When you’re choosing a new (or a first) guitar, scale is something to take into consideration. Guitars come in different scale lengths depending on the manufacturer or style, and the length of a guitar scale can impact its playability and tone.
“Scale length” is the measure of distance between a guitar’s nut and its bridge. The “nut” is at the top of the neck, near the headstock, and the bridge is the device that supports the string below the neck.
How do you measure the scale length of a guitar?
A good rule of thumb is to measure the distance between a guitar’s nut and its 12th fret, and then double it. Guitar scale lengths are generally measured in inches, since most of the world’s largest guitar manufacturers are American.
What are the scale lengths?
Full-size guitar lengths have scales that are longer than 24 inches, whereas a ¾ scale guitar will have scale lengths of 20 to 24 inches. Baritone guitars and guitars with extra strings – (7 string/8 string/9 string) guitars typically have longer scales to make sure the notes on the lower strings can sound clear.
What’s the difference between scale lengths?
Fret spacing is the biggest difference between shorter- and longer-scale guitars. Shorter scale guitars will have frets that are slightly closer together than their longer-scale counterparts. As scale length increases, so does the distance between frets. It’s not a huge difference, but something to consider, especially if you have large or small hands. Closer-together frets also may be easier to get used to for beginners.
The longer the scale of a guitar is, the stronger the tension needs to be to hold the strings in tune. Shorter scale guitar strings require less tension, and might be easier to play.
String gauge also is a factor when it comes to string tension, so if you find longer-scale guitars harder to play, you can compensate by fitting it with a smaller gauge of string.
How does scale length impact tone?
This gives shorter-scale guitars a warmer sound, since their strings have more “wiggle room” to vibrate. Because they require less tension, it’s easier to bend the strings on a shorter-scale guitar.
Since longer-scale guitars have more string tension, they tend to produce a stronger sound with clear low ends.
What about ¾ scale guitars?
A ¾ scale guitar can be purchased for considerably cheaper than a full-size guitar, but often don’t have the capacity to produce the sound a full-size guitar can make. However, the small size makes finger exercises easier, making it a good choice for a first guitar or a practice guitar.
Fret Zealot LED strips come in two sizes – 24.75” and 25.5”. Click here for more.
https://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/11192101/yamaha-pacifica-close-4--scaled.jpg17072560Kaley Lynchhttps://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/logo.pngKaley Lynch2023-01-25 14:32:502023-01-25 14:32:50Do you know your guitar scale length?
Want to learn how to play guitar like Eric Clapton?
The Eric Clapton Player Study course will help you learn the three-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee’s signature style, including phrasing, minor pentatonic shapes, and solos.
Background
An English guitarist and singer-songwriter, Eric Clapton is regarded as one of the most successful guitarists in rock music. He’s had a decades-long career in music, including playing with The Yardbirds, forming power group Cream, and embarking on a successful solo career.
Clapton got his first guitar for his 13th birthday, but it was so difficult to play that he lost interest until two years later. Blues music was Clapton’s biggest inspiration – he practiced learning the chords by playing along to blues records. By age 16, he was getting noticed for his skills and began busking around London.
Clapton joined his first band at age 17, a British R&B group called The Roosters, kicking off a long career in music. He played for just under two years with The Yardbirds, leaving after the band decided to go in a pop direction with their music.
He played in several other bands before forming Cream, one of the first supergroups. In just 28 months, the band was a huge commercial success and played tour dates through the United States and Europe. However, band tensions caused the group to disband in 1968. They briefly reunited in 2005 to play a handful of sold-out shows.
Clapton began recording as a solo artist in 1970 and has released several best-selling albums. He has also recorded several albums with other musicians and contributed guitar to a number of songs by other artists.
Style
Clapton has cited Muddy Waters, Freddie King, B.B. King, and Buddy Guy as his guitar influences. A pioneer of the British blues scene, Clapton mixes and matches the minor and major pentatonic scales to add variety to his solos.
https://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/24161059/clapton-study.jpg10801920Kaley Lynchhttps://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/logo.pngKaley Lynch2023-01-24 16:20:382023-01-24 16:20:38Want to learn how to play guitar like Eric Clapton?
Want to play guitar like John Frusciante? You’ll find that you “Can’t Stop” once you start learning to play like the three-time Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist with the John Frusciante Player Study course.
Background
The children of two musicians – a Juillard-trained pianist and a vocalist – John Fruciante was born in Queens, NY but lived in Arizona and Florida before moving to California with his mother, where he became involved in the Los Angeles punk rock scene. He started playing guitar at age nine and was influenced by Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and Frank Zappa. At 16, he dropped out of high school and moved to L.A. to become a musician.
John Frusciante was an 18-year-old Red Hot Chili Peppers fan when he was tapped to audition for the band after the 1988 death of the band’s original guitarist, Hillel Slovak. Frusciante was introduced to RHCP’s music through his guitar instructor, who was auditioning to be a guitarist for them in 1984. Frusciante saw a RHCP show at the age of 15 and became a huge fan. He met both Slovak and bassist Michael Peter Balzary (“Flea”) before auditioning, the latter through jam sessions with Frusciante’s friend D. H. Peligro, the former drummer for Dead Kennedys. Flea recommended Frusciante for an audition. According to a 1999 VH1 “Behind the Music” episode, Frusciante was so excited when he got the call welcoming him into the band that he jumped on the wall of his home, leaving permanent boot marks.
Though he has left the band twice, Frusciante is a huge influence on RHCP’s sound – he played on their breakthrough album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991), as well as their smash albums “Californication” (1999), “By The Way” (2002), and “Stadium Arcadium” (2006). He rejoined the band in 2019 and played on the band’s 12th studio album Unlimited Love.
Style
“John Frusciante (52279421075)” by Hel Davies from United Kingdom is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Frusciante’s early style was inspired by punk musicians. He has developed a style over his career that’s based on melody, tone, and structure, versus virtuosity, as well as creating texture through chord patterns. Frusciante cites Eddie Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix as influences, but doesn’t focus on speed, telling Kerrang! Magazine that “People believe that by playing faster and creating new playing techniques you can progress forward, but then they realize that emotionally they don’t progress at all. They transmit nothing to the people listening and they stay at where Hendrix was three decades ago. Something like that happened to Vai in the 80s.”
All of the guitars he plays were made before 1970.
Solo work
In addition to his work with RHCP, Frusciante has released 11 solo albums and 7 EPs, including acid house music under the name “Trickfinger”. After leaving RHCP for the second time in 2009, Frusciante shifted his attention to electronic music as an alternative to traditional songwriting.
“I’m always drawing inspiration from different kinds of music and playing guitar along with records, and I go into each new album project with a preconceived idea of what styles I want to combine,” he told Guitar Player magazine in 2006.
