[csantana]

Ok i have been practising pentatonic scales for a few monthssome ok but can't seem to get anything going, i think i need a bit of a routine i seem to practise with the good intent then just wonder can anyone give me a routine that will help, i am a beginner so nothing to complicated, do i do chords and what ones or order...
your help as always will be much appreicated

[Stratrat]

+1 to what Witchy Woman said. Nothin' at all wrong with practicing scales and chords, but it makes it a lot more fun to learn a few songs and mix it up a bit. Playing songs you enjoy makes your practice feel less like "practice".

The analogy I always make is to playing golf.....it's great to go to the practice range and hit drives, chips and putts to get the fundamentals down and sharpen up your game - but getting out on the course and playing a REAL game of golf is what it's all about. A golfer would certainly get sick and tired of endlessly practicing those fundamentals without taking them out on the course every so often and using what he's learned. Same with guitar.

Somebody else has it in their signature line here - "PLAY music, not WORK music!"

[redrider37]

Originally Posted by csantana

Ok i have been practising pentatonic scales for a few monthssome ok but can't seem to get anything going, i think i need a bit of a routine i seem to practise with the good intent then just wonder can anyone give me a routine that will help, i am a beginner so nothing to complicated, do i do chords and what ones or order...
your help as always will be much appreicated

Hi, I would consider lessons, you would get some good advice, practice routines and have fun all at the same time, on this forum there are lots of advice for beginners including what to practice routines (not sure where they are though)

pete

[scorpius]

Originally Posted by csantana

Ok i have been practising pentatonic scales ......but can't seem to get anything going, ....

Hi. I also tried it and I realized that practicing it maybe is not enough to get me going. There is something missing for sure. What I did for now is I used the pentatonic scale as my daily finger exercise (I'm sure this is not what you wanted). I play the notes of the scale on any 3 or 4 strings, going up then going down, and then move it up and down the neck.

[LeeB]

I am taking a leap here and assuming you are interested in the Blues. You could now learn a 12 bar blues chord progression that will work nicely with your pent scale and practice getting the blues shuffle rythmn pattern ... or you could add 1 note to your pent scale to get a blues scale pattern... or you could learn a differnet pattern (box) of a pent scale at other places on the fret board but in the same key????

If you loath the blues.. please disregard

[csantana]

Thanks for the tips any easy songs spring to mind that would be easy to practice, i do have a couple of chord books and some stuff from the net that i have printed out, i also have a Troy Stetina total rock guitar book looks a little hard at the mo probably thought i was good lol..

LeeB yes i like blues but love rock like Lynyrd Skynyrd, velvet revolver , and of course Santana loads more to..

[starsailor]

Originally Posted by csantana

Thanks for the tips any easy songs spring to mind that would be easy to practice, i do have a couple of chord books and some stuff from the net that i have printed out, i also have a Troy Stetina total rock guitar book looks a little hard at the mo probably thought i was good lol..

LeeB yes i like blues but love rock like Lynyrd Skynyrd, velvet revolver , and of course Santana loads more to..

Hi csantana, sorry to hear you've hit a brickwall it's no fun when that happens, I agree with the above, mixing your practice up a bit will make it less of a chore, the guitar is an instument to be enjoyed and learnt at the same time so cut yourself a bit of slack and have some fun. A lot of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Santana songs are quite hard but I've found a Lynyrd Skynyrd song you might want to have a go at it's called All I have is a Song, hopefully you'll know it just google Chordie.com it's on there, only a few of the basic chords so you should be alright, you could also play some of Freebird as the guitar solo is the hardest bit, before all hell breaks loose it's quite a straightforward song so check it out as well, I don't know if you like Creedence Clearwater Revival but their song Bad Moon Risin' is another good one to start with hope this helps and if you hit a brickwall again kick it down and play a song or two

[csantana]

starsalior you have just made my day never heard of this site there are so many songs to have a go at, and hopefully one day (saying prayers and crossing fingers) i can play call me the breeze lead an all lol , and yes i like ccr too mostly 60s 70s rock bands for me do like some new too, but thanks for the site it's great...

[krissovo]

Originally Posted by LeeB

I am taking a leap here and assuming you are interested in the Blues. You could now learn a 12 bar blues chord progression that will work nicely with your pent scale and practice getting the blues shuffle rythmn pattern ... or you could add 1 note to your pent scale to get a blues scale pattern... or you could learn a differnet pattern (box) of a pent scale at other places on the fret board but in the same key????

If you loath the blues.. please disregard

This is a great idea, I do both and I will play a 12 bar chord progression in C, E or A mostly. What I then do is loop one of my progression using a boss loopstaition and then play away over the top of that. I also have a drum machine that I control with pedals so the result is usually quite good and decent sounding.

Its great fun and keeps me ocupied for hours, I now do a blues then rock style progression and then I try various progessions that I get randomly from a web site that you can click a button or two and it spits out a chord progression. I then try am put some rhtyhum behind it.

[starsailor]

Originally Posted by csantana

starsalior you have just made my day never heard of this site there are so many songs to have a go at, and hopefully one day (saying prayers and crossing fingers) i can play call me the breeze lead an all lol , and yes i like ccr too mostly 60s 70s rock bands for me do like some new too, but thanks for the site it's great...

Good to see you're kicking that wall down csantana glad we could all help you out

[GeoNjules]

Jamming with backtracks is a blast. Heres a few links.

Free Guitar Tabs Backing Tracks
FREE Guitar Backing Tracks
GuitarChaos.com - Powered by vBulletin
Free Guitar Backing Tracks @ GuitarBackingTrack.com

[csantana]

Geonjules Thanks for them will check them out all your help is really appreciated many thanks..

[fly135]

I'll throw some into the mix...

Guitar Pro - This is a great program. There are lots of tabs for it and it will allow you to hear the rhythm and play along with accompaniment tracks. You can slow it down and loop measures. If you want to learn riffs of your favorite songs it's hard to beat.

Hal Leonard make some great guitar books with transcriptions. The ones with the playalong CD are super. One track with the lead so you can hear it and play along. One track without the lead so it's just you. They claim you can change the speed of the song playing it on your computer. I have a CD player that does that, so I use it (Tascam Guitar Trainer).

[csantana]

Cheers fly135 i already have guitar pro 5 which is a very handy program thanks anyway, i have been practising some latley and after some helpful dudes on this forum i am starting to enjoy things a bit more, still wish i could get a tune going thou, yeah i know must be patient i have promised mydelf that if i can get a nice little tune going i am going to treat myself to a nice les paul or SG (copy) probably Epiphone or Aria have benn told are good can't afford a Gibson, unless me lottery nos come up then i'll by gibson the company lol..

[JessThrasher]

Like someone already suggested, don't bore yourself playing scales over and over again. Csantana same thing for me, GAS has already gotten to me.