ride”

    I have many more Ryan Adams suggestions, just in case those aren’t enough!

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  • 11/3/2009 at 5:14 pm
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    Living Colour – Cult of Personality

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