Overwhelmed

Hey!,

I've been playing the guitar for like a year,
but recently I wanted to get in it real seriously and I've been playing 10 hours a day for the last couple of weeks.
(mostly tabs and stuff.)

-But some things I just cant find out on my own, so I hoped you peeps could answer me these things.

1. where do I start, should I learn all chord and scales?
I've only been playing the major chords and doing some simple bar chords and 5th (power chords) were do I start?
(I'm mostly rock orientated)

2. how does the alternative picking work?
My left hand is pretty quick and I can do the Chromatic scale warm up pretty fast.
But it seems that my right hand keeps getting stuck behind the strings or misses some collisions with the strings (I cant keep a constant tremblo)
Do I need to rest my pinky on the guitar or let my arm or wrist rest on the body, so I have more stability and coordination? or do I need to train it more?

3. Can Artists hear a tone and immediately say "THATS A C,FLAT!"?
I'm doing ear training with some random software and using a electric tuner as a reference, but I still seem to have problem keeping tone's and octaves apart.
I know I'm not tone-deaf, but I looks pretty impossible form my position. guess Its something that will develop in time?


Thanx for reading!

(sorry if my English is so crappy but I'm form Holland)

1. learn all the major and minor chords as well as the major 7th chords. and learn their fingering for barre chords.

2. im not sure about this one.. my picking style is very limited :(

3. Yes.. if you have perfect pitch. not many average guitarists can do this.. it usually takes some years ofkooling.
.. i guess sit around and play all the Cs on the fretboard.. then play all the Gs.. try to find the difference between C and G and the similarities in all the Cs.. ect.

its all just memory.

2. how does the alternative picking work?

you mean alternate picking by this?

yeh I meant alternate, sry bout that.

and thanx hippie, I'm going to learn the 7th chords.

thinking about learning the D major pentatonic scale too. guess I need to start somewhere

the alternate picking works like this:
you always pick up and down even when it's more logic to not do this

for example

----------------2---3---5
2-----3-----5------------

down up down up down up

so not down up down down up down like you instinctly might do

strictly alternate picking is just doing the up and down motion

the down up down down up down is called economy picking
so following the most economical way

hope this helps a bit

the alternate picking i explained above has the advantage you only have to remember one picking pattern , once you got this mastered you can shred your way through all possible scales or notes you get, secondly you don't need to rest your pinky on the guitar , i think best is to have your palm of your hand rest on the bridge while playing , it gives you more stability while playing , and yes you should always keep training this for improving your coordination and speed

keep up the good work!

*correction for above , it's the wrist of your right hand that rests on the bridge , not your palm

thanx Dave!

how could I miss this, I re-looked at a lot of video's of guitar players and I totally understand the where the wrist goes and how to correct pick, my speed has almost doubled now, I only have to keep in sync with my left hand now.

good one dread you seem very motivated , i could need someone like you who could keep me motivated all the time , keep playing and good luck

hi guys I am new here in this site ... and I think you have an interesting conversation ... I play guitar too .. and I start it at the seam level ... and hey Dread .. you doing good ... don,t put the guitar down .. keep playing... and I hope som day I can jam with you guys....

good luck everyone with their guitarjourney !

Don't use an anchor. It limits you in the long run. The only thing that should "rest" on the guitar is the bottom of your palm on the strings to keep unused strings from ringing out.

Some people have perfect pitch, and can tell what tone is being played and even at what frequency instinctively.

Most eventually develop "relative pitch", where if you have the root note being played, you can tell what other notes are being played in relation to that note. Takes a long time.