JUSTIN Method Training Exercises 1 (Guitar Lesson IM-118) How to play IF Stage 1

Justin's Completely Free, Intermediate Guitar Course Lesson IM-118.
Stage 1, Lesson 8.

In this guitar lesson I take you through the Just Use Sound To Improve Now exercises covered in Foundation 1. Lots of fun learning how to transcribe chord progressions, lead lines and rhythms!

Find the related course notes on the following link:
http://justinguitar.com/en/IM-118-JUSTIN-Foundation1.php

This is part of Justin's Intermediate Guitar Method, Foundation. A series of lessons available free online!

http://justinguitar.com/en/IM-000-IntermediateMethod.php

Taught by Justin Sandercoe.

Full support at the justinguitar web site where you will find hundreds of lessons on a wide range of subjects, and all the scales and chords that you will ever need! There is a great forum too to get help, no matter what the problem.

And it is all totally free, no bull. No sample lessons, no memberships, no free ebook. Just tons of great lessons :)

To get help with this lesson (and for further info and tabs), find the Lesson ID in the video title (like ST-667 or whatever) and then look it up on the Lesson Index page of justinguitar.com

http://www.justinguitar.com

Have fun :)

.

Hi, how're you doing Justin here.

Welcome to IM-118, for those of you
a bit concerned

117 is a text only lesson,

suggesting songs that you might like
to play and some transcribing to do,

so you might want to go and check that out,

that's a text lesson on the web site
and it doesn't have a video.

So: no, you haven't missed anything.

What we're doing in this lesson is continuing
on a thing I call the Justin Method,

which is just use sound to improve now,
which is basically me encouraging you

to transcribe and learn to make
music with your ears,

or rather learn music with your ears,
not just making it, but learning about music

being that music is about sound, it kind of
makes sense that we learn it by listening,

not just by thinking.

So what we're going to be doing
in this intermediate foundation stage

is starting off with some transcribing
of chords and we're going to be

transcribing little chord progressions that
we're learning as we go through the course.

So kind of training up your ears to hear
these new barre chords and that sort of thing,

We're also going to be looking
at some very basic lead guitar,

teaching you how to transcribe lead guitar solos
and we're also going to be doing some

really important rhythmic dictation,
so that if you transcribe solos or rhythms,

or rhythm guitar or
chord progressions or whatever

you understand how to
write down basic rhythms.

Now, all of these things are
expanded a lot more on the website,

but what I want to do
in this video lesson

is just basically explain
what's gonna happen

on the web page.
Now it's an audio lesson.

The actual... so, I'm gonna be
teaching you some stuff in this video,

but the main lesson part of it is audio,

so there's gonna be some MP3 files
on the website for you to download,

that you have to transcribe or listen to
and learn by using sound.

The first thing we're gonna do,
kinda part A if you like,

is transcribing chord progressions.

Now the chord progressions
are going to be four bars long

and to start off with, we're just
going to have one chord in each bar.

So, basically I'm going to play
something like this... Now,

I'm gonna cover up the guitar
now so you can't see the guitar neck.

Well, I'm gonna edit it so you
can't see the guitar neck

and basically what I'll be
doing is something like this

♪

Probably, I'll do it twice or
three times on the recording

and you have to figure out what it is.
I only give you some hints.

So I'm gonna say, you know, it's probably
using these chords or it's this technique,

giving you, if you like, a little step
ladder up onto transcribing by yourself.

I'll be keeping the rhythms really simple.

What the thing is to listen for
when you're doing this skill

is first of all to make sure
you can find the root note,

Now in this first week we're only
going to be using E shape barre chords

either major or minor. So,

the first thing you want to do is
try and find the root note.

So -- you know -- basically going: (♪).
Find the root note first, you know.

You might have to jump around a
little bit, try and listen:

does the chord go up or does it go down?
That's really basic level.

Listen to the one note try and find it.

♪

Oh, there it is and then listen:
is the next chord higher or lower?

And then try and move your finger up:
Is it a lot higher or a lot lower?

Is's a few frets or just one or two frets?

And it's a little bit of experimentation
at this stage for you

unless you've done quite a lot
of transcribing before,

you're just kind of feeling you way around

and getting used to the idea
of transcribing.

Now once you've got the root note
and you know that it's going:

♪

and you've kinda figured this and that
I'm just using the example I did before

♪

Once you've got that then you go:
"OK, is the first one...?"

