ilovefuzz.com

If you're having trouble with complex chords this video was a revelation. Australians in general explain music theory so clearly. It must be in the water...or the kangaroo milk...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaF68a4jUfk

If you're having trouble with happy sounds I find tritones clear that right out. Also if you play the Minor scale with a sharp 7 you get the blueprint for the classic flamenco sound. I love playing that shit because you get moodier and happier bits

Edit: ALSO!!!!!!

Try tuning your instrument randomly and see what sounds you come up with OR tune your instrument to reflect a different instrument from another culture. The results can be amazing.

I think it helps to not look at the fretboard if you're just noodling around. Try learning some songs that you'd like to bring into your playing.

Attack the instrument with other "non-musical" items.

Yeah dude. I'm in the same funk. Anytime I'm just messing around, I always get stuck in major pentatonics. I don't even know anything about theory or use it in any way. One time, some dude was like check this out, you can use it over literally everything. But when I'm writing new music...

rfurtkamp wrote:don't allow yourself anywhere near the box.

I do this. I actively avoid it unless I come up with something I like in there. Or I try to use oddball chords that I make up to myself and try and jump around the neck/over strings or just do weird things. I don't know what is dude but I hate it! I'm fine on my own most of the time. But anytime any friends "hey let's jammy jam" it's major pentatonics for days. Sigh...

I kinda dropped the ball on practicing this.

What I really want to start doing is recording all my efforts,...whether it's noodle town,...practicing,...whatever. But whenever I put myself in that position,...I put myself under all this pressure to not fuck it up. Fuck what up? It's just practice,...but I still feel on the spot.

find different shapes helps too. same thing with different tunings. i switched up where the 3rd is on my guitar and it totally changed how i play

Gearmond wrote: i switched up where the 3rd is on my guitar and it totally changed how i play

E A D F# B E? That's a useful trick to throw you slightly off balance but without losing all reference to normal.

yeah, and it makes some chords sound different without getting into atonal territory.

Oh yeah. Definitely try altered tunings. Both radically different and slightly off from standard.

Since I brought up 7th chord harmony earlier, there's a decent lesson on the various flavors of 7th chords in basic major and minor scales here: http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-p ... th-chords/

Use this: http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/guitar_scales.php

Or you can tune a guitar to new standard and learn some new shit. That tuning sounds like nothing else. Down-tuned, it's pretty rad. You can get LOWer than normal and still have pretty high notes.

gunslinger_burrito wrote:Use this: http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/guitar_scales.php

Thanks for sharing this.

Just start a band called "Pentatonic Funk" and roll with it.

warwick.hoy wrote:

gunslinger_burrito wrote:Use this: http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/guitar_scales.php

Thanks for sharing this.

You're welcome. I love that site.