How To Choose Which Rock Guitar Scales To Play

Many beginning guitar players make the mistake of thinking that they have to learn dozens of complicated scales before they can start using them in their songs. Though it is undoubtedly important to have a basic understanding of which guitar scales should accompany which guitar chords, the process is really quite painless. With a strong background in understanding chord progressions and how to choose which scale to use in each song, you can quickly progress to playing solos and improvising.

Essentially, the guitar chords you hear in songs will fall into one of two basic categories: simple or complex. Simple chords consist of two notes, and are often power chords. Powerful and popular, the two notes in the power chords are the root and the fifth. If basic guitar chords are what you want, then power chords will definitely deliver. The more complex guitar chords are played using three or more notes. They will most likely be major or minor chords, and you will probably want to play a more complex type of scale with these chords.

If you are facing a simple chord, such as a power chord, a pentatonic scale will sound best played over it. The pentatonic scale is also known as the king of rock guitar scales because it sounds great over almost all guitar chords. It is made up of five notes, unlike the more traditional major or minor scales, and should match as many of the notes in the power chord as possible. As for how to practice guitar scales, you just have to be careful to begin the scale with the same root note as the key signature of the song. For example, if your song's key signature is A Minor, start your scale on an A.

For the more complex chords, like the major or minor chords, you’ll need to play the full major and minor scales over them. These scales are made of a complete seven notes and will share more notes with the guitar chord. Major and minor guitar scales are also great because you can create really fluid lines with them. Of course, they will be trickier to use in rock music than the pentatonic scales, but they will give you more options for licks and melodies, and you can even mix in a minor pentatonic scale for more unique licks. If you do need to lower the difficulty of the music a bit, you can play only minor pentatonic scale instead.

One of my favorite things about guitar soloing and integrating strong scales into rock music is that once you have done all the work of figuring out the key signature and deciding which rock guitar scale to use, you can sit back and enjoy playing the guitar. For the majority of tunes, there will no need for you to change your guitar scales or your key during the song, unless you want to increase its difficulty. However, you will need to be careful around the most complicated music types, like jazz, where the chords change dramatically and often. For jazz guitar music, you will need to switch scales when the chords change.

If you’re having trouble deciding between a major or minor pentatonic scale, I would say to play it safe and use the minor pentatonic scale. If you are playing rock guitar music, most of the chord progressions you will find are in the minor key signatures, which will make your minor pentatonic scales sound amazing. For those who really want to play in the major pentatonic scale, this is definitely possible, as long as you play it in the relative major key. We’ll discuss relative major keys in future articles.

For even more tips on how to practice guitar scales, visit the Rock Guitar Power website and click on the Members’ Section. You will find many backing tracks on this website in various styles and keys to help you become a well-rounded rock guitar player. There are even some great examples on the Rock Guitar Power website to get you started on working with these tracks. With some guitar scales practice, you will find your solo, lead playing, and improvisation skills advancing rapidly!

....Read more!

What Kind of Amp Should I Buy?

Students who are just starting to learn guitar often ask me “What is a good guitar amp to buy”? This usually comes right after the initial question of “what is a good guitar to buy”? My answer to the second question is much simpler than the first. I always tell people to buy the guitar that inspires them the most that is within their price range. When it comes to amps however, you should put a little more thought into deciding what is right for you. Hopefully the rest of this article will give you some insight on how to make a wise buying decision.

First of all, when it comes time to buy a guitar amplifier we are going to focus on what you need for an Electric Guitar. You can certainly buy an amp that is made for an acoustic guitar, but were not going to be talking about that here.
There is a huge market out there for amplifiers and you have tons of choices between brand names, what features the amp has, and of course how loud the thing can go. Here are some of the main features that you want to know about when looking for your first amp:

1. How many channels does it have?
You will find that most amps have a clean channel and a distortion channel. A clean channel is pretty self explanatory, a distortion channel is what is going to give you a hard rock tone that sounds good with power chords and when soloing. What you want to look out for here is that the two channels are completely separate with their own volume and tone controls. This will give you the ability to switch between them at will, preferably with a foot switch so that you can change channels on the fly.