♪

"Oh,is it major or minor ...
though minor doesn't sound right."

Now, you've only got to choose
between major and minor, right?

So you'll probably find that
-- well, hopefully find --

that one sounds really right and
one sounds really wrong.

Yeah, it's important that you
kinda suss that out,

that you can hear the difference between
major and minor right away

and if you've got the root note sorted out,

then playing one and then
playing the other,

it should be obvious: is it that one
or is it this one?

So, that's where you start to learn
the kind of a path, if you like,

for transcribing chord sequences

is finding the root note and then
hearing whether it's major or minor.

As you get better, you'll just hear it straight away.
You'll hear it and go oh that's a minor chord.

Straight away. Especially, if you've
been doing much aural training.

You'll just hear minor chords
kinda become really obvious.

So you hear:
"Oh, that's major, that's minor,"

then it's finding the root note, job done.

Now with transcribing it's the last thing
you hear stays in your ear.

Stupid little motto, but it's really
easy to remember

and it will help you remember
to stop the music.

The thing's that where you pause
is the last thing you're gonna hear.

So if I'm doing a chord sequence
that goes:

♪

For example,

♪

and you're trying to hear that first chord,

after you've just been listening
to that whole thing,

it's going to be very difficult because
the last thing you heard was (♪). That.

and that's going to be the thing lingering
about in your ear.

So make sure you learn to
stop the recording.

I recommend a program called "Transcribe."

I think it's a really good one.
There's a couple around that do it.

I think there's another called
"Audacity" which works,

which is a free one, and
another one called "Capo."

There's a few different programs around.
The one I like is called "Transcribe"

But the really important thing here
is the stopping it at the right point.

So you load up the track, you press play,
the first chords going and then you stop.

And you try and find that chord, don't wait
until the end of the chord sequence,

just have a go, (♪). Stop. And then go:

♪

Oh there it is, there's the G,
ok it's a G. Yay! You've got it!

And you write down G on your pad there.
Writing it down as you go is a very good idea.

If you've got a sketchy memory like me,
the writing-it-down thing is a good idea.

If you've got a great memory don't worry
about it, just play it right through, BUT

what happens is, when you get to the
second chord you might go:

♪

Stop.

As soon as it gets to the second chord.
Stop it and (♪). Oh, there it is.

Is it major? No. Or minor? OK, so it goes
G, A minor, and do it that way.

Just do it one chord at a time.

Pause on the chord that you want and write
down when you figure out what the chord is.

I know that all sounds...
might sound really complicated,

but this is a really important skill.

This is how you learn to
work out songs by yourself,

because people have been
playing guitar a lot longer

than tabs have been
available free on the internet.

So, if you think about how all of the great
guitar players that you like learned guitar,

you can guarantee they weren't
going to a tab site

and downloading how to play their
favorite Bo Didley lick.

They listened to the record
and figured out

and that's kind of what I'm trying
to encourage you to do here

This first part is finding the
chords to the songs

and you should... this is a really,
really important skill

I can't stress the importance of this skilL
enough, right? The figuring out the chords.

Now, I've given you a run down:

go onto the website now, download the
little MP3 audio file and have a go.

There should be three chord progressions
on there for you to work out.

They should be fairly simple. They're just
using the E-shape barre chords. Off you go.

Now part B, as I mentioned,
is some transcribing of lead lines.

Now, to start off with again,

were're just gonna keep it really simple
and I'm gonna tell you that the examples

from this foundation one are all using only
the notes from the A minor pentatonic scale,

which you would have learnt in you
beginner's course.

♪

And it'll be simple,

Right? I'm not gonna be trying to
do anything really difficult

because I want to encourage you
to able to play these things

and to work them out,
so I might play something along like this,

you will hear probably a four click
metronome beat in the beginning so...

(click-click-click-click) and then you'll start:

♪

or something like that, right?
And again what you wanna do is get

download the file and the use one
of these transcribing programs

or you could just use quicktime, or
iTunes or whatever you want, I don't mind

But make sure that you stop it after each
note, so when the 1st note goes... Stop!

And then: (♪). You've only got...

I told you already that it's using the
A minor pentatonic scale.

Right?. So they are the only notes
you've got to choose from.

I'm not gonna try and trick you
and throw some other stuff in, right?

