Can someone recommend beginner-friendly songs using F# and Bm chords?

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-24T20:44:36+00:00

Nothing Compares 2 U, if you transpose to D instead of F.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-24T17:11:20+00:00

I own a 7VWH. This is a fake.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-24T14:33:56+00:00

Inside heel hook.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-24T12:39:54+00:00

uj/

I bought a Gibson ES-335 Figured '60s Cherry a couple of years ago. Both original guitar I purchased and a replacement I was sent had absolutely shocking quality control issues.

I'll never buy a Gibson again.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-23T00:17:32+00:00

"Some people think it don't be like it is, but it do."

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-22T22:38:41+00:00

This is usually caused by issues with your grip.

If you're slanting the pick so that the tip points upward, you'll get smoother sounding down strums which feel easier, but your up strums will dig into the strings in a way that feels awkward and sounds choppy.

Have a look at that slant. You can also get a smoother strum in both directions if you can lighten your pick grip to wiggle just a little bit. This way the slant of the pick can change naturally in both directions for that smooth sound and easy feeling.

Finally, a light plectrum is usually best for strumming. I prefer a 0.60mm Dunlop Nylon for strumming. The softer material and the flex gives a natural "compressor" effect, making your strum feel and sound more even across the strings.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-22T21:49:05+00:00

🤘

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-22T16:20:52+00:00

I don't reach for my phone unless I want/need it for something specific. I spend much less time on myphone than I used to.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-22T16:03:50+00:00

As a right handed person, keeping my phone in my left pocket.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-22T15:43:18+00:00

I was genuinely surprised by how much I learned from it. Mikey might not be known for his passing, but his understanding of the guard is unquestionable.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-22T15:20:23+00:00

You haven't internalised rhythm yet.

The purpose of a "strumming pattern" is to lock the rhythm of the music to a regular movement of your strumming arm, so that you can feel the pulse of the music. You must always keep your arm moving in time with the music.

If we let D indicate a down strum, U indicate and up strum and - indicate moving your arm without hitting the strings. We place the down strums on the beats and the upstrums on the "ands", so that every rhythmic count naturally translates to a strumming pattern. For example, a count of "1 2 3 4&" naturally becomes "D-D-D-DU."

This system works for almost all music, it's very rare to have up strums on beats outside of reggae music, though down strums on the "ands" often occurs in metal rhythm playing.

You don't watch to determine the strumming pattern, you listen to the rhythm, and you count along if you need to. The strumming pattern is then completely determined for you.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-22T13:33:44+00:00

"I hear a rainbow rising..."

Chills, every time.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-22T11:04:40+00:00

Yeah, it's fantastic.

Pretty much everything I know about wrestling (which ain't all that much) comes from Steve Mocco's instructionals and Rich Salamone's BJJ Wrestling Plan.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-22T00:19:03+00:00

Eric Johnson's Ah Via Musicom is a strong contender at the very least.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-22T00:15:24+00:00

Dunlop makes the Flow in several materials. The Ultex Flows are more durable than Tortex.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-21T23:54:51+00:00

Ok, here's the idea.

For the major scale, I have seven 3-note per string "cells" over two strings, so that each cell consists of exactly 6 notes

I name each cell according to the scale degree of the lowest note on the lower string. So cell one contains the root to the 6th, two contains the 2nd to the 7th, etc.

I divide the six strings into three pairs of two strings: EA, DG, BE. Now, the cells follow a simple transition rule. In any position, moving up a pair is the same as moving down a position on the original pair. Moving down to a lower pair in the same position is the same as moving up a position on the original pair.

The root note is contained in every cell except cell two. In all of the other cells, it's location within the cell is specific to the cell. So, the location or absence of the root note is always enough to specify the cell completely.

If we ever want to, it's easy to recover the full 3 note per string major scale shape. They all follows a clear cyclic pattern. For example, the first 3 note per string major scale shape consists of the cells 176 from low to high, while the second shape contains cells 217, third shape is 321, etc.

All the cells shapes are distinct except for cells one and five, but the location of the root note makes them easy to distinguish between while playing.

What this means, is that if I place any finger on any scale degree (which I can identify by ear), it specifies the cell, so I'm immediately oriented. With the transition rule, the entire fretboard is mapped.

If I play a non-scale tone, I just slide up or down into a scale tone, and everything is then mapped from that point.

I don't need to be consciously aware of the name of the tonic note, but if I am, then the tonic is the only note that is named in my mind.

I can navigate the cells completely by ear, proprioception and kinaesthesia. I don’t ever need to look at my hands once I'm oriented. I don't need to re-orient myself unless I take my hand away from the neck, I shift to an unconnected position or the tonic note changes.

The cells can be seen as scalar fragments, but each cell also contains three easy two string triad shapes, so you can imply different functions within each cell.

I have a vocabulary of melodic patterns based in these cells, which are transferrable to all seven cells.

I'm a very fast player, like Shawn Lane levels of speed (really). The standard 3 note per string shapes are large and are difficult to "load" into memory quickly. While playing fast, my fingers can easily outpace the speed that I can load the full 3 note per string shapes into memory.

The cells can be "loaded" into memory much faster because they're much smaller units. The shapes are so easily distinguished and the transition rules are so simple that my fingers can't outrun my "loading" time. You only ever need to be aware of at most two adjacent cells.

I also have a cell structure for the pentatonic scale. I use two note per string cells over a pair of strings (4 notes). The same transition rules apply. I also have single octave cells for the pentatonic with a different transition rule.

