Instrumental Goals

I got my first guitar at age 12 but didn't get lessons until I was nearly 13. I've done grades 1 and 2 with Yamaha (with a distinction and merit respectively) but I no longer have lessons there anymore. My teacher felt comfortable for me to skip Grade 3 so I think that I can play at a Grade 4 level. For the last year or so I have been learning my favourite songs from YouTube and Ultimate Guitar, playing more casually and for fun.

As part of my Yamaha lessons I performed once a year at The Venue in Walnut Tree. I played a few songs from the Yamaha grade books with my classmates and even played as part of a band which I really enjoyed. The Yamaha shows gave me my first taste of live performing and I can definitely say it is something I am interested in pursuing in the future.

For my music GCSE I composed and recorded the guitar parts for my composition. It involved a lot of creative thinking for me and I feel it developed my understanding about guitars within composition. The stems I was given were Indian music and Reggae, music genres of which I wouldn't normally listen to so that increased my understanding of my instrument in terms of world music styles.

In terms of the physical guitar itself, my part time job enables me to learn about how to set up guitars and tailor them to a player's needs and styles of playing. I am aware of how different pickups and woods can affect the tone of a guitar and how different components of a guitar can be comfortable to play as well as sounding perfect. For example, tremolos, type of pickups and the shape of the body and neck.

This year I really want to expand my knowledge of the guitar both musically and physically. A goal for the future would be to design and build a guitar, either for my personal use or for a manufacturer. One of my favourite guitar companies is Faith so to be able to assist them in designing guitars would be amazing. However more short term, my goals include:

• Learning more about the theory of guitar music. Although I learned a little bit about soloing and improvising at Yamaha, I feel there is so much more to know about the theory of music, whether that be for guitar or a different instrument. Furthermore, I want to move away from basic open chords and barre chords purely because they are so common in music that I listen to. I could do this by learning a new song every couple of weeks and then practice improvising in that key. I don't think a week is long enough because to learn new chords and shapes effectively I would need daily practice. Then adding in all the ornaments such as hammer ons, pull offs etc would take another week of practice, provided I practiced solidly for a 30 mins each day.

• Putting that theory to practice. I want to develop my songwriting skills on the guitar again by moving away from common chords to create a style of music that is unique to me. I could do this by trying to write a new chord progression each week and then improvising over it. This cold be an exercise I practice every other day while warming up to play. Every couple of days I would experiment in a new key which makes this target more attainable as there are so many different chord combinations to try out. I could also achieve this goal by studying guitar music by artists such as Steve Vai and Joe Satriani because their style of music isn't based on the usual structure that a lot of pop and rock music is. They are more focused on the guitar as the lead instrument rather than the vocalist in bands therefore by studying how they play guitar and learning their songs I could broaden my horizons and knowledge of guitar music and become a better player and songwriter.

• Another significant goal of mine is knowing the guitar's fretboard off by heart. Because I was taught to use tab I struggle with reading sheet music so this is something I would like to improve because I know that I won't always be given tab in my career. This is definitely something I want to achieve in the next 6 months because I know it is vital to my knowledge of playing guitar. If I know where all the notes are and what chords I can make from them, I can be adaptable in the rehearsal room and when writing music.

• Gain more experience with guitars in recording and live situations. I want to learn about utulising the guitar after it has been set up, for example how to correctly mic up an acoustic guitar and use amps to record. This would be a slightly longer target because I don't have access to a studio all the time so I would like to have achieved this by the time I leave college.

27/03/2017 - Update!!

Goal one: Learning about theory

I feel I have improved in my knowledge of theory because it makes up the bulk of our guitar lessons on Mondays. I have moved away from playing open chords so that when first learning a song I now don't gravitate towards using them. I instead use triads which helps me to learn the notes on the fretboard. I have improved in my theory in terms of how to approach different styles of music too; for example I know that blues uses the root, fourth and fifth chords of a key and a 12 bar structure. I am now more aware that you should leave lots of space in blues solos rather than cramming as many clever licks in as you can. This also makes my technique cleaner. However I have learned that 12 bar structures are used in funk and jazz too; they are not exclusive to blues. Funk uses a lot of ninth chords and more staccato strumming patterns which I am becoming more confident in as I practise them. Whereas usually I listen to rock and indie, I have discovered that funk is probably my favourite genre to play. I feel I have also improved in my use of ornaments, such as hammer ons and pull offs because I know where it feels right to use them in solos now. This is still an ongoing goal for me but I feel I have made good progress since September.

Goal two: Putting this theory to practise

Again, weekly guitar lessons have helped me achieved this goal because we always have to find chords and a key and subsequently scales to improvise with so we are always putting what we've learned to practise straight away. This doesn't count as songwriting because I've never written any of it down as my own but if I were to start songwriting I would have a much better idea of where to start than I did six months ago.

I have started paying attention to the techniques of other guitarists and not just what they are playing to get a better idea of how to improve my own playing. Similarly I can clearly see the difference between different styles of musicians; for example heavy metal guitarists use fast sweep picking, blues players use call and response in calmer solos and funk players have a constant strumming pattern in their right hand. Again, this is still an ongoing goal for me but I know I am making progress in it each week.

Goal three: Knowing the notes on the fretboard

I am getting closer to achieving this goal because when figuring out my part for songs I am always paying attention to exactly what notes I am playing. This is also helping me to understand how chords take shape on the guitar; for example being aware of the CAGED system has let me understand the guitar a bit better. In terms of sheet music, I work things out by ear more now so I haven't really progressed in that sense but if someone were to ask me to find a note on the fretboard I could do it a lot quicker than I could six months ago. 

Goal four: Gain more experience in live situations

I feel I have pretty much achieved this goal, I just need to continue being familiar with how to set things up on a stage. Our sound reinforcement lessons have helped me a lot and I definitely have learned a lot over the last two terms because previously I wouldn't have known where to start. Doing two gigs has also enabled me to understand how my guitar fits in to a mix and how to control it; for example when to play louder or emphasise my notes. I am looking forward to doing another gig and expanding on this knowledge more.

Now I am able to identify what I've learned and what I still need to improve upon, I have decided on some more goals. These will be short term as I plan to achieve them by the end of the academic year.

1)  Improve my right hand technique - minimise unnecessary movement and neaten the technique by keeping hand closer the the bridge

2) Consolidate my knowledge on pentatonics -  learn all 5 shapes and confidently recall the root notes

3) Move away from barre chords - incorporate more 7th and 9th chords in to my playing to make my part more interesting.