So just using those notes from the
A minor pentatonic scale,

see if you can figure out the order
of the notes that I've played

and write them down, write them in tab.

If you don't know how to write
tab down yourself yet

there's blank tab paper available on the
website and go back to the beginners course

-- I can't remember the number
off the top of my head --

but there will be link to it
on this lessons web page.

Go and revise how to write
your tab down and, and write it

as you figure out what the notes
are write it down.

And this is, of course, gonna help you
when you come to learn proper lead guitar

either solos or riffs or whatever.

Really good for your ear, really
good for your knowledge.

And again: a really, really
important skill.

Now, part three of this is
rhythmic dictation.

What you will hear is the metronome
counting off 1, 2, 3 and 4

and then I'll be clapping a rhythm
and you have to write that rhythm down.

Now, these first ones are just using
crotchets, or quarter notes

and quavers, or eighth notes.

So you'll probably hear the metronome,
I'm gonna use my foot now,

but you'll hear the metronome go 1, 2, 3
and then you'll hear something like this:

(claps hands)

Something like that.
A little two bar sequence.

And what the idea is, as soon as you
hear those claps at the beginning

the metronome count, rather,

you want to start counting along
so you go like: 1, 2, 3, 4.

1, 2, 3 and 4. 1 and 2 and 3, 4.

Thats trying to figure out
exactly what rhythm pattern it is

that I've played and then trying to
figure out how to write it down.

Now, this is again important
for lots of reasons.

One: transcribing strumming
patterns and rhythms,

when you listen if you've got
used to the idea

of listening to rhythms when
you hear somebody playing

a rhythm pattern you'll
hear it and you'll go

oh sounds like this,you know.
It's it's a really good skill.

When you write out a tab for a lead guitar
you can write down the rhythm,

because the rhythm is obviously as
important as the notes

That's the big problem with tabs that you get
like on the internet. There's never any rhythms there,

so you don't really know what
the rhythm is, how to play it.

You know that's difficult.

If you buy printed tab, you
normally get the notes

and the tab, so it kind of gives you
a bit more of a clue,

but it's also a really good skill to be
able to do it yourself, to listen to it.

You know, if you've downloaded a tab,

you can listen to the record and write
in your own rhythms. That's a good thing.

Even better: you transcribe the solo yourself
and then you add the rhythms to it.

It's really... You know, that's important.

It's also important just to be able to
learn how to count bars properly.

So, when you're working out
the rhythm progressions,

the strumming sequences,
you know how long, how many bars

to stay on each chord, you know.
You can work out when the chords change.

If they change a bit funny, if they don't
change at the beginning of every bar.

If you've done your rhythmic dictation, you've got
used to learning to listen to rhythms closely.

You'll be able to figure out
when it's changing

on the "and" of four and
it's got a little push, or

you know, other little kind of
rhythmic tricks.

So, that's the idea of rhythmic dictation.

Now, the most important thing
with rhythmic dictation

is counting along,
it's being able to count along with this

as soon as you hear that first click

that's one, two, three, four,

and then having as soon as you hear the clap,
or the count or the strum or whatever,

if you can keep yourself counting along nice,
and try and count the rhythm that they're doing.

Write it down even if you write down
like 1, 2, 3 and 4

and you don't actually
write down like the proper

rhythmic writing, if you like,
the notation. If you just write down,

you know, literally "1 2 3 & 4",
that kind of thing, that's fine.

You know, better to learn the
proper notation really,

but you know really the most
important thing here is

the listening and being able
to play it back,

being able to clap it, being able
to communicate a rhythm

from somebody else to you or
from you to someone else.

You know, I'm going on a bit,
this is really important this sort of...

This development of your ear

and your learning music by listening.
Music is about hearing

you don't look at your favourite CD
and go "Oh wow, what a great CD."

You listen to it and that's
what you like about it.

So, make sure you learn music this way,
I can't go on about it enough.

Well, I probably can, you
probably think I can,

you're probably like: "Oh yeah I got it
now ,can we just get on with it?"

OK, I'll finish up now,
but that's the idea.

So, make sure you get over to the
web site, download those MP3 files,

and really have a good go.

The answers are on the page as well
normally right down the bottom there, so

have a go at doing that. I promise you
it'll make you a lot better musician

if you learn to use your ears.

Have fun with that and I'll see you for
another lesson, real soon. Bye-bye