GuitarGrid and Guitar Scales Method...? Who knows them?

[hellogoodbye]

Anyone knows one of these? They promise you heaven on er... guitar... ;)

GuitarGrid (www.guitargrid.com) ($ 16.95)

Guitar Scales Method (www.guitarscalesmethod.com) ($ 49,95)

I really have problems believing the GuitarGrid talk...:

"The method is great, it takes the necessity of having to learn music theory out of playing the guitar. Now I can sit back and enjoy the instrument rather than struggle to understand where and why a progression goes from here." -Anonymous"

This can't be true, can it?!? He actually says you can play (improvise) over every key, scale, chord progression, without knowing ANYTHING about the theory behind it... Seems quit unbelievable to me...

There is a lot of blah blah blah om both sites. The GSM demo is pretty useless, because it doens't really show you what you get. And there are no real examples of GuitarGrid on the site, so... beats me what it is about...

But since I'm always interested in new stuff, I'd like to know if anyone here knows these methods!

[hellogoodbye]

Boy oh boy... I'm discovering the internet is full of methods that promises you to be the next guitargod! The FUNNIEST I've found up to now is http://www.screamingfingers.com/

Just read this: it absolutely hilarious!!!

Imagine...

...you're standing in front of a crowd of 100,000 screaming fans, you break into a mind-numbing, spine-tingling solo at such a blistering speed you pass warp drive...

...millions of fans willing to give you everything they own, including the shirt off their back, to attend one of your concerts ...

...every performance is filled with members of the opposite sex throwing themselves at your feet, begging to be your toy...

...guitarists around the world dream day and night of being You ...

...the pros who used to be your idols, are now your friends and idolize You ...


But wait...!
That's Just The Beginning!
...record labels and producers offer you millions just to sign record deals with them...

...your music's so hot, that your face is on the cover of every music magazine from America to Australia

...you have so much money, -- that you own a multi-million dollar estate in Beverly Hills. Your driveway is filled with Porsches, Lamborghini's, Ferraris, a super-stretch limousine, and even a custom designed touring bus ...

...And that's not all, every wall in your home is filled with gold and platinum records, and every music award imaginable.

This is too funny to be true! I can' t believe ANYONE will actually take this seriously!

[EricV]

Yeah, it´s kinda ridiculous-sounding, but at the same time, it might just appeal to a bunch of people, I´m afraid.
I heard about this guy and his method before. I think he´s a graduate of MI, and his method focusses mainly on economy-picking... that´s the big thing in there.
And you know, that is the problem... I mean, even before the internet, those kinda ads were around, i.e. in magazines. ( Like those "Tune Your Ears" and "You can have perfect pitch" too type deal )
Its just that people always want a shortcut... they want to believe that they just have to pay $40 bucks, invest a few days of work and in the end, they´re a guitar-god.
No one wants to hear that it takes discipline, patience and time to develop chops, and that there really is no big secret to it.
So those kinda products actually do sell... sad but true
Eric

[Koala]

Right on Eric, I really believe that the on thing you should always keep in mind when studying technique is that there are no shortcuts. Even knowing this I sometimes find myself thinking, "alright i think im ready to go to 2,000bpms and the last chapter of a book" when i still havnt got things under my fingers.
So just to sum up, 3 things to keep in mind:
1. There are no shortcuts
2. Be patient
3. All the time you put into the guitar, if done right, will pay off (not economically i must ***, well....sometimes).


But if anyone of you finds a method to loose 10 pounds, get washboard abs, satch technique, and learn italian in a day ill go for it.....lol.

[potshot]

Well, I hear guitarists like Petrucci, Satriani etc, and want to be as good as them, and I realise that with my hour a day of practice, it's going to take sooo long. So I just want my short cut.

I mean, it's totally unfair that I have to work at being good. There ought to be a law against people who are that good at the guitar. I want something like in The Matrix... "Tank: Load the Satriani program".. yeah, that sounds good :D

[Shaman_Santana]

From potshot
"Tank: Load the Satriani program".. yeah, that sounds good

LOL! Thats funny man, i thought exactly the same thing first time i saw that film :D.

[dhsc19]

So, yes, I did recently buy the GuitarGrid e-book and here are my thought's about it:

Although, I don't think it's the ultimate guitar god method, I do think it's a good suplimental source of information. Basically, what it does is it gives you a logical understanding of a simple basic repeating scale pattern and how the sequence works up and down the fretboard rather than fragments or blocks of separate patterns. For example, the pentatonic scales pattern. There are five patterns and most people memorize each pattern individually and eventually learn how to connect them to each other as they move up and down the fretboard. In the guitar grid, he shows two basic patterns and how each pattern connects with each other and shifts as you move up and down the fretboard. You basically end up playing all five pentatonic scale patterns, but instead of saying to yourself, "okay, I'm gonna play block pattern one. Now i'm going to shift to block pattern two, and then three" and so on...you just have to think of the two basic patterns and say okay when I move up the fretboard, the pattern shifts this way and when I move down the fretboard the pattern shifts the other way. He does go into major scale patterns and modes and intervals. Although, I haven't really studied that section yet, it appears that he does bring up some actual music theory concepts, but not really in depth.

I guess in the most simplest sense, it can allow you to "play (improvise) over every key, scale, chord progression, without knowing ANYTHING about the theory behind it". Well, I wouldn't say "everything". But in regards to the pentatonic scale in general and most modern music today, as long as you know what the pattern is and where to start, you can sound generally competent to most people. Myself, for example. I'm mainly a drummer that tought myself guitar (pre-GuitarGrid knowlege). I figured out two basic pentatonic scale patterns and some melodic scale intervals that I use all the time. Basically figured out what pattern to use in reference to the root and people think I actually know the theory behind what I'm doing. I really don't, I just play notes within the patterns.

