Confession #49 - Goodbye!

A year ago I started this blog with a few goals in mind.  I wanted to share my experiences and the breakthroughs that helped me progress as a musician with others, in the hope that it would help them with their development.  I hoped to connect with an audience and to develop a following and a community for beginner to intermediate players to share experiences and discuss the weekly confessions.  Lastly, I hoped to generate some revenue through advertising (i.e. clickable ads) and affiliate programs (e.g. American Musical Supply, etc.).

A year later I find that these goals have not been realized.  I didn't expect to realize them overnight, but after 1 year of weekly posts, the message is clear.  I have failed to connect with an audience.  Unless I continuously promote the blog through various channels the daily pageviews are very low, which tells me that I'm not getting very many returning visitors.  Only 2 people have posted comments in the comments sections, and there are only 5 people following my blog (and one of those is a relative).  My blog has not generated any affiliate program sales, and the advertising revenue has yet to exceed the minimum payment threshold.

I've invested a lot of time in this blog, and that has taken away from other things in my life, not the least of which is my own playing. Since I have not realized any of my goals for this blog, I can no longer justify the time I spend on it and have decided to shut it down.  Frankly, it will be a relief to no longer have the pressure of generating useful original content every week.

I want to thank those who have provided their feedback to me, both through the comments section and by e-mailing me directly.  I wish everyone the best of luck in their development as a guitar player and a musician.

Guitartipz

Confession #48 - Know Your CBA's !

If somebody asked you to recite the notes in the C major scale, without hesitation you'd be able reply:

C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C

However, if they asked you do do it backwards, odds are you'd be stumped!


KNOW YOUR CBA's

Your probably wondering why you should be able to recite the alphabet backwards.  Learning the fretboard is one reason.

As a beginner you learned the names of the open strings and probably learned the names of the notes on the first 3 frets.  However, as you move beyond the 3rd fret, your note naming ability might be a bit shaky.  And the closer you get to the 12th fret, the more lost you feel.

But wait!  You already know the names of the notes at the 12th fret.  Remember those notes are the octave of the open strings.  If you can name the open strings, you can name the notes at the 12th fret.

If you can name the notes at the 12th fret and you know your CBA's, then you can easily name the notes before the 12th fret.  For example, the 12th fret of your sixth string is an E.  "Counting" backwards from E you get to D, which is a whole step before E (if you don't know why D is a whole step before E, see Confession #8 - Learn the Major Scale!), so moving a whole step (i.e. two frets) back from the 12th fret to the 10th fret you find a D.

How do you learn your CBA's?  Practice!

Use the major scale pattern in Confession #8 - Learn the Major Scale! and play up and down the scale, naming the notes as you play them (or better yet, sing them! See Confession #23 - Sing What You Play!).  Moving up the scale will be easy.  Moving down the scale will be hard at first but will quickly become easy.

Next Week's Confession - ???

Confession #47 - Christmas Special!

Change of plans!  With Christmas only a week and a half away, I decided to share with you this fully tabbed fingerpicking arrangement of Away in a Manger so you can wow your family and friends with it on Christmas Day.

Enjoy!

Away in a Manger
(Click to Enlarge)

Next Week's Confession - Know Your CBA's!

Confession #46 - Pentatonic Scales (Part 5)

In Confession #45 - Pentatonic Scales! (Part 4) we looked at Pentatonic Pattern #4.  In this week's confession, we'll look at Pentatonic Pattern #5.

This is the final pentatonic pattern, and it brings us back around to pattern #1.


Major Pentatonic Pattern #5

Here is major pentatonic pattern #5 in the key of C.  I've coloured the root notes red for easy reference.  I've also shown pattern #4 in the diagram so you can see how the two patterns are connected.  The dashed notes on the left belong only to pattern #4.  The notes in the middle are common to both patterns. The notes on the right belong only to pattern #5.

As mentioned above, this is the final pattern and it brings us back around to pattern #1.  See the column of notes at the 17th fret?  Does it look a bit familiar?  That's because they are all part of pattern #1, like this:

Minor Pentatonic Pattern #5

Here is minor pentatonic pattern #5 in the key of A minor.  Again, I've coloured the root notes red for easy reference and I've also shown pattern #4 in the diagram so you can see how the two patterns are connected.

Again, notice how the notes at the 17th fret are all part of pattern #1, like this:

Now that you have leaned all 5 pentatonic patterns, the challenge is to learn to move between them when playing.  Confession #43 - Pentatonic Scales! (Part 2) demonstrated just one the many ways there are to do this.  Experiment and see what works for you!

Next Week's Confession - Know Your CBA's!