[drabbag]

Just wanted to introduce myself to the website. I just signed up today and started to browse the site. I have been playing quite a bit for a month now and have made decent improvements through the weeks.

I play mainly from tab that I print online. I can only play small parts from all songs but nonetheless its fun to practice. Anything from Dave Matthews ( various small excerpts), to Nothing Else Matters, duelling banjo's, Extreme(more than words) and many other small parts of other songs.
-My question is should I be focusing on Chords first? I havent really done too much strumming as it still feels akward.

Also Kirk, on your lessons the music is listed differently than what most of what I have downloaded so far. Any reccomendations on how to read this music and possibly some easy songs to get started with.

Site looks great and I look forward to learning as much as possible.

Chris

[allthumbs]

Hi Drabbag. Glad to see you here. Nelsonite has been kind enough to put up some lessons on strumming that may help you with your comfort level with strumming. You will notice that the tunes here are mostly fingerpicked so strumming is not essential to playing them. The tab is pretty standard. You can google for how to read tabs pretty easily. Download the free copy of guitarpro and play a tune and you will see how the tab relates to the music.

[drabbag]

I can read the tab well enough to get by, I think I should have been more specific... The explanation that comes before the tab that is listed is very confusing to read and I don't have a clue about what is being discussed. Is this information important to being able to play the tab?

[allthumbs]

Ah, I see. Yes you can play the tab without knowing the description above it. It explains why your playing those notes by describing the chord structure of the song. The roman numerals tell the position of the chord within the key. I is the root,ii is the minor second,iii is the minor third,IV is the four chord,V the fiftht.vi is the minor six chord,VII is the half diminished chord. The most common chord structure is the I,IV,V chords. If you play those three chords in the key of D, D,G,A chords, I think you will recognize the sequence. Thousands and thousands of songs have been written using them. Hope that helps.
edit. To be completely accurate, the ii,iii and vi are shown as lower case to depict a minor chord. When you see a minor chord written in upper case II instead of ii,it means that chord had been turned into a major chord. The same holds true for major chords turned into minor chords. Ie V to v.

[Kirk Lorange]

Thanks allthumbs and hi dragbag.

No, the Roman numeral explanations are not necessary to understand if you're just starting out ... I do mention that in several of the lessons. However, the sooner you do start to look at music as a structure, the better. I spent years and years playing tunes by ear and always knew there were similarities between them, connections between the chords they used, common threads to them all. It wasn't until I learned about keys and the Roman numeral way of describing the structures of the chord progressions that I really started making headway.

Chords are definitely the best thing to come to grips with first. They really do rule the roost, so keep plugging away at them, even if you're not quite sure why right now at this early stage of your playing.

Welcome!

[ballagie]

Hi Drabbag, it's great to see someone else who like playing DMB tunes. About 80% of the songs i know how to play seem to be Dave's or covers that hes done at concerts . If you're having any trouble with a particular DMB song just give me a yell, id be happy to tell you what i know.

Casa

[drabbag]

Thanks for all the replies. Is there a link somewhere to give me some of the most common chords to start practicing?

Another problem that I seem to have is knowing what fingers to use on my left hand for playing. I can play the strings listed in the tab, but when it comes time to change positions is seems i get a little confused. Im sure this stuff comes with time... just looking for pointers...

Ballagie, I love playing dave songs but at this point Im really only picking up small parts of every song I like. Just recently Ive been practicing "gravedigger" which is great sounding but I cant get the rythym down just yet. Im using the tab from dmbtabs.com for reference. THe confusing part for me is where he will throw extra strums in that arent able to read on the tab.

Chris


Edit:

I was browsing around and have another question. In the desperado into...

For the very first part it lists the tab, then above it there is the G chord listed. But the G chord is different than what the tab displays. Is that just another way to play the part? Sorry if this doesnt make sense

[allthumbs]

On the main page of the Beginners site you will see a nav bar on the left. You should find a lot of info on basics in there. Changing chords is a matter of experience. You may have to use different fingers for the chord your on depending on what chord your going to next.Two examples. You could go from an E chord to the A chord by just sliding the finger up from the first fret 3rd string to the second fret 3rd string while holding down the 4 and 5 string without moving those fingers. Play a D. You see how your pinky is hovering over the first string 3rd fret? Lower it to fret that string and move the other two fingers to the 5th and 6th string ,second and third fret to make up the rest of the G chord. Don't use the index finger. Let it float. See how it is ready to grab part of the C chord or E chord or A chord like an advanced scout, while your still playing the G chord.You anchor that finger and then move the other two to make the rest of the chord. That is only one way to play the G chord of course. It depends on where you want to go next.
The G chords in Desperado look ok to me. In the first one he didn't bother to hold the G note on the first string since he didn't play it. Remember that the 2,3,and 4 string left open is also a G chord so various combinations of open and fretted strings will still make a G chord. The second G chord is a 7th so the 7note is tabbed as a 3 at the 3rd fret fourth string, the rest of the chord being the G chord taken from the open strings. Hope that makes things cleare for you.