About Music Theory, Do It.

The big difference between a guitar player that knows what they're doing and one who doesn't is that one is a musician and the other is not. Ouch, babe. One knows what they are "saying" with their instrument and deciding what to say as they do it. The other is connecting the dots and following a series of memorized "moves". What if you learned phrases in a different language but were never told what you were saying? That could be scary!

Numbers or Notes?

What is that you're playing? A seven? A five? Well that depends on whether you're talking intervals or fret numbers. Please don't call the note on the 8th fret an "eight"! Figure out what note it is. Many guitar players don't have much of a clue what note they're playing, let alone what an interval is. This is because the majority of people who play the guitar began when a friend showed them how to play something - like Iron Man or Smoke On The Water - it's funny that those two songs remain the most common first riffs that kids still play today. So, as opposed to learning a band instrument like the clarinet or an orchestral instrument like the cello and reading music from day one, guitar players absorb riffs, licks and tricks from a variety of other players and sources. They memorize patterns and chord shapes and practice copying famous players. So what's the problem? In many cases, there is no problem. In all honesty, there are plenty of successful players who don't necessarily know what their doing. They write their own songs and call the shots in their bands. Their limitations as a musician do not become apparent because they stay out of the musical situations where they would. What types of situations would those be? I'm glad you asked! How about a real opportunity to teach guitar? You can't teach someone if you don't know the theory supporting the music. You'd have to pass on that. Think about whether there are any English language professors who don't know a verb from a pronoun. The answer is no. How about a gig playing a studio musician? Don't know the chords in the key and what a I-V-vi-IV change is? When the producer says "Go to the five", will you look up at the ceiling? You'll have to pass that one up too. Finally, how about the confidence to play with other musicians no matter where or when those opportunities come up? How about being able to hold a conversation with the keyboard player in the Church band (usually the leader) and not have to hunt for the right chords and notes by ear? How about leading the band? Personally, in the almost thirty years that I've played the guitar, about half has been from from the perspective of a musician. Sometimes pride or praise can hold you back from learning. When you know why something works, you can decide to use it whenever you want. No key change can hold you back. You can put the Mission Impossible lick in any solo! You can change a Metallica riff from minor to major and have the beginning to a completely new song! There is never an end to what you can learn about music; rules and theories, how to break them etc... The bottom line is that, from the position of expression, the more you know what you can say - your musical vocabulary - the better you'll express yourself with confidence and truly enjoy it.