Once you master John Frusciante’s playing style, try one of these Red Hot Chili Peppers song lessons!
https://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/18163657/John-Frusciante-Cover.jpeg10801920Kaley Lynchhttps://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/logo.pngKaley Lynch2023-01-18 16:45:262023-01-18 16:45:26Want to play guitar like John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers?
You’ve obtained your first guitar, mastered the scales and chords, and even played in front of friends for the first time. Now what?
If you want to take your journey to the next level, it’s time to start a band! Playing in a band will help build your confidence with your instrument, challenge you as a musician, and it will be a lot of fun.
Here’s how to get started.
Find your bandmates.
Most bands feature at minimum a guitarist, bassist, and drummer, but you don’t have to limit yourself to that structure. It’s helpful to have someone to hold down the rhythm section with low end and percussion, but maybe you know a keyboardist who can hold the bassline down on keys, or a talented synth player who can produce a beat electronically.
Ask musicians that you know to have a jam session to see if you mesh musically. Open mic nights are another place to meet like-minded artists. You can also post in your area’s musician community groups on Facebook – if your area doesn’t have one, feel free to start one!
Determine what your sound is.
Do you want to play strictly covers or original music? Are you a grunge band or will you play experimental dream pop?
Have a talk with your new bandmates about your musical influences and favorite song. Decide what kind of music you want to make. If you’re an original act, create an “elevator pitch” to describe what your band’s sound is in a sentence or two – i.e. “we play alternative pop that sounds like David Bowie joined Florence + The Machine”.
Another important discussion to have is your vision for the band. Figure out if you want to strictly practice in the garage, play out locally four times a month, or try to make it big. Make sure that all of your bandmates are on board.
If you’re going to play covers, start out with ten songs that match your band’s vibe – but don’t feel trapped in one genre. A punk-rock version of a Taylor Swift song could end up being a crowd favorite.
Pick a name
A crucial part of starting a band is finding the right name. A good band name will stand out in the audience’s minds and hopefully have them following you on social media and streaming platforms.
Get together with your bandmates and brainstorm possible names. Some jumping-off points include references to favorite songs or movies, allusions to how you met, or inside jokes within the band – but get as creative as you can!
A couple of things to keep in mind –
A band name that contains an expletive or just sound gross might be funny, but could block some venues from booking you in the future.
If you’re going to play original music, consider how your band name will show up in search engines. A name that’s too common or simple could get lost.
If you’re serious about the project, make sure your chosen band name isn’t already trademarked. It will save you a huge headache in the future.
Brand yourself
Love it or hate it, social media is essential to promoting your band. Create a logo for the group and snap a band picture. You don’t have to splurge on professional photos right away, but get someone to take a good shot of the full band. Try to post regularly and keep followers in the loop about gigs, new music coming out, and anything that helps showcase your personality. Make sure that your social media pages contain contact info so potential bookers can reach you.
Find gigs
Again, playing local open mic nights with your band or posting in community musician groups can be very helpful for landing your first gig. Make connections with other local musicians and bands, and take opportunities to open for them. Reach out to booking agents at local bars and music venues with samples of your music and a short description of your style. Putting together an Electronic Press Kit (EPK) is also a great idea.
Record your music
Once you have some songs ready to go, it’s time to record them! Recording in a studio can provide great results, but it can be expensive. If someone in your band has the equipment and know-how to record, you can take your time and really get your sound the way you want it. Check out this course for setting up your home studio for help.
https://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/13183200/band-3.jpg6841024Kaley Lynchhttps://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/logo.pngKaley Lynch2023-01-17 14:17:222023-01-17 14:19:10How to Start a Band
A great guitar for beginners – the Yamaha FG800 acoustic guitar has a comfortable dreadnought body shape and a slim neck with rounded edges to make playing a breeze.
This all-in-one pack has everything you need to get rocking – including a quality Epiphone electric guitar with a classic Les Paul design, a ten-watt amplifier, gig bag, a tuner, a strap, and picks.
Got an “appetite for destruction”? This Les Paul Special II was designed by Slash himself and features an AAA flame maple top, dark cherry mahogany body and neck, ivory binding, and a silk print of Slash’s Snakepit logo on the headstock. The pack comes with an amplifier, gig bag, and more!
Check out all of the features and hear how it sounds in this review.
All of these guitars are available in our store with Fret Zealot LEDs pre-installed!
https://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/20203724/Front.jpg15501024Kaley Lynchhttps://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/logo.pngKaley Lynch2022-12-20 20:45:452022-12-20 20:45:45These are the three most popular guitars in the Fret Zealot store in 2022
Whether you’re picking up a guitar for the first time or just brushing up on your skills, Fret Zealot has courses that will help you follow your dreams!
Here are the top ten most popular courses of 2022:
This system teaches you 3-note-per-string scales on the guitar and a simple set of rules so you can know where you are within those scales all the time! It will help you play and connect all major and minor scales and their modes, everywhere on the guitar neck.
You don’t need any guitar knowledge to learn blues riffs that will have everyone clapping along! This course will show you everything you need to know.
Learn 51 awesome strumming and finger-picking patterns in all styles of music to help improve your rhythm playing and learn your favorite songs more easily!
What new courses would you like to see in 2023? Let us know in the comments!
https://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/20150633/guitar-stock.jpg6831024Kaley Lynchhttps://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/logo.pngKaley Lynch2022-12-20 16:28:522022-12-20 16:28:52These are the top ten Fret Zealot courses of 2022
By this time of the season, Christmas songs are probably stuck in your head. Why not learn them on guitar for your next party or holiday get-together? Here are some classic Christmas songs you can learn with Fret Zealot – and how they came to be.
A flood damaged an Austrian church’s organ right before Christmas Eve mass in 1818 and prompted the creation of one of the best-known Christmas carols of all time. A young priest named Josef Mohr wrote a poem titled “Stille Nacht” in 1816, welcoming long-awaited peace following the Napoleonic Wars. He revisited the poem two years later, asking a school teacher to arrange the poem in a song with guitar accompaniment. However, guitars weren’t allowed in Catholic churches at the time, so the two waited to perform the song until Mass ended. According to Smithsonian Magazine, the repairman who fixed the organ took the sheet music for the song with him, and choirs began singing the song. It eventually spread to Europe and the United States.
Jingle Bells is one of the best-known holiday songs around – but the lyrics don’t have any connection to Christmas or the holiday season at all! The song was originally published in 1857 as “The One Horse Open Sleigh”. Its first recording, on an Edison cylinder in 1889, is believed to be the first recorded Christmas song ever.
Known as “O Tannenbaum” in its original German, “O Christmas Tree” is a German Christmas song based on a secular traditional folk song. In the mid-19th century, it became associated with Christmas trees. The song’s lyrics don’t have any references to Christmas – they talk about the fir tree’s evergreen qualities and symbolic faithfulness.
