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Lesson 1 - The 6 Main Areas of Music — Transcript

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0:00Hi folks. Hope you're enjoying and
0:02benefiting from our guitar lesson
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0:06you watch these lesson videos in order.
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0:18You might be tempted to jump ahead and
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1:19absolutely understand guitar.
1:45Hey.
1:47How's it going?
1:51Hi, I'm Scotty Weston. Welcome to
1:53Absolutely Understand Guitar. Um many of
1:55you have seen the introductory program
1:57that we
1:59put out before. Um this is actually
2:01number one in a series of
2:03one-hour videotapes in which we hope to
2:05teach you everything about applied
2:07theory to the guitar.
2:09Um you're here to learn how to play the
2:11guitar. Wonderful choice. Great
2:13instrument. A very portable little
2:15interesting little polyphonic instrument
2:17has become very popular in the second
2:19part of this century here as we pass
2:21into the new millennium. Uh and for very
2:22good reasons. It's a really terrific
2:24little instrument and and everybody
2:25wants to learn to play the guitar these
2:27days, but a lot of people just never
2:29really get to where they understand
2:30what's going on and and and and so um
2:33that's what we're hoping to do here. Get
2:35you to really see how this thing works.
2:36It's easier than you think. Um music is
2:39a totally knowable and understandable
2:41phenomenon, interestingly enough. It's
2:43funny and
2:44um a lot of times people don't believe
2:46that. We look at our great musical
2:47heroes and we think, "Ah, they're these
2:49superhuman creatures uh that are doing
2:52things that we could never do." And the
2:53truth is it isn't like that at all.
2:55There's no reason to suspect that you
2:57couldn't be as good a player as anyone
2:59you ever heard. Um the one thing is you
3:01got to kind of know what you're doing
3:03and that's what we're going to kind of
3:03talk about today about the basic things
3:05about how music works. Interestingly
3:07enough, we're not going to do an awful
3:09lot with the instrument for the first
3:11couple of hours here and you'll see why
3:13in a couple of minutes. Um
3:15part of that is because see this thing
3:16right here in my hands right here?
3:19This thing isn't really the big issue
3:21anyway. This is just what I call the
3:23dumb machine. It's just a tool. Well,
3:25the place that music really comes from
3:27is your mind and a lot of people just
3:29don't understand that. So, away we go.
3:32We got a lot to cover today. Let's see
3:33how we make out.
3:35Well, look up here at the board for a
3:36second. The very first word I always
3:38write down for people around here is
3:40this word. It's the word
3:42satisfaction.
3:46And isn't that a nice word?
3:51There's some statistics that you should
3:53probably know about.
3:55Um
3:56for every 75 people that start off to
3:58play a musical instrument at some point
4:00during their lives, only one of those
4:02people actually survives the initial
4:04novelty phase and has it become
4:06something that they actually do for the
4:08rest of their lives. And particularly as
4:10a teacher, I've always been kind of
4:12interested in why that is. Um why do 74
4:15out of 75 people fail to develop an
4:17ongoing relationship with their
4:18instrument? Well, some people go, "Well,
4:20maybe they didn't have the talent." And
4:22I go, "Uh I don't think that's what it
4:23is really." I'm not a horrendous
4:25believer in talent. I mean, I over the
4:2715 years I've been teaching now, I must
4:29admit it comes easier to some people
4:31than it does to others, but uh I've seen
4:33dedication and motivation win out over
4:35talent a thousand times. So, other
4:38people go, "Well, maybe they failed to
4:39develop an ongoing relationship with the
4:41instrument because they just didn't work
4:42hard enough. Maybe they didn't practice
4:44enough or something." And I go, "Well,
4:45that could be part of it, too, but I'm
4:47not I don't really think that's what it
4:48is either. I think it goes right to this
4:51word right here, right to this word
4:53satisfaction. I think the reason that 74
4:57out of 75 people fail to develop a
4:59relationship with their instrument is
5:00they simply fail to get the payback that
5:04they deserve for all the work that they
5:05have to put into something. And it's
5:07like we don't ever continue doing
5:08something if it doesn't bring us any
5:10kind of benefit at all. Um
5:12and uh so, you know, how do you satisfy
5:15yourself when you're playing a musical
5:17instrument? What what we're going to do
5:18a lot through this program is we're
5:19going to be telling you various things,
5:22um
5:23little pitfalls that you can avoid that
5:24you might fall into that would rob you
5:26of satisfaction. And uh we'll look at a
5:28bunch of those as we go.
5:30One interesting big thing we're going to
5:31talk about is when I look around me at
5:34the people
5:35uh that I know that are going to play
5:37music for the rest of their lives, they
5:39all have one thing in common. They must
5:40be satisfying themselves.
5:42They all have one thing in common and I
5:45guess that means that you're going to
5:46have to be able to do that, too. And it
5:47goes like this.
5:49Uh you got to
5:52be able
5:56to learn songs
6:02just by listening to them.
6:04You got to be able to learn songs by
6:07listening, particularly when you're
6:09playing pop music, uh popular music.
6:12Now, I'm sure you're aware that such
6:14things are possible. You may even be
6:16able to do a bit of that yourself and
6:17you may have friends who can just listen
6:19to the song on the on the tape or on the
6:21disc a couple of times and and figure
6:23out how to play it.
6:24Um
6:25now, the reason that this is so
6:26significant, people go, "Geez, isn't
6:28this like an advanced concept? Why is he
6:30talking to me about this right in the
6:31beginning?" Well, I go, "Interestingly
6:33enough, if you ever get if you get to
6:35the point where you can't do that, if
6:36you don't get to the point where you can
6:38do that, you may never really satisfy
6:40yourself enough to actually continue
6:42playing music." The reason is,
6:44particularly if you're into any obscure
6:47musicians at all, the chances of you
6:49actually walking into the music store
6:51and finding the sheet music for the
6:53stuff is not very good. Um you may be
6:56aware also that there are a lot of sites
6:57on the internet now where you can go
7:00places like Olga and Harmony Hut where
7:03you can go These are websites where you
7:05can go and download sheet music for, you
7:08know,
7:09thousands of songs. But uh another
7:11problem with uh this is even if you do
7:15manage to get your hands on the sheet
7:17music, what you're going to find out is
7:20a huge percentage of the time this stuff
7:22is actually inaccurate. In fact, it's so
7:24bad sometimes that I I don't even have
7:26any idea how these people actually even
7:28thought that this is how the song went.
7:30Um fully 70% probably of the stuff that
7:34my students have brought me off the
7:35internet has been inaccurate. Like I
7:38say, sometimes just totally wrong. So,
7:40how are you ever going to be a satisfied
7:42player if you can't play the music you
7:45like? And if the sheet music is
7:47inaccurate or unavailable, how are you
7:50going to learn to play the songs other
7:52than learning to play them by ear, and
7:53learning to listen to music and figure
7:56out how to play it?
7:57And a lot of people go, "Isn't that
7:58hard?" And I go, "Well, not really. It's
8:01really is a lot simpler than people
8:02think." The one thing you got to
8:03understand. Now, we all have our friends
8:05that can do this now and then and on
8:06some songs and stuff, but if you'd ever
8:08like to get to the point where you can
8:11do this with any
8:13uh song that you might ever want to
8:14play,
8:15then
8:17you got to know what you're doing.
8:23Now, it seems funny that I should have
8:24to appoint that out to people. You got
8:26to know what you're doing.
8:29The funny thing is a lot of people are
8:31going to try to tell you that you can
8:33play music without knowing what you're
8:36doing.
8:37Um
8:39uh you know, particularly particularly
8:41in rock and roll, it's like there's
8:42almost this anti-intellectual kind of
8:44message. Like, "Oh, no, you don't have
8:46to know what you're doing. Just come on
8:47over to my house on Saturday afternoon
8:48and I'll show you a few chords and we'll
8:51be off and rocking in no time." And that
8:53may keep you interested for a while, but
8:56I can pretty much guarantee you that
8:57it's not really going to keep you
8:59playing for the rest of your life.
9:01Remember, um most people
9:04um wash out of playing the guitar by
9:06like their 25. You know, this is this is
9:0874 out of 75. How do I know that? Well,
9:11for example, um you know, I'm 45 years
9:13old. It's 1999. When I was in high
9:15school, I graduated from high school in
9:171972.
9:18And it's like that was like the heyday
9:20of rock music. All my friends were
9:22playing music. They're playing guitar
9:24and bass and drums. We were all in the
9:26school band together. Now, here it is
9:281999.