2. How many watts does it have and how powerful is it?
The amount of watts an amp has is what lets you know how powerful it is. Most beginner model amps will have lower ratings around 10 to 30 watts. Anything that is rated at 50 watts or higher is going to be plenty loud for you to play in a band with. You will usually see most amps max out at 100 watts. Although this is not that crucial of a factor when buying your first amp, you should still put it into consideration.

3. How many speakers does it have and what sizes are they?
Most starter amps will have only one speaker in them. The most common sizes are 5”, 8”, 10” and 12”. You will most likely never find an amp with a speaker larger than 12” unless it is a bass or piano amp. When you need more power and volume you can get into an amp that has two speakers in it. These will most likely have two 12” speakers and all the volume and tone controls combined into one. If you are looking to start playing in a band or with a drummer, you should get into something with two 12”s. This will give you the volume that is needed to be heard over a drum kit that is rocking out at full volume. The extra speaker will also give you some extra thickness to your tone.

4. Is it powered by Tubes or is it Solid State?
Most beginner and lower end amplifiers are solid state and that is probably the best way to start out. Tube amplifiers are almost always more expensive but for a good reason. They usually have a warmer, smoother tone as well as a more desirable natural distortion sound. One big downside of tube amps, depending on how you look at it, is that they really need to be turned up loud to get the full tone out of them. Solid-state amps sound pretty much the same at any level, which makes them great for practicing and low level playing. They can also sound awesome really loud so don’t think that just because tube amps are more expensive that you need to go straight for buying one.

5. Does it have any on board effects?
Many amps these days are going digital and have their own built in effects. This is great because it will cut back on the number of effect pedals that you will want to buy after you have been playing for a bit. The most common types of effects to look for are: Chorus, Flange, Delay, and Reverb. Just about every amp you look at will have some type of Reverb in it. Chorus, Flange, and Delay are all effects that will enhance the original tone to give it more life and character. Delay is one of my favorites and a cool thing to look for is if the amp has a tap delay so that you can set the tempo of the delay itself.

Regardless of what you end up purchasing, make sure you do your homework before you spend your hard earned money. Go to a music store and try things out as much as you need to so that you are comfortable on your purchase. If you don’t know how to play yet, ask a sales person to jam out on some different amps while you play around with the settings to see what you like. Above all, shopping for a new amp should be a fun and exciting process. ....Read more!

Why Rock Guitar is the Easiest Form of Guitar to Learn

By: Mike Deiure

As a person who teaches guitar for a living, I get the opportunity to work with hundreds of people who all have a very diverse taste in music. While I do get asked to teach some pretty interesting styles of music from time to time, there is one genre that always stands out above the rest as being the most popular and sought after and that is Rock Music.

Fortunate for all those who want to learn how to rock on guitar, this is in my opinion the easiest style to get under your fingers. The biggest reason is because of the very few chords and chords shapes that you need to know how to play to get through a standard rock song. If you’ve never played guitar before, there are hundreds of different chord types and shapes. More elaborate styles of music such as Jazz and Classical will make the most use of these different chords. Rock, however uses only ONE main chord type and shape to sculpt out it’s sound and that is the almighty Power Chord. Now there are certainly more than just power chords in a standard rock song but even then, you are only going to be using a select few Open Chords shapes. These are usually taught first to students and are quite easy for most people to learn.

The other huge advantage that makes Rock Music so easy to learn is that a Power Chord is a movable shape. Once you are able to learn and master this shape in one position, all you need to do is play the exact same shape but start it on another fret and your good to go. Pretty Easy! Check out this video to get a Free Guitar lesson on how to play Power Chords. “So once I know how to play a power chord, how do I learn a song”? While this might seem like a big mystery to a beginner, the answer is much easier than you think. The most popular form of written guitar notation is what’s called Guitar Tablature or Guitar Tabs for short. While not as descriptive as reading actual music, Guitar Tabs are a very easy way for anyone to learn how to play just about any song they want. Check out this video to learn how to read and understand Tabs.