A 1863 poem called “Christmas Bells” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, written during the American Civil War, is the basis for this carol. Longfellow had lost his wife in a fire two years prior, and his oldest son was severely injured while serving in the Union Army that year. The poem was set to music in 1872.
“Jolly Old St. Nicholas” also started off as a mid-19th century poem called “Lilly’s Secret”, published in Dec. 1865 and written by author Emily Clark Huntington Miller.
https://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/02180926/Untitled-design.jpg10801080Kaley Lynchhttps://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/logo.pngKaley Lynch2022-12-02 18:13:282022-12-02 18:13:28The origins of classic holiday songs – that you can learn with Fret Zealot
So you’ve gotten your first guitar, learned the basic notes and chords, and mastered a few songs. What’s next?
How about writing a song of your own?
Writing a song on your own might seem intimidating, but it’s not as difficult as it seems. Your first song doesn’t have to be perfect – it doesn’t have to have GRAMMY-winning production or lyrics that will echo through generations. It just has to be yours. A song can be about anything or anyone, and songwriting is a great way to express yourself.
Here are some tips to get started on your own songwriting journey:
What do you want your song to be about? What mood should it encapsulate – joyful? Angry? Bitter? Hopeful? How do you want your song to make listeners feel?
Write a list of visual imagery and ideas that fit the theme of the song. It can be helpful to start with a title and work from there, even if the title changes by the time the song is finished.
Write from your experience – or someone else’s
No one knows your life better than you, and songs written from personal experience tend to be particularly genuine. However, you don’t need to limit yourself to your own memories – what would a song sound like from the perspective of your best friend? Your second grade teacher? Your mailman? You can write from the perspective of a fictional character, or two different people – there are no rules!
Choose a song structure
The most common song structure is verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus. For a beginner, it can be helpful to use this structure as an outline when composing your song, but you can use any structure you like – or no structure at all. Try listening to a few of your favorite songs and figure out what the song structure is for inspiration.
Rhyme
Your verses and choruses don’t need to rhyme, but there’s a reason that so many of the most beloved songs throughout history do – and why writers from Shakespeare to Dr. Seuss used it in their work. Rhymes are helpful when it comes to remembering phrases – probably why you know. The human brain is also wired to recognize patterns, and hearing patterns in the form of rhyme in a song satisfies that urge. Don’t feel like you need to rhyme at all times though. You can use slant rhyme or “near rhyme” – words that sound similar but don’t time, like “rhyme” and “fine”.
You can also use internal rhyme, where words within the same phrase rhyme (or near rhyme). Take these lyrics from Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” as example:
“A singer in a smoky room, the smell of wine and cheap perfume
Working hard to get my fill, everybody wants a thrill
Some will win, some will lose, some were born to sing the blues”.
Record your song
Once you have your song written, record it! All you need for a rough recording is the voice recorder on your cell phone. Experiment recording yourself singing and playing from different angles until you have a sound that’s okay. When you’re ready to graduate to a more professional at-home recording experience, check out this course to learn how to set up your home studio.
https://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/30142831/writing.jpg640960Kaley Lynchhttps://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/logo.pngKaley Lynch2022-11-30 14:30:002022-12-02 14:22:14How to write your first song
Robbie Calvo has been working professionally as a musician for over 20 years, performing live and playing as a studio musician, writing songs, and teaching others how to play guitar.
Fret Zealot sat down with Robbie to talk all things guitar, his career, and his advice for new guitar players.
Q.) How did you get started playing guitar?
A.) I started when I was probably 13, studying at an early age. I went to lessons and stuff, and studied in London. I had an apprenticeship as an artist, went to art school and stuff, but carried on studying. I decided I wanted to go to the Musicians Institute in L.A., spent a year there, learned my crafts or some of it, you know – and then you spend years and years developing your own style and technique and stuff. I went back to London, started doing sessions for a big producer there for TV and stuff like that. Then, I was writing songs. I didn’t like the English music scene so I decided I wanted to write real songs and move to Nashville to learn that craft. I ended up working in studios there and writing, co-writing, stuff like that.
I feel I’ve been put on the planet to be an educator, and as an educator, I realized that I wanted to empower other people with the things that I’ve developed and learned, not only through schooling, but what you develop yourself, your own kind of passions for things.
I put a program together called “Sweet Notes” about chord tone improvisation. What we weren’t taught in music school was that the notes in the chords, the chord tones, are the strongest resolution points – and guitar players were just playing scales, they weren’t going through any of those tones. I just wanted to empower them with that. To this day, it’s been a bestseller.
I developed my path, then my educational series. I think I’ve done about 28 courses for companies.
I get to the point with it – “this is what you need to do, don’t waste your time with this”. People are busy! My whole thing as an educator these days is to live a good life, be good to other people and share wisdom with them – and quickly, because they’ve got other things to do.
One of the things I found very important for me developing as a guitar player is as soon as I started using my voice, I started to understand resonance and how things resonate with the body and the guitar. It’s not just the guitar, I think that’s something that guitar players are possibly missing, they’re not connected to the guitar and when you use your voice you start connecting.
Q.) What made you want to learn guitar?
A.) I’m very introverted, and as a kid, I was very shy, I found it hard to approach other people. My Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is INFJ, so I am very introverted. I would advocate for other guitarists to find out what your personality type is, and you’ll find out what’s inhibiting you and what works for you.
As an introvert, the guitar became my best friend. I was really happy being in my room practicing guitar and becoming a better musician rather than hanging out with four dudes playing music. The INFJ in me also knows how to monetize that, and a lot of musicians don’t understand that commerce is art and art is commerce.
I’ve always loved the guitar – the resonance speaks to me. The beauty of the melodies you create, the chordal structures – and it’s one of those instruments you can take anywhere. I could go to the park in 20 minutes and sit and write a song or jam with someone.
You can’t do that with a piano – a guitar is a portable best friend.
Q.) Who are your inspirations?
A.) The Who, Ella Fitzgerald, AC/DC Journey, Rush, The Beatles, Elton John were some of my early influences, and developed, once I started getting schooled in music, into Steve Lukather, Michael Thompson, John Mayer, and Joey Landreth. They’re songwriters, great guitar players, and they play melodies on the guitar, they’re not trying to show off. That, to me, is impressive. There are too many people out there competing, trying to be fast, to show off. I just want to hear melodies and I think if you’re a songwriter, you understand that the solo and the fills and the song parts are part of the bigger picture, it’s not about you it’s about the song. I think I’ve developed from loving guitar players to loving songwriting guitar players.
Q.) What’s your advice for someone starting out on guitar?