9:29How about the only one left? What
9:31happened to all those people? Well,
9:33that's it again. They just couldn't
9:35satisfy themselves. And they were able
9:37to figure out some songs for a while,
9:39but and maybe you can figure out Nirvana
9:41or maybe you can figure out
9:44um
9:44uh you know, simple country music or
9:47something like that. But how about bands
9:48like Steely Dan or how about Dave
9:50Matthews or how about uh
9:53you know, more how about Phish? You
9:55know, more complex types of modern
9:57music. If you're ever going to get to
9:59the point where you can satisfy yourself
10:01by figuring out songs by listening to
10:02them, you got to know what you're doing.
10:05And
10:06that's a hard sell for some people. They
10:08don't want to believe that. Now, the
10:10only reason that people ever resist
10:13learning about music is for a couple of
10:14reasons, both of which I'm very
10:16sympathetic to. I think the the first
10:18reason that people resist learning about
10:20music is very often music is taught like
10:23it's a bunch of rules that you have to
10:25follow. And you know, a lot of times
10:27these people are trying to be artists.
10:28They want to be free. They want to
10:30express themselves. They don't want any
10:31rules, thank you very much. And well,
10:33you'll find out that's not the way we
10:34teach music around here. We don't teach
10:36music like it's a bunch of rules that
10:38you have to follow. We're going to teach
10:39music like it's a bunch of observations
10:43that you're being let in on.
10:45You know, the human race has been
10:47messing around with sound for tens of
10:49thousands of years at at this point.
10:51We've managed to figure out some pretty
10:53cool things along the way and the smart
10:55people wrote that down and started
10:56showing it to other people. You can go
10:58over in the corner if you want and flop
11:00around and try to like reinvent Western
11:02music for yourself, but probably all
11:04you'll ever do is is just waste a lot of
11:06time. How do I know that?
11:09That's kind of the way it happened with
11:11me. I as I said in my introductory
11:14tape that I've been playing music since
11:17I was six and I really didn't get it
11:19till I was like 25. And that's when I
11:22began to figure out that the problem
11:24with the way they usually teach music is
11:26they give you the information in the
11:28wrong order. So, you're you know, you've
11:31got all these scattered facts about how
11:33music works, but you don't see how one
11:35thing connects to the other to the point
11:37where you get what I call the big
11:38picture. But you won't have that problem
11:40here. I can honestly say that that
11:44in my private practice, if you will,
11:46here on Cape Cod, I never have anybody
11:48who doesn't get this.
11:50You know, it's that simple. And that So,
11:52the first reason that people resist
11:54learning about music is it's usually
11:55taught like it's a bunch of rules. And
11:57um
11:57but we don't teach it there that way.
11:59This The second reason that people
12:01resist learning about music at all is
12:04they are under the mistaken impression
12:05that this stuff is horribly complicated
12:08and they're afraid that even after
12:09somebody explains it to them, they're
12:11still not going to going to understand
12:13it. And they're just afraid of looking
12:15stupid. And and they just go, "Oh,
12:17that's okay. No, no, no, I'm not even
12:19going to try." Now, a lot of times this
12:21comes along because maybe you've taken
12:23some music theory classes somewhere and
12:26and it's like
12:28or you had private lessons when you were
12:30a kid with some guy, you know what I
12:32mean? And it's like
12:33they they didn't really connect with you
12:35and give you the information that you
12:36need. And and people often get
12:38traumatized about
12:40about music education. It's it's almost
12:42like
12:43the the word music theory strikes terror
12:47into people's hearts, which is really in
12:48a sense so sad because music is a
12:51pathetically simple subject to
12:53understand. If an idiot like me can
12:56understand music, then anybody can. It's
12:58just like I said before, it's a matter
12:59of getting the information in the right
13:01order. You're going to find this stuff
13:03absolutely fascinating. You're not going
13:05to have any trouble understanding any of
13:06it at all cuz I think what I've nailed,
13:08I think what I've figured out is how to
13:10explain it to people in the right order.
13:13What that means is the stuff that you're
13:14learning today is possibly the most
13:17important stuff anyone will ever tell
13:19you about music. Nothing that anyone
13:20tells you beyond this point would ever
13:22really make any sense to you if you
13:24didn't understand the stuff that we're
13:26going to be talking about today.
13:28And for example, right now, I you know,
13:30I'm saying they they they teach music,
13:32they give you the information in the
13:33wrong order. Here is the first thing
13:36that they should have told you about
13:38music. It's one of the most important
13:39things you'll ever learn. It goes like
13:40this.
13:42Music
13:47is
13:48a
13:49language.
13:58Music is a language.
14:01Ever heard anything like that before?
14:03Actually, there's even this kind of
14:04cliché where they say like music is the
14:06universal language. Well, I don't know
14:08about that, but well, I'll tell you one
14:09thing, music is a language. It functions
14:12in our lives very much like a language.
14:14Don't you feel like you're being
14:15communicated with when you hear great
14:17music? Functions in our our lives like a
14:19language. Interestingly enough, the
14:21process of learning about music is very
14:23much like the process of learning a
14:24language. Um we're going to come up with
14:26countless analogies as we go through
14:29this program from the way you use music
14:31in your various instruments and the way
14:33you use any other language you might
14:35speak. Um
14:36English, of course, or or Spanish or or
14:40whatever. And sometimes this makes
14:42people nervous, too, because they go,
14:44"Oh my god,
14:45I hated Spanish class. That stuff was
14:47hard and I didn't enjoy that at all." I
14:49go, "Well, don't worry about that
14:51because it isn't like that either."
14:54One of the main reasons being that music
14:56is compared to any other language you
14:58might speak, it's a pathetically simple
15:00language. It it much less to know about
15:03the musical language, if you ask me
15:04anyway, than there is to know about most
15:05of the other ones. Now, remember I said
15:08that actually we're not going to do very
15:09much with the guitar here for the first
15:12lesson
15:13because you know, I'm going to myself,
15:14"Well, this really isn't all that big a
15:16deal, the instrument." Because think
15:18about it this way, here's your really
15:19first big analogy. If music is a
15:22language,
15:23then what is a guitar? Well, if music is
15:26a language, then I always say a guitar
15:32is something like or whatever instrument
15:34you play, a guitar is something very
15:37much like a typewriter.
15:42It really isn't the big deal. It's just
15:45the dumb machine that you pound the
15:47stuff out on so that the audience can
15:50partake in the experience. But like any
15:52language, most of what goes on in in the
15:55creation of the language goes on up in
15:57your mind here. For example, think of it
16:00this way.
16:01What if you wanted to be a writer? What
16:03if you decided that you wanted to be an
16:05artist in the English language? You
16:07wanted to be a novelist or a journalist.
16:09Well, obviously you would need some kind
16:12of tool to work with. Might be as simple
16:15as a pencil or a pen or a marker or
16:16something.
16:18Might be a typewriter.
16:20Might be a big fancy word processor in
16:22your computer. Point is you're going to
16:24need some kind of tool. But ask yourself
16:26this question, does the typewriter write
16:30the book?
16:32No, of course not. It's just the dumb
16:34machine.
16:35What writes the book? You write the book
16:37with the command of your language with
16:39the command of the language in your own
16:41mind. And then hopefully you understand
16:44enough about how the machine actually
16:46works so that when the stuff comes into
16:48your head that you can then turn it into
16:50a physical motion on your tool here and
16:52get it out so that the broader audience
16:53can partake in the experience.
16:55Um imagine this. Um
16:59Let's say
17:00you know, you're trying to figure out
17:01how a typewriter works. Now,
17:04imagine walking up and looking at a
17:07typewriter and trying to figure out what
17:09it does if you don't know anything about
17:11how the English language works.
17:14You'd walk up to this thing and you'd
17:15look at the typewriter and you'd go,
17:17"What the heck are all these funny
17:19little symbols on these keys? What do I
17:20do with this thing?"
17:22Um whereas on the other hand, think of
17:25it this way, once you understood how the
17:28language how the English language
17:30worked, didn't you pretty much figure
17:32out for yourself how a typewriter works?
17:35I mean, how long did it really take them
17:37to basically show you how a typewriter
17:39works? Didn't you figure out most of
17:41that stuff yourself? You walked up to
17:42the typewriter and you went,
17:44"Oh, there's that those 26 letters of
17:46the alphabet. Oh, I see how this thing
17:48works. I bet if I go
17:50that's going to spell cat."
17:52And you were right. Well, imagine
17:54getting to the same place on the guitar
17:56that whatever musical stuff comes up in
17:58your mind that you're able to figure out
18:00how to manipulate the machine there to
18:02get it out. It's really easier than you
18:04think, interestingly enough, because the
18:06really cool thing is the guitar as a
18:08machine, here's my guitar here.
