Musician help, sharinng tips and techniques - Beginner friendly but also advanced musicians feel free to share techniques, all instruments welcome

What instrument are you most proficient in

  • Guitar

    Votes: 19 54.3%

  • Bass

    Votes: 8 22.9%

  • Piano/keyboard

    Votes: 12 34.3%

  • Woodwinds or Brass

    Votes: 4 11.4%

  • Other stringed instruments

    Votes: 6 17.1%

  • Drums/ Percussion

    Votes: 3 8.6%
  • Total voters
    35
Butwhythough2 said:
Learn where all the notes are located on the fretboard, so if something or someone calls out a note, you'll know exactly where it is on every part of the fretboard. Did your teacher give you the spider walk exercise? That's good for dexterity in your fretting hand. Here's a demo, there are more complex exercises but this is pretty basic.
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saved, thanks bro
 
Butwhythough2 said:
No problem, all of us in this thread were where you are at, at some point. Fun thing about music is you really never stop learning.
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as gay as it sounds, I really didn’t have anything to look forward to when I went home for the day. But now I do, and it’s really nice. Guitar has been insanely good for my mental health.

I’m in a really heavy STEM field, so it’s really nice to learn something that isn’t math related for once.
 
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Butwhythough2 said:
Did your teacher give you the spider walk exercise? That's good for dexterity in your fretting hand
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2 additions to this:
-You can use this to practice your picking techniques when you're comfortable with your fretting

-Don't get bogged down in the spider. It's really easy to overfocus on this exercise, to a possible point of detriment. My buddy is currently going through this. He can make his way through spider quite well, but it doesn't translate directly, so I'm trying to get him to focus on scales for a bit to break him out of the rut.
 
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Canuck Breaker said:
2 additions to this:
-You can use this to practice your picking techniques when you're comfortable with your fretting

-Don't get bogged down in the spider. It's really easy to overfocus on this exercise, to a possible point of detriment. My buddy is currently going through this. He can make his way through spider quite well, but it doesn't translate directly, so I'm trying to get him to focus on scales for a bit to break him out of the rut.
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@suckfest these are just to get your fretting hand acclimated to being able to stretch and fingering right beside the fret. If you finger it in the middle you'll hear what's known as fretbuzz and that will kill the note. It won't ring out well. And @Canuck Breaker is right, you can do it so much that you'll get stuck in a rut but it helps when you start learning scales, if you need help with those I'm sure one of us can give you a diagram. The ring and pinky fingers don't really move independently unless you work on them. I have a good practice method and you don't have to have your guitar. Like if you're at work or in class. Lay your fretting hand flat on a surface and raise each finger independently, at first it'll be a little difficult but with time you'll get that finger indepence.
 
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I have a couple unique exercises that will really piss you off, but will absolutely give you finger independence.

When I get my camera mount for my guitar I might record them so you can see from multiple angles.
 
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I've done some of them, they are a pain in the ass at the start. I still don't like them but they are useful. The original spider walk exercise that I knew was you kept each finger on the string above as you moved higher and the same on the walk back. And I did it on bass where there are longer spaces between the frets, so that was painful fun
 
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Butwhythough2 said:
I've done some of them, they are a pain in the ass at the start. I still don't like them but they are useful. The original spider walk exercise that I knew was you kept each finger on the string above as you moved higher and the same on the walk back. And I did it on bass where there are longer spaces between the frets, so that was painful fun
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If only I had measured the hours I spent in a practice room just going from F to A on sax over and over and different speeds and coming into and from those notes from every pattern I could because my stupid ring finger wouldn't cooperate. But it paid off both there and on guitar.

I still want to throw my sax and chop off my finger when I think about it though.
 
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Canuck Breaker said:
I have a couple unique exercises that will really piss you off, but will absolutely give you finger independence.

When I get my camera mount for my guitar I might record them so you can see from multiple angles.
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I’m very interested! You don’t need to record them for me tho unless you think it’s necessary

Canuck Breaker said:
2 additions to this:
-You can use this to practice your picking techniques when you're comfortable with your fretting

-Don't get bogged down in the spider. It's really easy to overfocus on this exercise, to a possible point of detriment. My buddy is currently going through this. He can make his way through spider quite well, but it doesn't translate directly, so I'm trying to get him to focus on scales for a bit to break him out of the rut.
Click to expand...
Yeah I’ve done some scales but they haven’t been growing my finger stretching as much as they used to, but I bet the exercises you guys provided can improve that
 
We'll help you where we can and you'll pick up things from your teacher. One really helpful thing that is kinda common sense but not enough people understand the importance of practicing with a metronome. People might not realize if you hit a wrong note, but they absolutely will if you're not in rhythm (you could get crafty and say you were trying out some free form jazz lmao.) When you get a little more experienced I'd suggest maybe finding people to jam with, you can learn a lot from playing with others.
 
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In talks with a couple places to start piano lessons next week. What kind of things should I do to prep? What should I expect?
 
I don't know, I've never had formal piano lessons. I don't really know any hand exercises for it, I do know it'll probably be boring early on but stick through it and you'll have a fun and great skill. Especially if your teacher is classically trained
 
DiggieSmalls said:
In talks with a couple places to start piano lessons next week. What kind of things should I do to prep? What should I expect?
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Nothing major to prep. Most piano teachers are prepared to teach kids as young as like 5. If you'd like to try amd memorize the staff you can, but realistically, starting from the beginning, you likely won't even be looking at written music for the first lesson or two.

Honestly, the first lesson will likely just be an assessment of what you know and don't know, where your baseline ability sits, and what you're looking to learn.

Just have fun, the beginning is always great because you'll improve so fast.
 
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So I've had this 6 string bass for about a month and a half, and I have to actively think about using the 2 other strings. I didn't think it would take this much time to adjust to it, but then again I do have to add on to the established 20 years worth of muscle memory, but I do like the extra range it provides me. If I start at open B and even C on the 1st fret, I can do 4 octave scales.
 
DiggieSmalls said:
In talks with a couple places to start piano lessons next week. What kind of things should I do to prep? What should I expect?
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A grumpy old lady who will smack your hand with a ruler over any mistakes and interrogate you like a cop about how much practice you have put in each week.

Oh wait, we're not in a timeline where shit is hard.

You will be offered a spacesafe, where you can express your pronouns and offered counseling for inter-generational trauma for any shit music your great grand parents listened to.
 
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