This site is a continual work-in-progress. Please forgive any errors that I may make!
Meant to be a resource for people trying to learn guitar. I’m not the most knowledgeable or the best at teaching, but I do enjoy trying to learn (even though it can be frustrating at times). So I thought I should share what knowledge and resources I have found or created for myself since it may be helpful to others.
Music theory is music theory, regardless of what instrument you play. However, the popularity of the guitar is (I think) due to the fact that you can start to play without knowing theory. Indeed, many well-known guitarists don’t ‘know’ theory (but have an incredible ear for what sounds good, so they may be doing ‘correct’ things without knowing what those correct things are).
“Music is music, ultimately. If it makes you feel good, cool.”
Prince
“If it sounds good, then it’s good music, nothing can sound worse than symphony in the wrong hands.”
Duke Ellington
Also, guitarists are infamous for not being able to sight read music and to use tablature (which isn’t a new as most might think, tablature dates back to the 15th century). A lot of music theory books start with teaching you how to read musical notation. While I do think it’s a wonderful skill to have, most people who play guitar as a hobby don’t have the time to put in to become a proficient sight reader, much less a professional musician.
For those reasons, musical notation won’t be a focus here. (Also, there’s the fact that I fall into the category of people who can’t sight read. Although I can very slowly and painfully figure a piece of music in musical notation, I can’t really ‘hear’ it in my head unless it’s very basic.) There are better resources learning that skill. I will attempt to at least cover some of the basics (maybe…).
There are a lot of other websites that already cover this stuff. But this is my take on how I understand it, and is as much for myself as it is for others. By doing this, I hope to continue to grow and learn too, and to cement what I’ve learned.
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
Albert Einstein
To teach is to learn twice.
Joseph Joubert
It’s also a place I can share guitar related stuff: news, links, music and guitarists I enjoy or just learned about, gear, and so on.
Hope this site helps you along your guitar journey!