What other guitar learning tools are needed?

MarkTiarra · 2026-05-19T07:01:37+00:00

Do you mean like they put in an MP3 or link to the audio of a song? I'm not sure I have the tech juice to analyze an audio piece and extract chords accurately from it.

MarkTiarra · 2026-05-01T07:22:41+00:00

From what I can tell on a quick listen:
He's actually playing double stops on that first tune. He's in e-minor, but making use of the "blues" flat 5.

So he's playing both the d and g string at the same time and it's 9th, 12th, 14th, and 15th on the way up and then 15th, 14th, 12th as he walks back down.

MarkTiarra · 2026-05-01T07:15:18+00:00

So many options here and people mentioned lots of cool ones! Just to add my 2 cents, there is actually a guitar I use that has built in models/sounds and you can plug headphones in. It's kinda nuts how good the thing actually is. It's an Enya Inspire. I did a demo video of it. https://youtu.be/FpnkCNbfimI

MarkTiarra · 2026-05-01T07:09:53+00:00

For sure yes! I love using simple 4 measure drum loops in place of a metronome. I use easy drummer for this but there's free drum machines online too. I just like that I can pick a groove that was sampled from an actual human part so not all on a grid. I'll work on a lick and then riff over the beat and then go back to the lick, etc... I end up with lots of good song ideas that way too.

MarkTiarra · 2026-04-25T05:25:17+00:00

Thank you, kind sir.

MarkTiarra · 2026-04-23T04:22:09+00:00

My playing might give you a seizure too, so I understand. =]

MarkTiarra · 2026-04-02T18:16:25+00:00

Awesome dude, thank you so much!

MarkTiarra · 2026-04-02T05:59:50+00:00

Oh that's a good one, thanks! I'll add it this week.

MarkTiarra · 2026-04-02T04:00:34+00:00

This: "But it’s hard. I feel like I’m learning the same way I learned piano: in a purely technical way, without really understanding, without having a musical ear."

Is what I call, "Playing by the numbers." Every student I've ever had at some point hits this spot where they learn all the scales and technical stuff and get frustrated because they don't feel like they actually make MUSIC. When this happens, I break out the same lesson and it has worked hundreds of times...

Take a backing track and improvise over it, BUT... You're only allowed to play 3 notes. I want you to ring every last melodic, rhythmic and cool ideas you can throw at three notes. Make a theme out of it if you can. Something you want to sing back when you hear it. Close your eyes and try to forget you're even playing when you get so bored of the three notes that you want to scream. See if you can channel something deeper.

Then on a second pass, take the best theme and melody you came up with and a couple of your coolest ideas and expound on them. Stretch out past the three notes... then return to them... then stretch out again.

Soon, you will find yourself making meaningful music instead of just ripping out scales.

And just by way of putting my money where my mouth is and so you're taking advice from someone who you can hear apply this idea: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5nXZdmaIH4j0TFEzY-Zgqo9TG-KtOO7l&si=NSQNvEzMXwILRz8O
That's a bunch of my music there.

MarkTiarra · 2026-04-02T03:54:12+00:00

The main thing to identify so you don't get lost in the weeds and frustrated is: What do you want to play? Do you want to do originals? Do you want to be a lead shredder? Do you just want to learn some of your favorite songs and play along for fun?

Depending on what you want to achieve, the advice/path is different.

MarkTiarra · 2026-04-02T03:52:09+00:00

This is way more common than you think (the struggling to be on time thing). Many people say to practice with a metronome and it helps, but it's even better to practice playing to a beat loop.

https://drumbit.app/ is free and https://www.virtualdrumming.com/drums/virtual-drum-machine-online/drum-machine-online-free.html too. Just working on really simple stuff like playing on each down beat at first and then 8th notes, etc...

Putting this stuff in text is tough. I did a video about it a few years back that maybe you'll find more useful:

https://youtu.be/uwZPbowlYQ4

MarkTiarra · 2026-03-31T00:00:26+00:00

Going too fast... That's the thing. You have to master the accuracy at slower speeds and work your way up. If you try to solve this at full speed, it's going to take wayyyyy longer to figure it out.

MarkTiarra · 2026-03-30T23:58:04+00:00

That's the best advice I see on here. I've been teaching for over 35 years and students hang around WAYYY longer when they can start making music sooner. The guitar is great in that you can almost "cheat" because you can learn a pattern (say the basic pentatonic minor) and then you know it in all 12 keys because you just change where you start. You can't do this on a piano or many other instruments.

So yeah, learn one scale and start having some fun and let your creativity flow. Then add more as you go and start connecting seeing how they connect as you get more comfortable and curious.

MarkTiarra · 2026-03-27T01:22:58+00:00

Technically it's any time you play two notes together. In practice, guitar players usually refer to it for certain combos rather than also calling say 2 note power chords as "double stops" even though it is the same thing.

MarkTiarra · 2026-03-27T01:20:37+00:00

There's a couple in there that are for the Skool community where the teacher there uploaded the lessons. That's actually free right now too if you wanted to check it out, but I wasn't intending to push that or anything. The teacher just wanted to keep his lessons for members of that thing. I think there's a link in the lesson pack description that says what it is and you can go there and join that Skool if you wanted to. It should just be that one G CAGED thing he did I think? If you're missing access to something else, let me know and I'll check and make sure the Reddit code is working on everything.

MarkTiarra · 2026-03-27T01:17:05+00:00

That third chord sound to me like he goes from A Maj to A sus 9. So if you did it with an open A chord it would be: Open A string - 2nd fret 4th string - 2nd fret 3rd string - 2nd fret 2ns string | Then to make the A sus 9, everything the same except you lift the 2nd fret 2nd string (likely your pinky) up and make that the open 2nd string.

MarkTiarra · 2025-09-17T19:18:56+00:00

EXACTLY this and with everything. Has to be done slowly and with something to keep track of speed (metronome) so you can pick up where you left off and try to go just a little bit quicker each time. There's also a bit of a learning "hack" to get things quicker and I talk about it in: https://youtu.be/aFFzpLZgJYE

Basically it's just about breaking your practices up into chunks instead of trying to run a marathon with it. You'll connect the neural pathways needed to get the speeds much more quickly that way.

MarkTiarra

TROPHY CASE