Of course, there is the issue of melodic phrasing. Anyone can play the "correct sounding notes" but if it's just random jumps from here to there, it will still sound like crap. The e-book doesn't really deal with that. It more or less just tells you to experiment on your own. That can be a good thing. I never learned to do guitar solos by copying Jimi Hendrix or Van Halen licks. I just tried to figure out what sounded good to me.

Another important thing not really mentioned in the e-book and in the advertising "hype" is the concept of dexterity. A good guitar player (and any musician in general) should have good manual dexterity. And that can only happen with PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! I still need to figure out how to use my pinky effectively.

So, in conlusion, I think the GuitarGrid is a good suplimental tool that you can use to gain some practical, usuable knowledge, and especially for people like me that have limited "theory" knowledge. I don't think you'll end up sounding like Joe Satriani or Steve Vai. That only comes with practice and probably a good teacher that can show you all the guitar god "secrets" that you can practice on some more. Of course, really knowing and having practical use of music theory is of even greater advantage.

Personally, for me, I think the GuitarGrid method has allowed me to see the fretboard in a series of continious and contiguous patterns instead of fragments of block patterns. I don't really know if it'll change the way I play the guitar, but it certainly has given me a much "wider" view of the fretboard. If anything, I think it'll help me move around the fretboard with more ease.

I've attached a sound file of my guitar soloing. I'm mainly using a pentatonic scale pattern in combination with a modified "pentatonic" scale pattern that I really don't know what it would be called in actual music theory. This is pre-GuitarGrid knowledge. I'm also playing drums and bass guitar.

[Jackson Action]

That ad made me laugh... reminded me of 80s guitar magazines (shred like Michaelangelo/ scream like Jim Gilette etc)...

Have you guys tried playing around with the CAGED system? I showed this to a guy I teach and he's amazed at how its opened up the fretboard to him.

The big mistake I made when I began to play was that I focussed too much on technique rather than theory-I'm now seeing that these two elements must develop hand in hand.

[SillyCone]

That ad made me laugh... reminded me of 80s guitar magazines (shred like Michaelangelo/ scream like Jim Gilette etc)...
All those ads remind me of the 50+ spams I get in my email box, wondering how anybody could buy such stupid stuff... But if I still get that much spam, it must be because every 10.000 mail, a moron just buys it.

Have you guys tried playing around with the CAGED system? I showed this to a guy I teach and he's amazed at how its opened up the fretboard to him.
I don't want to look like a spammer myself as I wrote about it yesterday in another post, but you oughta try the book "Fretboard Logic" if you liked the CAGED approach. The author is going way further than just explaining CAGED, and it's one of the most interesting (and scientific) read I had on the topic of guitars.

[dhsc19]

From what I understand, when it comes to chord formations, the CAGED system basically is like using your index like a capo and using the rest of your fingers for the the 5 open chorm forms, right?. The E and A forms are your basic bar chord forms, but dang, I just can't get my fingers to bar the C, G, and D chord forms. It's a stretch! I think I just need to grow another finger! Hehehehe.... I'm sure it's stuff that jazz guitar players use all the time.

Yes, I totally agree that technique should go hand in hand with theory. It's one thing to know "how", but it's better to know "why". Knowing "why" is like having the skeleton key that opens all the doors.

I think what people look for in these "shortcut" tools is instant epiphany. Unfortunately, they're almost always advertised as such, but the truth is even learning the tools takes time to understand and use (practice). That's really all it is (in referrence to the GuitarGrid). It's only a tool, but not a replacement to actual hard work. It's like learning shortcuts for calculus. You may be able to derive an answer a little faster, but you still need to learn how calculus works to begin with.

[Rented]

I don't know about the GuitarGrid thing, but I have the Guitar Scales Method and I think it is great. He makes it perfectly clear in the program that it is not some sort of magic whereby you gain vast amounts of knowledge for nothing. It takes practice, practice and more practice. What the program does for you is set up a method for you to follow, and it keeps track of your progress. Except for some of the drills, there's nothing in there that really can't be done outside the program, but I think it is valuable none the less.

I also have his Absolute Fretboard Traner, which teaches you to remember all the notes on the fretboard. I have come to realize that learning the scale degree is more important than the note name, but for learning the note name for each fret/string on the fretboard, the program is quite good.

[garlandpool]

Oh my god! I just wrote the longest freaking message to this thread and when I went to preview my computer freaked out and lost the whole $%#$^ thing!!!
I don't think I have it in me to rethink/write the whole thing...
So, the point is, you really ought to check this out:
http://www.garlandpool.com/rStone.html

I think I'll shoot myself and go to bed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[garlandpool]

Hey there, Garland Pool. Yeah, I checked out your link and saw that the site has been drastically improved and that now you have a DVD-rom for sale with videos and interactive crap along with your original book. Also, there is a ton of free info in the forum. Crazy!
Oh, and you have a new domain too!
www.rosettastoneofguitar.com/lessons.html (http://www.rosettastoneofguitar.com/lessons.html)
Hardly anyone in the internet guitar community knows you are there man!

[silent-storm]

replying to yourself in a three year old thread?

that's a new one

[garlandpool]

That's right, baby! I have cornered the market on this one. I intend to do all my posting right here...