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The Fingerboard Master

i was having a conversation with deadeye …he asked me a very good question ..he inspired my post ..

this entry is specially for some of you that already have that

“i can shred , i don’t like jazz , whats next ?” stage

and

“i don’t see myself improving” stage

basically , for those who are stuck at their playing …

..it is a rough idea , a basic concept , a simple direction to keep improving ..and move on ..

okay , here we go ..i will keep this simple..

there are many many ways , to judge a guitarist ..whether a guitarist is an amateur or a pro ..

from vibrato , tone , technique , theory etc ..many angles..you name it..

one of the very important way that separate amateurs and pros is ..

the way a guitarist sees his fingerboard ..

so..common sense is… a pro , is a master of his fingerboard , an amateur is still stuck at the same old thing.

basically there are 3 stages we guitarist needs to go through to master the fingerboard

Stage 1.Seeing dots on the fingerboard

Stage 2.Seeing numbers on the fingerboard

Stage 3.Seeing notes on the fingerboard , and singing with the fingerboard

so , lets look into them ..one by one

Stage 1

seeing dots on the fingerboard

I think this is the stage where you just started your first pentatonic scale ..you see dots on the fingerboard ..

which position to bend

which position to vibrato

which position to goreng etc etc..

basically , all you do is ..”goreng” ..you don’t know what are you playing ..you just main tembak tembak lah..and of course some people call it “feel” ..

Stage 2

seeing numbers on the fingerboard

you start to see the dots on the fingerboard as ..

“first” “third” “fifth” etc..at this stage , you are a master of chord formation , song composition and stuff..

you can play all over the fingerboard , you can play in any key ..

you probably master the whole major and minor scale ..and a lil melodic and harmonic minor ..

the easiest way to achieve this , is to start with memorizing arpeggios..major and minor ..

you have an idea what you are playing , but you are not selecting what you are playing , you are controlled by ” the arpeggio shape “..you are limited to the scales that you learned..last stage..

Stage 3

seeing notes on the fingerboard

you see the fingerboard , as notes ..no more dots , numbers or any bullshit

you already memorize the melody of each note

you know how every and any position of the fingerboard sounds like ..

..you don’t play by scales , but you see a song as a whole and you plan your notes selection from there..

you are a master at hearing..

you are not limited to anything ..you create your own arpeggio

your arpeggio is not limited to 1,3,5 traditional notes selection..you arrange every arpeggio uniquely ..

at this stage , you already realized , the more you know about music , the more you realized you don’t know ..

you see beauty in complicated jazz music or classical music (orchestra pieces)

so , ask yourself , which stage are you in?

are you going to take it to the next level ?

how are you going to take it to the next level ?