The only other thing to understand when learning Rock music is to know how the songs are put together. There are some types of music that use repetitive forms to sculpt out a songs chord progression. A good example of this would be how Blues Music uses the 12 Bar Blues form. Simply put, there are a sequence of 3 different chords that go in a 12 bar cycle and the song will use this form over and over again until it finishes. Jazz also has similar forms. Rock music is more based on Riffs. The song itself might use up to three or four different riffs, but usually no more. You most likely have one for the verse and one for the chorus. Both of these will usually be between two and eight bars long and repeat over and over again until its time to change to the next section. The only other thing to look out for in a Rock song is the occasional bridge section, which will have a different riff from the verse and the chorus. Other than that, a Rock Song is a pretty straightforward and easy thing to understand.

The energy and emotions behind Rock songs are also big factors in why there so much fun to play. When you have an amp turned up nice and loud and a song that makes you feel like your on top of the world, you can easily see why so many people want to know how to rock out on guitar. Above all, learning to play rock music on guitar should be fun and exciting. Spend some time practicing Power chords, learn how to move them around and the rest will come to you very easily.
....Read more!

Rock Guitar Lessons in the 21st Century: Advantages of Guitar DVD Instructional Videos

By Peter Nowak

When someone picks up a guitar for the first time, they almost immediately do so with the intention of playing their favorite songs. As any respectable guitar player can tell you, it is almost impossible to do so. After failing to master the opening riff to Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water,” you may wish to actually learn how to play guitar; enter the age-old process of the guitar lesson. Although individual experiences may vary according to who your guitar instructor is, you will either relate a positive experience or tell a horror story. Despite which type of teacher you encounter, you may incur a great deal of stress about the following: dealing with the difficulty of having to schedule your life around a set lesson time, transportation to and from the instructor’s location, and possible performance anxiety in the presence of a skilled instructor. Here is where the guitar instructional DVD would come in handy.

Let’s say that during a lesson, you do not understand what your instructor is teaching you, and even though your teacher goes over a g minor 7th chord time and time again you still can not understand it. With a guitar instructional DVD, you can view certain parts of a lesson multiple times and not worry about asking an already stressed out and impatient teacher to repeat what he or she has already repeated three times over. The concept behind a guitar instructional DVD is one of pure convenience. Instead of worrying about going over to someone’s house or music studio, you have the luxury of relaxing within the confines of your own home. Also, most guitar instructional DVD’s do not exceed a cost of $30 so you can purchase it and not to worry about paying a teacher $20 per week, which after a few months begins to take a toll on anyone’s wallet (and not to mention the cost of gas with today’s prices). So where can you find a guitar instructional DVD and who makes them?

Over the course of this past year, a new guitar instructional DVD program entitled Rock Guitar Power has emerged with a full 110% guarantee that you will learn to play guitar in a shorter amount of time and better than you ever thought possible. Rock Guitar Power, created by Mike Deiure, is a series of two DVD’s that takes a student through a fun and easy to learn from program. Volume 1, created for the straight beginner, starts the student off with the basics such as tuning, open chords, power chords and the 12 bar blues. Volume 2 covers more advanced techniques such soloing, improvising, and scale practice. To learn more about this new and innovative program and to see video testimonials of what other students have been able to accomplish, visit the website at: www.rockguitarpower.com ....Read more!

The Top 10 Reasons Why Students Quit Taking Guitar Lessons

By: Mike Deiure

1. They are not focusing on playing the kind of music they want to If you want to learn how to play Rock Guitar and your teacher is pushing you to learn classical guitar, then chances are, you are not going to want to play at all. Always tell your instructor what you want to learn so that they can keep things fun and interesting. There is always a certain amount of basic technique and skill that needs to be developed, but you can do this while still learning the style of music that interests you the most.