18:10The guitar as a machine is really not
18:13even a very complicated object at all.
18:16But the problem that most people have in
18:18playing the guitar is they go right to
18:20the instrument first without
18:22understanding any of the basic things
18:23about how the language works. And for
18:25the most part, they just become totally
18:27they just don't get it. And and you can
18:29only go on playing without understanding
18:32what you're doing for so long before you
18:34start to get bored with yourself. And
18:35like I say, most people have given up
18:37their instrument by the time they're 25.
18:39You know what the other really exciting
18:40thing is? Do you know how long it's
18:42going to take me to tell you everything
18:44you need to know about that physical
18:46object, about the guitar there?
18:49Once you understood how
18:51the English language worked, how long
18:53did it basically take them to describe
18:55to you how a typewriter works?
18:57About an hour, something like that. In
18:59our third lesson here, we're going to
19:01start talking about the machine and in
19:02about an hour, I'm going to show you
19:05everything about how that machine works
19:06and more than most people who claim to
19:09play the guitar ever know in their
19:11entire lives. And you're going to find
19:12out it's pathetically simple to
19:14understand. How's that? Pretty exciting,
19:16huh? There is
19:18just like I said, no reason to suspect
19:20that that you couldn't be as great as
19:22any player you've ever heard. You just
19:25got to know what you're doing. Trust me
19:27on that.
19:28Now, the next thing we're going to write
19:29down is it's just a funny little detail
19:32again. It really goes right to that word
19:33satisfaction again.
19:35Um
19:37It's it's just a funny little thing that
19:38escapes a lot of people and it's one of
19:40those things that I think has caused
19:42people to bore themselves into giving up
19:43music a lot of times. You might get a
19:45laugh out of this because you might go,
19:47"Oh my god, I'm surrounded by pretend
19:50players." Or you might even go, "Oh my
19:51god, I'm a I'm a pretend player myself."
19:55Um
19:55you see there's people who really play
19:57music and then there's people who just
19:59sort of pretend to play music. And um
20:02it's not their fault. Most people just
20:04pretend to play music because they never
20:05had anybody really point out to them
20:07what the simple difference is. So,
20:09that's what we're about to find out.
20:10What do you have to do to be a real
20:11player? Well, there's two things. So, my
20:13question goes like this.
20:15What
20:16two things
20:21do you
20:23gotta do
20:27to be
20:30a real
20:32player
20:34instead of a pretend player, which is
20:37what 99.9%
20:39of our friends are. They're all pretend
20:41players. Well, there's a lot of things
20:43you could say, but um I'm sure one thing
20:46you will agree on is that if you're
20:48going to be a real player,
20:51first thing you gotta do is you gotta be
20:53able to
20:54get
20:56to the
20:59end
21:02of the
21:03song.
21:07People go, "Huh?"
21:09But do you have any idea how rampant a
21:12problem that is in the way most people
21:14approach their musical instrument,
21:16particularly now in the riff-oriented
21:18rock and roll world? Um everybody is
21:21seems to be for a while anyway just
21:22content to play little bits and pieces
21:25of things. It isn't the uh classic of
21:27all times the intro to Stairway to
21:29Heaven? I mean, how many times have
21:31people walked up to you and said, "Oh, I
21:33know how to play Stairway to Heaven."
21:34And then they all all they do is play
21:36that the first 20 seconds of that that
21:38little kind of delicate part of the song
21:39like that. And um my question is in any
21:43kind of real sense at all, what good is
21:45that ever going to do you to actually
21:48learn little bits and pieces of songs?
21:49In the riff-oriented rock and roll world
21:51we have things going on like this. For
21:53example, how many times has somebody
21:54walked up to you and said, "Oh, I know
21:56how to play Come As You Are by Nirvana."
21:58And they go like this.
22:08And then 20 minutes later they're still
22:10sitting there going like this.
22:12And they're going, "See, I know how to
22:14play Come As You Are by Nirvana." And
22:15I'm going like, "Well, that's one part
22:18of Come As You Are by Nirvana, but what
22:20about the part that goes enemy?"
22:25enemy
22:29And what about the part that goes
22:31And I swear I
22:34don't have a gun.
22:37And the truth is if you want to claim
22:38that you can actually play this song,
22:41you've got to know how many times to do
22:43this have a gun before you go back to
22:45this again.
22:50And then you got to know how many times
22:52to do this
22:53before you go back to the verse again.
22:59And and you know what I mean? And and
23:01the truth is if you ever want to be in a
23:02band, you've got to start at the
23:03beginning of that song.
23:05And you've got to get to the you've got
23:07to get all the way to the end. Um I
23:09always say real artists produce real
23:11works of art. You don't walk into art
23:13galleries and see paintings on the wall
23:15that are only half finished, you know
23:16what I mean? But it seems to be a lot of
23:18people just never get that message and
23:19they just play little riffs and little
23:21pieces of things till they're 25 years
23:23old going, "Gee, how come this music
23:25stuff never turned out to be as much fun
23:27as I thought it was? How how come I
23:28never got in a band?" If you show up for
23:30the audition to be in a band, they're
23:32not going to care how many riffs you can
23:34play. They want to know how many songs
23:36you can play. So, don't make that
23:39mistake. A musician is only as good as
23:41their song list. Um and what you need to
23:43be able to do is play that song from the
23:45beginning to the end and then you're a
23:47real player. But that's actually only
23:49the first thing. Now, another related
23:50subject to this is
23:53if you're going to commit to getting to
23:55the end of the song, another thing you
23:57got to make sure you do is you got to
23:59choose
24:02doable
24:04material.
24:07Another rampant problem
24:11in the way people pursue music, as you
24:13may know, is they insist on playing
24:16music that's so far over their heads
24:19that they don't have any chance at all
24:21of being able to play the whole tune. In
24:23in a sense back to Stairway to Heaven to
24:25Heaven again, it's the classic example.
24:28That's like a 9-minute long song, you
24:30know what I mean? And it's got four or
24:33five different sections and um
24:36you know, you'd be nuts to try to play
24:38the to play Stairway to Heaven till
24:40after you'd played the guitar for at
24:42least a year or year and a half or maybe
24:44with a lot of people it'd be like 2
24:45years. People go, "Really?" And and I
24:48can't tell you how many times I've had
24:49students come in first day in the door
24:51and I go, "So, what do you want to
24:51play?" And they go, "Stairway to
24:53Heaven." And I wind up going to them
24:54like, "Forget it, you know what I mean?
24:56It's like it ain't going to happen for
24:57quite a while." I mean, and particularly
24:59when we get down here to the six main
25:01areas of music, you'll see that there's
25:03certain criterion that you have to
25:04actually satisfy to really claim that
25:07you're actually playing
25:09the tune. And
25:11most people just simply don't get to the
25:13level where they they have that what I
25:14call musical maturity till at least
25:16after a year or two. Now, the funny
25:18thing is does that mean that Stairway to
25:21Heaven is an enormously complex and
25:23difficult piece of guitar music?
25:25Nope, actually it isn't. On a scale of 1
25:28to 10 uh in terms of what's possible on
25:30this instrument, how difficult a piece
25:32of music is Stairway to Heaven?
25:34I want to say it's like about a four.
25:37How do you like that? People go,
25:38"Really? Jimmy Page, I thought he was
25:40the greatest guitar player who ever
25:41lived." I go, "Well, he was okay, but
25:44ultimately in the end he was just a rock
25:46and roll player. Rock and roll in
25:47general is not the most difficult or
25:49complex type of music to play. Classical
25:51music and jazz is a million times harder
25:54to play than that." And people go,
25:56"Well, I thought like Jimi Hendrix and
25:58Jimmy Page were like the greatest guitar
26:00players in the world." I go, "No, no, in
26:02a way that's just what the record
26:03company wants you to believe it so that
26:05they you'll go out and buy the records."
26:06But you probably have 20 people in your
26:09town that can play the guitar as well as
26:11those people right there. They just I
26:13don't know, they just didn't get famous
26:14for what for whatever reason. They they
26:17maybe they didn't want to, you know? I'm
26:18not sure I want to travel over the all
26:20over the world in in airplanes and buses
26:22for the rest of my life. Um
26:25Anyway, so uh
26:27what you want to do when you're picking
26:28material is you want to try to pick
26:30stuff that's just not so far over your
26:32head that you can't do it. Like how
26:34about Metallica? How about heavy metal?
26:36How about Slayer and thrash metal and
26:38stuff like that? Might be your favorite
26:40style of music,
26:42but you're not going to be able to play
26:43that without a lot of work. And um
26:46and like I say, you'll see more about
26:48this criterion that we're talking about
26:49in a couple of minutes here. So, get to
26:51the end of the song and do that by
26:53choosing doable material. That's the
26:55first thing you got to do to be a real
26:57player. But now, we said that there's
26:59actually two things you got to do to be
27:01a real player. What's the second thing?
