View the full lesson at 3 Types of Songs You Should Practice (To Play Guitar Better) | JustinGuitar
Thank you Justin guitar!
I have a question:
I have been playing Silent Lucidity, one of my favorite songs, on guitar. But I have only been playing the beginning before all the other instruments come in. When you talk about playing a song the whole way through, do you mean playing the chords on the guitar in places where other intruments are playing in the actual song. I can’t think of any song I really like where the guitar is the only main instrument the whole way through. If someone could answer my question, that would be great.
@JohnnyBeGoode
Yes, Levi, the idea is to play the whole song, start to finish. Imagine friends or family know you play and ask you to play a song. Other than songs such as those played solo on guitar, you may be playing a different arrangement, just chords as you say.
Thank you. I know this is just me, but I have a certain distaste for acoustic covers or people playing songs on acoustic guitar that originally have lots of other instruments in them. However, since I posted that question up there, I have thought of a song that I really like that basically just uses acoustic guitar: “Dust in the Wind”, by Kansas. Probably more songs like that that I really like will come to mind. Either way, if I want to learn guitar, I should probably get over my disliking for acoustic guitar covers, although i think it would be rare that someone would ask me to play a song on guitar if the song wasn’t associated with guitar in some way. But then again, I’ve never been asked to play a song before so I might not know.
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No rights and wrongs, Levi. At it’s most basic level learning guitar is about playing songs or pieces.
If the solo singer-songwriter style is not your thing then maybe the alternative is to work to being able to play along with the original. You can do this using Justin’s App, downloading Backing Tracks, or of course the original recording. Perhaps pick songs in which the arrangements are not to complicated and maybe a single guitar plays through start to finish. And even then, when working through the first few grades, you may play a simplified part.
What is being discouraged is the habit of just learning song fragments. Being able to play pieces of songs, perhaps a chorus riff or an intro lead, is not the same as being able to play guitar.
100% this.
Learning bits & pieces, short riffs, fancy fiddling of a melody is a sure way to give up and put the guitar under your bed to gather dust. There are many, many folk who have been there and done that.
I didn’t know Silent Lucidity (Queensryche) so listened. There is a lot of guitar from start to fiish. It is totally a guitar song. The most prominent guitar is not playing acoustic strummed chords but is playing ‘arpeggiated’ chords - holding chords and picking single notes in repeated patterns. The song can 100% be played with strumming and the chords needed are among the 8 essential beginner chords you will learn through grades 1 and 2 of Justin’s beginner course - G, Em, C, D, am (apart from a key change for the solo only). WIth one note of caution … the bars are not all simple 4/4 but included an occasional bar of a very unusual 15/16 time signature.
4/4 as 16ths is counted:
1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a
To play 15 / 16 time you would need to count:
1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & (missing the final ‘a’)
But that is all way ahead in the future.
Learn the basics first - rhythm, rhythm is king. Then chords and chords changes. Then songs. Learn songs, learn songs, learn songs. I would dare to say that the Queensryche guitarist could easily play dozens and dozens of songs at a request show with just him and an acoustic. That ability is what makes him able to compose the complex and interweaving parts for their songs.
I watched Justin’s Video on the three types of songs people should practice. Here is the link.
https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/3-types-of-songs-you-should-practice-pc-001
I realized that I had recently learned two songs that were challenging for me. It would have been better to mix it up and learn one song that is challenging and one that is easy. I also want to be more deliberate about what songs to learn. I had a list of songs in my favorites that I wanted to learn. I organized them into categories in my songbook. In the past, I learned songs that seemed cool at the time but I am thinking abut making a list of the next 5-10 songs to learn. I want to learn some of the songs because they are easy and fun. Others I want to learn so I can practice a specific technique. I also realized that I haven’t memorized the songs I know. I may go back and memorize some of the songs I already know so I can play them with friends.
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I call those “low hanging fruit” and am always working on several like that. It’s a quick and fun way to expand your repertoire!