2. The student has a bad teacher Being inspired and excited to learn guitar is what makes people stick with it and strive to get better. A good teacher will know how to keep a student interested and progressing, a bad teacher will twiddle their thumbs while the student tries to figure out what’s going on.

3. They get frustrated
Any time a person learns a new skill, there is always a certain amount of frustration and second-guessing. A good teacher will know how to get a student to overcome these frustrations and turn them into accomplishments.

4. The student does not play or interact with other guitarists.
It can be intimidating when your first learning, but playing and jamming with other musicians will help you get better timing and make you feel more confident that you know what your doing. It’s also a lot of fun! Even if you can’t find another person to practice with, you should still be playing along with recordings and practicing to a drum machine or metronome.

5. Lack of motivation
Between video games, cell phones, and TV’s, kids especially, have way too many things to keep their brains going on autopilot. Learning a new instrument takes dedication and a continued interest in getting better.

6. Self Doubt
No one sounds great when they are first learning to play guitar so it’s common for a student to have doubts whether or not they are cut out for guitar. Constant reinforcement and goal setting is a must to keep progressing. The best thing to do here is to record yourself playing once and a while so that you can listen back to hear how you sounded a week, month, or a few months ago. You will be pleasantly surprised to find out that what was hard then is probably now pretty easy

7. Too many distractions
It is crucial for a student to focus their attention on one specific thing at a time to learn properly. Turn off all electronics (cell phones, TV’s, Internet, etc.), shut the door, and spend some time with just you and the guitar. You will be amazed at what you can get done when you are not distracted by anything else.

8. No goals or sense of direction
One of the most important aspects of learning guitar well is knowing what you want to accomplish so that you can gauge your progress. Setting specific goals is a must. You may not know how your going to achieve these goals at the beginning but that is what a good teacher or teaching program will show you how to do.

9. Poor practice environment
Are you trying to practice with the TV on, your dog constantly urging you to play with him, and a bowl of rice crispies waiting to be eaten? Again, put yourself in a room, close the door, and turn off everything (including cell phones) so that you can focus on practicing and playing your guitar.

10. No structured practice schedule
The best way to ensure that you will get enough practice time in is to commit to a specific schedule. Everyone is different so its important to take a look at what time of day you think would be best for you to commit to, but once you make a decision, stick to it and you will see yourself progress faster than you ever thought possible. “How much time should I practice” is also a very common question. If you are focused enough, ten to fifteen minutes a day is plenty to progress. More is better, however the most important factor here is that you practice each and every day. It’s important to keep your fingers moving and remembering what you are teaching them.

Any instrument takes a lot of time, dedication, practice, and passion to learn how to play well. The guitar is no different. The rewards however are more than worth it! The ability to express yourself through music is one of the most exciting and gratifying things a person can do. Whether you are just looking to play for fun or if you have aspirations on becoming a professional, this article will hopefully keep you on track to establishing good practicing habits so that you will stick with your instrument and be the best guitarist you can be.
Enough reading, go pickup your guitar and rock out already!

Check out www.rockguitarpower.com to learn more about Mike Deiure

....Read more!

What Kind Of Guitar Should I Buy?

By: Mike Deiure - Creator of the "Rock Guitar Power" series of instructional videos

This is certainly one of the most common questions that I hear from people who are interested in learning to play the guitar. My answer to this is simple but I will go into detail so that you can make a well-informed decision when it comes time to pick up your first axe.

So the quick and easy answer is……. “Buy a guitar that is going to make you want to Play and Practice!” This sounds simple enough and to be honest, it is as easy as it sounds. Now let me elaborate on this idea and give you some more information.

