Here’s a little riff my guitar teacher taught me to help with playing bar chords. It’s pretty simple and sounds pretty cool. Just pick a strumming pattern you like.
G7 | C7 | G7 | G7
C7 | C7 | G7 | G7
D7 | C7 | G7 | G7
D7 | C7 | G7 | G7
Well, I wasn’t really expecting to add a new guitar to my collection today. I posted the other day I was looking at Les Pauls and Telecasters but I didn’t really plan on getting a new guitar any time soon. But, today was the Four Amigos Guitar Show in San Rafael and I found a guitar and deal I just couldn’t pass up.
I guess it was love at first sight when I saw the 2009 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul 1957 R7 Korina Goldtop Reissue. This is a limited edition run that is made from Korina wood rather than the normal mahogany. I honestly always expected to buy a sunburst Les Paul if I was ever going to get one.
And they had plenty of nice examples at the guitar show. But, when I saw the Goldtop it was all over.
Gibson ’57 Les Paul Korina Goldtop Reissue Electric Guitar Features:
Since I’m not specifically writing this blog to provide online guitar lessons, I’m only glossing over what I learned in my lesson. Right now this blog is more about what someone learning the guitar later in life is going through and tracking my progress. I’m still trying to figure out this blog, so who knows what will happen down the road.
On my first guitar lesson we spent most of the time going over basic things like the six strings and their notes (EADGBE). I know the strings, but frankly have a hard time remembering them without doing a mental “rundown” from low E.
My guitar teacher gave me a couple finger exercise to get my fingers more limber and dexterous. Since it doesn’t take a lot of thinking you can do it while sitting around watching TV.
The first is to go through the following patterns on the same string (the number refers to the finger you use):
1, 2, 3, 4
1, 2, 4, 3
1, 3, 2, 4
1, 3, 4, 2
1, 4, 2, 3
1, 4, 3, 2
I’ve been looking for a good guitar teacher to being taking lessons. I’m primarily interested in playing rock, rockabilly, blues, and jazz. There are quite a few choices here in San Francisco, but I was able weed out quite a few based on their style. I was leaning towards taking lessons from a jazz player because my assumption is they have a better foundation in music theory and fundamentals, which is important to me. Not that “rock guitarists” don’t know music theory, but it seems like jazz players are more rooted in the fundamentals. I feel like if I have a better understanding of the theory, it will make things easier down the road. For some, grabbing some tabs and learning as you go is fine. But I want a little more structure.
