Guitarist / Singer / Songwriter / full time Guitar Teacher
This is my secret, hidden channel where I post my various efforts at pursuing my passion: Singing and playing guitar. I also have a degree from the University of South Carolina in Classical Guitar Performance and am a full time Guitar instructor. I teach via Skype/Google Meets to anyone, anywhere.... contact me at my website www.msmithguitarlessons.com if you need someone to help you get started or get out of your guitar rut!
After watching the Ken Burns documentary on PBS by Ken Burns called "Country Music" my whole view on music changed. I decided then that I wanted to focus on writing songs.
Since then, I have posted a handful of new song demos on this channel, including
"The People Want to Kill You"
"The Way Home"
"Tonight, I'm burning your things"
"Laws and Orders"
Next, I will multi-track them, and give them the full guitar/bass guitar/vocal treatment... once I have an album I can sell them and get rich. ;-)
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Excellence (the opposite of "I don't like it alot"). Just came across your stuff this morning. Excellence!!!
you keep bringing us low budget no-nonsense videos it woks!
This makes perfect sense. I shall be looking closely at what I do and see if I can do it better.
really valuable
Making mistakes is also learning. Guitar learning is just dealing with different problems all the time. When you get better then you are limited by new things and we must develop new and cleaner technique. If you play lots of barre chords then sooner or later you play thumb over because its less straing for our wrist.
This is such a useful video. I play a lot more guitar than my partner, but when watching her, found her basic chord switching times so much faster than mine. The difference in our hours of play led me to the same suspicion that it can't just be brute forcing the hours - there must be a technique difference and she's cracked something I haven't. I realised I make the exact same G and C lead finger mistakes you point out in this video and she does the opposite. This video felt very validating that I'm not just going crazy with weird theory!
I started learning guitar about three months ago and have constantly had this problem with pressing hard and cramping. Thank god this video was recommended to me sooner rather than later, it would've been a whole lot worse. Thanks so much, dude. This was really helpful. 👍
...with age comes the interesting phenomenon of occasionally not being able to PHRASE the singing part in correct placement to ANY strumming pattern...in THIS context...no strumming pattern works for me except the same two or three that "comes naturally" to me,...and further.....all strumming patterns are RIGID in the learning process ...but over time will come to a natural rhythmic relaxed ..on the money strum...IF and only if one continues to perservere ....
here's my experience as a self taught artist: 1> i didn't learn it wrong - i learned it different from you. if you have technical skills that you can offer, then offer them... - don't insult your audience 2> self taught artists learn to play well with others because they learn harmony musicianship from playing with the songs - auditioned a guy who technically played metallica leads perfect but couldn't jam worth crap it isn't self taught vs trained - it's how well you write a song and how well you play with others...
well of course you can be successful without perfect technique. that doesn't mean sub-optimal technique is equal to optimal technique. its a different conversation.
As a person who teaches myself almost every skill that i know, step 1 is getting comfortable with said activity, and step 2 would be looking at bad habits that beginners make and correcting them from the start. Because we are self-taught we don't have that experienced person pointing out hey that will hurt you in the future. So we have to take it upon ourselves and because we are intelligent enough we can do it early. Self-teaching is a skill in itself gentlemen here has made a great video for beginner guitarists. Wish I had seen this video earlier so I could add it to my curriculum and build the habit quicker but it is never too late to start.
Thank you, some of these I knew some I did not. I'll try the exercise and fret touch recognition.
Great video. This reinforced something l worked out by watching my fingers chane chords slowly
Cool video, logic checks out to me
Can I make a suggestion?💭💭💭 Along the same lines as the advice re guitar... Adjust the arms on your glasses, so they DON'T slide down your nose all the time. Simply bend the arms a little bit. Wait a few days and observe how it goes. You'll likely feel some discomfort, but with time it will vanish.... So too will the slippy spectacles problem! 👀👀
Really amazing tune... Definitely a classic 😂😂❤❤
Sorry was said to be the Father of guitar... He took it to places not hitherto thought of before. 🎉
Good tips, I will look at my tougher transitions. Another thing I do for speed and muscle memory is lay my fingers flat behind the 12th fret and "race" to different chords. Then do it without looking.
good idea
Great observations! Really helpful to actually ANALYSE thyself, then try alternative methods and see if another approach eliminates the issue. It seems so obvious, rather than not. Clearly, as you described, people might play their whole lives and NOT do this simple fix! I guess there's a disconnect between the physical act and the mental... Ultimately, we are flawed! A good teacher (YOU) recognises our flaws and offers ways of working around them.