A.) Make a plan. A lot of people just think “I’m going to play guitar”, but it’s a long road.
The first thing to do is get a good guitar, not a cheap guitar. Get something playable and easy on your fingers. You can always sell it if you don’t carry on. Learn some chords, learn to hum notes over the chords. Dig deeper into them. If you take a “D” chord, there are four double stops in there, three chord tones, suspensions, and you can move the notes around. When you start doing that and digging deeper into one chord you start realizing there’s a whole world of music in one shape and you can move that one shape.
If you learn a “D” chord and move it two frets, that’s now an “E” chord with the D in the bass. Move it one more, and it’s an “F” with the D in the bass. You have these movable chords with open strings that can create a song. Learn a couple of shapes, maybe learn a song or write a song then add a chord to it. Start building a repertoire, start building some songs you can sing and perform. I know guitar players who have been playing for 20 years but couldn’t play you a song. What’s the point?
Learn some simple songs, some of the best songs are the simple ones. You can make them as complex as you want. Learn the diatonic harmonies – all the chords in the key of C in the major scale, and then understand if you play “C” “F” and “G” and it resolves to “C”, you’re playing Ionian mode. If you play those three chords starting on “F”, you’re playing Lydian mode. It’s not that hard, it’s very simple once you learn how it works. I’d say start simple, learn the harmonized major scale and start using a capo. You can go do a gig with a handful of chords and a capo if you learn the songs. Take some lessons, get some schooling and understand what the big picture is. If you don’t know what that is, how do you get there?
Play with intention, pick up the guitar to do something, don’t just noodle. Have an intention of what you’re working for. When you have intention and a target, you can hit the target.
Q.) How about for intermediate guitarists?
A.) I think all the information is there, for guitar players, pentatonic is kind of our default scale.
There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s five great tones, but you have to learn how to use the tones.
What I would say is you’ve got to start listening. I think a lot of guitar players are not even listening.
I teach a workshop in Nashville and I was observing people in the class. I’d say to them, “I want you to play an eight-bar solo.” They go into it, and I’m playing the chords, and about a minute and a half they look up and say “was that it?”. Yeah, it was about 108 bars. Some guitar players have no concept of measures, bars, or length. Start listening and understand how long two measures of music are.
All of this information is small if you don’t expand on it but if you start looking at it, it starts doing this! [expansion gesture].
Your musical information and understanding, that one five-note scale and those four chords is probably 50,000 songs rearranged in different orders, with different rhythms.
The info you have in the four chords is thousands of songs, four tonal centers, scale types – you can use that to create a solo, melody, double stops, all those things. I would say to anyone who already knows some things, you don’t necessarily need to know another scale, you need to use the one you know.
To me if you want to be really good at what you do, you have to really understand the intricacies, the ins and outs, invert the scale, do whatever but dig deep. In society, we are on our phones where everything is surface level. When I was learning and getting into guitar, we used to analyze records and theory and things, have deep conversations, who does that anymore? I think you have to start looking inside, start digging a little bit. I’m a bit of a taskmaster that way, like no, do the work.
Q.) What can someone expect from your course, Pentatonic Protocols 1?
A.) The reason I put this course out is because we learn these scales, these five notes, and we then don’t know what to do with them. I thought if I put together a series of protocols, here’s a way of approaching a solo – i.e. start on the root note and play your first lick, second, phrase from that scale go to the second note in the scale and start your phrase there – you can start anywhere in the scale to do that. What you’ve just done is you’ve progressed melodically cause you’ve ascended up four notes. You can’t not play something different because you started somewhere else and now you have a protocol for your solo. So, when someone says “play an eight bar solo you go “oh, I can do that” instead of “what the heck am I going to do”.
I think if you start with an idea and a protocol, big picture, you can achieve it. If you don’t know, how do you go on the journey?
I use it at my gigs all the time. “What am I going to do in this solo?” I know what key I’m in, I’m going to do this, and nine times out of ten it’s going to be great.
Q.) What other advice do you have?
A.) If you can dream it, you can do it, you just have to do the work.
You’ll have a “whole lotta” fun learning how to play like the legendary Led Zeppelin and The Yardbirds guitarist, including lead and rhythm playing, major chord riffs and octave parts in the Jimmy Page Player Study course.
Background
Page grew up in a suburb of London and found his first guitar, at a house his family moved to in 1952. Page said that no one seemed to know where it came from. He started playing at age 12, taking some lessons, but was mostly self-taught, listening to records and playing what he heard. Page would practice six to seven hours a day, sometimes taking the guitar with him to school, where it would be confiscated until the end of the day.
He played guitar on BBC1 in 1957 at age 13 with a skiffle quartet (skiffle is a genre of music that was popular in Britain at the time). When asked by the host what he wanted to do after he finished school, Page said he wanted to do research to find a cure for cancer. He did later interview for a position as a lab assistant, but decided to pursue music instead. He toured with a band called The Crusaders for two years before becoming sick with glandular fever, which forced him to put his music career on pause and focus on his other passion, painting.
He eventually was able to pick up the guitar again and performed on stage, as well as working as a session musician for bands like The Who, The Kinks, and The Rolling Stones. He briefly played with The Yardbirds before forming a new group, Led Zeppelin – one of the best-selling music groups of all time.
Style
Page helped create innovative methods of playing and recording while a member of Led Zeppelin. He used effects in new, different ways and unique arrangements of microphones and amplification. Page is famous for creating iconic power riffs – like “Heartbreaker”, “Black Dog”, “Kashmir” – and bases many of them on the minor pentatonic scale. Page utilized alternative tunings in much of his work, and employed creative methods to get sound including using a cello bow on his guitar strings.
Legacy
In 2015, Page was ranked number three in Rolling Stone’s 2015 list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. His work both as a guitarist and a producer has inspired many other musicians – guitarist who have cited Page as an influence include Eddie Van Halen, Ace Frehley (KISS), Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Slash.
Once you nail down Page’s signature style, you can find dozens of Led Zeppelin tabs on the Fret Zealot app to rock out to!
https://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/10202733/jimmy-page-player-study-.jpg9501836Kaley Lynchhttps://fz-wp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/logo.pngKaley Lynch2022-11-10 20:30:462022-11-10 20:30:46Want to play guitar like Jimmy Page?
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Do you know your guitar scale length?
/by Kaley LynchDo you know your guitar scale length?
When you’re choosing a new (or a first) guitar, scale is something to take into consideration. Guitars come in different scale lengths depending on the manufacturer or style, and the length of a guitar scale can impact its playability and tone.
“Scale length” is the measure of distance between a guitar’s nut and its bridge. The “nut” is at the top of the neck, near the headstock, and the bridge is the device that supports the string below the neck.
How do you measure the scale length of a guitar?
