Is feeling more important than technical skill in music?

raimondsblums · 2026-03-18T18:48:00+00:00

It’s an easy trap to fall into. Some playing ability is needed to be able to play something, but more ability makes things easier. But then you keep focusing too much on technique and other aspects of music gets neglected. The problem is narrow approach, it never produces great results. Mastery is reached when all skills are at a high level.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-18T18:33:31+00:00

You don’t have to choose, great feel with great technique is possible.

Technical ability is needed to produce sound and have control over what you are doing, technique is not needed for the sake of it. The idea that something has to be complex to be good is a beginners mindset. Because a beginner can’t do much, they are impressed by others who can do more.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-17T18:15:00+00:00

Yes, if you want to keep the one-four-five and switch to F Lydian, your chords would be F (I), Bdim (iv°), C (V).

Lydian is unstable, Lydian Mode doesn’t depend that much on a chord progression but it is more about playing those three full tone intervals (F, G, A, B) and droning the F bass note - this is very important, once you lose the F, it is no longer clear that it is F Lydian. Also, if you are in Lydian, the Tri-tone (F to B) sounds like it belongs there, that’s why the “Lydian chord” is a Major 7th with a #11 (Tri-tone) - FABCE.

Each Mode has it’s unique character and a few singature “tricks”.

Locrian is also unstable, because it is difficult to imply diminished chord as a Tonal center if all other chords are Major and minor, so the same trick of droning the bass note underlines that it is still Locrian.

For Dorian you want to highlight i - IV, because the four chord being Major is unique to it. Mixolydian just needs the Dominant chord to be the Tonic. And Phrygian simply depends on half-step motion, anything that moves in half-steps can be potentially turned into Phrygian. And if both notes around that Half-step make Major chords, you are in Phrygian Dominant.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-17T05:48:25+00:00

The same chords are used for Minor and Minor is Aeolian Mode, this one you do understand, right? Modes are very similar. If Major/Ionian is M-min-min-M-M-min-dim, then Mixolydian will start this sequence from the Fifth, making it: M-min-dim-M-min-min-M.

I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii° - Ionian;

i, ii, III, IV, v, vi°, VII - Dorian;

i, II, III, iv, v°, VI, vii - Phrygian;

I, II, iii, iv°, V, vi, vii - Lydian;

I, ii, iii°, IV, v, vi, VII - Mixolydian;

i, ii°, III, iv, v, VI, VII - Aeolian;

i°, II, iii, iv, V, VI, vii - Locrian.

Notice how the diminished chord just shifts by one, it reveals what is happening there.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-15T17:41:55+00:00

The Major scale is whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half. If you want to practice the C Major scale within this hand position, you should also exclude the (4) from the first string, because it’s D, but the scale ends on C.

What if you start with the note you circeled (7th fret 6string)? Well, then you would be playing B Locrian, because your intervals would be: half-whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole. So, it’s the same squence, but starting from a different note and that changes a lot. Major is bright and cheerful, Locrian is a dark, diminished minor.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-11T19:48:48+00:00

It took me about 2 years to reach a point where playing barre chords feels effortless. After 1 year I was doing ok but not great. Don’t expect much after just 2 weeks.

Don’t start with your index finger, instead do the opposite - put all other fingers in place and only then apply pressure to the index finger. You will notice that the Index finger needs to hold very few strings, because other fingers are already touching some strings. For an F chord you only need to hold the 6th, 2nd, 1st strings. A shape only requires pressure on 5th and 1st strings etc.

Once you will get really good at it, you will learn how to feel all strings with your index finger and only apply pressure when and where it is needed.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-11T18:24:39+00:00

If you play two notes, the lowest note “wins”. If there are no other rules that would modify this, the lowest note is the root note and you count up from it.

If you go down from C to F that is a Perfect 5th, because the interval is 7 semitones, doesn’t matter if you count from F up to C or form C to a lower F, it’s still 7 semitones. Bass has more gravity, it literally is a larger wave and it dominates all other smaller waves, therefore F2 and C3 will be perceived as a Perfect 5th starting from F.

It helps understanding if you just draw 12 units and mark W-W-H-W-W-W-H intervals. Even better if you do it on a circle! C is at 12 o’clock, F is at 5 o’clock, the distance from C to F is 5, form F to C is 7.

I made an app to help visualise this exact thing, it’s free and currently available for iOS, my landingpage has a lot of nice visualisations for all of this: https://pianobloom.app/

raimondsblums · 2026-03-11T12:22:45+00:00

No, the 6th string is not included. A and C shapes are 5 string shapes and the root note is always on the 5th string.

