Learning to play guitar without playing guitar?

savage8190 · Post by **savage8190** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 10:10 pm

OK Im not looking for a miracle "make me a rock god" drug here...Ive just come to the realization that I have WAAAAYYYY to much free time at work (well, actually I came to that realization a long time ago, Ive just done nothing useful with it). And I sit here thinking to myself "what is the one thing I enjoy doing more than anything?!?" Then I tell myself there is no one here to do THAT with,,, so then I think to myself "Ok now what is the second best thing

".... Yes thats right, playing guitar...so, is there something that I could be doing to make myself a better guitar player whilst twiddling away my thumbs at my desk? Obviously, playing a guitar is out...I think my co-workers might catch on to that pretty quickly....

Maybe some theory exercises?
Good books?
Any kind of music reading exercises?

I dunno, Im reachin' here...

Wendigo · Post by **Wendigo** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 10:54 pm

At work? The only thing I could suggest is to read about chords/melody/harmony. It's one of the most important things you could do anyway.

Randy Bass · Post by **Randy Bass** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 11:40 pm

Have you considered peyote?

savage8190 · Post by **savage8190** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:33 am

Randy Bass wrote:Have you considered peyote?

That would definitely make for an entertaining day...

mmsb13 · Post by **mmsb13** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 7:40 am

Here ya go. . .

http://shredneck.com/?p=614" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

RedTerror · Post by **RedTerror** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:24 am

I don't mean to promote drug use, but seriously; hallucinogens make me a more fluid, dynamic, and creative guitar player and musician by some marvelous factor. Some of the most enlightening and expansive musical and intellectual experiences of my life were due thereto. The catch is you gotta be playing guitar while yer trippin' balls, and you can reasonably do neither at work. Still, it's all about making the most of your work time and your free time, so give it some thought; you may learn more by trippin' out and playing simultaneously on occasion, recording experiences for future reference to recreate and master what was explored and discovered, than you ever might reading or fiddling around at work. Not to put down the more academic methods; I just find real experience more effective than theory. If you really wanna become a better guitarist through unconventional means due to some type of impasse in personal practice time, this might honestly be your best option. Good luck with everything!

The Red Terror

space-boy · Post by **space-boy** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:40 am

Have you considered listening to music?
It might sound stupid but the truth is that propperly listening to music might help a little.
Try to figure out the chords, search for information about the song, the players, their gears, tunings and so on.
Maybe watch tutorials, read about your favourite players... And also - haven't ever tried it myself- for the schredder guy there are some finger pushup thingys to make your fingers look like gym-a-holic's biceps. I'm sure you know what I am talking about.

There are some devices for android/iPhone smartphones that also might help. Pianos, chord /scale tables, etc, that you can practice with in the meantime...

David Verb · Post by **David Verb** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:29 am

RedTerror wrote:I don't mean to promote drug use, but seriously; hallucinogens make me a more fluid, dynamic, and creative guitar player and musician by some marvelous factor. Some of the most enlightening and expansive musical and intellectual experiences of my life were due thereto. The catch is you gotta be playing guitar while yer trippin' balls, and you can reasonably do neither at work. Still, it's all about making the most of your work time and your free time, so give it some thought; you may learn more by trippin' out and playing simultaneously on occasion, recording experiences for future reference to recreate and master what was explored and discovered, than you ever might reading or fiddling around at work. Not to put down the more academic methods; I just find real experience more effective than theory. If you really wanna become a better guitarist through unconventional means due to some type of impasse in personal practice time, this might honestly be your best option. Good luck with everything!

The Red Terror

For someone who is into hallucinogenic drugs, you have really nice grammar and punctuation. But I do not agree with drug use. Good luck.

To answer the OP; theory, theory, theory, and listening to music.

Knowing the relationship between the harmonic series and harmonic theory will earn you more benefit, and retain your current employment, than "tripping balls" at work.

RedTerror · Post by **RedTerror** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:09 am

I appreciate the honest acknowledgement. But if you read carefully, you'll see I was NOT recommending that he take drugs at work. Forgive me for being at all indiscreet or out of turn, I only chimed in because he seemed to reply favorably to peyote, even if facetiously. Really interesting connections and experiences really come alive on them. But yes, drugs aren't for everyone, I was only recommending an unconventional yet effective route since he seems to be digging deep for unusual methods. I also only do hallucinogens extremely sparingly; doing them frequently is dangerous, and won't necessarily make you a better musician. It's been over three years since the last time I partook, and there's nothing wrong with healthy and responsible experimentation.

But I agree, listening to lots of music and even the same song repeatedly, and even attempting to learn a song closely by ear is extremely groundbreaking. I wanted to learn Crossroads like Clapton, so I listened to the famous live version by Cream from Winterland '68 numerous times and followed along 'til I had it down right. I really enjoy that one, and I may get flack for doing Clapton note-for-note, but it's a great exercise. It really let's you walk around in his skin a bit, so-to-speak. Listening to music is perhaps the best advice I think has been said here so far.

savage8190 · Post by **savage8190** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 1:52 pm

Does getting ear raped by my cubicle neighbors soft rock radio count?

(And since when is Lady Gaga soft rock...)

Anyone recommend some good theory books?

DiabloS · Post by **DiabloS** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 2:17 pm

savage8190 wrote:Anyone recommend some good theory books?

I'd recommend these 2 because I find the approach of doing pencil/paper exercises makes the content stick in your brain a bit better than just reading. It's something you could do at work and you don't need a guitar close by to get something out of it. Or just skip the written exercises and read while on peyote

edly's music theory for practical people
Guitar Fretboard Workbook by Barrett Tagliarino

savage8190 · Post by **savage8190** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 2:59 pm

DiabloS wrote:
savage8190 wrote:Anyone recommend some good theory books?
I'd recommend these 2 because I find the approach of doing pencil/paper exercises makes the content stick in your brain a bit better than just reading. It's something you could do at work and you don't need a guitar close by to get something out of it. Or just skip the written exercises and read while on peyote

edly's music theory for practical people
Guitar Fretboard Workbook by Barrett Tagliarino

Sweet...Ill definitely check them out. I have a couple theory books, but the exercises is more what I am looking for...if Im just reading it then I need my guitar at hand to put it into practice to make it stick...but if I have something to work out on paper, thats a different story.

MaxProphet · Post by **MaxProphet** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 12:02 am

starling1 · Post by **starling1** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 11:22 pm

savage8190 wrote:Does getting ear raped by my cubicle neighbors soft rock radio count? (And since when is Lady Gaga soft rock...)

Anyone recommend some good theory books?

lol.

Erm my advice would be to buy some scale charts (Best thing I ever did for myself, truly) and mess around with some chord variants and dropped tunings (DD, maybe some DC). I genuinely believe that you don't need to be able to read music to write good music, and with specific reference to guitar theory doesn't seem to help anybody at any hell of a rate....in fact every sightreader I know can't write an interesting (admittedly by my own definition of what constitutes an interesting or emotive song) song to save themselves, TBH. I can only speculate as to why this. If you're planning to write your own stuff the charts will help you massively, just so you know which notes relate to which notes etc, and you'll need to learn tab, which isn't rocket science. It all depends on ear to a large degree I suppose, also, but I assume there are interactive software charts these days, to make life easier, maybe look into some of those.