27:04Well, I'm sure you'll agree
27:07like anything in life,
27:10but but particularly in art, the only
27:12way you ever make any progress at
27:14something is by being capable of
27:17analyzing where your deficiencies are.
27:20How do you learn but to figure out what
27:21you're doing wrong and then start work
27:23at working on fixing it. And so, I
27:26always say the first thing you got to do
27:27to be a real player is get to the end of
27:29the song. Second thing is this, once
27:31you've gotten there, stop for a moment
27:34and ask yourself,
27:37"Gee,
27:41how did
27:43I do?"
27:48You want to stop and check yourself out
27:50each time. And um
27:53uh
27:54I I don't think any of my friends ever
27:56did that. For some reason I seem to be
27:58the only one who ever did that. We'd get
27:59to the end of the song back in the
28:00garage bands I was in in high school and
28:02stuff and and everyone would want to go
28:04bludgeoning right into the next tune. I
28:06was the always the one going, "No, no,
28:07no, wait a minute. Let's stop for a
28:08minute. That section in the middle
28:10there, you know, we were really ragged.
28:12We better go back over that again. We
28:13were falling behind the beat. Uh
28:17we wound up playing some wrong notes and
28:18some stuff in there. So, let's let's get
28:20in there and work on that." And and um
28:22you pretty much have to do that. The
28:24only way you can make any progress is by
28:26analyzing where your problems are.
28:29And for example, one of the best things
28:31you can do for your musical career is
28:34try to figure out some way to record
28:36yourself whenever you sit down to play,
28:38whenever you sit down to practice. Um it
28:41doesn't have to be a great quality
28:42thing. Could be just some cheesy tape
28:45recorder from
28:47or something like that. You don't have
28:49to keep the tapes, you can just keep
28:50recycling them. But whenever you sit
28:52down to play your guitar, plug the tape
28:54recorder in, start it rolling, and just
28:56play.
28:57When you're done playing and you're
28:58putting the guitar away or maybe you're
29:00in the kitchen washing the dishes or
29:01something like that, roll that tape back
29:03and and play it and listen to it.
29:06Listen to it like it's somebody else.
29:08Listen to it like it wasn't you playing.
29:11We can be awfully critical of other
29:12people, can't we? But to be an artist,
29:15you have to learn to be that critical of
29:16yourself. Uh you need to get outside of
29:19your own ego and be able to listen to
29:20your playing. It's and it's a real
29:22eye-opening experience for some people.
29:24They for the first time because you
29:26know, sometimes when you're playing the
29:27instrument, you're you're thinking about
29:28your fingers and stuff like that. You're
29:31not really 100% cognizant of the actual
29:34sound that you're putting out. Isn't
29:35that strange to suggest? But it's
29:37absolutely true.
29:39And uh the tape provides you with a way
29:41of now all you get to listen to is is
29:44what you actually really played and what
29:46you sounded like. I've had some students
29:48they come in and I tell them that and
29:49they turn white as a ghost and they go,
29:52"I don't want to do that."
29:54And I I kind of see why that is. It's
29:56secretly they know they're not really
29:58doing too well, but they just haven't
30:00wanted to face it before then. But I
30:02mean you got to you got to be realistic
30:04about what you're doing. You got to face
30:06the music as they say. And that's just
30:08kind of the way it goes. So, second
30:11thing you got to do to be a real player
30:13is you got to check yourself out. First
30:15thing is you got to get to the end of
30:17the song, but the second thing is you
30:18got to
30:19ask yourself, "Gee, how did I do?"
30:21Funny thing is though, doesn't this kind
30:23of beg the question how are you supposed
30:25to ask yourself how you did
30:28if you don't know what you're doing in
30:30the first place?
30:32Interesting, huh? Well,
30:34turns out that it you know, people go,
30:36"Oh, yeah, jeez, well, I guess in order
30:38to be a musician, I guess in order to be
30:40a guitarist, I would have to know
30:42something about you know, what I'm
30:44supposed to be doing. What are the basic
30:46parameters? What are the basic
30:48guidelines that I'm supposed to be doing
30:50as a guitar player?"
30:52You have to understand the criterion of
30:54the language before you'll be able to
30:56figure out how good a job you're doing
30:57of actually controlling it. Well,
31:00understanding the language of music, the
31:02good news is is very very simple. In
31:05fact, I'm fond of saying there's only
31:07six things going on in music. And if you
31:10understand these six different concepts,
31:13then at the end of each song you play,
31:15you can actually rattle off a checklist
31:17to yourself. You can go, "Gee, did I do
31:19that? Did I do that? Did I do that? Did
31:21I do that? Did I do that? Did I do
31:23that?" And and if you can answer yes to
31:25all six of those questions,
31:28they're going to be clapping and
31:29throwing money at you in no time.
31:31Funny thing is if even one of those gets
31:34away from you,
31:36they're probably going to kick you out
31:37of the band and get somebody who can.
31:40I don't mean that to sound scary. I mean
31:42you just got to face it.
31:43You might think you're playing music
31:45now, but you may not be. You won't be
31:47unless you're satisfying these six
31:49things. And this leads right into our
31:50next big concept is which I call the six
31:55main areas
32:03of music.
32:06Another way of looking at it is music is
32:08a language and it has six parts of
32:12speech and you have to understand these
32:14six different concepts in order to be
32:15able to um
32:18to really control the medium. Now,
32:21I used to ask people what they thought
32:23the big concepts in music were, the nuts
32:25and bolts things that you have to know
32:26to play music, but I actually gave that
32:28up quite a while ago because I'll tell
32:30you in the thousand students I've had at
32:31this point, I never had one person who
32:34was able
32:35to actually walk in and rattle off all
32:37these six concepts. Isn't that weird?
32:38It's kind of scary. I've had a couple of
32:40people that were close, but and so I'm
32:42not going to ask you what you think the
32:43six main areas of music are, but I'll
32:45give them back to you in a sense almost
32:46in in order of like popularity, what
32:49people used to say to me the most often.
32:50You can just judge for yourself whether
32:52these would have been the same things
32:54you would have said. We're actually
32:55going to start down here with number
32:56two. And for example, when I used to ask
32:59people, "What do you think the big nuts
33:01and bolts concepts are in music?" Very
33:04often the first thing that would come
33:05out of people's mouths is they would say
33:07something about the beat.
33:11Or maybe they would use words like tempo
33:17or timing.
33:20Stuff like that.
33:22Kind of a fairly imprecise musical term
33:24there, but I knew what they were talking
33:25about. Particularly here in the rock and
33:27roll world, it seems that everybody
33:29understands that music has something to
33:30do
33:34with the control of time. You know what
33:36I mean? All music has a pulse. And
33:40this of course is just under the general
33:44subheading. I mean these are just
33:46subheadings under the the term I'm sure
33:48you also know,
33:49rhythm. R H Y T H M.
33:53Obviously, one of the big concepts in
33:55music is rhythm. So, now interestingly
33:58enough, this column over here on our
34:01chart
34:02is going to turn out to be the most
34:03important column because this is going
34:05to turn out to be that checklist that I
34:07mentioned. So, obviously, at the end of
34:09the song, you've got to stop and ask
34:11yourself, "Gee,
34:13did
34:14I keep
34:18with
34:19the
34:21beat?"
34:26Question mark. Did I keep with the beat?
34:28If you did, they're going to be clapping
34:30and throwing money at you in no time. If
34:32you don't, the big hook is going to come
34:34and pull you right off the stage. You
34:36know, I always say there's no fooling
34:38mother music. There's people that can do
34:40it and there's people that can't and
34:42interestingly enough there ain't a lot
34:43of big gray area in between. You have to
34:47satisfy these six criteria or you're not
34:49going to satisfy yourself or any of your
34:51audience at all.
34:53Good news is music is
34:55rhythm is not a terribly difficult
34:57subject to understand. Again, if it's if
34:59it's explained the right way, it's
35:01pretty simple to see how it works and
35:03we'll be talking about that in I
35:05I think it's like lesson six or
35:06something like that. We'll be getting
35:07into that.
35:09But anyway, we'll leave that one for
35:10right now and go on to the next one.
35:12Number three down here for example.
35:14Often times when I ask people what the
35:16six main areas of music are, very often
35:18they would look very confused because no
35:20one's ever really forced them to think
35:21about this before and they go,
35:23"Sound. Music is about sound."
35:30And I go, "Well, okay, I like that.