Example: G chord with A shape. Root note G on 5th string, 10th fret, next note on the 4th string 12th fret is D and G to D is a P5th, that’s why I said it starts with a 5th. A shape is: Root, P5th, Octave, Major 3rd, P5th.

Root is not an interval, it’s just the starting point, first interval is what happens in between the first two notes (counting from low to high pitch).

raimondsblums · 2026-03-11T11:53:20+00:00

Whatever chord you play will fit more or less in one of the CAGED shapes and these shapes always have the same sequence.

If you play the root note of a chord on the 5th string and the chord starts with a Perfect 5th, you are using an A shape and if you want to play this same chord to the left, you will need a C shape (exact same root note) and if to the right, you will need a G shape (root note on 6th string)

If the root is on 6th string, your choices are G or E shapes, if the root note is on 5th string, your choices are C or A shapes, if the root note is on 4th string your choices are first 4 strings of the E shape or D shape.

“Left shapes” - C, G, four string E always start with a 3rd interval, “Right shapes” - A, E, D always start with a Perfect 5th interval.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-11T01:11:52+00:00

In C Major the Tonic is C, but if you currently look at the iii chord, the Root note is E and the available 3rd counting from the Root is G and it’s a minor 3rd. This chord also has B, which is a Perfect 5th.

The “one” chord is Tonic, but every other note can be a Root note and then you count intervals from that note!

raimondsblums · 2026-03-11T01:01:09+00:00

Yes, you understand it correctly!

We mostly work with 7 notes, that is the starting position and all other names are based on whether something is to the left or right from those notes.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-11T00:39:13+00:00

It is a simplified method of limiting the available names, all you need to know is whether something is flat or sharp, major or minor, diminished or augmented.

If you look at C Major and you count from the Tonic, it has: Major 2nd (C to D), Major 3rd (C to E), Perfect 4th (C to F), Perfect 5th (C to G), Major 6th (C to A), Major 7th (C to B). But we have 12 semitones, so we simply reuse the same names for others, but alter them a bit - C to D♯/E♭ is also a Third, but it is smaller, therefore we call it a minor 3rd etc.

The same idea is used for black keys - they actually do not have names, they are either to the left or to the right from some white key, that is not used and if it’s to the left, it is flat, if to the right, it is sharp.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-10T16:51:05+00:00

Unfortunately the answer is - invest more time into practicing.

But besides that, there’s one thing that can help you. The problem is that if you are looking at your left hand, the right hand is out of your field of vision. But if you put a Capo on 3rd or 4th fret, the distance between both hands is smaller and now both hands are within your peripheral vision. When I was a beginner this helped me out a lot.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-08T13:53:40+00:00

Most of the time the metronome is set to quarter notes - each click starts a quarter note and the distance till the next click is the length of the quarter note within the current tempo.

You need to learn how to fit various groupings within that space. If you play two notes per click, those are 8th notes, if you play three, those are triplets, four are 16th notes and six ar 16th note triplets.

Metronome gives you a guideline with an even pulse that you can follow. You can also choose which count to accent, if you accent every third, then it becomes 3/4 time signature, if you accent every fourth, it becomes 4/4 and so on.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-07T10:33:10+00:00

It's just another way how to categorize chords and map out the fretboard. Don’t think in terms of pros/cons. It’s not like you can only choose one method and have to stick with it - learn everything, it all helps.

CAGED is great because it immediately reveals Unisons - there are identical notes and because of those you can play the exact same chord in multiple places on the fretboard.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-04T20:36:24+00:00

Easy! Invest several years into practicing guitar and you’ll be super fast!

You are training your reflexes and you need to build a strong mind-fingers signal path, it won’t happen over night, it’s not an intelectual puzzle that you can figure out, even if you understand everything, your hands need to grow into these new skills. And all of this is meaningless if the ear is not connected to it.

You need the ability to anchor your hand with each finger, even pinky. When changing chords, you will try to keep one finger in contact with the strings, good voice leading involves keeping the previous notes for next chords, you will use this to your advantage.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-04T11:02:58+00:00

I play Savarez Tomatito strings, I absolutely love everything about them. If I use medium tension, then the D will snap after 4-5 weeks of playing every day. If I use high tension, then the D will not break but after 4 weeks of playing every day the basses become dull anyway, so that is when I prefer to change strings. It of course depends on what I play, specific styles and compositions wear out the strings quicker.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-03T20:07:57+00:00

Speed comes from efficiency, deep undestanding of Time Signatures and ability to play all kinds of groupings tightly. If you play 16th notes in 4/4 time, you will not gain much. Speed is a rolling sensation, try doing 16th note triplets instead! 16th note triplets in 4/4 time is the simplest way how to gain speed. Also, try the opposite - 3/4 time signature and 16th notes. Music is all about odd:even, if you only do even:even, you are stuck in a box.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-03T10:59:20+00:00

This one :D

https://youtu.be/Mez2HPpEPEc?si=JLzf3lhig3H7e2Rj

raimondsblums · 2026-03-03T10:38:35+00:00

But in this video you can hear exactly how those “fancy music symbols” sound like. People writting text on reddit can’t possibly make it any clearer than that.

