A: This is a particularly interesting question to me, because it's important, and also because I don't have a ready answer on this one. I really try to debunk the mystery of learning the guitar, but this one is pretty inside and a bit complicated. That said, I'll try to give you some good ideas. If we're ever in the same place (you could come to Kaufman Kamp this June and ask me this question) I can show you some ideas. But I'll try it in words here. First, the best way to advance on the guitar is to start with what you already know and extend on that. Example, move the open "C" chord up to the third fret. Now it's an Eb chord. The way you know is to remember this is a "2nd string" chord; that means that the note on the second string of the chord names the chord. It's an Eb because when you play this chord three frets higher, that note on the second string is an Eb note. Even if you have to stop and figure out what that note is, pretty soon you won't have to, because you'll remember that C moved up three frets is Eb.

Now, while you've got that chord, play some little tune you know; try "Happy Birthday" or "Mary Had a Little Lamb" or anything you can pick out in the so-called "C" scale. Now you can play "Happy Birthday" transposed into Eb, even if you don't know for sure what actual notes are actually in the Eb scale. It probably took you longer to read this than it did to figure out how to play the stupid tune. This is what pickers do: they take the stuff they know in the open position, and use THAT to move around the neck. The open "G" chord will do the same for you, and you'll know what key you're in by what note is on the first string as you play that "G"-ish, so-called "first string" chord.

A second aspect of your questions raises the matter of lower strings played at high frets. The reason for this is that something played at a fretted position sounds beautiful played at the same time as an open string that harmonizes with it. How to find these harmonizing possibilities? Start with the key of "E." Now make up a little tune or a simple lick on just the third string; then play the same tune or lick letting your pick strike strings 1 and 2 along with the third string note. The way you find these is to look for them: a tune you play in "G" on the fourth string will sound cool if your pick strikes both the fourth string tune and also the open third string which is a "G." Once you learn a tune in a particular key It's fun to think about whether it's possible to find an open string that will harmonize with what you've figured out. Since the open strings are E,A D, G and B, then almost any note from those respective keys or related keys will sound good against the same-name open string.

You can discover some of these in books, but you can go looking for them, and that's what most pro players have done ... they stumble into or seek and find some cool little sound, then remember it as ammunition. Then they look for somewhere to stick the cool sound into an arrangement they already play. Many great little moments on the guitar come from accidents that occur to those who are ready to recognize them.

A: I hear this from a lot of learning guitarists, and it's an important issue. I'm not an expert on this, but I have some observations that may help.

First, in general, may be that we're "concentrating" too much, believe it or not. On the one hand, there is focus ... you need to be right there with challenging pieces. But there also needs to be some sort of abandon, some freedom to move across the neck with grace and authority. I think that this kind of concentration that omits this freedom is where the physical tension lies. How to get away from this problem? For me the answer lies in less improvisation and more memorization. Improvisation can be over-rated, especially when it leads to that tied-in-a-knot struggle with the instrument. So a couple of specific suggestions:

1. Get your repertoire worked out into several memorized, polished pieces that you can play exactly the same way every time. When you perform, emphasize the memorized version, not some ad hoc contrivance that makes you tense up.
2. Make it an issue of practice: Practice these pieces while paying attention to the tension in your hands and arms; make yourself relax as you play. Find the spot where the minimum of force produces a clean sound. Get in practice lightening up.
3. Teach yourself the trick of, when the tension hits during a performance, just play a measure where you loosen the pick, and brazenly vamp on open strings for a few beats while you make yourself go limp and relax. It's tricky, but most times a vamped measure where you go limp in the hands can be sneaked into a tune without the audience noticing. Practice this by planning a place in the tune and doing it on purpose even if you're not tensed up, so you learn how to sneak it in when needed. Going limp for a few seconds will break the tension ... it's like a power nap for the hands. It might even work so well you'll keep it as part of the arrangement!

For the long haul, I don't know how anyone gets through their life as a guitar player without a good, low-impact Chiropractor. Playing not only warps your hands but your whole system as well; my old pal Dr Terry Gimillaro in Whittier, California, saved my you-know-what on the road once when he told me over the phone what to do to ease a sprained finger before a gig.

A: Oh man, how I love this question. You put your finger on one of the main issues in learning an instrument, and you describe the situation in brutal clarity. Yes, it is exactly like that, it's scary and frustrating, and it's a loop we really have to escape.

