master the guitar

Putting in a half hour of practice a day now.

Probably can’t practice tonight—really ought to get to sleep. Perhaps tomorrow night, after we work on our finances.

I’ve been doing scales (major, pentatonic) around the circle of fourths. Just remember BEAD and it’s easy. So for major, starting with C, it’s

C F then flats B E A D G then natural B E A D G, then back to C.

For pentatonic, starting with E, it’s

E A D, then G, C, F, then flats B E A D G, then natural B and back to E.

Since I already know the fretboard pretty well for strings 1, 5, and 6, I’m starting with the root on strings 2, 3, and 4 so I can get more familiar with those.

It’s gonna take me a while to get back to where I was in 2003. I haven’t lost all of my skills however. I’d love to take lessons again but I don’t see that happening (neither money nor time permit). I’ve mostly been practicing scales—going around the circle of fourths with the major and pentatonic scales. Guitar is a great instrument for music theory. I’m relearning my way around the fretboard.

Unfortunately, I’ve forgotton a lot of my rhythm guitar knowledge. I’ll have to break out The Real Book and go through some of those standards to remind myself how to play all that stuff.

I want to play more rock but I don’t really know what songs I should work on. I tend to draw a blank when I’m asked to pick a song to play in public or semi-public. I think I’m a little embarrassed about my tastes, to tell the truth. Or sometimes what I do think of is too hard. I tried to play Rush’s The Spirit of Radio but it really didn’t turn out so well. It’s a very difficult song.

Anyway, I have a lot of notes from when I was taking lessons so I can use those to guide my practice. Also, I have a lot of books.

One problem—I usually practice while my 11 month old son is sleeping. An electric guitar with no amplifier doesn’t wake a sleeping baby. However, I used to practice with a metronome. I can’t do that now. Actually, it occurs to me that my metronome might have a headphone jack. I’ll have to check.

I first learned guitar when I was 14 years old and got into about a 15 year rut. Then I took lessons in 2002 and 2003, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I learned quite a bit. Unfortunately, I was unemployed in 2003 and eventually I ran out of money to pay for guitar lessons. Then I got a job so I had some money but no time. Basically, that’s the situation I’m still in.

Anyway, if I can start practicing again, that’s a step in the right direction. I have lots of stuff to practice.

I haven’t had a chance to practice much lately. The whole job thing kind of gets in the way of that. Nonetheless, the guitar sits there in my home office, neglected and sad, waiting for me to pick it up and rock again.