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The Triangle Method: Breaking Down Song Learning for Guitar Beginners · The Steve Stine Podcast

• 0:35
  Steve: All right, something that I think is really important for people that are just starting to learn how to play guitar, starting to put their chords together, strumming, and they want to learn how to play some songs.
• 0:45
  Steve: Okay, one thing I call it's what I call the triangle or trifecta of learning how to play songs and proper practice.
• 0:53
  Steve: So what we're going to do is we're going to take just the generic idea of a song okay, and understand what are the essential components that we need to be able to play a song.
• 1:03
  Steve: Well, we need chords, we need strumming and we need understanding and memorizing to the best of our ability the song's structure.
• 1:14
  Steve: So if we took something really simple like Knock it On Heaven's Door by Bob Dylan, okay, now, this song would require us to play G D A, minor G D C.
• 1:30
  Steve: Now, at first you know, listen, you're not going to know that, you're just listening to the song and whatever.
• 1:37
  Steve: So what you're doing is, in the first stages, you're just listening and trying to kind of get used to what's going on here.
• 1:43
  Steve: So the song starts, there's strumming going on, there's these oohs happening, and then it goes into the verse, okay, and then it goes into the chorus and then it goes into a verse and again, you don't have to overanalyze it, but you're just generically kind of listening to the song, getting an overarching bird's eye view of what you're hearing with this song.
• 2:03
  Steve: Okay, so nothing's really standing out as being weird.
• 2:08
  Steve: It's just the same thing, kind of over and over and over.
• 2:10
  Steve: So this might be a good song to learn how to play.
• 2:12
  Steve: And, of course, asking for advice is always a good thing.
• 2:14
  Steve: If you have a guitar player handy that you could ask hey, I'm learning these chords.
• 2:18
  Steve: What would be a good song to learn how to play?
• 2:20
  Steve: So we're listening to the song, we're kind of getting used to this.
• 2:23
  Steve: Now we zoom in a little bit and start thinking okay, so are there any changes happening here?
• 2:29
  Steve: We know where there's a verse, we know there's a chorus, that sort of thing.
• 2:35
  Steve: Let's start looking at the tools that we need to be able to play this song and if there's anything different that's happening.
• 2:40
  Steve: So we start listening to it and we recognize, okay, so what it actually is is G D A, minor, g D, c, over and over and over.
• 2:49
  Steve: So in the intro it's G D, a, minor, g D, c.
• 2:53
  Steve: In the verse, in the chorus, it never changes.
• 2:57
  Steve: There's no interlude or something which often happens in a song.
• 3:00
  Steve: There might be an interlude or a weird bridge or something that happens where the chords change or the key changes or something like that.
• 3:07
  Steve: In this song it doesn't.
• 3:08
  Steve: It's a perfect song to learn how to play if you have the tools.
• 3:12
  Steve: Okay, so structurally, we're understanding now.
• 3:16
  Steve: Okay.
• 3:16
  Steve: So, instead of having to stare at a chart and all that sort of thing, if we just get used to thinking G D, a minor, g D, c, more specifically, g D, a minor, a minor, g D, c, c.
• 3:32
  Steve: So I'm thinking of it as a group of four, four measures, whatever you want to think of.
• 3:36
  Steve: Again, not getting too caught up in that, just real.
• 3:40
  Steve: Simply, there's eight things happening here G D, a minor, minor, g D, c, c.
• 3:44
  Steve: So if I break it into two, it's two groups of four, very easy for me to memorize.
• 3:47
  Steve: The other thing I'm identifying is oh, it's G D and then A minor and then G D, again C.
• 3:55
  Steve: So the only thing that's really changing is the A, minor and the C.
• 3:57
  Steve: So, structurally, again, I'm simplifying in my brain what this looks like.
• 4:03
  Steve: So now we get to the tools.
• 4:05
  Steve: Well, obviously, the chord tools would be G D, a minor and C.
• 4:09
  Steve: Those are the chords that we need to be able to play.
• 4:12
  Steve: So that's down here of this triangle.