35:33That's certainly is true, but that's
35:34terribly terribly broad, isn't it? We're
35:37going to have to get a little bit more
35:38specific about that as we go." And
35:41interestingly enough, we're going to
35:42leave this one for right now.
35:45Talk about it at the very end.
35:47Cuz another thing you'll notice is I've
35:48actually left out number one up here,
35:50too. That's because number one is like
35:53the largest area of music. This is the
35:55one that we have the most to learn about
35:57and you'll find that a lot of people
35:58actually have kind of a fundamental
36:00confusion about the relationship between
36:03number one and number three. And it's a
36:05little easier to see that once you
36:07understand what number one is and we'll
36:08get there in a couple of minutes. But
36:09now, let's go down here to number four.
36:12The fourth main area of music.
36:15Yes, music is about sound. Music is
36:19noise, pure and simple.
36:22And as such, music has all the same
36:25qualities and parameters
36:27that any old sound has like trucks
36:29rolling by, airplanes falling over
36:32falling flying overhead,
36:34dogs barking, babies crying, trash cans
36:37falling down the stairs. It's all noise
36:39and music is just simply noise, too.
36:42I think it's just fair to say that when
36:45we humans play music, we take noise and
36:49we very precisely try to control it. So,
36:52music is like controlled noise. And if
36:56there's one thing you can say about any
36:58old noise you ever heard, they all have
37:00a particular degree of loudness,
37:06volume,
37:10amplitude,
37:13whatever you want to call it.
37:16If you stop and think about it, you'll
37:17realize that all real musicians
37:20um are
37:22have programmed some little part of the
37:24back of their minds that whenever
37:26they're playing, they're listening to
37:28how loud they're playing.
37:30You have to balance yourself with the
37:32other members of the band that you're in
37:34for example. Nothing will get you kicked
37:36out of the band faster than playing too
37:38loud and drowning everyone else out. But
37:40if your some of your friends are in like
37:41garage bands and stuff, go over there
37:43next time and check out. You'll You'll
37:45see the kid with the big amplifier is
37:47like drowning everyone else. The singer
37:49is over there going
37:51and you can't even hear him at all
37:52because the guitars are so loud. And
37:54that's amateur night city. You're
37:56they're not really going to take you
37:57seriously if you insist on playing that
38:00way. You have to balance yourself to the
38:01other players in the band. You have to
38:03balance yourself to the room you're in.
38:05If you're in a smaller room, you simply
38:07can't play as loud as you can in a
38:09larger room or outdoors for that matter.
38:12Um and uh
38:15not only that, it isn't just a matter of
38:17where your amplifier knob is set. You
38:19may be
38:20may find that you're called upon in any
38:22given piece of music that you play to
38:24play at different volumes right within
38:27the same song.
38:29Once again, take Stairway to Heaven as
38:31an example. The both the intro to that
38:34song and the very end of the song are
38:35very quiet and delicate, whereas if you
38:38remember in the middle of that song,
38:39there's deafening
38:41drums pounding and electric guitars
38:44screaming and everything. And
38:46when they played that, they had to
38:47remember that when they were coming back
38:48to the end again that they were going to
38:50have to quiet everything down. So, now
38:52interestingly enough, the the official
38:55musical term for loudness in music is a
38:57word again that you might not have ever
38:59heard associated with music before. It's
39:02the concept of dynamics.
39:07Those of you who've had like band
39:09instrument lessons and stuff, you you
39:10might be a bit familiar with that word.
39:12Now, I'm not one of these classical
39:14teachers that's a stickler for getting
39:16everyone to remember the official proper
39:17term for everything, but actually it's
39:19really not a bad idea because if I do my
39:22job right, you're going to be doing
39:23things like reading Guitar Player
39:25magazine and you're going to find out
39:26they use all these official terms in
39:28there. So, one of these days you'll be
39:30reading this article in Guitar Player
39:32and it'll be about somebody like Dave
39:34Matthews or something and the sentence
39:36in the article will read, "One of the
39:38most amazing things about Dave Matthews
39:40is his incredible control of dynamics."
39:43And everybody else will be reading that
39:44article going
39:45dynamics, dynamics, what the heck is
39:47this guy talking about? You'll know,
39:49well, they're just saying that Dave is
39:50like really in control of how loud he's
39:52playing at any particular point. His
39:53music has a lot of drama in it because
39:56there are parts that are louder and more
39:57intense and there are parts that are
39:58more delicate. It can express more moods
40:01that way and stuff like that.
40:02So, the question that I have everyone
40:04ask themselves at the end of the song on
40:06the subject of dynamics is, gee, did I
40:10play Whoops, did I Did I play
40:14loud
40:17in the
40:19loud parts
40:24and
40:26soft
40:29in the soft parts?
40:31If you did
40:33they're going to be clapping and
40:34throwing money at you in no time.
40:37If you don't, they're probably going to
40:39kick you out of the band and get
40:40somebody who can. It's just that simple.
40:43Okay. Now, the other cool thing is
40:45how much do we actually have to learn
40:47about loudness to be musicians? I mean,
40:49are we going to sit here hour after hour
40:51studying about loudness?
40:53No, it's just something that you have to
40:55be aware of. There's not really a lot of
40:56facts to learn about it. You you just
40:59have to, you know, get get that back
41:01part of your mind programmed that that
41:03it's always listening to how loud you're
41:04playing.
41:05And that's all there is to say about
41:07that one. How do you like that? Now,
41:09down here to number five, the fifth main
41:12area of music. Much as I try to diminish
41:14the importance of what I call the stupid
41:16machine over here, obviously you can't
41:18take that too far. If you want to be a
41:20guitarist, you have to learn how the
41:22machine works and you have to also know
41:25how physically to interface with the
41:27device. This, of course, is the whole
41:30area in music of
41:33technique.
41:37Whoops, see I'm writing a little too big
41:38for this stuff. This is all the stuff
41:40about what you do with your fingers.
41:45How to hold the instrument, how to get
41:46the thing out of it. It's the physical
41:49part
41:50of playing the instrument.
41:53As I mentioned before, a lot of people
41:54go to that like too early. They think
41:57that what it is to play the guitar is
41:58nothing more than to get the book or go
42:00to the teacher and have him show you,
42:02you know, what you're supposed to do
42:03with your fingers. But that would be
42:05just like tapping on a typewriter
42:07without knowing how to spell or anything
42:08at all. But in the end, it is ultimately
42:11very important that you know how that
42:13machine works. There are, you know,
42:15certain prescribed and more logical
42:17ways, once you understand how the
42:18machine works, to actually manipulate
42:20the thing.
42:21A lot of this very basic groundwork is
42:24people just don't get the message on
42:26that subject and
42:28again, just wind up wasting a lot of
42:30time. If you understand how the machine
42:32actually works, which very few people do
42:34by the way, my current statistic on that
42:36is you may have trouble believing this,
42:38but my current
42:39uh my current concept suggests that uh
42:44out of every 200 people that are walking
42:46around claiming to be guitar players,
42:49only one of those people actually really
42:53understands what they're doing.
42:55How do you like that? One out of 200. I
42:58said that to a friend of mine the other
42:59day and he went like this.
43:02"Boy, I think that's about right." he
43:04said. And I go, "Yeah, yeah, that's what
43:05I think, too." Isn't that funny? Um
43:08there's a lot of people around you right
43:09now that you might think are actually
43:11pretty good players. But I'm even going
43:13to wind up through the the course of
43:14this program, I'm going to give you some
43:16of what I call my play dumb questions.
43:18It's like you can go up to these people
43:20and play dumb and go, "Gosh, how come
43:22blah blah blah blah blah." And and
43:23you'll know the answer, of course, and
43:25and and you'll what you'll find is most
43:27of the other people around you don't
43:28actually know much about what they're
43:30doing at all. And again, that's another
43:31reason why they get to be like 25 and
43:33it's like it's all over, you know,
43:34they're just not playing anymore. They
43:36can't satisfy themselves simply because
43:39they just don't get it, you know, which
43:41is sad because it's so easy to get it.
43:44Do you know how long it's going to take
43:46me to show you everything about this
43:49machine and about how you need to move
43:51around on it?
43:52It's going to take about an hour, as I
43:54said before, because it's just like a
43:56typewriter and it didn't take you that
43:58long to actually figure out how it
44:00works. And it's very compelling. You'll
44:02actually see that there's nothing to
44:05understanding the guitar. Okay, the
44:07rather funny question that I I suggest
44:09people ask themselves
44:12about in order to find out whether
44:13they're doing well with technique or not
44:15is
44:16I always see playing a musical
44:18instrument as kind of like a
44:19partnership.
