Ok, so now that you know a little bit about the guitar, we can start looking at the pentatonic scale. The pentatonic scale is a blues scale that a lot of guitarists will use for soloing and riffs. Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), the solo for Jessica, much of Led Zeppelin, the list of music that uses this goes on and on. The pentatonic scale consists of five different notes going up the neck. The root note decides what key the scale is in, and we are going to try it in the key of A, so here goes:

E----------------------5-8---------------------------
B------------------5-8-------------------------------
G--------------5-7-----------------------------------
D----------5-7---------------------------------------
A------5-7-------------------------------------------
E--5-8-----------------------------------------------

Once you master this, you can add on a second part to it;

E----------8-10--------------------------------------
B-----8-10-------------------------------------------
G---9------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------

Try playing around with this and see what you can come up with. Enjoy!



P.S. This has nothing to do with guitar, but still some cool blogs to check out:
http://erincoldin.blogspot.com/
http://snowboardingx.blogspot.com/
http://gcworldscollide.blogspot.com/
http://thecreativepath-redssr.blogspot.com/
http://worldofwarcraft-warrior.blogspot.com/

So, I was looking around on the internet and found a cool guitar video on youtube that you should check out. Enjoy!

Blog Update!

As you can see, The Twelth Fret Blog has been given a fresh new look and feel. The template has been changed, and if you'll notice, on the left side of the screen is now a handy chord finder for your guitar. Happy Playing!

*The chord finder has a play button, so if you have earphones or speakers on, you can hear what the chord should sound like. You can also use it as a tuner.

Reading TAB Part 2

If you haven't read part one of reading TAB yet, scroll down this blog a little bit and read that first.


So you've learned basic TAB and now I'm going to teach you how to read more advanced tab. Timing is showed in tab by having notes certain distances apart; the further apart, the longer the wait between the two notes. Also, chords are shown in tab by having more than one note verticat of eachother like this:

E Chord

E---0---
B---0---
G---1---
D---2---
A---2---
E---0---

A tab with chords and timing may look a bit like this one, All Mixed Up by 311. Also, notice that during the chorus, there is a slash symbol (/). This means to slide you're finger from the first fret to the next.

Verse Chorus
E-3---4---66-66-666----------------------------------
B-3---4---66-66-666----------------------------------
G-3---4---77-77-777----------------------------------
D-------------------------3-3-3/4-4-4----------------
A-------------------------1-1-1/3-3-3----------------
E-----------------------------1/3-3-3----------------

Lastly, I'm going to show you what all the symbols for a TAB are:

h - hammer on
p - pull off
b - bend string
r - release bend
/ - slide up
\ - slide down
v - vibrato (sometimes written as ~)
x - mute note (Hit string with fingers resting on it, but not playing an actual note)

Reading Tab (Part One)

Most guitar players start playing by learning other guitarists songs (Smoke on the Water, Crazy Train, etc.). A great way to learn songs is through TAB.

A TAB looks like this:

E----------------------------------------------------

B----------------------------------------------------

G----------------------------------------------------

D----------------------------------------------------

A----------------------------------------------------

E----------------------------------------------------

Each line represents a string, with the letter at the beginning telling you what string it is, starting with the lightest string at the top of the TAB.

A TAB for a simple song like Crazy Train would look like this:

E----------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------
A-----4---5---4---2-0---0-2-0------------------------
E-2-2---2---2---2-----4-------4-2--------------------

This tab shows that only the bottom E and A string are used. Practice this, and soon you'll be able to read basic TAB

Getting to know the fretboard

If you want to learn guitar, one of the things that you're going to need to do is learn a little bit about the fretboard on your guitar. There are twelve notes on your guitar, A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, and G#. The # means that the note is sharp. If there is a sharp note between two notes, it is called a full step (Like A, A#, B). If there is not a sharp note, it is called a half step (Like E, F).

An Introduction to Guitars

So, this is a blog about guitars, and therefore I will start by showing some basics about learning the guitar. The first thing you should know are the string names. Starting from the thickest string, they are as follows; E-A-D-G-B-E. An easy way to remember this is with the mnemonic 'Eat At Dave's, Get Better Eggs.'

Once you have this memorized, you can start learning all the notes.