DAN HOOD

Guitar tone 104

Dec 16, 2009 Blogroll, Charlotte Music, Guitar, Guitar Gear, Music Industry, Threshold Church, Uncategorized, Worship, Worship Leader
Posted by admin

Last night, I got together with a friend and guitar student. We hung out for awhile and got to playing… His main question was how to get from the “theoretical” side of music (scales, chords, etc) to the “creative” side. Great question.

We thought of a couple of analogies that I thought were helpful enough to share.

One of these was to think of your scales and technique and theory like tools. Like wrenches and sockets or hammers and nails. When you go to fix something or make something, you just know what tool will work. This comes from experience and being familiar with the tools you have available to you. The goal is to create. If a tool doesn’t work, you put it down and pick up another one.
Do you tell a child they are wrong for painting shapes and colors with their fingers when there are perfectly good brushes available? No. At least I hope not. Same thing with playing guitar. Who cares if you are thinking “Dorian minor” or “Pentatonic” did the phrase speak to you or convey the emotion you were trying to communicate?? Did is “feel” right?

This was a big thing for my friend. He knew both sides. The “feel” side and the “technical” side. But how to bridge the gap? Last night, we made some great progress, and by the end of our session, he was playing things by instinct and feel and CREATING the music he wanted to hear…. Pretty cool.

Anyways, cheerio! Hope you all have a Merry Christmas. and happy picking!

Dan