Top Ten Resources for Learning the Guitar

Learning to play the guitar with ADHD is difficult. But learning today on the internet couldn't be better. I wanted to do a quick run through of some of my favorite sites to checkout when I want to learn something.

Paid sites

1) Paul Gilbert If you don't know who Paul Gilbert is then look him up. He is one of the ultimate shredders, and has a great sense of humor about the whole guitar god thing. I've met Paul and can say he was a great, down to earth guy. Together with  the site ArtistWorks Paul is now offering class via the internet. He gives personal feedback. And while it isn't free it's a lot cheaper than some of the other internet lessons I've seen with players that are not as well known.

2) Steviesnacks If you want to play Texas blues in the style of the great Stevie Ray Vaughn this is it! Anthony Stauffer has created an incredible amount of material with over 200 FREE lessons on YouTube. He also has premium lessons for those looking to go more in depth that start at just $6 and go up.  Anthony has put a lot of thought and work into his lessons, and though he doesn't teach strict scales or crazy jazz chords. He teaches what you need to play Texas blues and classic rock.

Free on YouTube

3) papastache From modern radio hits to classic rock Papastache has it down. From Hendrix to John Mayer, and Iron Maiden to uhm...Lady Gaga? Yep! The guy can wail and doesn't get caught up in specifics. Learn the song and then make it your own.

4)Justin Sandercoe  While Justin has a website that is totally free, his YouTube channel is where it's at. He has a lot of great material and is very good at showing you how to play stuff.

5) Pete Thorn Pete is an incredible guitarist who's How to play Eruption series on YouTube has gotten rave reviews across the internet. He also does gear reviews for many of the hottest companies, all while touring with people like Chris Cornell, and Melissa Etheridge.

Gear

6) Speaking of gear I can't go on without mentioning http://www.gilmourish.com/  More than just a tribute site to David Gilmour, Bjorn Riis's passion project breaks down David Gilmour's gear by albums and tours giving you ideas for settings and tips for getting the sound right. I've learned more about how pedals interplay with amps and pickups by reading this site than any of the nonsense you read on most forums.

7) Chord and Tab sites

chordie is a cool site that has quickly become one of my favorites. This site pulls from other sites but has a cool chord transposer tool that is very helpful when learning songs or trying to find a different way to play it.

8) Books

With YouTube and tab sites most people just don't need to learn more. But if you want to get into understanding the guitar more, Fretboard Logic I & II is one book I always keep handy. You can look up the CAGED method and find a basic breakdown just about anywhere on the internet but Bill Edwards straightforward approach will give you a much deeper understanding of the fretboard. Your can check it out here.
Fretboard Logic SE - Special Edition The Reasoning Behind the Guitar's Unique Tuning + Chords Scales and Arpeggios Complete (Volumes I and II Combined) (Fretboard Logic Guitar Method Ser)


9) Metronome

If you want to get faster buy or download a metronome. Practice patterns, scales, picking exercises, whatever. Start the metronome slow and work your way up. When you get fast enough do two notes per click (or beep) then four and so on. You'll be amazed at how fast it works.


10) Play Songs


I can't stress this enough. If your not playing with others create a song list and run through those songs on YouTube or your Mp3 player or something. At night, after the kids go to bed I often run through the headphone jack on my Pod and pull up YouTube and play along with my heroes. Paul Gilbert told me if your not playing songs what's the point. That's why we all got into this right?

The Great Amp Debate in my ADHD Mind

I have a confession to make. I don't currently own a tube amp. I want one, but I can't make up my mind on what I even want or need. I sold my last Great Amp a couple of years ago. It sounded awesome and it was built like a tank. It was a Mesa Boogie Stiletto Deuce and I loved the sound of it. But I wasn't using it for anything. I wasn't in a band anymore, and it was LOUD, even when I knocked it down to 50 watts and switched on the built in Variac switch to knock off another 20 percent. Then I rewired my 4x12 cabinet to 2x12. It was still LOUD and had a ton of presence. I've owned Fender, Peavey, Marshall, Crate, and Mesa Boogie amps. I love the sound of a Les Paul through a Marshall. Last year I bought a Stratocaster and I've been exploring different sounds. Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour and even some country sounds. Clean sounds, with a little breakup and an overdrive pedal. I'm suffering from a common problem that the internet has made worse. Internet Information Overload causes something what I like to call Paralyses through Analysis. And for someone with ADHD I think its even worse. 

A few months ago I was reading an interview with Mike Piera from Analogman. He was talking about getting a pedal from a customer to fix and the inside looked like a computer. He couldn't fix it. This well known, very expensive pedal is now a door stop. His point was hand wired pedals are easy to fix. This got me thinking about boutique hand wired amps. There are a ton of them on the market, they sound great and if anything goes wrong any decent amp guy, or electronics guy for that matter, can fix it. So I started looking at some of the more popular manufacturers. Dr Z, Divided by 13, Fuchs, Shur, etc. I also looked at more obscure manufacturers like Valvetrain, and Samamp. I like that Valvetrain sources most if not all of his parts here in the USA. And Samamps built in VAC circuit would knock down the volume to reasonable levels when I'm playing at the house. Even Vox and Fender are getting into the game. So that should settle it, right?  

Recently in my research I stumbled upon this article on Bogner's site In which Andy Marshall of THD Electronics talks about using high end PC boards for consistency and also durability. I've also found this article on the Mesa Boogie site, where Randall Smith explains for similar reasons why they use PC Boards. He also talks about Point to point boards as subject to warping from moisture. They like to soldered parts that could break but use high quality PCB boards that will outlive most of us for areas that probably won't. Of course, it brings the price down too and that's always appealing to those of us who still have day jobs. Still, if something should ever happen I've got an expensive door stop. 

My mind goes back and forth, if I could afford them all I would buy one of each, but that's not an option right now in my life. I've always been impressed with Mesa Boogie and my guess is I might end up with the new Mini Rectifier or Transatlantic. Then again every year there are new amazing amps being put on the market, and I can't wait to see whats next.

ADHD and Practicing guitar

If your living with ADHD practicing guitar has its own set of challenges. Songs with a lot of changes can be hard to remember, endless hours of picking exercises and running scales are out of the question, and sticking to a schedule is almost impossible. That last one has been the most important for me. Learning songs in a jam session has all ways been a weakness of mine. I have to write down the changes and go over them later or I'll never remember. I try to use TV time to do picking exercises and scales not just noodle. If the kids or your partner are watching something on the TV grab your guitar and work on whatever song your trying to learn. I'm normally working on 2 or 3 different songs at a time. One difficult song, and a couple of easy ones. Most nights, after the kids go to bed, I pull up 5 or 6 songs on the computer or Ipod, plug in headphones and play them over and over again till I nail them. Then I spend about an hour working on something tough. The last couple of months that has meant going back and forth between Van Halen's Eruption, and something from Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughn. I know that focusing on one thing will get you there faster but I can't do that. I have several ongoing list on my computer of songs that I'm working on. And if I just "don't feel like" I'll make myself run through my 5 songs. Most of the time this motivates me to keep working but if I'm still "not feeling it" then I just put the guitar up and do it again tomorrow. I'm going to go into each of these subjects into more detail in the future. If your reading this and have any questions or ideas feel free to post in the comments below.

Currently listening to: SRV Couldn't Stand the Weather

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