A good rule of thumb is to measure the distance between a guitar’s nut and its 12th fret, and then double it. Guitar scale lengths are generally measured in inches, since most of the world’s largest guitar manufacturers are American.
What are the scale lengths?
Full-size guitar lengths have scales that are longer than 24 inches, whereas a ¾ scale guitar will have scale lengths of 20 to 24 inches. Baritone guitars and guitars with extra strings – (7 string/8 string/9 string) guitars typically have longer scales to make sure the notes on the lower strings can sound clear.
What’s the difference between scale lengths?
Fret spacing is the biggest difference between shorter- and longer-scale guitars. Shorter scale guitars will have frets that are slightly closer together than their longer-scale counterparts. As scale length increases, so does the distance between frets. It’s not a huge difference, but something to consider, especially if you have large or small hands. Closer-together frets also may be easier to get used to for beginners.
The longer the scale of a guitar is, the stronger the tension needs to be to hold the strings in tune. Shorter scale guitar strings require less tension, and might be easier to play.
String gauge also is a factor when it comes to string tension, so if you find longer-scale guitars harder to play, you can compensate by fitting it with a smaller gauge of string.
How does scale length impact tone?
This gives shorter-scale guitars a warmer sound, since their strings have more “wiggle room” to vibrate. Because they require less tension, it’s easier to bend the strings on a shorter-scale guitar.
Since longer-scale guitars have more string tension, they tend to produce a stronger sound with clear low ends.
What about ¾ scale guitars?
A ¾ scale guitar can be purchased for considerably cheaper than a full-size guitar, but often don’t have the capacity to produce the sound a full-size guitar can make. However, the small size makes finger exercises easier, making it a good choice for a first guitar or a practice guitar.
Fret Zealot LED strips come in two sizes – 24.75” and 25.5”. Click here for more.
Want to learn how to play guitar like Eric Clapton?
/by Kaley LynchWant to learn how to play guitar like Eric Clapton?
The Eric Clapton Player Study course will help you learn the three-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee’s signature style, including phrasing, minor pentatonic shapes, and solos.
Background
An English guitarist and singer-songwriter, Eric Clapton is regarded as one of the most successful guitarists in rock music. He’s had a decades-long career in music, including playing with The Yardbirds, forming power group Cream, and embarking on a successful solo career.
Clapton got his first guitar for his 13th birthday, but it was so difficult to play that he lost interest until two years later. Blues music was Clapton’s biggest inspiration – he practiced learning the chords by playing along to blues records. By age 16, he was getting noticed for his skills and began busking around London.
Clapton joined his first band at age 17, a British R&B group called The Roosters, kicking off a long career in music. He played for just under two years with The Yardbirds, leaving after the band decided to go in a pop direction with their music.
He played in several other bands before forming Cream, one of the first supergroups. In just 28 months, the band was a huge commercial success and played tour dates through the United States and Europe. However, band tensions caused the group to disband in 1968. They briefly reunited in 2005 to play a handful of sold-out shows.
Clapton began recording as a solo artist in 1970 and has released several best-selling albums. He has also recorded several albums with other musicians and contributed guitar to a number of songs by other artists.
Style
Clapton has cited Muddy Waters, Freddie King, B.B. King, and Buddy Guy as his guitar influences. A pioneer of the British blues scene, Clapton mixes and matches the minor and major pentatonic scales to add variety to his solos.
Legacy
In 2011, The Guardian credited Clapton with the creation of the “guitar hero cult”, where superlative guitar players are elevated to near-mythic status by virtue of their skills. Clapton is the only person to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times, and he was ranked second in Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Guitarists of All Time”.
Once you’ve mastered Clapton’s signature style, try these song lessons!
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Want to play guitar like John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers?
/by Kaley LynchWant to play guitar like John Frusciante? You’ll find that you “Can’t Stop” once you start learning to play like the three-time Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist with the John Frusciante Player Study course.
Background
The children of two musicians – a Juillard-trained pianist and a vocalist – John Fruciante was born in Queens, NY but lived in Arizona and Florida before moving to California with his mother, where he became involved in the Los Angeles punk rock scene. He started playing guitar at age nine and was influenced by Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and Frank Zappa. At 16, he dropped out of high school and moved to L.A. to become a musician.
John Frusciante was an 18-year-old Red Hot Chili Peppers fan when he was tapped to audition for the band after the 1988 death of the band’s original guitarist, Hillel Slovak. Frusciante was introduced to RHCP’s music through his guitar instructor, who was auditioning to be a guitarist for them in 1984. Frusciante saw a RHCP show at the age of 15 and became a huge fan. He met both Slovak and bassist Michael Peter Balzary (“Flea”) before auditioning, the latter through jam sessions with Frusciante’s friend D. H. Peligro, the former drummer for Dead Kennedys. Flea recommended Frusciante for an audition. According to a 1999 VH1 “Behind the Music” episode, Frusciante was so excited when he got the call welcoming him into the band that he jumped on the wall of his home, leaving permanent boot marks.
Though he has left the band twice, Frusciante is a huge influence on RHCP’s sound – he played on their breakthrough album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991), as well as their smash albums “Californication” (1999), “By The Way” (2002), and “Stadium Arcadium” (2006). He rejoined the band in 2019 and played on the band’s 12th studio album Unlimited Love.
Style
“John Frusciante (52279421075)” by Hel Davies from United Kingdom is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Frusciante’s early style was inspired by punk musicians. He has developed a style over his career that’s based on melody, tone, and structure, versus virtuosity, as well as creating texture through chord patterns. Frusciante cites Eddie Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix as influences, but doesn’t focus on speed, telling Kerrang! Magazine that “People believe that by playing faster and creating new playing techniques you can progress forward, but then they realize that emotionally they don’t progress at all. They transmit nothing to the people listening and they stay at where Hendrix was three decades ago. Something like that happened to Vai in the 80s.”
All of the guitars he plays were made before 1970.
Solo work
In addition to his work with RHCP, Frusciante has released 11 solo albums and 7 EPs, including acid house music under the name “Trickfinger”. After leaving RHCP for the second time in 2009, Frusciante shifted his attention to electronic music as an alternative to traditional songwriting.
“I’m always drawing inspiration from different kinds of music and playing guitar along with records, and I go into each new album project with a preconceived idea of what styles I want to combine,” he told Guitar Player magazine in 2006.
Once you master John Frusciante’s playing style, try one of these Red Hot Chili Peppers song lessons!
Under the Bridge
Can’t Stop
Scar Tissue
Californication
How to Start a Band
/by Kaley LynchYou’ve obtained your first guitar, mastered the scales and chords, and even played in front of friends for the first time. Now what?
If you want to take your journey to the next level, it’s time to start a band! Playing in a band will help build your confidence with your instrument, challenge you as a musician, and it will be a lot of fun.
