flatpicker87 - Posted - 01/01/2010:  20:49:28

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So I am a recent banjo player - turned guitar player (no more jokes aimed at me anymore, haha), and am trying to learn some songs. It seems as if a good way for me to create my own picking is to play along with "jam tracks" that i can buy over the internet. Anybody have any good websites?

Thanks,

J

TN.Frank - Posted - 01/01/2010:  21:20:26

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I learned(a long time ago I might add) by getting a Mel Bay chord book, that'll teach you the basic chords then pick up a couple song books of your favorite artists(I got Boston and the Beatles) and go thru and learn to play the songs that you already know by heart. That way you know the song and how it goes and all you have to do is learn the guitar part.

JoeSndrs46 - Posted - 01/02/2010:  02:44:55

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When I first started playing, I bought every songbook and CD I could find by people like Steve Kaufman and some other Winfield winners. Thing is, I eventually could get through some of the easier songs like the beginner version (and sometimes part of the intermediate version) of "Under The Double Eagle" but I was missing a lot of stuff in between. The site that helped me understand more was the Flatpicking Guitar Mag's. website where I bought some of their Flatpicking Essential series books which focuses mainly on learning how to play the melody of a particular song in several keys.

Another thing I learned in spite of myself was finally finding the right kind of guitar for the style music I wanted to play, which was/is Bluegrass mostly. Guitars are kinda like beautiful women, no two sound alike in spite of sometimes looking alike. I'm to a point now where I think I am ready for guitar lessons once again. When I first tried taking lessons in 2007, I was simply too dumb for lessons. Anymore my heroes aren't Democrats or Republicans or corporate CEO's. They are guys like Clarence White and Doc Watson and Bryan Sutton.

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Originally posted by flatpicker87

So I am a recent banjo player - turned guitar player (no more jokes aimed at me anymore, haha), and am trying to learn some songs. It seems as if a good way for me to create my own picking is to play along with "jam tracks" that i can buy over the internet. Anybody have any good websites?

Thanks,

J

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Dixie Dreg - Posted - 01/02/2010:  06:33:49

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One of the best resources is to download this tabledit FREEware:
tabledit.com/

then go to:
frettedinstrumentsnyc.com/ and there's lot's of songs that will open in the tabledit player, that you can slow down or speed up to whatever rate you want.

there's other sites that use that freeware as well.

Dixie Dreg - Posted - 01/02/2010:  06:35:56

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Also here's a really good jam track you can buy for country/bluegrass:
cvls.com/products/LJ2.html

flatpicker87 - Posted - 01/03/2010:  13:40:25

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By the way, I am REALLY trying to stay away from tabs when learning the guitar, learning theory really seems to be the best way to master an instrument...

Carter - Posted - 01/03/2010:  14:32:53

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quote:

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learning theory really seems to be the best way to master an instrument...

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I get the feeling that this is about to take this thread in a whole different direction. In fact there are probably other threads on discussing the same exact thing.

I'll just say I wouldn't shun things like tab (or playing by ear) just because you don't think it's a good way to learn music.

Whatever gets the job done for you is the best way to learn music.

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Edited by - Carter on 01/03/2010 14:47:12

terrenceZ - Posted - 01/03/2010:  15:54:19

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Learn from every thing that there is. I think sticking to just one way of learning songs will limit your abilities and slow down progress. I can't say enough good things about the Homespun DVDs, especially if your going t try to learn without tab.The visual aid can really take out some of the guess work and you can get as close as possible without copying the player note for note. Having a good understanding of the most basic scale and chord theory will definitly speed up progress.

flatpicker87 - Posted - 01/05/2010:  13:28:38

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Thanks for the advice. I really appreciated it. I say the comments about the tabs because when I was a banjo player, that's all i knew how to do. I didn't really understand what i was playing (much due to my own fault). thanks again!

Brian T - Posted - 01/07/2010:  10:52:21

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I like the "Country Fake Book" for variety. All written in Standard Notation, which I have been reading for 50+years.
Finale NotePad is $10 online: you can transcribe and transpose any key to any key with that little gem!
Then, you can edit as you figure out useful riffs in a tune.

Dixie Dreg - Posted - 01/07/2010:  12:09:43

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For this type of music and all it's various mutations, tablature is the main resource put out by all the best players. If you want to move in the direction of jazz it's good to know musical notation, but tablature has always made more sense to me. I can sight read tab fairly well, but musical notation can be intrepreted in many different ways. Of course there are people like Murphy Henry who abhor tablature and she created lots of books and DVDs for people like her who don't want to learn from tablature, but rather by ear....... murphymethod.com/ To each his own...........

blackcat - Posted - 02/01/2010:  12:42:49

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bluegrasscollege.org:8080/Blue...oTab&id=4

some good tabs here, i like to record the backing track, and play melody over backing track.
there are some sites for jam tracks, free and paid for, just google "jam tracks" and i'm sure you will find something useful, i don't use them as i say because i prefer to do it myself.
hope you find what your looking for.

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Edited by - blackcat on 02/01/2010 12:52:48