New here, where do I start?

Hello,

I am a 33 year old busy engineer with a wife and 2 year old son. I can only practice some 20-30 minutes very early in the morning.

I love playing guitar, so far I can play some classic rock covers. I know pentatonic and major scales. I know what the modes are. My problem is I don't really know how to apply scales/modes.

My main goal is to be able to improvise, Blues is my focus now, and I can play with scales over backing tracks without making it sound great.

I wish I understood what to play on which chords, etc.

So, having said all that, do you have any recomendations? Any help is much appretiated.

Thanks in advance

Originally Posted by: smnyitus

Hello,

I am a 33 year old busy engineer with a wife and 2 year old son. I can only practice some 20-30 minutes very early in the morning.

I love playing guitar, so far I can play some classic rock covers. I know pentatonic and major scales. I know what the modes are. My problem is I don't really know how to apply scales/modes.

My main goal is to be able to improvise, Blues is my focus now, and I can play with scales over backing tracks without making it sound great.

I wish I understood what to play on which chords, etc.

So, having said all that, do you have any recomendations? Any help is much appretiated.

Thanks in advance

Sounds like you are more advanced than needing to go through the Fundementals courses but if you need a brush up, here is the link. With that said, you may want to start looking through the Blues catagory. This gives you a great foundation for understanding how what you already know applies to the blues. And really, most all rock soloing. From that page, I'd just go top to bottom. It will give you a very solid foundation. To me, on that page, is Chris' Blues Licks section is very important once you get the foundation.

I've said this a lot here; learning the blues licks vocabulary is everything. Blues soloing is not just random note selection or noodling through a scale. There is a vocabulary much like language. It's about building solo themes. Listen to the solo section of Lynrd Skynyrd's Freebird. Lots of soloing but it is a shifting/moving series of blues lick themes. If you listen to it understand that it is theme oriented and there is a bit of repitition, you start seeing how blues soloing works.

Hey & welcome to GT! Thanks for providing info about your skills & goals.

Originally Posted by: smnyitus

My main goal is to be able to improvise, Blues is my focus now, and I can play with scales over backing tracks without making it sound great.

I wish I understood what to play on which chords, etc.

There are 3 path options.

1. Work through a guided course. In your situation, the Blues course is the obvious fit.

http://www.guitartricks.com/course.php?input=blues1

If that's too simple, try jumping to Blues level 2.

http://www.guitartricks.com/course.php?input=blues2

The advantage to the course path is that you'll get a thorough grounding in blues style skills (playing techniques & approaches) as well as theory along the way. And it's a step-by-step curriculum. There might be skills & ideas you already know, but it might be a good way to shore up any loose ends in your playing or knowledge. And it's great for students that want to follow an overall curriculum.

2. Individual tutorials aimed at precisely what you want to know. For example, these tutorials will show you how to solo over blues changes after you already know the basic scales & have some playing skills.

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=217

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=232

And these tutorials are aimed directly & only at learning to improvise solos by understanding key signatures, targeting chords tones & building melodic phrases.

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=483

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=491

The advantage to this path is that you'll get right to what you want to know without having to deal with content you already know.

3. Do both! Make time to work through a course, while adding on more in depth tutorials when time allows. The advantage to this option is that you are making the most out of your GT subscription. You have access to all of it, why not use it? :)

The courses are a great place to build a foundation. And after that, the in depth tutorials are where you can add depth to your playing & knowledge.

And don't forget to add songs to the mix! At every stage of learning you should be learing songs that you like. Or at least licks or solos of you favorite players.

https://www.guitartricks.com/songs.php?input=blues

Hope this helps. Ask more if necessary. Have fun! Play guitar!

Thanks @JeffS65 and @ChristopherSchlegel both great comments. I will get to work.

I think one of my problems is that I have never gone through a full method/course, I just jump to the improvisation stuff.

I am gonna try to do the full blues courses (Mon, Wed, Fri) and do the specific tutorials suggested by Chris some other days (Tue, Thu, Sat).

Looking forward to going through all of this material!

You're welcome! Thanks to Jeff for jumping with great advice.

Originally Posted by: smnyitus

I am gonna try to do the full blues courses (Mon, Wed, Fri) and do the specific tutorials suggested by Chris some other days (Tue, Thu, Sat).