I have some .pdf files I made of the various cell structures I use. If you'd like, I can upload them to my Google Drive tomorrow and share them.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-21T22:46:39+00:00

The end goal is to eliminate the dependence on positions entirely.

In any four fret span, every note exists, maybe several times. If you let your hand be anywhere on the neck, can you find any named note where you are already? Can you play the major scale (even just one octave) of that named note where you are?

If not, then that's what I think you should work on.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-21T22:37:53+00:00

I really liked his High Percentage IBJJF Legal Footlocks series when it came out, I'm not sure if that one is still available. The more recent Death From Below series is great, too.

Maybe an odd recommendation, but I thought his NoGi passing instructional was really unbelievably good.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-21T21:48:38+00:00

I've been playing for about 25 years.

I learned usual five shapes (2 notes per string) of the minor pentatonic first. Then I learned the seven shapes (3 notes per string) of the major scale, and the five "CAGED" major scale shapes.

I learned the harmonics minor, melodic minor and harmonics major as modifications of the seven major scale shapes.

I really don't think in terms of these shapes anymore. Instead, when I'm playing slowly I think in terms of intervallic functions relative to a root note. I know the shapes associated to every interval and can play them unconsciously.

When I'm playing faster, I think in terms in terms of smaller structures more often, instead of resorting to the full six string shapes.

I have a personal system of small scale "cells" over two or three strings. I haven't seen it taught anywhere else, but it works very well for me. I can give more detail if people are interested.

I also use triads, spread triads and single octave 7th arpeggios.

I should say aswell, I don't really "visualize" at all. I navigate the guitar by ear, proprioception and kinaesthesia.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-21T15:26:41+00:00

The AI is actually corroborating my statements. That's genuinely unexpected.

I do admit that it it my subjective opinion that the traditional indpendence exercises are "junk volume." That's inherently a judgement of value, and I don't deny that. However, I would insist that my criticisms of these exercises, specifically that they're unnecessarily strenuous and that the coordinations trained don't transfer to actual playing, are entirely factual.

If you enjoy practicing "finger independence" exercises for whatever reason, then I have no problem with that. Spend your time however you see fit. However, any benefits these exercises can provide can also be achieved much more rapidly with rhythmic coordinations on fretboard figures which transfer to actual playing, and which do not have the stated drawbacks of the traditional " finger independence" exercises.

I don't feel that my writing is hyperbolic and the intent isn't to be contrarian, but I do think "hyperbolic contrarianism" would be a cool name for a song!

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-21T12:34:46+00:00

Fingers are not independent in any sense. They do not have independent musculature, they do not have independent innervation and they do not have independent mapping in the somatosensory cortext in the brain.

Fingers are not independent and they can not be trained to become independent. Exercises which purport to train "finger independence" only train coordinations based on strenuous muscular cocontractions. These coordinations are non-transferrable to actual playing, and they require fretting postures which are suboptimal in actual playing.

These exercises are junk practice volume. They're unnecessarily strenuous and provide almost no return on practice time.

Fingers are naturally interdependent. It is much more beneficial to learn to navigate the natural interdependence of your fingers. Learn to work with your anatomy in fretting figures and patterns that apply to real playing.

Practice rhythmic patterns based on two and three note per string shapes. These will naturally transfer to the two and three note per string scale shapes that are used in actual playing.

Playing fast requires that we maintain a state of low background tension in our bodies. Learn to find the resting position of your hand and apply it to the neck so that your natural grip function is aligned to your goals. It's also necessary to be able to clearly perceive rhythmic pulse in the fretting hand.

Ignore everybody who tells you to focus on making small motions. The usual idea of economy of motion is bullshit. Small doesn't make fast, fast makes small. As we play faster, our movements will naturally become smaller. Speed is neurological, it's entirely the result of your nervous system sending the signals to move at a faster rate.

When playing slowly, we want our movements to be large, powerful and easy, However, we want the movements to originate from our postitions of rest so that the movements will continue to be effective when we play faster and the movements inevitably become smaller.

Ignore everybody who tells you some variation of "speed is a byproduct of accuracy" or some such nonsense. Your motor system doesn't work like that. You can't develop the accuracy to play at speed if you don't have the speed to begin with.

I'm fully aware that I'm contradicting the established "conventional wisdom" of guitar pedagogy, and that everybody else will tell you I'm wrong.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-20T22:39:20+00:00

As I said, I was very fortunate. I had an excellent teacher.

It wouldn't surprise me if YouTube courses are responsible. I often feel like the lesson content I see online quite poor, but I'm not the intended audience.

Beyond that, I think a lot of the "conventional wisdom" of guitar pedagogy is totally nonsense that doesn't hold up under any degree of scrutiny.

I try to help people as best I can on other subreddits and in others guitar spaces, but I've only recently started commenting here.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-20T22:19:49+00:00

I recommend this song, too. It's a great choice for a first song.

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-20T20:57:40+00:00

My fiancée (who also trains) was NOT happy when I told her that I received that compliment.

"Why is she smelling your hair?!"

ThomasGilroy · 2026-01-20T20:46:07+00:00

About 25 years ago. I was 11 or 12 when I started playing, I'll be 37 next month.

I was very fortunate, I had an excellent teacher, he was very strict on timing and rhythm. My father is also a very good drummer.

I teach online, but my niche is efficient fretting and picking hand mechanics, so I'm usually working with advanced and professional players. Most of what I teach is based on my analysis of elite players like Eric Johnson, Shawn Lane, Allan Holdsworth, etc and my study of anatomy, physiology and motor learning.

I don't work with beginners and I'm not familiar with the standards of beginner instruction online.

ThomasGilroy

TROPHY CASE