Spyro Gyra
Jan 26, 2012 blues music
Posted by
admin
How I Learned To Play The Guitar by Arnulfo Bataller
Ever wanted to learn how to play the guitar but don’t know where to start? Let me first share with you how I did it. I was then in grade 2 when my interest to play the guitar started. It started out from mere curiousity, seeing my uncle and father play some tunes, which sounds so good to me. I’m an observant kid and didn’t find any difficulty recalling what to do when tuning the guitar relative to each string. So that’s what I learned firsthand. How to “relative tune” the guitar. However, to tune the guitar correctly, one need’s a tuning fork, pitch pipe, digital tuner or other reference such as a keyboard or piano. The next step that I did was to learn the chords from “Songhits” music magazines as popularly called in the Philippines and from “Jingle”, another popular music magazine. I try to find popular songs being played over the radio that are included in those music magazines and try to play the chords and then attempt to sing along after getting a good grasp of the chord patterns.
Way back in 1977, the songs of the Beatles and the Bee Gees were the most popular during those days and were easy to play and sing along. Earl Klugh’s pop/jazz guitar music was also popular those days and I was a bit mesmerized by his playing and tried to deciper some songs as “Like a Lover”, “Waiting for Cathy”, “You Should Know by Now” and “Doc”. I Got interested in country music or “Folk Songs” as they are popularly called that includes songs by Don McLean (I play the song “Vincent” as close to the original), Simon and Garfunkel (The Boxer), Kansas (One of my favorite is “Dust in the Wind”), Jim Croce (Photographs and Memories) and America. The Eagles and Neil Young were also popular those days that I studied “Hotel California” and “Four Strong Winds” just to please myself and of course, my friends (laughs). During my High School days, I noted that being a good guitar Player set’s one up above the rest. It adds to one’s charisma and appeal that both sexes, boys and girls, are drawn towards anyone who plays it good. And up to this moment, this fact still applies.
To make things short, I learned how to play the guitar all by myself. I got no mentor. It’s just the extreme passion and interest to learn that motivated me to be a good guitar player. During my university days, me & my friends use to jam in the ME lab during vacant periods and asked to perform intermission numbers during symposiums and extra-curricular activities. We eventually formed a band that was disbanded later due to busy personal and class schedules.
After graduation, and after several years of employment, I was then recruited to join a show band being formed by the same old university buddy as a lead guitarist(the band went on local and international gigs as far as Bahrain and Dubai, UAE during a span of 3 years). My auidition piece was “It Doesn’t Matter” by the group Spyro Gyra. The piece is a pop/Jazz Fusion guitar solo dominated piece and a bit too complicated to be learned by a novice electric guitar player, but after one week of decipering notes by the ear, I managed to play it perfectly close to the original. Van Halen’s “Jump” guitar solo is too complicated to learn just by the “ear” method. I managed to get a copy of the tabs and took some time learning the notes and finger positions as well as the finger taps and pull-offs. And the list goes on and on. From Guns n’ Roses to Metallica, Van Halen & Joe Satriani, Joan Jett to Tina Turner, Meatloaf to Brian Adams, America to Carpenters, Extreme to Mr. Big, Basia to Astrud Gilberto, Eric Clapton, Santana & Antonio Carlos Jobim, I learned and enjoyed playing some of their music pieces. By the way, my latest passion is to perfect the “Bossanova Guitar” chords and rhythm pattern. I also love improvising and changing a particular song’s genre at any instant. For example, while playing Toto’s “Africa” in bossanova mode, I can easily shift and change the tempo to country, reggae and back to bossa to add to the fun.
Well, enough is said and done. You better start learning and playing the guitar by yourself to prove that I’m right. You need to practice at least 3 hours a day to gain fluency and mastery or you can hire a tutor to impose some discipline if you can’t do it all by yourself. Playing the guitar is fun and it makes you “look better” than the average guy or gal who doesn’t play it good. Plus, it’s a good exrecise for the brain and for one’s hand/finger motor ability and coordination.
About the Author
Read more GUITAR related articles at http://kooletunes.net/category/instruments/guitars/
Learning Guitar Step-by-Step
Spyro Gyra – Morning Dance (Live)
|
|
A Foreign Affair $9.42 Spyro Gyra started out with the rhythms of the world. From the samba rhythms and Caribbean feel of their early hits to the latest album, they have made it a point to embrace the music of the places they have visited. Their new album, A Foreign Affair, is ready to take you around the world from the Caribbean to South America, and even to South Africa, India and Japan. Besides the memorable instrume… |
|
|
The Best Of (The First Ten Years) $8.99 … |
|
|
Spyro Gyra-Best Of $10.43 This compilation covers the years 1977 to 1987, when Spyro Gyra was blazing new ground, blending jazz and pop elements in an original way that would eventually help define the emerging genre of smooth jazz. It touches on the band’s Buffalo, New York, origins with “Shaker Song,” recalls its first great success with “Morning Song,” and documents the emergence of saxophonist Jay Beckenstein as an out… |
|
|
Spyro Gyra: Graffiti [VHS] $9.98 … |
Tags: spyro gyra, spyro gyra a foreign affair, spyro gyra discography, spyro gyra morning dance, spyro gyra wiki
Leave a Reply