44:20There's you and there's the machine. And
44:24we all demand things from the machine,
44:26but what a lot of people don't
44:27understand is the machine demands things
44:29from you, too. And it's like you're
44:32looking at the guitar going, "Well, you
44:34better sound good and play all the right
44:36notes." And the funny thing is the
44:37guitar is looking right back at you
44:38going, "Oh, yeah? Well, then you better
44:40figure out how I work and you better
44:41learn the right way to hold me."
44:44And the funny thing is most of the
44:45people you've ever seen in your life uh
44:46hold the guitar completely wrong. How do
44:49you like that? You're probably holding
44:50the guitar wrong. I'm not going to say
44:52there's an absolute right way and wrong
44:54way to hold it, but
44:56very few people ever go back to their
44:58old way once I show them the right way.
44:59We'll be into that in lesson number
45:01three.
45:02But the rather funny question that I
45:03suggest people ask themselves at the end
45:05of the song is about this partnership
45:07thing, gee, did I cooperate
45:16with
45:18the
45:20machine?
45:23I hate to reduce your nice new guitar
45:25you just bought there down to a soulless
45:26piece of wood with some wires stuck to
45:28it, but the truth of the matter is
45:30that's basically all it is. And you're
45:33the one that's creating the music by how
45:35well you can control the language and
45:36how well you physically learn to control
45:38the instrument itself. And again, it's
45:40much simpler than most people think. You
45:42just got to get the information in the
45:43right order. Okay, down here, number
45:46six, the last main area of music down
45:48here is that nasty subject of notation.
45:56This, of course, is the whole subject of
46:00learning how to read music.
46:05Read sheet music and then ultimately, I
46:07suppose, know how to write it
46:10too, if you're a songwriter or a
46:11composer. You're going to have to know
46:13how to
46:15write this stuff.
46:17Now, I leave it up to each one of my
46:19students how seriously they want to get
46:21involved in in their reading.
46:24The truth is if you ever want to be a
46:25number 10 guitar player, you're going to
46:27have to learn how to read and you're
46:29going to have to learn how to read well.
46:31But and but but who the actual number 10
46:34guitar players are and the ones that you
46:36might be thinking are the number 10
46:38guitar players are probably vastly
46:40different. Who have you been told or who
46:42do you believe are the great guitar
46:44players of all times? Well, some of the
46:46names I get all the time are people like
46:47Jimi Hendrix, of course,
46:49Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan
46:53and uh
46:55on and on. You might have your own
46:56personal favorites, too. The funny thing
46:58is
47:00once you really understand the history
47:01of the instrument, you find out that all
47:03these people are grouped somewhere
47:05between like four, five, six, seven
47:08eight. They They really aren't. And um
47:12so people go, "Well, then who are the
47:13number 10 guitar players?" Well, most
47:15people have never even heard of them. I
47:16actually didn't bring it today, but I
47:18have a little
47:20board that I have with pictures on them.
47:21They're people like maybe Pat Metheny
47:23and Frank Gambale and
47:26Larry Coryell and John McLaughlin, Herb
47:28Ellis, Barney Kessel, Joe Pass
47:32and on and um
47:34Mike Stern, John Scofield. And people
47:36go, "I've never heard of these people."
47:38And I go, "Well, basically they're all
47:39jazz players."
47:42And people go, "Oh, well, you're just
47:43saying that because you like jazz more
47:44than you like rock and roll." And I go,
47:47"No, that actually isn't it.
47:49The thing is
47:51what is jazz?"
47:54Well, if you ask me, jazz can be summed
47:56up in one word.
47:58Jazz is more.
48:01Jazz guys know more chords. Jazz guys
48:04know more scales. Jazz guys know more
48:06music theory. Jazz guys usually go to
48:09school and a lot of them have degrees in
48:11music and stuff like that.
48:13They practice more hours a day. They
48:15learn how to read because you really
48:17can't get to the point where you can
48:18control a complex style of music like
48:21jazz without knowing how to read. So,
48:23what I'm saying is if you ever want to
48:25be a number 10 player, you are going to
48:27have to learn how to read music. But if
48:29you're interested in those people that I
48:30talked about before, the Jimi Hendrixes
48:32and the Stevie Ray Vaughns and the Eric
48:34Claptons and stuff like that. I hate to
48:36hear myself say this, but I over the
48:39experience over the years I've been
48:40teaching, I I have found that if I beat
48:42people over the head too much with their
48:43reading sometimes, particularly when
48:45they all they want to play is rock and
48:46roll, that I I just wind up boring them.
48:49Because learning how to read music is a
48:51relatively difficult thing to do and it
48:54takes some work. And in fact, um
48:57you know, question I get all the time
48:59is, "Why is learning to read music so
49:01difficult? You know, couldn't they make
49:03it any easier?" And I go,
49:05"Probably not, actually. It's a very
49:08sophisticated and subtle little system
49:10which has evolved over the centuries and
49:12conveys an awful lot of information with
49:15relatively little clutter on the page
49:17and I don't know whether if we had it to
49:19do over again, we could ever come up
49:21with anything better than that. It's
49:22actually pretty good." So, people go,
49:24"Well, then why is it so difficult to
49:26learn to read music?" And it's right
49:28back to this thing again. Music is a
49:30language and it's difficult to learn to
49:33read any language. You didn't learn to
49:36read the English language overnight, did
49:38you?
49:39How how how long did it take you to
49:41learn to read the English language?
49:42Well, you know, you might have started
49:43watching Sesame Street when you were in
49:45preschool, and then you went to
49:47kindergarten and they started to get you
49:49to really nail down the alphabet. And
49:50then you're in first grade and they're
49:52showing you how to spell words and start
49:54to form your first sentences. And then
49:56you're in second grade and they're
49:57sending you home with vocabulary and
49:59spelling and grammar stuff like that.
50:02And then you're in third grade and
50:03you're writing book reports and you're
50:05in fourth grade. You know, for most of
50:07us it's like fourth, fifth, sixth grade
50:09before we ever get to the point where we
50:11could just read anything, you know, that
50:13we want. And and the sad truth is that's
50:16pretty much the way it is with the learn
50:17how to read music, too. You have to
50:19realize it's going to take time. It
50:20might be a little boring. The rewards
50:23are definitely there if you do it. And
50:25we will certainly be talking about
50:26notation through this program.
50:28But
50:29uh another thing you'll want to know is,
50:31you know, we're we're not going to cram
50:32that down your throat. It it if that's
50:34uh
50:35you know, if if you're not interested in
50:36playing the more sophisticated styles of
50:38music. Oh, by the way, I I think I meant
50:40to mention earlier is another promise I
50:42make all my students is I am not going
50:44to fill your head with a bunch of dumb
50:46junk that you need to that you don't
50:48need to know, anyway. Uh I'm not going
50:50to try to turn you into a jazz player.
50:52I'm not going to try to turn you into a
50:53classical guitar player. This program is
50:56simply about the basic stuff you need to
50:59do do you need to understand in order to
51:01play popular music. So, uh you know,
51:04you've got to know what you're doing as
51:06we mentioned right up front, but it's
51:08not like this is oh god, this endless
51:10stream of useless information. You're
51:11going to find that everything in this
51:13program is pertinent to exactly what you
51:15want to do. So, the sixth main area of
51:17music is notation. And the question we
51:19might like to ask ourselves at the end
51:21of the song is G
51:23Oh, oops. How is my
51:27reading coming? It's not really a song
51:30by song question
51:33um the way some of the other ones are.
51:35But um
51:37I'm going to make those boxes a little
51:38bigger, aren't I? Um how is my reading
51:40coming? Um not really a song by song
51:43question the way the other ones are.
51:45But uh very important. Um you should
51:47learn how to read. Another question
51:48people have about reading, too, is they
51:50go, "Well, my last guitar teacher, all
51:52he did was he stuck me in an exercise
51:54book and made me play Mary Had a Little
51:55Lamb and Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars
51:57till I was so bored and and sick of it
51:59that uh you know, that I I just couldn't
52:01stand it anymore." And um
52:04uh and I go, "Yeah, in a way, that's um
52:07that's pretty much the way it has to be.
52:09Remember, you didn't start off reading
52:11Shakespeare. The first stuff you ever
52:14read was stuff like see the cat run."
52:18You know what I mean? So, when they
52:19stick you in the exercise book and make
52:21you play Mary Had a Little Lamb, that's
52:23because you pretty much have to start
52:24there because playing Mary Had a Little
52:26Lamb in the musical language is
52:28something kind of like equivalent to see
52:31the cat run in the English language. And
52:34the only way to get there is get in book
52:36one and work your way through book one
52:37and then you're into book two and it's a
52:39little more complicated. Then you're
52:40into book three and book four. You'll
52:42probably be in book five, book six, book
52:45seven of any
52:47given um you know, Mel Bay or whatever
52:50learn to play the guitar book series
52:52before you can pretty much count on
52:54being able to play anything you want.