Great insight! My nemesis is B7. Any suggestions? I do it in this order: Index finger: 1st fret of the D (4th) string. Middle finger: 2nd fret of the A (5th) string. Ring finger: 2nd fret of the G (3rd) string. Pinky finger: 2nd fret of the E (1st) string. I start with the middle finger and pretty much lay the remaining 3 at the same time, but leading slightly with the index finger. But at least half the time I'm off, and mute strings. Been working on it a long time and still have trouble.
One thing about B7 is it's usually coming from an E or an E minor and if that is the case, make sure you're leaving your second finger down and making just that short little move with your third finger. I focus on the triangle part of the B7 because there's a lot of muscle memory power in that little triangle shape you see it in lots of chords. So, I don't really focus on the pinky, I let it fall down like a domino effect, moving in the shadow after effect of setting up that triangle part... Also, B7 is one of those chords where you literally could place each finger exactly right up against the front wire and really minimize how much downward pressure you have to apply. So if you can unlock how relaxed your fingers can be when you make the shape, it may be easier to Arch them and stand them up straighter and not have as much problem muting the other strings.
Thank you so much for this Edit: My barre chord changes are smooth like butter now!
👍🙏✌ Greetings from the sunny climes of Basle, Switzerland
Great lesson Matt. I’ve been watching you play for a long time and one of the things I’ve noticed is when you reach for the fretboard I can see your fingers are already in position for the chord long before you’ve put your fingers down. I can see the chord shape in the position of your fingers.
Yes! Sometimes I call this "pre Imaging" .... where you sort of recall the muscle memory of the chord before you put the fingers down on the strings
thank ef for thatttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
I been learning 9 months check my writing out one day
Agreed
Makes sense. Will definitely check out my leading fingers. Thanks ❤
I bet sometimes it's more a sense than it is an actual finger moving first. In other words, you've probably gotten to the point where you're actually putting all your fingers out at once, but you can sense or feel in your hand that there's a certain finger that seems to lead the way
That was a great idea. I was trying to play the same intro, but was not picking until my fingers were all set for the next chord. And there was a gap between between each chord. Sounded choppy. So much better now. Thanks
I've always hated those up down etc. patterns. I always say...think of it as your strumming hand dancing. You go out on the dance floor and naturally dance, you don't think...I'm on the dance floor, I'll use my dance pattern.
Hi Matthew just wanted to thank you for the strumming lesson. I was on of those guys that was up up down up , and it was so hard. Right after watching I picked up my guitar and slow counted to four ,then picked up the tempo then my foot started to keep time to the strumming of my hand nobody in all my years (71) ever explained strumming to me and that’s why I played or struggled almost all my life. I have played a few songs now at their tempo and I am leaving out strums ,man guitar playin and music is fun again. Thanks
That makes me so happy!! It also makes me happy to hear somebody 71 years young having breakthroughs. I can't tell you how many times I get guys coming into my studio, they might only be in their 60s but they say, "well I can't learn this the right way cuz I just don't have enough time left in life". No, I'm not kidding!! It's like I have to have a whole psychology breakdown with that person lol. Thank you for your feedback!
This is absolutely exquisite. Thank you for sharing your remarkable talent. ❤
Left-handed this time, impressive
Is this something im experienced enough to learn?
Indeed! I didn't learn it until I was three or four years in. But if someone had turned me onto the concept of it sooner, I could have used it right away. It won't apply to songs where you are strumming, but songs where you are picking the strings individually, definitely!
Let me know some songs you're working on and I can give you some particular advice as to whether or not the sequential placement idea would work and help you with them
This is a great video!
@@matthewmaurysmith2486 Alr well a song im learning for my mom is "As the deer"
@LucidDrill are you strumming chords in that song or are you playing "picking patterns" (arpeggios)?
Thanks man!! Strumming patterns piss me off!!!
Down strum on the numbers
Love it! Thank you! I was recently trying to play Little Bitty and I was doing the DDDuDu- which for me as a beginner is a quick chord change in the middle of that strum. Then I noticed just using the time for the chord changes and using a quick strum (that I couldn't tell you what it was) sounded really good. It also provides more variety in the sound. I've also noticed on some songs I started altering my strumming over the sound hole without realizing it to alter the sound intensity.
