I recently started here and I've been going through the beginner lessons and I am currently on the CAGED system section. So far it seems to go: introduce scale, introduce way to play it (arpeggio, major scale, etc.) and then papa gates proceeds to put on a backer and shred on the scale. Its a bit discouraging that thus far I haven't been given any practice methods or anything to sound better than playing the scale up and down. So, I guess my question is: is this school more of a theory based school? Because I've been learning a lot on the theory side for sure. Otherwise, when do lessons start telling me how to improve my playing and emulate the soloing that he's doing on the scale?
So when does papa gates tell us how to shred with the CAGED system?
- Thread starter Adamardigo
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Most the lessons give you the knowledge that you can use to write a solo and a backing track to play with. The lessons on how to write a solo etc are mostly packed within the Blues Masterclass. This school is not really based around emulating, it's more about creating.
The easiest way to get what you're looking for is by uploading riffs and jnteract in the forum. You could also go through the etudes Syn has up and the blues etudes.
The easiest way to get what you're looking for is by uploading riffs and jnteract in the forum. You could also go through the etudes Syn has up and the blues etudes.
The lessons give you the basics. Real improvement comes when also asking questions in the forum and uploading progress videos on the media page 
You gotta learn the position as before speeding up. The way the lessons are laid out is for people to learn finger strength and mental positions before adding speed to all the techniques in the intermediate stage of the lessons. Dont worry about speed right now. Worry about what notes are and where they are on the fretboard.
I could play fast when I started out but couldnt play the same lick twice.. why? I rushed before knowing my notes. Take your time before adding some speed. Itll do wonders later.
I could play fast when I started out but couldnt play the same lick twice.. why? I rushed before knowing my notes. Take your time before adding some speed. Itll do wonders later.
"What notes are where and where they are on the fretboard"
Are you saying that when playing pentatonic scales and such you should know what note every fret is in that scale? how is it even possible to do that when soloing, let alone going about memorizing that?
It is not necessary to know this right away but I'd say a majority of Professional guitarists know their fretboard. It might Seem overwhelming at first but it is a process. You don't need to know every single Note in that shreddy solo you wanna play, but you should at least have known them when writing it. And If you know which scale you're in that is not too hard. Basicly scales reduce the amount of notes you need to know because you are only playing selected notes.
Let's Take the C Major scale. If you know this one you know it has the notes CDEFGAB in it. No sharps or Flats, means you only have to think about sehen notes instead of twelve.
Also we Just recently Had a Forum topic about memorizing the fretboard, Check that Out of you want.
CAGED basically tells you where you can find all the positions of a scale/chord on the fretboard, if you understand how CAGED works you are pretty much already there. The reason it's important to be able to do that is because different positions usually make you play different licks and work really well for Dynamics.
Hey Adamardigo! The best advice I can give is that your way of playing will only come from you. It sounds vague but hear me out:
So you have scale shapes or arpeggios that you want to sound musical? The best way to get that result is the same way you learn to paint with loads of Colours...experiment and don't stop! It's supposed to be fun and inventive, it's only music after all
Take the scale that you're playing and try finding 2 or three notes that you like the sound of - don't worry about being speedy, technical or fancy as it will come naturally in time.
So with these 2-3 notes, try and make a simple short melody/lick - (think like the Macdonalds whistle - short and catchy).
Mess around, let your fingers choose notes until something catches your ear and feels good to play, try not to judge it compared to what you want to do. It's all part of learning the sound of a scale and what it can do. Engaging your ears like this helps so much
Eventually you'll have things that you made with the scale shape or arpeggio that you know sound good to you and it will gradually build confidence in your playing.
Or you can even look at the tabs of what PG played that you wanted to play and learn the lick directly. Theres loads of ways to do it
Just make sure that you can play the scale up and down comfortably slowly and that you're not having expectations of what you're doing. Just enjoy it!
Hope this helps!
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