52:56And that may well be three years from
52:59the day you start. And that's actually
53:01if you if you get in there and and work
53:03on it fairly difficult fairly uh in a
53:06dedicated kind of fashion like that.
53:08So, anyway, that's the whole subject of
53:10notation. Now up to the top here. This
53:14is the big one. We've been saving this
53:16almost for last. Um
53:19this is the big one. This is the one you
53:21have the most facts to learn about.
53:23Remember the things that we've talked
53:24about so far like rhythm. Yeah, there's
53:26some stuff to know about rhythm.
53:27Dynamics, we said, "Gee, loudness?
53:29There's not a a lot to learn about
53:31that." We said you'll learn everything
53:32that you need to know about technique in
53:36just um you know, an hour or or two. I
53:39mean, there's advanced stuff that you
53:40can learn later on. Notation is an
53:42ongoing thing, but as I said, it remains
53:43to be seen how seriously you're going to
53:45get involved in that. This one up here,
53:48number one, this is the big one. This is
53:52the one that you have the most facts to
53:54learn about. The good news is this is
53:57also the most fascinating area of music.
54:00This is the one that most people are so
54:02confused about that they don't even
54:05understand that this is what they're
54:07confused about. And um I always
54:10introduce this one by suggesting that
54:12when I used to ask people what the six
54:14big concepts in music were, very often
54:16they would start rattling off a whole
54:18bunch of words at me thinking they're
54:19telling me the six main areas of music,
54:22but are actually rather surprised to
54:24find out that all they're doing is
54:26rattling off a bunch of subheadings
54:29under this area up here. And many of
54:31these things are words that you're going
54:32to know. Many of these things are the
54:34very things that you came here to learn
54:36about. You didn't necessarily think we
54:38were going to talk be talking about
54:39loudness, did you? But um these very
54:42often are the very things that people
54:43come to learn about. And so, they start
54:46saying things like, "Well, okay, yeah,
54:47the six main areas of music, you know,
54:49I'm 5/6 of the way through what music is
54:52about at this point and I haven't even
54:54said anything yet about what notes you
54:56play."
54:58Which is a pretty important concept. We
55:00all know that when you're playing music,
55:02what you do
55:05anything yet about chords
55:08or scales.
55:12Both of words those you heard about, I'm
55:14sure you came here wanting to learn
55:15about chords and indeed you will.
55:17Scales, I haven't said anything yet
55:19about melody
55:22and harmony.
55:27All four of these words I'm sure you've
55:29heard of before. Um another very
55:31important word is the word intervals.
55:33Now we're starting to get into some that
55:36you may not have heard about so well. Uh
55:39interestingly enough, that's strange
55:41because that is the the most important
55:43word that I've written down so far
55:44because all these other things like
55:45chords and scales and melody and
55:47harmony, they're actually all made up of
55:49intervals. Uh there's a bunch of other
55:51words in here. Uh progressions, for
55:53example. Chord progressions, you
55:56probably might be aware of that concept.
55:59Some other fancy words like modes and
56:01arpeggios and things. I could write down
56:03a bunch of other words in there, but
56:04it's not an endless list by any sense at
56:06all. It it's
56:08a pretty you know, that's most of it
56:10right there.
56:11And people go "Well, aren't those the
56:13six main areas of music?" And I go, "No,
56:15actually, they're all subheadings under
56:17this huge word over here, which you're
56:19also going to know, but you might not
56:21have ever seen the
56:23you know, the relationship this way.
56:24They might not have ever quite framed it
56:26for you this way. If you ask me, all
56:29this stuff is about pitch.
56:35Now, you've heard that word before,
56:36right? What does the word pitch mean to
56:40you? Well, um
56:42uh lots of times it it's hard to put
56:44this stuff in words, isn't it? They they
56:46you know, we we've never been really
56:48forced to think about this before. And
56:49sometimes people are just at a loss for
56:51words, but it's funny I see their hand
56:52begin to move and they start going like
56:55And wouldn't you agree that pitch seems
56:57to have something to do with like up and
56:59down, like high and low? There's uh high
57:02pitch stuff, for example
57:05sounds like that. And then there's low
57:07pitch stuff like this
57:10down at the bottom. And then there's
57:11like this
57:14kind of gradation like that where we go
57:16from low to high. And um
57:19uh that's all all this pitch stuff, high
57:21and low. So, pitch is all about high
57:27and low.
57:31But high and low what?
57:35People go "Well, high and low sound?"
57:38And I go, "Well, maybe." But remember,
57:40we actually put that word down here. I'm
57:42not sure that the word sound belongs
57:43under the category of pitch. I think it
57:45might actually belong better um down
57:48here where it is. So, pitch is about
57:50high and low, but high and low what?
57:52Well, um one word that we're we're
57:55definitely going to learn to associate
57:56with pitch is the concept of frequency.
58:00Next time in our next lesson, we're
58:01going to get a little bit scientific
58:03about what pitch is all about because
58:06that's going to start to point us in the
58:07direction of of how these machines
58:09actually work and generate these
58:11different pitches. But I think there's a
58:14better word that you can learn to
58:15associate with pitch. Pitch is all about
58:17high and low, but high and low what?
58:20Well, actually, I think it's this word
58:21right here.
58:23It is, after all, about what notes you
58:25play.
58:28Pitch is about high and low, but high
58:30and low what? Well, high and low notes,
58:33I think it is the best word. That
58:35surprises a lot of people sometimes. And
58:38so, um
58:39if then concepts like chords and scales
58:42and melody and harmony and intervals and
58:44progressions and everything are all
58:45subheadings under the subject of pitch,
58:48that must mean they have something to do
58:50with what notes you play. And my basic
58:53way of thinking of them is these are
58:55just all different sorts of patterns.
59:01These are patterns of notes. A chord is
59:04when you take a bunch of notes and you
59:06arrange them in a particular pattern and
59:08you play them all at the same time, for
59:10example, like this.
59:15Now, a scale on the other hand, is like
59:19when you take a bunch of individual
59:20notes and you arrange them in a
59:21different type of pattern. And one of
59:23the parameters of that pattern is you
59:24play the notes in a sequence instead of
59:27simultaneously.
59:33And another kind of language analogy to
59:35this is that if music is a language,
59:38then these different patterns are in a
59:40sense very much like words. And music as
59:45a language
59:46excuse me
59:47music as a language has an alphabet and
59:51we'll be talking about that next time
59:52too. And all you do just like when in
59:55the English language when you want to
59:56spell a word you take your 26 unit
59:58English alphabet you select certain
1:00:00units out of it and you arrange them in
1:00:02a pattern. In English we call that a
1:00:04word. In music we call them things like
1:00:08chords and scales and melody and harmony
1:00:10and and all that sort of thing. So
1:00:14we've done a lot of talking about pitch.
1:00:15We have a lot more talking to do about
1:00:17pitch, but it all comes down to one
1:00:19simple question that you have to ask
1:00:22yourself at the end of the song.
1:00:24Particularly if you think that the
1:00:25operative word is it's all about what
1:00:27notes you play, then of course at the
1:00:29end of the song you've got to ask
1:00:30yourself gee, did I play yeah, I keep
1:00:35doing that turning a P into an R. Did I
1:00:38play the right
1:00:41notes?
1:00:45Question mark. So pitch is all about
1:00:47what notes you play and what patterns
1:00:49you arrange them in. Now we have still
1:00:51quickly have one more area of music to
1:00:52talk about. I introduce that one like
1:00:54this. I'm going to produce two musical
1:00:56things right now. See if you can tell me
1:00:58if these two things are the same pitch.
1:01:01Ready? Here we go.
1:01:14Now I was singing a note and I was
1:01:16playing a note on the piano. Were those
1:01:17two things the same pitch?
1:01:23What do you think?
1:01:24Well, the answer is yes, they were. That
1:01:26means in terms of their highness and
1:01:27lowness they both occupied the same
1:01:30plane which was pretty much like a
1:01:32medium low kind of plane.
1:01:37So those two notes were the same pitch,
1:01:40right? However
1:01:42in the totality of the experience of
1:01:44listening to those two things they
1:01:47didn't sound exactly alike, did they?
1:01:50Even with your eyes closed you'd be able
1:01:51to tell
1:01:52oh, that's a piano and
1:01:55that's a human voice. So even though
1:01:57these two things were alike in pitch
1:02:01they were different in something else.