• 4:15
  Steve: That's down here, and then we've got strumming, trying to figure out what we're going to do for a strum.
• 4:20
  Steve: So let's focus on the chords first.
• 4:23
  Steve: So if I don't know these chords, this is probably not the right song for me right now.
• 4:31
  Steve: This might be a perfect song once I've developed chords a little bit more, but because there are four chords, maybe what I need to do is find a song that only uses one or two chords to begin with to try and develop those, learning how to play four chords.
• 4:40
  Steve: Maybe what I need to do is find a song that only uses one or two chords to begin with to try and develop those, learning how to play those chords right, getting comfortable with making the shapes of G, for instance, and D, and then doing what I call bouncing, where you practice making the shape over and over and over, so your hands get used to making these.
• 4:57
  Steve: Through muscle memory, you get more accurate, you get quicker right.
• 5:01
  Steve: All those kinds of things start happening.
• 5:03
  Steve: So you practice bouncing right, bouncing the G chord over and over and over, bouncing the D chord over and over and over and all the things I always talk about.
• 5:12
  Steve: Things like focused practicing, like if you're kind of practicing but you're watching TV, you're not really practicing, like it's.
• 5:18
  Steve: The best thing you could do is set aside some real quality time to really focus and really think about what you're trying to accomplish, whether it's 15 minutes of practice or two hours of practice.
• 5:29
  Steve: Have a plan of attack.
• 5:31
  Steve: Don't just do a little of this and a little of this and a little of this.
• 5:35
  Steve: It's okay sometimes, but if you do that all the time, it's really hard to make any progress.
• 5:40
  Steve: So you look and you think okay, I really need to learn how to play the G chord.
• 5:43
  Steve: Why?
• 5:44
  Steve: Because I'm going to play this stupid chord for the rest of my life, right, whether I like it or not, it's not going anywhere.
• 5:50
  Steve: It's a super common chord that guitar players play.
• 5:53
  Steve: So I need to learn.
• 5:54
  Steve: What does it look like in my head?
• 5:56
  Steve: What does it look like on the fretboard?
• 5:58
  Steve: Do I have any question in my mind?
• 6:00
  Steve: Do I have to keep looking at a chart going?
• 6:02
  Steve: Oh, where do my fingers go?
• 6:03
  Steve: Okay, that's where I need to start.
• 6:06
  Steve: Right, I shouldn't have to do that anymore.
• 6:08
  Steve: Gee, I should see it in my brain.
• 6:09
  Steve: I got to study it in my head.
• 6:12
  Steve: I got to think about it.
• 6:13
  Steve: Then I got to look at my guitar and think about Think about what it looks like.
• 6:16
  Steve: Where do my fingers go?
• 6:18
  Steve: They go right there.
• 6:19
  Steve: I'm making a four finger cheat right now, but that's where they go.
• 6:23
  Steve: Now I can start practicing repetition, developing accuracy, developing speed to be able to make that chord.
• 6:31
  Steve: So I'm not going, because if I have to do this, I'm not ready to play along with any song.
• 6:38
  Steve: I need to learn to play that chord as one motion with my hands.
• 6:42
  Steve: If I'm sitting here and I want G, I think about what it looks like.
• 6:45
  Steve: Think about what it looks like on my guitar.
• 6:47
  Steve: I can see it right there.
• 6:48
  Steve: So as soon as my hand starts to raise, it makes the shape I want.
• 6:53
  Steve: I don't wait till I get to the guitar and then try and build it, because it's going to be too late.
• 6:58
  Steve: The song is going to be one or two measures ahead of me.
• 7:01
  Steve: So I need to be able to lift, create the shape I want, and that's what I want to practice is bouncing, making that shape over and over and over, not as how you know how fast can I possibly do this?
• 7:13
  Steve: It's not that it's relaxing and practicing over and over and over.
• 7:18
  Steve: Develop that chord.
• 7:19
  Steve: So when you want it, your hand automatically makes it and sets it down.
• 7:24
  Steve: If you want to develop D, you do the same thing.