Oh my yes! I tried the strum patterns and would try to follow... like you say that just messed me up. I realized recently when after failing to try and follow the strum to Horse with No Name I was able to pick it up by feel. Now I go back and see that I am indeed following the up down pattern that I could never follow by reading it.
I love it! And excellent song example
Is that in 6/8 time?
I explain this to my students the same way. Everything is down up down up. It never stops
Wholeheartedly agree! Well said! If you're feeling the music and keeping in time it's not difficult for anyone to join in the singing. Counting the beats (as is demonstrated in the video) is much more beneficial (and musically correct) than mindless down up down strumming pattern nonsense. So pleased to know we're not alone in our views. Keep up the good work 👍
You put useful information across but in a disorganised and musically ill-defined manner.
One thing you should mention is how important the context is...If you are playing alone, if you also sing or if you play with other people. I have had the absolute unpleasant surprise of having a song down, so to speak, playing it alone and when other people come into the mix, nothing works. However, here is the paradox - if you constantly adapt your playing considering the other players, you will never significantly advance your skills, there is something about playing alone that opens up your creativity. So I have reached the conclusion that there should be 3 separate distinct rulebooks - 1 for Alone, one for Alone + Your voice and One for everything else.
Interesting ideas! And definitely worth extrapolating on..... I think one of the best compliments you could ever get is if somebody says that you are a " sympathetic " player. Piano players and guitar players are often notorious for not being very sympathetic- or, able to accommodate or adjust their playing to better the music being played.... I think this is because we spend so much time playing by ourselves and we don't develop a listening muscle to listen outside of ourselves while playing. I had the hardest time learning to play with a metronome when I first tried to do it! For that very reason. But over time, by learning to tap my foot and count, and yes, learning to read music definitely helped with that, I finally got to the point where I felt like I could listen outside of myself and stop doing things like speeding up or overpowering or ignoring others while playing in ensembles. Of course, everything's a work in progress and sometimes those Gremlins are waiting in the bushes;-)
@@matthewmaurysmith2486 True, and there is also a logical explanation about the piano and guitar players not being "sympathetic" - because we can. We have the luxury of having a more comprehensive instrument - more than the other poor "shmucks", we can simultaneously hold a groove, play bass + harmony, lead and even fill-ins and solos- with that "power" comes a greater array of opportunities to fuck up, so of course we are going to be intolerant towards a drummer that doesn't seem to understand the time signature, a bass player who doesn't find the key and worse of all - a brass player that thinks it is a wonderful idea to play louder than everybody else combined. And while I fully agree with you about better listening and metronome, you better pick your ensemble projects carefully - I have had instances where it took me days to "recuperate" after a gig where things happened that were almost intolerable from my point of view (long story).
this puts my mind at ease and more in the rhythm. thank you
I HATE all that down up down BS. FEEL IT AND PLAY IT!
Sounds great! .. Ol' Possum was from my part of Texas.
Strumming patterns… that’s like using footprint stickers on the floor to dance 😂✌🏽
Don't drag. Get to the point. We're also players.
If you are a "player", why do you need this? 🤔 You don't get to "demand" when watching free content! There were several useful points all the way through the video!
Amen!
This helped. Thanks. However I do think standard strumming patterns are useful as they inform of variations, otherwise its easy to consistently fall back to same old pattern for every song. I myself have a strumming pattern that I've used for 50+ years and I seem to always fall back on it by instinct. I strive to get away from it. And of course some styles of music require certain patterns otherwise the style would not be evident, eg country boom chika, spanish, reggae, etc....None-the-less I appreciate your advice. 6/4 time was excellent. You mentioned 3/3 but maybe next time you could include.
Really that video is just the beginning of what I suggest to learn good Rhythm skills. It's definitely a good idea to work through a book that has lots of different strumming patterns written out of notation and to try to count and read them. There's probably a bunch of books out there that have that sort of thing in it, recently I've been using a book by Jody Fisher called "I used to Play Guitar" (lol) but I've worked through the first half of it and it's just page after page of strumming patterns and all kinds of different time signatures and different types of Beats used...
You are 100% correct, forget strum pattern play what you hear, mimic the song. Miss a strum like you said but keep that arm moving in time.
Im proud of the guitar jam at the end... I dedicate it to Bob Weir's guitar playing ;-)
So grateful how you simplified the whole concept about strumming patterns. Nothings is by the book when it comes to music. Is about feeling it from the heart. Thank you !
Real