Here’s how to get started.
Find your bandmates.
Most bands feature at minimum a guitarist, bassist, and drummer, but you don’t have to limit yourself to that structure. It’s helpful to have someone to hold down the rhythm section with low end and percussion, but maybe you know a keyboardist who can hold the bassline down on keys, or a talented synth player who can produce a beat electronically.
Ask musicians that you know to have a jam session to see if you mesh musically. Open mic nights are another place to meet like-minded artists. You can also post in your area’s musician community groups on Facebook – if your area doesn’t have one, feel free to start one!
Determine what your sound is.
Do you want to play strictly covers or original music? Are you a grunge band or will you play experimental dream pop?
Have a talk with your new bandmates about your musical influences and favorite song. Decide what kind of music you want to make. If you’re an original act, create an “elevator pitch” to describe what your band’s sound is in a sentence or two – i.e. “we play alternative pop that sounds like David Bowie joined Florence + The Machine”.
Another important discussion to have is your vision for the band. Figure out if you want to strictly practice in the garage, play out locally four times a month, or try to make it big. Make sure that all of your bandmates are on board.
Get some songs
If you’re going to be an original band, get started writing some songs! You can check out this blog post for ideas on how to get started.
If you’re going to play covers, start out with ten songs that match your band’s vibe – but don’t feel trapped in one genre. A punk-rock version of a Taylor Swift song could end up being a crowd favorite.
Pick a name
A crucial part of starting a band is finding the right name. A good band name will stand out in the audience’s minds and hopefully have them following you on social media and streaming platforms.
Get together with your bandmates and brainstorm possible names. Some jumping-off points include references to favorite songs or movies, allusions to how you met, or inside jokes within the band – but get as creative as you can!
A couple of things to keep in mind –
Brand yourself
Love it or hate it, social media is essential to promoting your band. Create a logo for the group and snap a band picture. You don’t have to splurge on professional photos right away, but get someone to take a good shot of the full band. Try to post regularly and keep followers in the loop about gigs, new music coming out, and anything that helps showcase your personality. Make sure that your social media pages contain contact info so potential bookers can reach you.
Find gigs
Again, playing local open mic nights with your band or posting in community musician groups can be very helpful for landing your first gig. Make connections with other local musicians and bands, and take opportunities to open for them. Reach out to booking agents at local bars and music venues with samples of your music and a short description of your style. Putting together an Electronic Press Kit (EPK) is also a great idea.
Record your music
Once you have some songs ready to go, it’s time to record them! Recording in a studio can provide great results, but it can be expensive. If someone in your band has the equipment and know-how to record, you can take your time and really get your sound the way you want it. Check out this course for setting up your home studio for help.
READ MORE:
These are the three most popular guitars in the Fret Zealot store in 2022
How to write your first song
These are the three most popular guitars in the Fret Zealot store in 2022
/by Kaley LynchYou can find a guitar for anyone in the Fret Zealot store. Here are our three top-selling guitars for 2022!
Yamaha FG800 Dreadnought
A great guitar for beginners – the Yamaha FG800 acoustic guitar has a comfortable dreadnought body shape and a slim neck with rounded edges to make playing a breeze.
Check out our review here.
Les Paul Player Pack
This all-in-one pack has everything you need to get rocking – including a quality Epiphone electric guitar with a classic Les Paul design, a ten-watt amplifier, gig bag, a tuner, a strap, and picks.
Check out our review here:
Epiphone Slash “AFD” Les Paul Special-II Performance Pack
Got an “appetite for destruction”? This Les Paul Special II was designed by Slash himself and features an AAA flame maple top, dark cherry mahogany body and neck, ivory binding, and a silk print of Slash’s Snakepit logo on the headstock. The pack comes with an amplifier, gig bag, and more!
Check out all of the features and hear how it sounds in this review.
All of these guitars are available in our store with Fret Zealot LEDs pre-installed!
These are the top ten Fret Zealot courses of 2022
/by Kaley LynchWhether you’re picking up a guitar for the first time or just brushing up on your skills, Fret Zealot has courses that will help you follow your dreams!
Here are the top ten most popular courses of 2022:
30 Day Beginner Challenge
A course for complete guitar beginners. This crash course includes one lesson to follow per day for 30 days!
Master Your Fingers – Guitar Gym
Like a personal trainer for your guitar skills – this course covers power chords and electric blues to help you master rock, punk, pop, and more.
Complete Guitar Theory Lab
These lessons put the “fun” in “music theory fundamentals”.
Unlocking Major CAGED
This course covers power chords and electric blues, supported by custom written, professionally recorded tracks to help you master the material.
Learn Every Scale in 60 Minutes with RelationShapes!
This system teaches you 3-note-per-string scales on the guitar and a simple set of rules so you can know where you are within those scales all the time! It will help you play and connect all major and minor scales and their modes, everywhere on the guitar neck.
Electric Guitar Beginners – Level 1
This series of courses is essential for beginners who love electric guitar! It covers open chords, strumming, chord charts, and more!
Beginner Blues Guitar
You don’t need any guitar knowledge to learn blues riffs that will have everyone clapping along! This course will show you everything you need to know.
Eric Clapton (Cream) Player Study
Want to learn how to play “Sunshine of Your Love” and other Clapton-era Cream songs? You’ll learn step by step with this course!
Acoustic Beginners – Level 1
You’ll learn your first chords, how to strum, and more basic skills with this beginner’s course!
50+ Chord Progressions and Styles: Strumming Simplified
Learn 51 awesome strumming and finger-picking patterns in all styles of music to help improve your rhythm playing and learn your favorite songs more easily!
What new courses would you like to see in 2023? Let us know in the comments!
The origins of classic holiday songs – that you can learn with Fret Zealot
/by Kaley LynchBy this time of the season, Christmas songs are probably stuck in your head. Why not learn them on guitar for your next party or holiday get-together? Here are some classic Christmas songs you can learn with Fret Zealot – and how they came to be.
Silent Night
A flood damaged an Austrian church’s organ right before Christmas Eve mass in 1818 and prompted the creation of one of the best-known Christmas carols of all time. A young priest named Josef Mohr wrote a poem titled “Stille Nacht” in 1816, welcoming long-awaited peace following the Napoleonic Wars. He revisited the poem two years later, asking a school teacher to arrange the poem in a song with guitar accompaniment. However, guitars weren’t allowed in Catholic churches at the time, so the two waited to perform the song until Mass ended. According to Smithsonian Magazine, the repairman who fixed the organ took the sheet music for the song with him, and choirs began singing the song. It eventually spread to Europe and the United States.