• 7:27
  Steve: That's the basic idea of practicing the chords, which are part of the tools that we need.
• 7:32
  Steve: So now, if I go back to the song G, d, a, minor and C, those are what I need.
• 7:36
  Steve: Do I know those chords?
• 7:38
  Steve: Let's say my answer is yes, I really do know those chords.
• 7:41
  Steve: Now I know what order they go in G, d, a, minor, g D, c.
• 7:46
  Steve: And again, you might play your C this way, or C, again, that's fine, whatever, g, d, a, minor, g D, c.
• 7:54
  Steve: So now I start bouncing and practicing the fundamentals, the rudimentary elements of this song.
• 8:05
  Steve: Can I move from G, d, a, minor, g D C?
• 8:06
  Steve: Can I do that If my D is getting stuck or my A minor is getting stuck, or whatever it might be?
• 8:11
  Steve: That's what I need to try and focus on.
• 8:15
  Steve: See, the problem is is, what happens is people, instead of breaking down these three components, they just try and play.
• 8:19
  Steve: They're trying to look at the chart and trying to figure out how the chords go.
• 8:23
  Steve: And then they're trying to strum and it doesn't work, and then they go.
• 8:25
  Steve: I hate this.
• 8:25
  Steve: It sucks.
• 8:26
  Steve: I'm not good at this.
• 8:27
  Steve: I can't do this.
• 8:28
  Steve: Well, that's not true at all.
• 8:29
  Steve: But you've got to break down the components.
• 8:31
  Steve: What does the song want from you?
• 8:33
  Steve: Do you understand what the song is actually doing for you?
• 8:36
  Steve: Right, g, d, a, minor, g, d, c, g, knock, knock, d.
• 8:42
  Steve: Don Heavens A minor.
• 8:43
  Steve: 2, 3, 4, 2, 3, 4, g, knock, knock, d, C.
• 8:49
  Steve: Right, so I'm getting all that in my head.
• 8:52
  Steve: I don't need my guitar for that.
• 8:53
  Steve: I need to think about it.
• 8:55
  Steve: I need to listen, I need to analyze.
• 8:57
  Steve: Then I need to think about it.
• 8:59
  Steve: I need to listen, I need to analyze.
• 9:00
  Steve: Then I go to my guitar and I start working on the tools.
• 9:02
  Steve: Can I do this?
• 9:02
  Steve: So now, as I'm listening to the song and I've been working on my chords, now I don't even need this hand.
• 9:07
  Steve: I can just start thinking G, knock, knock, d, two, three, four, a.
• 9:12
  Steve: Am I able to move my hand?
• 9:14
  Steve: G, knock, knock, d on heaven's doorstep.
• 9:19
  Steve: Can I do that?
• 9:20
  Steve: If I can't, I need to go back and start working on where the problem is.
• 9:25
  Steve: The beautiful thing about what we're doing right now is, oftentimes the problems that you're having will bubble to the surface because you can identify do I know what I'm trying to do?
• 9:36
  Steve: Am I capable of doing what is expected of me?
• 9:40
  Steve: Do I know these things or am I trying to do something that's way outside my abilities at this point in my playing Right?
• 9:49
  Steve: So, again, it's okay, if you try and do things, you can do whatever you want.
• 9:53
  Steve: I'm just saying if you don't have a logical path from point A to point B, it's really hard to get from point A to point B if you're all over the place.
• 10:03
  Steve: So that's why we start with something like two chords or three chords or four chords that are commonly used together, so we can learn how to play not one song but two or three or five or 10 or 20 songs that use these chords, because we're developing the ability of memorizing right, thinking about how the song goes, and then we're developing the ability of being able to move these chords back and forth.
• 10:26
  Steve: Well, we're not learning these chords for knocking on heaven's door.
• 10:28
  Steve: We're learning these chords for every other song that would ever use these chords.
• 10:32
  Steve: That's the beauty of learning these and getting good with this.
• 10:36
  Steve: So notice how I started with thinking about the song, the tools that I need.
• 10:41
  Steve: I come down here, I practice those tools.
