Home › Forums › Guitar Techniques and General Discussions › Struggling with the theory behind the lessons
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November 9, 2019 at 10:49 am #150113
Hi everyone,
I have a way of learning Brain’s lessons, but I don’t think it is the best way of learning to play guitar.
When Brain explains his lessons, most of the time I can follow along and understand it a little, but when I come back to the lesson after a while, I am only able to play the lesson by following the tabs. I tend to learn by playing patterns and tones on the guitar neck, but then I don’t understand where they are coming from and why some chords, patterns, tones work and where they are derived from. Simply put, I quickly forget the theory behind it!
It frustrates me a lot not having the ability to understand and remember the theory behind it al.
Anyone here recognizes themself in my struggling?
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November 9, 2019 at 11:37 am #150114
Nick
I think everyone on this forum can relate to what you are dealing with. It takes time to get all of the info processed when it comes to theory so my advice is to enjoy the lessons, process the theory side of things a little at a time and know that you will reach your destination if you continue.
Think of this – when you start your car, do you know everything that is going on in the engine or transmission? You might have a rough idea of it. Once you drop it in Drive – you can either enjoy your drive or you can fret over what the car is doing.
One suggestion would be to make note as you learn piece of music and then when you go back to it later, review the notes. Practice it again and add to your notes. By doing this, it might help burn the info into your memory better.
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November 9, 2019 at 12:02 pm #150116
Absolutely! The thing is, Nick_66, our human brains are designed to forget things, otherwise it would be impossible to process all the information. Of course, we also remember things but to remember something on purpose – i.e. in learning anything – we need to put more effort into it in order to permanently cement it into our brains. We do it by repetition, yes, but that’s not enough.
I think learning guitar and music theory is very similar to learning a foreign language and the best method for learning a foreign language is a total submersion or a repeated exposure. Just because you heard a new word or a phrase from a teacher in school or read it in a textbook once does not mean you’ll know how to use it properly or remember it. But hang with people speaking that foreign language for a while and you’ll pick up on all the nuances in no time.
Brian often mentions how he learns (or used to learn) new stuff. He takes a lick and dissects it many different ways, plays it up and down the neck, plays it in different keys, different tempos, applies to different jam tracks, it’s like it becomes an obsession for a while. Same with the bits of music theory, scale pattern etc. I don’t think learning anything once in one lesson will solidify the knowledge, Nick. That’s just following the teacher’s instructions, I think you still have to do your homework and work on it with many different approaches and keep coming back to it. Unless you reinforce what you have learned over and over, you will forget it – that’s just nature.
One of the things that has helped me more than anything in learning scale patterns and CAGED system, for example, was creating stuff on my own. That’s quite a challenge for a beginner like myself but it really – really helps in learning. In the monthly challenges, Brian highly encourages creativity – that’s the best way to learn anything!
I think Brian is an awesome teacher, for me – he’s the best – he gives you something to learn, he shows you how’s and why’s. He uses same or similar licks in many lessons, he applies same theory techniques over and over and that really helps in solidifying the knowledge. When I first started learning Brian’s lessons, I completely ignored all the theory talk, it was beyond me – but after I heard the same bits over and over in other lessons, things started to sink in slowly.
Maybe you already do that, Nick but I think it’s a good idea to take notes on every lesson you learn. You can jot down the bits of theory you learned and applied in each lesson and you will have a quick reference if you want to get back to it.
And by the way, forgetting the lessons is totally normal, many members here mentioned that. I participate in the monthly challenges, I study and play something non stop for a month, record it, post it – and then I can barely remember how to play it a week later 😳 However, I do keep some lessons in my daily practice otherwise I couldn’t play anything at all 😉
🎸JoLa
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November 9, 2019 at 12:34 pm #150117
Hi everyone,
I have a way of learning Brain’s lessons, but I don’t think it is the best way of learning to play guitar.
When Brain explains his lessons, most of the time I can follow along and understand it a little, but when I come back to the lesson after a while, I am only able to play the lesson by following the tabs. I tend to learn by playing patterns and tones on the guitar neck, but then I don’t understand where they are coming from and why some chords, patterns, tones work and where they are derived from. Simply put, I quickly forget the theory behind it!
It frustrates me a lot not having the ability to understand and remember the theory behind it al.
Anyone here recognizes themself in my struggling?
Struggle it is! Yes in deed Nick. I first picked up a guitar probably in 1966 or something like that and since then it has been on going love/hate thing. Give yourself time. I have played in a number of classic rock type bands and we had fun, sounded ok, were nothing great. But I will tell you, other than learning songs and shredding notes up and down the neck, I really didn’t know what I was doing nor did I understand the guitar. It’s been about 2 years since I joined AM and I can honestly say I am beginning to learn how to play the guitar. I’m not sure what the best learning/practice method is but I do know that you can understand music theory and still forget how to play previously learned arrangements. If you want to remember something it requires daily maintenance and practice. Otherwise, forget it, it will be lost. Keep track of all the material that you learn. Revisit it from time to time. I have a ton of half-learned AM arrangements that are on-going and unfinished. There’s not enough time in the world to learn it all. Also, enjoy the struggle. If it gets to be a pain, put the guitar down for a few days, weeks or months. What you are experiencing is very typical. Hope this helps.