Jingle Bells
Jingle Bells is one of the best-known holiday songs around – but the lyrics don’t have any connection to Christmas or the holiday season at all! The song was originally published in 1857 as “The One Horse Open Sleigh”. Its first recording, on an Edison cylinder in 1889, is believed to be the first recorded Christmas song ever.
O Christmas Tree
Known as “O Tannenbaum” in its original German, “O Christmas Tree” is a German Christmas song based on a secular traditional folk song. In the mid-19th century, it became associated with Christmas trees. The song’s lyrics don’t have any references to Christmas – they talk about the fir tree’s evergreen qualities and symbolic faithfulness.
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
A 1863 poem called “Christmas Bells” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, written during the American Civil War, is the basis for this carol. Longfellow had lost his wife in a fire two years prior, and his oldest son was severely injured while serving in the Union Army that year. The poem was set to music in 1872.
Jolly Old St. Nicholas
“Jolly Old St. Nicholas” also started off as a mid-19th century poem called “Lilly’s Secret”, published in Dec. 1865 and written by author Emily Clark Huntington Miller.
Need a perfect holiday gift for someone?
Check out our FZ Holiday Gift Guide, or try writing a song!
How to write your first song
/by Kaley LynchSo you’ve gotten your first guitar, learned the basic notes and chords, and mastered a few songs. What’s next?
How about writing a song of your own?
Writing a song on your own might seem intimidating, but it’s not as difficult as it seems. Your first song doesn’t have to be perfect – it doesn’t have to have GRAMMY-winning production or lyrics that will echo through generations. It just has to be yours. A song can be about anything or anyone, and songwriting is a great way to express yourself.
Here are some tips to get started on your own songwriting journey:
Pick simple chords
Lots of the biggest songs only use three chords! If you know just a handful of chords, you can arrange them in a progression that sounds good to you and create a melody over them. Try using a capo to easily transpose your chords to a higher key if it better fits your voice or the melody you’re creating.
Choose a subject for your song
What do you want your song to be about? What mood should it encapsulate – joyful? Angry? Bitter? Hopeful? How do you want your song to make listeners feel?
Write a list of visual imagery and ideas that fit the theme of the song. It can be helpful to start with a title and work from there, even if the title changes by the time the song is finished.
Write from your experience – or someone else’s
No one knows your life better than you, and songs written from personal experience tend to be particularly genuine. However, you don’t need to limit yourself to your own memories – what would a song sound like from the perspective of your best friend? Your second grade teacher? Your mailman? You can write from the perspective of a fictional character, or two different people – there are no rules!
Choose a song structure
The most common song structure is verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus. For a beginner, it can be helpful to use this structure as an outline when composing your song, but you can use any structure you like – or no structure at all. Try listening to a few of your favorite songs and figure out what the song structure is for inspiration.
Rhyme
Your verses and choruses don’t need to rhyme, but there’s a reason that so many of the most beloved songs throughout history do – and why writers from Shakespeare to Dr. Seuss used it in their work. Rhymes are helpful when it comes to remembering phrases – probably why you know. The human brain is also wired to recognize patterns, and hearing patterns in the form of rhyme in a song satisfies that urge. Don’t feel like you need to rhyme at all times though. You can use slant rhyme or “near rhyme” – words that sound similar but don’t time, like “rhyme” and “fine”.
You can also use internal rhyme, where words within the same phrase rhyme (or near rhyme). Take these lyrics from Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” as example:
“A singer in a smoky room, the smell of wine and cheap perfume
Working hard to get my fill, everybody wants a thrill
Some will win, some will lose, some were born to sing the blues”.
Record your song
Once you have your song written, record it! All you need for a rough recording is the voice recorder on your cell phone. Experiment recording yourself singing and playing from different angles until you have a sound that’s okay. When you’re ready to graduate to a more professional at-home recording experience, check out this course to learn how to set up your home studio.
READ MORE:
What’s a guitar capo – and why do you need it?
How to find time to practice guitar each day
Talking guitar with Robbie Calvo
/by Kaley LynchRobbie Calvo has been working professionally as a musician for over 20 years, performing live and playing as a studio musician, writing songs, and teaching others how to play guitar.
His course Pentatonic Protocols 1 is available on Fret Zealot.
Fret Zealot sat down with Robbie to talk all things guitar, his career, and his advice for new guitar players.
Q.) How did you get started playing guitar?
A.) I started when I was probably 13, studying at an early age. I went to lessons and stuff, and studied in London. I had an apprenticeship as an artist, went to art school and stuff, but carried on studying. I decided I wanted to go to the Musicians Institute in L.A., spent a year there, learned my crafts or some of it, you know – and then you spend years and years developing your own style and technique and stuff. I went back to London, started doing sessions for a big producer there for TV and stuff like that. Then, I was writing songs. I didn’t like the English music scene so I decided I wanted to write real songs and move to Nashville to learn that craft. I ended up working in studios there and writing, co-writing, stuff like that.
I feel I’ve been put on the planet to be an educator, and as an educator, I realized that I wanted to empower other people with the things that I’ve developed and learned, not only through schooling, but what you develop yourself, your own kind of passions for things.
I put a program together called “Sweet Notes” about chord tone improvisation. What we weren’t taught in music school was that the notes in the chords, the chord tones, are the strongest resolution points – and guitar players were just playing scales, they weren’t going through any of those tones. I just wanted to empower them with that. To this day, it’s been a bestseller.
I developed my path, then my educational series. I think I’ve done about 28 courses for companies.
I get to the point with it – “this is what you need to do, don’t waste your time with this”. People are busy! My whole thing as an educator these days is to live a good life, be good to other people and share wisdom with them – and quickly, because they’ve got other things to do.
One of the things I found very important for me developing as a guitar player is as soon as I started using my voice, I started to understand resonance and how things resonate with the body and the guitar. It’s not just the guitar, I think that’s something that guitar players are possibly missing, they’re not connected to the guitar and when you use your voice you start connecting.
Q.) What made you want to learn guitar?
A.) I’m very introverted, and as a kid, I was very shy, I found it hard to approach other people. My Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is INFJ, so I am very introverted. I would advocate for other guitarists to find out what your personality type is, and you’ll find out what’s inhibiting you and what works for you.
As an introvert, the guitar became my best friend. I was really happy being in my room practicing guitar and becoming a better musician rather than hanging out with four dudes playing music. The INFJ in me also knows how to monetize that, and a lot of musicians don’t understand that commerce is art and art is commerce.
I’ve always loved the guitar – the resonance speaks to me. The beauty of the melodies you create, the chordal structures – and it’s one of those instruments you can take anywhere. I could go to the park in 20 minutes and sit and write a song or jam with someone.
You can’t do that with a piano – a guitar is a portable best friend.
Q.) Who are your inspirations?