• 10:42
  Steve: I haven't even started using this drum yet, I'm just seeing.
• 10:45
  Steve: Can I move these chords in time with the song?
• 10:49
  Steve: As I'm listening to the song, it starts one, two, three, four, g, mama, take this badge from me, right?
• 10:56
  Steve: So can I actually make those changes?
• 10:59
  Steve: I can't use it anymore, right?
• 11:02
  Steve: Am I making a connection between these two parts of the triangle?
• 11:08
  Steve: Yeah, okay, so it's working.
• 11:11
  Steve: Or, oh, I gotta work on D a little bit more.
• 11:13
  Steve: Okay, go back and work on D some more.
• 11:15
  Steve: Do some bouncing, real concentration, all that kind of stuff.
• 11:18
  Steve: So now let's bring in the guitar pick.
• 11:21
  Steve: Now, from a chord standpoint of practice, the guitar pick is great because we can make sure all the notes are actually working.
• 11:27
  Steve: Are we getting the sounds that we want?
• 11:31
  Steve: Right, D bottom, four strings.
• 11:32
  Steve: You know, again, once we get to strumming, we'll talk a little bit about that, because nothing is absolutely perfect.
• 11:39
  Steve: Yes, the D wants four strings, but when we actually start strumming, sometimes we hit five, sometimes we hit three.
• 11:45
  Steve: Welcome to the real world of being a human being.
• 11:47
  Steve: That's what happens.
• 11:49
  Steve: Okay, so that's what I need to do is work on are the notes working, you know?
• 11:55
  Steve: Am I getting a bunch of this and do I need to work on that some more?
• 11:59
  Steve: Yeah, that D is kind of struggling.
• 12:01
  Steve: I'm having a problem with that string.
• 12:03
  Steve: Okay, well, that's fine, keep working on it.
• 12:05
  Steve: You got the rest of your life to learn how to do this, you know.
• 12:08
  Steve: Keep trying to develop it, but in the meantime, don't get caught in absolute perfection, like because the D chord is fast enough but it's not quite as clean as you want it to be.
• 12:20
  Steve: Doesn't mean you shouldn't be trying to play this song.
• 12:24
  Steve: You should still be trying to play it.
• 12:25
  Steve: Just think about it as being dirty or muddy.
• 12:28
  Steve: Right, it's not completely clean yet, it's not exactly what you want, but you don't want to wait until the D is absolutely perfect before you start trying to play.
• 12:37
  Steve: Get in there and start trying to get messy, it's okay.
• 12:41
  Steve: And in the meantime, keep working on it, keep trying to develop it, but in the meantime, try and play the music right.
• 12:48
  Steve: Try and start playing along.
• 12:50
  Steve: Get used to how this thing works, because a lot of times, a lot of the problems that you've got with some of these chords and the perfection element of trying to make it as good as you can, which we want to do.
• 13:01
  Steve: Some of those things will work themselves out as you just keep playing, and once you start playing songs, it's more motivating and it feels good and you'll just start playing more and as a result of that, oftentimes these things will work themselves out, these kinks that you have will work themselves out, and if it's not, you keep working on it.
• 13:20
  Steve: It's okay, it's nothing wrong with that.
• 13:21
  Steve: You just this is an isolated thing that you need to work on.
• 13:24
  Steve: So we're working on the notes.
• 13:26
  Steve: Are they all working?
• 13:27
  Steve: All that kind of stuff, okay, so again, two parts of our triangle here.
• 13:35
  Steve: Now let's get to the third part, which is this.
• 13:35
  Steve: It's what I call scratching, which is what strumming really is.
• 13:38
  Steve: Instead of always thinking about playing as a strumming pattern down, down, down, up, down, that kind of thing you learn how to just think about strumming as a rhythm instrument, like a maraca.
• 13:52
  Steve: You're just gonna move the maraca back and forth to the speed of the song, to the tempo of the song.
• 13:57
  Steve: So if Knockin' on Heaven's Door was G, ooh, d, a minor, g, u, d, a, minor G U.
