Two Uncomplicated Ways of Transforming Your Guitar Sound

Two Uncomplicated Ways of Transforming Your Guitar Sound Suzy S. Are you stuck in a musical rut? New tunings and tricks can help you keep learning guitar in fresh, fun ways. Try one of these great tips from guitar teacher Samuel B. to breathe new life into your guitar playing One of the first things I tell any new student is that I dont specialize in a formal discipline. If jazz or classical training is your objective, then Im not your guy. Instead, I specialize primarily in American roots music (that which we tend to casually lump together as folk and/or rock). Fortunately, my sharing this information has not prompted any student to pick up their instrument and walk out the door. Although it took me literally years to buy it, a collaborator from my college days introduced me to the idea that any musician can bridge stylistic gaps with a few simple tricks. At the time, my position was that I was a blues-rock guitarist and thats all there was to it. However, a simple repeated lick I contributed to a song that he and I compiled a few years later (involving a single minor chord and an effects pedal) introduced a Latin-sounding slant to our primarily standard American sound. If youre stuck in a stylistic box, sometimes simple things can add a little more spice to your guitar playing. Branching Out Into Jazz In many ways, the Blues, Country music, Appalachian sounds (particularly Bluegrass), Gospel, campfire songs, and all forms of singer-songwriter material are really six different versions of the same thing. First of all, they are all based around the same three chords (the ones that are based on the first, fourth, and fifth notes of a scale C, F and G7th for example). Patterns involving these three chords make for everything you will learn in the first three keys (C, D, and E) I will teach you. Playing formal jazz (another basic yet more structurally complex form of American music) involves memorizing not only complex advanced scales, but also chords involving several variations (ie minor seventh suspended) a piece. As indicated, I cant claim relevant training or even the ability to sight-read any chord with more than two variations to its name. However, two simple alternate chord formations will transform a standard one-four-five American roots pattern into the more complex structure of a standard jazz tune. In a previous article, I introduced triads as a precursor to learning barre chords: E|||| B|||| G||-O|| D|-O||| A|||| E|-O||| E|||| B|||| G||-O|| D|-O||| A||-O|| E|||| These two formations (based on the first-position E and B7th chords respectively) make for colorful alternatives to first-position major chords when played together in a one-four-five pattern. Just play the first one a full step two frets up from whichever position in which youre alternating between it and the other one to complete said pattern. They also make for wonderful experimental material. Just a few dry runs up and down the neck of ANY combination of them create the sonic territory of a solo jazz guitar piece. I also recommend experimenting with finger-picking patterns to effectively create melodies to accompany the complex progressions youll be creating. Experimenting With An Open Tuning The best way to enliven your sound without shifting genres is to tune to an open chord. Open D (D, A, F#, D, A, D) is customary for the six genres I cited above. I recently recorded a collaborative album on which I used this tuning exclusively. Predictably enough, strumming it openly produces a D chord. Placing one finger (I recommend the thumb) over the bottom four strings produces major chords theoretically identical yet aurally distinct from the ones in first position (standard tuning). D |||| A |||| F#||-O|| D ||-O|| A ||-O|| D ||-O|| Play around with this tuning (up and down the neck as with the triads). Try variations such as holding down the bottom THREE strings instead. After all, the fourth one is the middle (third) degree of the chord the one that determines whether the chord is major, minor, augmented, diminished, or perhaps some other lesser-known yet equally compelling label. Open tunings are commonplace for many household artists. Joni Mitchell uses them exclusively. Neil Young, Keith Richards, and John Mellencamp are also frequent subscribers. My inspiration for using and sharing the thumb chords is Richie Havens who had relevant instructional material published before his recent death. Open tunings are ideal territory for experimenting with open-handed picking and/or slide techniques (involving the use of a glass or steel tube on the pinkie finger). See what works best for you, and keep having fun learning guitar! Samuel B. teaches beginner  guitar lessons in Austin, TX. He teaches lessons face-to-face without sheet music, which is his adaptation of Japanese instruction (involving a call-and-response method).  Learn more about Samuel here! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo  by  blondinrikard