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November 9, 2019 at 1:03 pm #150119
Hi Nick,
I understand where you are coming from as I’m only a 2 month member. Pick some lessons you like and enjoy the journey and trust the process. It will sink in over time. The more time you put in the quicker it will sink in. -
November 9, 2019 at 5:30 pm #150129
Hi Nick You’ve got lots of advice and comment here because your tail is familiar to so many of us. I would like to ask you how long have you been playing, how long have you been a member here, and how much do you play in any one week?
I have been here for about 4 years now and there is a ton of stuff that I don’t understand or have forgotten but also if I look back I can see just how far I have come. What is great about Brain’s methods are that you can get on and play simply by following his instruction and ignoring the theory to get you off the ground. That should encourage you as some success will be achieved. What you will find if you stick with it is that slowly little bits of theory will begin to assemble themselves in your mind. Because there is a great deal of fundamental repetition here, which is not necessarily very obvious but you will find that if you keep at it, slowly the doors will open. That is at least my experience and I am very glad I found this site. there are plenty of good theory driven sites out there and maybe you should have a look at some of those to help you in any problem areas. But I am certain if you hang in and keep at it and also take note of Brian’s theory comments as you go along it will sink in. One thing that I would recommend is that you make sure to learn the notes up and down the fret board. When you really can identify these as you play you will find that it opens up the theory world for you too. When you have mastered a piece print its tabs and place it in a folder of achieved lessons and then constantly go back from time to time and run through them systematically to remind yourself of them and renew all the techniques and theory by replaying the lesson in all likely hood you will identify new nuances and patterns and bits of theory buried in them that only reveals itself etc as you improve and become more aware. This is where the repetition really scores to up your understanding and ability.I hope that is helpful.
All the best
JohnStrat -
November 10, 2019 at 12:12 am #150137
Hi Nick,
I learnt parts of theory very often – and I forgot it as much as you do. But by and by it’s easier to remember it again. The Keys for me are the 5 Pentatonic Patterns (showing the tones fitting to the chord you play), the CAGED-System (showing positions playing the chords or parts of chords with same shapes at different positions of the fretboard) and last not least, the positions of tones over the whole fretboard. I think that are the basics to understand Brian’s lesson in detail. Hope it will help you a bit.
Dieter
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November 10, 2019 at 8:59 am #150150
Knowing the intervals and the circle of fifths will also be key ingredients but they take time to sink in.
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November 10, 2019 at 4:52 pm #150175
Hi everyone!
Thanks for all the detailed answers!
I have been playing guitar for a couple of years now. I started playing guitar when I was 15 years old. Just played for a year and had lessons from a guitar tutor. Basically only classic guitar. Now I am at the age of 53 years and picked up the guitar 20 years ago. I started to get lessons from a good guitar teacher and picked up the flamenco style. Very hard to learn and I learned some basic techniques and learned some easy flamenco guitar tunes. Did that for about 4 years and decided to stop learning flamenco simply because I don’t have the fingernails you need for this style. Then I switched over to fingerpicking blues guitar. I had build up a solid foundation for the fingerpicking style when I was learning flamenco which was to my benefit when I started to play in the fingerpicking blues style. I have a solid fingerpicking technique and it is my favorite guitar style.
I never really focused on the theory behind it all and just played along with tabs. Bought some books with and audio CD and I learned to play this style by playing along and using the program Amazing Slowdowner. Great programm by the way which I can recommend everyone! I always slowed it down for 50% and then play along following the tab. Learned a lot this way, but never really understood the theory behind it.
The I discovered AM and the way Brain teaches just fits me perfectly. His style and way of teaching is awesome and I learn a lot from him.
I only struggle with the theory behind every lesson and I realize that all the bits and pieces will eventually fit as a puzzle but it will take time. Only problem I have is that I have some trouble learning because I always had some learning problems. Having a hard time remembering everything.
When learning the guitar I tend to visualize everything on the guitar neck. Not learning by ear. That is something I really struggle with! Learning all the notes on the neck is still a real challenge!
Because of my personal busy live I not always have the time to learn and play guitar. I will have to fit it into my busy schedule.
Anyway, some songs from Brain I already master and maybe some day I will record myself, but still to shy to do so.
I am going to force myself to record my playing and hopefully post it soon on this forum, but please, be patient:-)
For now I will have to accept that learning the theory behind it all is a long way to go!