• 14:09
  Steve: So what I'm doing now is, I'm thinking about the song, I'm thinking about the chords, but I'm focusing on the rhythm, and what I'm doing is what I call organic strumming or ocean strumming.
• 14:22
  Steve: I call it ocean strumming just because the waves of the ocean are very unpredictable, so you can't predict exactly where you know the wave's going to be bigger or smaller or louder or that sort of thing.
• 14:32
  Steve: And the beauty of thinking about it that way is, once you get the maraca moving, you're the one that's in control of hitting softer or louder or hitting the strings.
• 14:41
  Steve: More or less the maraca just keeps going.
• 14:44
  Steve: Like right now I'm strumming, I'm just not hitting the strings.
• 14:47
  Steve: So at any time I can just come in and hit those strings and move away, Move in, move away.
• 14:56
  Steve: It's not down, down, down, up, down, or one, two, e and like you, don't think about it that way, learn to think about it musically, learn to feel it.
• 15:05
  Steve: So as soon as you start hearing the song, you're like okay, that's where the beat is.
• 15:09
  Steve: So here I go.
• 15:10
  Steve: Because I guarantee, if you were sitting with Bob Dylan and you said, hey, bob, how did you strum?
• 15:15
  Steve: Knockin' at Heaven's Door, he's not going to look at you and go well, you know, I did down, down, down, up, down, up, down, down, down, up, up, up, down, down.
• 15:22
  Steve: Like he's not going to say that to you, he's going to look at you like you're crazy and then he's going to say I have no idea, like I just play and that's the truth.
• 15:31
  Steve: Right, it's just moving.
• 15:33
  Steve: Now, if you hear that there's something specific, like a specific strumming pattern which some songs do, that's okay, you can play something more specific.
• 15:41
  Steve: I'm just saying, if you always start with a strumming pattern and you think about it as a strumming pattern, everything begins to sound the same, very mathematical, and that's not how you want to approach playing guitar and, plus, the way I'm doing it.
• 15:55
  Steve: It doesn't require me to think about all these things Because, ultimately, what I'm trying to do with this triangle is automate these.
• 16:04
  Steve: I want to automate them so I can sit back and let these things happen and kind of oversee everything, make sure nothing goes wrong.
• 16:12
  Steve: Right, I'm not falling off the stage or breaking a string or whatever might happen.
• 16:16
  Steve: Right, cable comes out of my guitar, all of those kinds of things.
• 16:19
  Steve: That's the reality of playing.
• 16:22
  Steve: Okay, but I don't have to go so deep with my brain, with the resources that I have in my brain at the moment to think about well, how does the G chord go?
• 16:31
  Steve: Where do my fingers go?
• 16:32
  Steve: Well, if that's what I'm thinking about, there's no way I can think about this.
• 16:35
  Steve: And there's no way I can think about the song, because I've used all my resources.
• 16:39
  Steve: I don't even know what the G chord is.
• 16:41
  Steve: I don't even really know how it goes.
• 16:43
  Steve: You see, if I automate these three pieces, the whole thing becomes easier.
• 16:47
  Steve: People will say well, how do you play and sing at the same time?
• 16:50
  Steve: Well, that's exactly how you play and sing at the same time.
• 16:53
  Steve: This triangle becomes a square and the other corner is now you're singing.
• 16:58
  Steve: But you've got to automate all these things.
• 17:00
  Steve: You can't just expect that it's all going to come together because you bought a really nice guitar or you practice.
• 17:05
  Steve: It all depends on what you're practicing and how you're practicing.
• 17:09
  Steve: That makes all the difference, you see.
• 17:12
  Steve: So the more you automate each piece, the easier this whole thing becomes.
• 17:16
  Steve: I know how the song goes.
• 17:17
  Steve: I've thought about it.
• 17:18
  Steve: I can hear the changes right.
• 17:21
  Steve: My teacher showed me, or I learned on a chart or whatever, how Knockin' on Heaven's Door goes, and I can see the chords in my mind as the song's playing.
• 17:30
  Steve: I can see them.
• 17:31
  Steve: I can see them on my guitar.