Some first time buyers are the types of people who will do loads of research before they actually buy anything. I certainly applaud this and think that it is time well spent when you are going to buy something that is going to be important to you. Other buyers will act more on impulse and buy something on the spot because they were attracted to it for some reason. Guitars, especially, are very prone to impulse buying. The typical scenario goes something like this:


A young kid (or adult) walks into a music store to check things out and maybe kill some time. They see a particular guitar hanging on the wall that their favorite musician plays or one that just looks really cool. They pick it up, check it out and play it if they can or has a sales person show them a few riffs and licks on it. They are now completely in love with the thing and will buy it right there if they have the money. If they don’t they will bug, nag, and plead for their parents to buy it for them.

Again, I think that there is nothing wrong with this, especially for someone who is just starting out. The mystery of how cool this thing is and what it is capable of sounding like is the main factor that will get you to play and practice it.

The next big questions is: “Is the quality of the guitar going to be good enough for me to learn on?” My answer to this is: If it’s in a music store, it’s good enough for you to learn on and develop with. I have seen some hand-me-down guitars, K-Mart specials, and Internet pieces of junk that will indeed make learning the guitar a very unpleasant experience. Music stores however will not sell it if it’s only going to come back to them with a bucket of complaints.

Now you can spend thousands of dollars on one guitar or you can spend a couple hundred bucks on a starter package that will give you everything you need to start learning and rocking out. Because this article is geared towards the beginning guitar player, lets take a look at lower line guitars and how you can make a good buying decision.

Here’s the big question: What kind of music do you like and what do you want to learn?

The answer to this will take care of which of the two main types of guitars you should buy, Acoustic or Electric. If you like folk music, singer songwriter, Country, Bluegrass, Classical, or other mellower genres, then I would start you out on an acoustic. If you like Rock, Metal, Blues, Punk, Alternative or anything else with some strong energy to it, then certainly an Electric Guitar is for you. In my opinion, there is one crucial thing that you should consider when buying an electric guitar and that is: what kind of pickups it uses. There are two choices here, single coil and humbucker. If your unsure of what they look like, just ask your sales person. The difference between the two is that single coil pickups have a little bit thinner sound to them. These are generally good for Blues, Country, and anything that uses a clean tone. Humbucking pickups are usually thicker, fuller, and have a higher output. This makes them very good for Rock and Heavy music. Basically anything that is going to be using a lot of distortion. Other than that, make sure the guitar you buy has a body shape that you like and a color that you dig. Appearance is important!

I’m not going to go into detail about amplifiers in this article but if your buying an electric guitar, you are going to need one regardless. Almost all amps have at least two channels, a clean and a distortion. The biggest thing to ask yourself is how much power and volume are you going to need. If you’re just starting out and only need something to practice on, then save yourself some bucks and get a starter package with a small practice amp. If you’re dying to play in a band, you’re going to need something a little bit beefier. Try to get into something with two 12-inch speakers. This will help you to be loud enough to be heard over a drum kit.

As you develop as a guitar player and get better, you will start to realize why you need a higher quality guitar or just a different type of guitar. I don’t recommend buying a high quality guitar just because you have the money. It’s really important for you to learn in steps and understand what makes a guitar sound good. Just so you know, there are probably three main things that lower line guitars skimp out on compared to their higher quality counterparts. They are: The quality of the pickups, the tuning machines, and the type of wood that the guitar is made of. The pickups are probably the biggest factor in the tone of the guitar along with the wood. The cool thing is that the pickups can be upgraded if you choose to keep the rest of the guitar the same. The quality of the tuning machines is the main factor in how well your guitar stays in tune. These can also be upgraded so if you really like your guitar and don’t want to invest in a new one, start by upgrading these two things.

That should give you enough information on how to make a well-informed decision when it comes to buying your first guitar. Above all, learning the guitar should be fun, exciting, and enjoyable. Just make sure that your first guitar is all of those things and you should be well on your way to rocking out all day long!

If you need help learning, check out my series of Guitar Instructional Videos called “Rock Guitar Power”. They are geared toward the beginning guitarist that wants to learn rock music. You can learn more about them at the website: www.rockguitarpower.com.

Have fun and rock out! ....Read more!