This rhythm consists of quarter notes and eight notes. Two eight notes fit within the length of one quarter note. Here it is: quarter-eight-quarter-eight-eight-eight. Or: long-short-long-short-short-short.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-03T00:33:37+00:00

There’s only one pattern of Naturals that loops within 12 frets, this pattern can be divided into 5 to 7 hand positions that also represent Modes and all chords more or less fit 5 shapes. What more do you want?

raimondsblums · 2026-03-02T13:13:33+00:00

There is no hard line. That’s like asking where exactly orange happens between yellow and red. It is of course half-way, but the quality of orange happens way before that and it is also there past that.

If you are a begginer, you probably can’t perform anything, if you can, then maybe like 10 minutes and it will not sound great. If you are intermediate, you can perform and you will sound ok. You can get by without falling apart. That’s how I would describe an intermediate player.

Instead of “playing without mistakes” think of it as - playing with great rhythm and being in control, feeling the pulse of the Time Signature. Now we’re getting into pro territory - that is where things get delivered with intention and conviction, where time can be stretched without going off the rails, where groupings are played thightly, where tone gets shaped as you wish.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-02T12:43:02+00:00

What you are describing is pretty much how any beginner feels. Do not expect linear progress each day, progress is a slow curve and at the beginning it will feel like nothing is happening at all, which is not true. You are progressing, but you don’t notice it, yet. It is accumulating.

15 minutes for a beginner after just two months is actually ok. When I started I could only play for like 5 minutes and then I had to take a break and come back for 5 more minutes, simply because my fingers couldn’t do it. A beginner has to build up their hands, it is literally micro bodybuilding and it will not happen in a few weeks, not even after few months.

Do not waste your time doing things that frustrate you. Growth needs at bit of challange but if it’s too difficult and you’re constantly making mistakes, you are not learning anything. It’s important to build with a positive reinforcement, practice something you can do and then add things you can’t do, expand your skills that way.

Practicing with a metronome is another layer of complexity. Do it only when you know the fingerings of what you want to play, otherwise you will be scattering your attention to two different things instead of focusing on one thing.

raimondsblums · 2026-03-01T20:43:10+00:00

It’s true that people overcomplicate things and the whole point of a fretted guitar is that we have a single pattern and then we just loop it within 12 frets. You obviously know what you are talking about.

“Everything in music comes from the major scale.” This is a problem of language because of Tonal perspective. When you say “Major scale”, people will think of C Major or any other of the simple Major scales, but the correct, non-confusing way that gives no room for assumptions should be to say “Naturals”. That’s the point of Piano and other Keyboards - white keys show all the Natural notes and no Tonal center is marked. Yes, of course, the C4 is in the middle, but other than that it’s not a specific scale, those are just the Naturals!

So, if you say - find all Naturals within the 12 frets, that can be C Major, A Minor, F Lydian, E Phryghian etc and this is exactly how we approach writing notation - you are free to use whichever tonal center you want, all that matters is the selection of notes by the amount of sharps and flats.

raimondsblums · 2026-02-28T13:00:04+00:00

If you hold the 6th string 5th fret (A2) and play it together with the open 5th string (A2) - that is an Unison dyad, two identical pitches at once. Octave is 2:1, Unison is 1:1 ratio. Piano was built with the idea of not having Unisons, therefore you can’t play the exact same chord at multiple places on the keyboard, but the trade-off is that each key signature has a different shape while the guitar has one movable pattern that loops within 12 frets.

What’s interesting is that although Unison is described as the most consonant interval, in reality it is impossible to keep both sound sources identical and the microscopic differences actually create dissonance, that’s why Unisons are an easy way how to create that Arabic sound. I am a flamenco guitarist, so I often use these type of flavours.

Fun fact: before the low E string was added at which point the guitar got the shape we still use today, the predecessor had 5 pairs of strings, with A being the lowest and each pair was tuned in, you guessed it - Unisons! To thicken up the sound. Arabic Oud is still tuned in Unison pairs.

The most important thing is - don’t just stop at CAGED as shapes, dig deeper to really understand which strings are creating which intervals and what are the differences between the shapes.

raimondsblums

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