The myth of learning is that we have to be working on many different things at once, a lick here, a tune there, chords somewhere else, and all these bits-and-pieces, but when we're asked to actually play something, it comes out, as you so perfectly observed, as deedle-leedle diddling around. Pathetic. Frustrating. Oh yes, and unworthy of our noble instrument.

ONE-SONG-AT-A-TIME. The answer lies in how we spend our time and what our goals are. In my workshops we try to redefine so-called "practice" and turn it into a plan. Visualize where you want to be in a year, and make every day's "practice" advance you incrementally to that end. A good plan would be, "I want to be able to perform [note that word] six new songs and six new instrumentals by this time next year." Notice how that fits into the year, for example that means that by the middle of April I will have polished up "Red Haired Boy" and "Ginseng Sullivan."

But notice what that means: it means concentrating, focusing on those two pieces in your practice. The answer to your question is that people don't learn ten or twelve songs at a time, they learn ONE SONG AT A TIME. By "learn," I do not mean a gold star on the page or some half-assed stumble-through-the-thing version. "Learn" means you get a tune ready to actually perform in a simple, straight version; you memorize it, you polish it, you record and listen to yourself and criticize it, you cuss at it and you focus on getting it right. It doesn't mean that you play it like Tony or or Doc, but it means that work out a clean version that you memorize so you can PLAY IT THE EXACT SAME WAY EVERY TIME IN ORDER TO PERFECT IT. Here's a secret: work out a very straight, unembellished version, memorize it, play it the same way every time, and polish that, so it's perfect every time. Then once it's perfect, go back and add a run or two or some guitar thing, add it to the perfect version, and then memorize and polish THAT.

Take this to the bank: You only get good on memorized and polished pieces, ONE SONG AT A TIME. Period.

So, I say to you and the whole world of learning guitarists, if we're ever going to get off the plateau, quit all the noodling around, all this sorry, out of tune, half-hearted, humble-pie, why-can't-I-get-ahead, high-viscosity ooze that passes for trying to play the guitar, we have to learn ONE SONG AT A TIME. And we have to get that song ready to play for an audience, memorized, played the same way every time, polished and pretty. And then, we go to the next song and do the same thing all over again.

Of course, after all that attention to detail, you only know two songs. We gotta' forget the unrealistic fantasy of suddenly turning into a player or jamming like a pro; instead, go for this goal: get up a few songs you can play simple and pretty, memorized and polished. And learn them ONE SONG AT A TIME.

Slow and tedious? Depends on how you look at it; how has that aimless goofing around you've been doing working for you? How would it feel to actually move ahead? But, somebody says, what about jamming, improvising, having FUN? Well, for the moment, I'm sorry, but forget it; all that fun jamming, all that improvising, all that guitarist swagger is the luxury of people who actually learned some stuff ONE SONG AT A TIME. But we'll get back to fun, jam, and swagger eventually, because the good news is, that as you learn ONE SONG AT A TIME, you'll discover that: 1) about the third song, it picks up speed, goes twice as fast; 2) shockingly, if you take a memorized and polished song to a jam session, you can improvise on it much easier than songs you never really learned; and 3) to answer the original question, you'll actually be ready when somebody says "play something."

A: I love this question, because it lets me rant on a couple of my favorite topics, memorizing and performing. A couple of suggestions: first, if you're going to be a real player (and 53 isn't too late to start), then do what real players do. Namely, they walk around thinking about music all the time. Any good guitar player spends the hours of his or her life thinking about playing a guitar lick or going over a song, whatever one is currently working on. In my case, I have to go through (mentally sing) a song about 20 or 30 times before the lyrics sink in. Real players walk around with a deer-in-headlights look in their eyes and various musical tasks running through their heads.

Second, I don't think jamming is a good goal for your learning a song; of course, you want to do some jamming and you want to be ready, but a much more rigorous goal is to get ready to perform for an audience. Volunteer to play for elder care facilities, play in church, get up for an open mike, sponsor a house concert and open for the main act, something, anything that will put you in the spot of memorizing and polishing some material for an audience. Play a song for an audience a few times and you'll still remember it decades later. Oh, and pick a song with a great lyric that is so powerful it makes you want to put it out there. Not all jam session songs have to be the same old "roll around the shack" crap yet again. A great song you went to the trouble to put in front of a listening audience will be with you for life.

More questions for the Flatpicker's Guide »