A.) The Who, Ella Fitzgerald, AC/DC Journey, Rush, The Beatles, Elton John were some of my early influences, and developed, once I started getting schooled in music, into Steve Lukather, Michael Thompson, John Mayer, and Joey Landreth. They’re songwriters, great guitar players, and they play melodies on the guitar, they’re not trying to show off. That, to me, is impressive. There are too many people out there competing, trying to be fast, to show off. I just want to hear melodies and I think if you’re a songwriter, you understand that the solo and the fills and the song parts are part of the bigger picture, it’s not about you it’s about the song. I think I’ve developed from loving guitar players to loving songwriting guitar players.
Q.) What’s your advice for someone starting out on guitar?
A.) Make a plan. A lot of people just think “I’m going to play guitar”, but it’s a long road.
The first thing to do is get a good guitar, not a cheap guitar. Get something playable and easy on your fingers. You can always sell it if you don’t carry on. Learn some chords, learn to hum notes over the chords. Dig deeper into them. If you take a “D” chord, there are four double stops in there, three chord tones, suspensions, and you can move the notes around. When you start doing that and digging deeper into one chord you start realizing there’s a whole world of music in one shape and you can move that one shape.
If you learn a “D” chord and move it two frets, that’s now an “E” chord with the D in the bass. Move it one more, and it’s an “F” with the D in the bass. You have these movable chords with open strings that can create a song. Learn a couple of shapes, maybe learn a song or write a song then add a chord to it. Start building a repertoire, start building some songs you can sing and perform. I know guitar players who have been playing for 20 years but couldn’t play you a song. What’s the point?
Learn some simple songs, some of the best songs are the simple ones. You can make them as complex as you want. Learn the diatonic harmonies – all the chords in the key of C in the major scale, and then understand if you play “C” “F” and “G” and it resolves to “C”, you’re playing Ionian mode. If you play those three chords starting on “F”, you’re playing Lydian mode. It’s not that hard, it’s very simple once you learn how it works. I’d say start simple, learn the harmonized major scale and start using a capo. You can go do a gig with a handful of chords and a capo if you learn the songs. Take some lessons, get some schooling and understand what the big picture is. If you don’t know what that is, how do you get there?
Play with intention, pick up the guitar to do something, don’t just noodle. Have an intention of what you’re working for. When you have intention and a target, you can hit the target.
Q.) How about for intermediate guitarists?
A.) I think all the information is there, for guitar players, pentatonic is kind of our default scale.
There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s five great tones, but you have to learn how to use the tones.
What I would say is you’ve got to start listening. I think a lot of guitar players are not even listening.
I teach a workshop in Nashville and I was observing people in the class. I’d say to them, “I want you to play an eight-bar solo.” They go into it, and I’m playing the chords, and about a minute and a half they look up and say “was that it?”. Yeah, it was about 108 bars. Some guitar players have no concept of measures, bars, or length. Start listening and understand how long two measures of music are.
All of this information is small if you don’t expand on it but if you start looking at it, it starts doing this! [expansion gesture].
Your musical information and understanding, that one five-note scale and those four chords is probably 50,000 songs rearranged in different orders, with different rhythms.
The info you have in the four chords is thousands of songs, four tonal centers, scale types – you can use that to create a solo, melody, double stops, all those things. I would say to anyone who already knows some things, you don’t necessarily need to know another scale, you need to use the one you know.
To me if you want to be really good at what you do, you have to really understand the intricacies, the ins and outs, invert the scale, do whatever but dig deep. In society, we are on our phones where everything is surface level. When I was learning and getting into guitar, we used to analyze records and theory and things, have deep conversations, who does that anymore? I think you have to start looking inside, start digging a little bit. I’m a bit of a taskmaster that way, like no, do the work.
Q.) What can someone expect from your course, Pentatonic Protocols 1?
A.) The reason I put this course out is because we learn these scales, these five notes, and we then don’t know what to do with them. I thought if I put together a series of protocols, here’s a way of approaching a solo – i.e. start on the root note and play your first lick, second, phrase from that scale go to the second note in the scale and start your phrase there – you can start anywhere in the scale to do that. What you’ve just done is you’ve progressed melodically cause you’ve ascended up four notes. You can’t not play something different because you started somewhere else and now you have a protocol for your solo. So, when someone says “play an eight bar solo you go “oh, I can do that” instead of “what the heck am I going to do”.
I think if you start with an idea and a protocol, big picture, you can achieve it. If you don’t know, how do you go on the journey?
I use it at my gigs all the time. “What am I going to do in this solo?” I know what key I’m in, I’m going to do this, and nine times out of ten it’s going to be great.
Q.) What other advice do you have?
A.) If you can dream it, you can do it, you just have to do the work.
Follow Robbie Calvo on Instagram, YouTube, and find his website here.
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Want to play guitar like Jimmy Page?
/by Kaley LynchYou’ll have a “whole lotta” fun learning how to play like the legendary Led Zeppelin and The Yardbirds guitarist, including lead and rhythm playing, major chord riffs and octave parts in the Jimmy Page Player Study course.
Background
Page grew up in a suburb of London and found his first guitar, at a house his family moved to in 1952. Page said that no one seemed to know where it came from. He started playing at age 12, taking some lessons, but was mostly self-taught, listening to records and playing what he heard. Page would practice six to seven hours a day, sometimes taking the guitar with him to school, where it would be confiscated until the end of the day.
He played guitar on BBC1 in 1957 at age 13 with a skiffle quartet (skiffle is a genre of music that was popular in Britain at the time). When asked by the host what he wanted to do after he finished school, Page said he wanted to do research to find a cure for cancer. He did later interview for a position as a lab assistant, but decided to pursue music instead. He toured with a band called The Crusaders for two years before becoming sick with glandular fever, which forced him to put his music career on pause and focus on his other passion, painting.
He eventually was able to pick up the guitar again and performed on stage, as well as working as a session musician for bands like The Who, The Kinks, and The Rolling Stones. He briefly played with The Yardbirds before forming a new group, Led Zeppelin – one of the best-selling music groups of all time.
Style
Page helped create innovative methods of playing and recording while a member of Led Zeppelin. He used effects in new, different ways and unique arrangements of microphones and amplification. Page is famous for creating iconic power riffs – like “Heartbreaker”, “Black Dog”, “Kashmir” – and bases many of them on the minor pentatonic scale. Page utilized alternative tunings in much of his work, and employed creative methods to get sound including using a cello bow on his guitar strings.
Legacy
In 2015, Page was ranked number three in Rolling Stone’s 2015 list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. His work both as a guitarist and a producer has inspired many other musicians – guitarist who have cited Page as an influence include Eddie Van Halen, Ace Frehley (KISS), Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Slash.
Once you nail down Page’s signature style, you can find dozens of Led Zeppelin tabs on the Fret Zealot app to rock out to!