11 English Collocations with All ?? - Learn English with Harry

11 English Collocations with All ?? - Learn English with Harry This is Harry and welcome back to Harrys English grammar lessons and helpful tips to get you to be more confident to speak your English. Today, were going to talk to you about collocations with ALL. 11 English Collocations with All So I have 11 collocations with all for you and Ill talk you through each of them slowly, with some good examples and hopefully then youll be able to understand how exactly we can use them.So the first one is ALL OVER.So all over means everywhere.All over the world there are people starving.All over the world there are people who are rich.So one of the children comes in and they knock over a glass of water and the water goes everywhere.All over the floor, all over the table, clothes, all over your laptop.Oh my God, what has happened? Its all over.And we can also use all over in a slightly different way when we want to put some, statement or some exclamation about something.Well, the game is finished, its all over now. Meaning that was the very last kick of the game and theres nothing anybody can do about the result. Its all over. Its finished.Then we have ALL BUT.And that means almost completely, all but.Im all but out of money.Ive only a little bit of money in my pocket or in my, in my bank, I need some more.Youre driving along the road and youre looking at the little needle on your dashboard and you see that all youre in the red zone of the petrol or your fuel.Oh dear,I’m all but out of petrol, I hope I find a petrol station soon so I can fill up my car.And the next collocation we have is ALL TOO.And this usually means very. We often use it with expressions all too often or all too easy.Hes been late every day this week. He does it all too often for my liking. We should tell them something or we should give him a warning.All too easy. Its all too easy for kids these days. They get anything that they want.  Next one ALL ROUND.All round means a bit like the first one. We gave you words everywhere or around the world. Yeah. You ask one of the children to clean the house and say:Okay, look, if you want some pocket money, youre going to have to work for it. Youre going to have to do some hoovering and mind you, its not just where you see, you have to go all round the house, into the corners.So the weather in the Canary islands is warm all year round. 11 English Collocations with All The next one I have for you is specifically to do with sport and in particular is to do with football.So we use ALL  when were talking about the result  or  the score. Somebody says: Well, whats the score on the match? Its one all.Meaning one goal for one team, one goal for the other team.What was the final result? Two all, ah, an even game, equal, everybody got a point. So two all two goals for your team, two goals for the other team. So one or two, all three or et cetera. Even when theres no score in the game, zero, zero or nil all.The next collocation is ALL TOLD.Meaning to get everything together.Well, all told that wasnt such a bad presentation. I mean, it started off well, the middle was okay. Weve got a good lot of questions at the end.And the next one is KNOW IT ALL.Know it all well this is quite common and often we use it with somebody when we get a little bit annoyed with them and say:Oh, you know it all. Yeah, you think you know it all.Or your children, 16 and 17 year old s. 16 or 17 year olds, they know it all, dont they?Or indeed when you want to give somebody a little bit of a slagging:Ha, ha, you know it all dont you?When really theyve made a mistake and they didnt really get it correct.Now, there is a word, a noun. We can say a knowall. And when we try and tell, when we speak to somebody that thinks they know everything. ‘Ah, youre just a knowall.’ You mean you think you know it all.So know it all and knowall slightly different but with the same intention and the same meeting.And then the next one is TO BE ALL SOMETHING.Usually, we use this with words like to be all smiles. Or to be all innocent.So what do they mean? Well, to be all smiles as somebody whos always got a smile on face, but behind it there might lurk, a hidden meaning.The guy might not be so sincere with these smiles and say: ‘Ah, that guy, hes all smiles. But really you need to be very careful about him because he would stick the knife in when hes, when youre not looking.’ To be all innocent means when someone says: ‘It wasnt me, I couldnt have done that. Oh my God.’ So to be all innocent means somebody who denies that they had any part in anything or they are acting a little bit innocently. And again, theres something there underneath that you might think theyre not as innocent as you think they are.And this one is one of my favourites, ALL TALK.So all talk often comes with another expression all talk but no action. So you can get the hint from that.But exactly it means. So when we talk about somebody being all talk its and nah, nah, nah. But they never followed through with any specific action.When somebody is all talk, they usually tell you what theyre going to do and theyd tell you again what theyre going to do and theyll tell you again what theyre going to do.  But theres no action. They dont follow it through.And the next one we have is ALL-NIGHTER.This is the sort of a invented world. An all-nighter can be a really rough party. Ive had a f ew of those in my time, I can tell you.Were nearly there now and just one last one. ALL IN ALL.All in all it means like taking everything together.Well, all in all, it wasnt such a bad performance, was it? All in all we won the match.Okay guys. So that completes the lesson for today and we were talking about collocations with all.So as I said at the beginning, press that button and subscribe to my YouTube channel Learn English with Harry, and if you want to contact me, you can do so on www.englishlessonviaskype.comand when get there, youll find a link to my Easy Peasy English club. Its a great club to help you to learn better English, to speak better English, to make better pronunciation and above all to make you much more confident in your English.  Click here to join the Easy Peasy Club.Okay, join me again soon. Collocations with ALL - Listen Now