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November 10, 2019 at 7:06 pm #150177
Nick it sounds like you are probably way more advanced than me Nick. I think you do have to be a little patient and then every now and again the light bulb will shine and you advance along the lifetime journey. I played a bit in my 20s but not beyond the power chord stuff and then left it alone till I joined here 4 years (67 now!) Well I now know a ton compared with way back when but I also know there is much waiting to be absorbed. Take your time and make a point of homing in on a few of the theory parts of Brian’s lessons would be my observation. You will surely advance I feel sure.
All the best
JohnStrat -
December 10, 2019 at 5:35 pm #153724Anonymous
I’m better at theory than I am at playing. I hate learning without some theory. Nothing bores me more than just plain memorizing someone else’s music. If I can learn the theory behind it, then it becomes kind of exciting. That’s not saying I don’t have to memorize still, and that still bores me, but getting why something works or why someone might have written those particular notes in those particular bars really helps me. I don’t always relate it to the fretboard right away, and that is where the whole thing falls apart. But I can see that repetition bring that together. Kind of reminds me of when I was learning Spanish. I hated memorizing words and relating them to English words. When I just came to trying to learn A Spanish word or phrase as what it represents it worked better for me. Then came the actual application. Who can I have a Spanish conversation with? If I ignored the repetition, I lost what I learned. Boy, I took the long way around the horse on that explanation.
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December 11, 2019 at 1:18 pm #153771
Everybody has there own way of learning to play the guitar and I sure have my way to learn it, but at the moment I have the feeling that I have reached the ceiling and I am stuck. No progress at all anymore and that frustrates me a lot in a way that I am getting demotivated. Brain has great lessons but there is a danger behind the way he teaches his lessons and that is by learning to play by tabs. In other words, you learn to play by learning tabs and visualize everything insteed of learning by ear. For me personally that is the case. Somehow I am really dependent of these tabs! Without them I can’t play anything new anymore except for the small guitar vocabular that I have learned in the years. A couple of things I can play without tabs, but only because I have memorized it visually. Putting all the theory Brains teaches in his lessons together is an almost impossible barrier to take for me. I am really struggling to remember the theory behind it all and put it to practice. Soemhow I have a memory problem, but only for theory. Visualizing everything is more easy for me and I think I will have to focus on learning to play guitar this way. I truely believe that a lot of famous guitar players in the world never understood theory behind there playing. They learned by ear and possible visualizing the chords and patterns on the guitar neck.
Stuff like relative minors, intervals, circle of fifth’s etc etc are some examples which won’t stick in my head.
At the moment I can’t think outside the box and don’t progress anymore. Only by playing along with the tabs I learn something but I will keep dependent of it. Without the tabs I am lost!
This is what currently frustrates me the most.
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December 20, 2019 at 5:13 am #154315
Nick_66
I can empathise with the poor memory thing and the visual learning Vs hearing it.
What I have is three folders that i work sort of randomly from.
1 Folder has Brians TABs and I plug away learning some pieces, which improves my dexterity and to some extent my theory – because I use a pencil to add in scale shapes and chord shapes – also if I think of a different riff than brian’s written, I rub his out and do my own version instead – just little bits – but that works for me.
2 Folder has my scales to learn – I have not been at that for long so still long way to go, but I sense progress. Here I use the jam tracks and just noodle around with the scales to get a feel for the sound and shapes on the fret board.
3. Are the songs i love to sing and play. These are my relaxation.
I think identifying the bits you struggle with and doing a small bit on a regular basis to tackle your particular issues, coupled with maintaining pleasure and momentum by doing more of what you already do well – seems to be a reasonable approach for those of us that don’t have a fanatical passion that drives them to super human efforts.
I am sure that if you love it you will stick at it, and if you stick at it you will break through the barriers that at present seem insurmountable.
Cheers Mal
Mal
Toowoomba,
Queensland
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September 16, 2022 at 1:06 pm #320356
I haven’t been here for a while on this forum and would like to thank everyone for there advice!
At the moment I don’t play much guitar because it frustrates me to much and demotivates me. Simply said, I am having a guitar break, but I have some moments that I pick up my guitar and try and play something new on the guitar and try to understand the theory behind it.
To get me motivated again I am thinking of trying to learn to play the banjo. Looks like a fun instrument to learn. Anybody here on this forum that plays the banjo?
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September 19, 2022 at 2:37 am #320492
Sorry for the late answer; somehow this post escaped me!
I do play some 5-string banjo. Not often, and not much, but I do. What type of banjo do you have in mind? There are mainly three types of banjos: 4-string viola, 4-string plectrum and 5-string.
They are all rather different and they are not used for the same genres.I picked the 5-string because I wanted to play bluegrass. Being a fingerstyle guitarist, I didn’t have problems with that aspect (arpeggios, rolls, …), but on that instrument the 5th string is actually the thinnest and highest string, played as a pedal or drone with the thumb; that’s very unusual and takes some getting used to. Also, the instrument is always tuned in open tuning, so the fretboard map isn’t at all like a guitar tuned the regular way.
If you are looking for an “easy” instrument, I think you may be surprised… But fun, it is!
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