1:02:03And what might we call that other thing?
1:02:05Well, we could just say that they
1:02:07sounded different.
1:02:10They had a different sound quality. They
1:02:13were both the same highness and lowness.
1:02:15They were both the same pitch, but they
1:02:17just sounded different. They had a
1:02:19different sound quality shall we say.
1:02:26Even though they were the same pitch,
1:02:27they just sounded different. A piano
1:02:29sounds like a piano. Human voice sounds
1:02:31like a human voice. The best I think
1:02:33over the counter word for this is the
1:02:35word tone. Although tone is a little bit
1:02:38of a confusing word in the musical
1:02:40language sometimes because tone is
1:02:42sometimes used to talk about pitch. We
1:02:44won't get into that right now, but for
1:02:46example, you have a tone knob on your
1:02:48electric guitar. Ask yourself this
1:02:50question. When you turn the tone knob on
1:02:52that guitar or how about the tone knob
1:02:54on your stereo at home or in your car?
1:02:56When you turn the tone knob, are you
1:02:58changing the highness and lowness of the
1:03:01pitches that the musicians are playing?
1:03:04And the answer is no, you're not. You're
1:03:05just changing something about how their
1:03:07sound quality actually
1:03:10is.
1:03:11So concepts like EQ, equalization, tone
1:03:15controls on your instrument,
1:03:17the word instruments belongs in here.
1:03:20What after all is the difference between
1:03:23a saxophone and a trumpet?
1:03:26Do saxophones and trumpets play
1:03:28different notes?
1:03:31No. In fact, you might as well sort of
1:03:33look at it like all the instruments at
1:03:35least in the western world all basically
1:03:38play the same notes. They're all
1:03:39typewriters and they all have the same
1:03:41alphabet on the keyboard.
1:03:43So what is the difference between a
1:03:45saxophone and a trumpet?
1:03:47They just sound different. You can
1:03:49always tell when you're hearing a
1:03:50saxophone. You can always hear when
1:03:51you're telling a trumpet when you're
1:03:52hearing a trumpet. What's the difference
1:03:54between an electric guitar and an
1:03:55acoustic guitar?
1:03:58They play the same notes. You play them
1:03:59the same way. They just sound different.
1:04:01You can always tell when you're hearing
1:04:02an electric guitar. You can always tell
1:04:04when you're playing an acoustic guitar.
1:04:05If you're playing an electric guitar,
1:04:08what's very important for a lot of
1:04:09players is the whole concept of effects.
1:04:13You probably know that there are all
1:04:15these electronic effects that you can
1:04:17put on your guitar. Of course the most
1:04:19audible or visible one of course these
1:04:22days is the whole subject of distortion.
1:04:26You probably all know
1:04:28the sound that a guitar makes. You know,
1:04:30right now I even have a little bit of
1:04:31effects on my guitar right now.
1:04:38A little bit of stereo coursing and
1:04:39stuff like that, but you're probably all
1:04:41familiar with distortion. That's when
1:04:43you get this sound out of the
1:04:44instrument.
1:04:50That's that overdriven kind of
1:04:52distortion sound that we associate with
1:04:54rock and roll. And the truth of the
1:04:56matter is
1:04:57not only do you have to worry about what
1:04:59notes you're going to play, you also
1:05:00have to worry about the quality of sound
1:05:02you produce. You have to have a decent
1:05:04instrument. You have to have a decent
1:05:05amplifier. You have to have the right
1:05:08types of effects.
1:05:10If you show up at the heavy metal band
1:05:13rehearsal with your acoustic guitar,
1:05:14you're probably not going to last too
1:05:16long. You you need to be able to
1:05:17generate whatever sound that they ask
1:05:19you to play. So
1:05:21the
1:05:22the official musical term by the way is
1:05:24another one of those ones that you might
1:05:26not have heard before. It's the whole
1:05:27concept of timbre.
1:05:31Spelled B R E, timbre. Have you ever
1:05:33heard that word before? You might have
1:05:35and and just didn't know what it was.
1:05:37The
1:05:38often times you'll hear it pronounced
1:05:40also timber, T A M B R E.
1:05:44When you hear that word you know that
1:05:46they're actually talking about not the
1:05:48pitch of the highness and lowness of the
1:05:49notes you're playing. They're it's
1:05:51actually that actual quality of sound
1:05:53you're producing. Should I play this on
1:05:55an electric guitar? Should I play it on
1:05:56an acoustic guitar?
1:05:58You should change your strings on your
1:06:00guitar every month or two because they
1:06:02just get corroded and they just don't
1:06:03sound very good. Many of you who haven't
1:06:05changed your strings in months and
1:06:06months and months have simply forgotten
1:06:10how much better your guitar sounded when
1:06:12you were initially put the strings on
1:06:14because they gradually lose their tone
1:06:16over time and you didn't even
1:06:18necessarily know it. Before you change
1:06:20your strings next time, if your strings
1:06:23have been on for a while, play the
1:06:24guitar for a few minutes before you
1:06:25change them and try to remember what it
1:06:26sounded like then change your strings
1:06:28and you'll go oh my god, what a
1:06:30difference. And cuz lots of times it
1:06:32happens so slowly we don't notice it. So
1:06:34our last question that we have to ask
1:06:36ourselves at the end of the song
1:06:38is on timbre here. It's of course how
1:06:42did
1:06:44I sound?
1:06:48And that's a totally different question
1:06:50than did I play the right notes? How did
1:06:53I sound? Did I play the right notes?
1:06:55These are two completely different
1:06:56questions and a lot of times people have
1:06:58just never been able to really make that
1:06:59distinction for themselves.
1:07:01So there you go. Six main areas of
1:07:03music. That's all there is to it. For
1:07:05you to be a real musician, for you to be
1:07:07a real player, there's only two things
1:07:09you got to do. You got to get to the end
1:07:11of the song and you got to be able to
1:07:12answer yes to those six questions over
1:07:14there. If you do, they'll be clapping
1:07:16and throwing money at you in no time. If
1:07:18you don't, they're going to kick you out
1:07:20of the band and get somebody who can.
1:07:22And it's not a big deal, is it? All you
1:07:23should really try to do is spend a
1:07:25little time trying to remember, trying
1:07:27to memorize these six different
1:07:29concepts. If if you were one of my
1:07:30students here in person, when you came
1:07:33back next week, one of the first things
1:07:35I would do and I'm not a real high
1:07:36pressure guy, but we would just have to
1:07:38go back over it again I suppose, would
1:07:40be
1:07:40okay, you tell me what are the six main
1:07:42areas of music. Give me the official
1:07:44musical term. Give me like a a one word
1:07:47kind of descriptive term that to make
1:07:49sure that you understand what the
1:07:50concept is and then possibly most
1:07:52importantly tell me what that question
1:07:54is that you have to ask yourself at the
1:07:56end of the song.
1:07:57Um
1:07:58And really that's all there is to it.
1:08:00Pretty cool, huh?
1:08:02Okay, now we'll just take a minute and
1:08:03set you up for our next lesson. It'll be
1:08:05lesson number two and you'll want to
1:08:07look at your
1:08:09in your booklet there and you'll be
1:08:10looking at sheet number two next time.
1:08:12What next time is going to be about is
1:08:14all about pitch. As I say that's the
1:08:15largest area of music and a lot of facts
1:08:19to learn about it, but as I said before
1:08:20the good news is it's absolutely
1:08:22fascinating. And how is that? Pretty
1:08:24good, huh? Wasn't exactly what you were
1:08:26expecting. You thought I was just going
1:08:27to plop that guitar in your lap and and
1:08:29start showing you how to move your
1:08:30fingers, but trust me, that would have
1:08:32been just pretty much pointless. And
1:08:35other cool thing is did you have any
1:08:37trouble understanding anything I said
1:08:40today?
1:08:41I mean, isn't this pretty much like
1:08:43pretty much like common sense really?
1:08:45You know, is there anything terribly
1:08:47difficult here? No. And the good news is
1:08:49it doesn't get any harder than this. If
1:08:51you understood what I was talking about
1:08:53today, you're going to understand
1:08:54everything that I'm talking about. Some
1:08:56of the stuff when we get further along
1:08:58is going to be a little dense and a
1:08:59little more complicated and and you may
1:09:02have to go over it a couple of times and
1:09:04and but none of it is really very
1:09:06difficult at all.
1:09:07So hope you enjoyed that and we look
1:09:10forward to seeing you next time and I'm
1:09:12Scotty West and enjoy yourself and we'll
1:09:14see you next time on absolutely
1:09:16understand guitar.
1:12:21Ooh.

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