• 17:33
  Steve: Now I've actually practiced moving my hands and I can move them fast enough.
• 17:37
  Steve: I've been learning to strum along or scratch along to the song, and this is the big thing again, that people get wrong because they just assume that the strum is supposed to happen because we learn the chords.
• 17:48
  Steve: That's not true.
• 17:50
  Steve: They're two very different things.
• 17:53
  Steve: Chords, to me, are very black and white.
• 17:55
  Steve: You either know them or you don't, because you've either spent enough time with them, but there's nothing creative happening there.
• 17:59
  Steve: Your G isn't any more creative than anybody else's G.
• 18:02
  Steve: It's a G chord.
• 18:03
  Steve: That's what it is.
• 18:04
  Steve: You either can do it or you can't.
• 18:06
  Steve: But strumming is very different, because strumming, as soon as your guitar pick hits those strings, you're doing something that people can hear.
• 18:13
  Steve: If I'm not strumming, you're doing something that people can hear.
• 18:18
  Steve: If I'm not strumming, you're not hearing anything.
• 18:18
  Steve: But as soon as I start strumming, it's either going to sound like.
• 18:19
  Steve: It's either going to sound like that or it's going to sound like whatever you want.
• 18:29
  Steve: But there's more music in the second one than there is in the first one.
• 18:50
  Steve: So, learning to break these three pieces down and practice each one independently.
• 18:56
  Steve: Don't just expect that it's all going to work.
• 18:59
  Steve: I usually tell people, too, that these two hands really aren't friends with each other.
• 19:04
  Steve: They're doing something completely different.
• 19:05
  Steve: The both sides of your brain are focusing on something completely different.
• 19:08
  Steve: This is very analytical, black and white.
• 19:11
  Steve: This is not so.
• 19:14
  Steve: If you have to sit and concentrate on all these things, this is where this is going to fail.
• 19:18
  Steve: Okay, so that's what I want you to think about is, whenever you go into a song, think about these three different components and developing them independently.
• 19:27
  Steve: When you practice on a daily basis, part of your practice routine should be working on chords, bouncing, you know, cleaning up all these sorts of things.
• 19:37
  Steve: Don't try and do 50 chords if you can't do one.
• 19:40
  Steve: That's just overwhelming.
• 19:42
  Steve: And learn chords in a logical order.
• 19:44
  Steve: Learn them in a key.
• 19:45
  Steve: If you're learning G, c would be a great chord.
• 19:48
  Steve: To learn D would be another great chord to learn.
• 19:49
  Steve: Why?
• 19:50
  Steve: Because songs use those three chords together.
• 19:52
  Steve: In a family, we call it key all the time and again, you can always ask for help if you're not sure.
• 19:59
  Steve: That's exactly why you want to talk to somebody about that.
• 20:02
  Steve: But learning chords in a logical order where they're used together makes sense because you can play way more songs in the long run.
• 20:11
  Steve: Okay, and then learning how to scratch, not with chords, not with all this other stuff.
• 20:16
  Steve: You could turn on the radio, you could turn on a playlist, you could put on one of your favorite CDs, whatever and just start learning to scratch along, find a groove and play.
• 20:26
  Steve: Now you want to identify what's harder or easier to try and strum along with.
• 20:34
  Steve: I mean, if you're trying to play along with a Slayer song on an acoustic guitar and you don't know how to do anything yet, that might not be the best place to start.
• 20:41
  Steve: I'm a Slayer fan as well, but that's probably not the best place to start.
• 20:46
  Steve: Start with something that makes sense with what you're trying to learn how to do and then build into it right.
• 20:52
  Steve: So find songs that are kind of mid-tempo, that you can actually hear a guitar strumming, and you can.
• 20:58
  Steve: You know there's a drum there that you can hear there's a beat, and you can start trying to figure out, kind of where this exists.
• 21:04
  Steve: And then from there you can go in all kinds of crazy places with your guitar playing, and I encourage you to do so.
• 21:09
  Steve: But start by learning how to break down this, this triangle, all right.