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I’ve been doing JustinGuitar lessons for about eight months now. One of the lessons in an earlier grade was an introduction to the three types of songs you should practice. While I thought it was an interesting concept, I dismissed it as being too hokey, especially “Campfire Songs,” which I interpreted to literally mean songs that you play around a campfire.
I have been developing and growing my songbook classifying Justin and songs from other sources using Justin’s Grade 1 - 6 system which I love. My system incorporates tags to further distinguish songs by artist, acoustic vs. electric guitar, capo songs, alternate (open) tuning, fingerstyle, etc.
When I studied this “3 Types of Songs You Should Practice (To Play Guitar Better)” lesson, the importance of implementing the Campfire/Developer/Dreamer song classification system took on new meaning. I realized that while the Grade system enables me to sort songs by difficulty which is important, the sheer volume of songs that I’ve accumulated makes it hard to locate songs at which I’m proficient (campfire), songs which I’ve gotten the hang of that require more work (developer), and songs that I would love to play but don’t currently have the skill set to do so (dreamer).
The other, and perhaps most important benefit of implementing and using the Campfire/Developer/Dreamer song classification system is that it enables you to filter, prioritize, and focus on those songs that you enjoy the most and really want to learn and commit to memory whether or not you will ever perform them. This is a priority for me given the fact that I’ve historically been dependent on using sheet music and tabs to play music, whether it has been on guitar, bass guitar, or piano.
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Great Stuff !!!
That’s a great looking guitar Justin.
To follow up what JohnnyBeGoode said, I also strugle with that. I don’t particulary enjoy strumming chords, and when we take more of the “eletric guitar” songs, it’s not very pleasent for the audiance to listen to that without play along record.
For example one of the first songs I’ve learnt was Smells like teen spirit (beacuse of the cool riff and easy solo), but I would not call it pick of the performance, when majority of the song is strumming two atlernating notes (C/F) 
Pro tip however - with modern portable amps, campfire song does not need to be acoustic anymore! My Spark GO is killing it And I bet no one expects to hear Enter Sandam, late night in the middle of no where:)
Made me smile when Justin notes Wish You Were Here as a ‘campfire song’, as I would have it in the ‘dreamer’ category if playing all the way through incl. solos, etc.
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Hi Stuart, “campfire, developer and dreamer” are to be meant like categories that the individual learner can use as tools for his/her own learning. You can use them also as “moveable” labels to better define what your learning goals are. For example we have this song which has always been considered THE CAMPFIRE SONG here in Italy: it is A E D E all the way through and 2 beats each chord all the way through…it’s great for any beginner to learn to switch chords, tap your foot and learn to keep time and play and sing at the same time. I invite you to listen to the original , as an exercise for you, an then tell me if this is a beginner song. It’s been my campfire and now my dreamer for many years to come.
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I’ll have a listen later when I have my ears in!
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Well it could be considered a beginner song with the chords you have noted but there is a lot more going on, so probably not a new beginner. It’s also quite quick so chord changes would need to be good.
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What a great song! I can see how it is accessible to beginners, yet there is so much one can add as skills improve. To me, this is an example of an ideal learning song.
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Like:
- complex rhythms and 16th notes feeling - no beginner stuff (“nbs” from here on)
- consistent crescendo and decrescendo in the dynamics all the way through - nbs
- consistent switching from fingerpicking to strumming and back - nbs
- sweet sounding arpegiatted triads to be found somewhere over the neck - nbs
…and more that doesn’t come to my mind right now.
But still it is only AEDE all the way through: that’s Beginner stuff!!!
As a beginner I had to learn to be content to be able to just downstrum twice each chord on the beat, keep time and be able to sing it along…it didn’t sound really good and it’s a bit frustrating…but then as my skills developed I was able to introduce a strumming pattern of my own with some of that 16th notes feeling…and it finally sounded like a Campfire song and people could sing along…it still didn’t sound quite right though, I mean to play the same pattern all the way through…and it was frustrating but then as my skills developed I could … and…
…well you get the idea I think!
I’m afraid the journey still seems endless with this song to me…but knowing to be on the right track is already a lot!
Just listen mindfully to the song and try to figure out what you can do and what you can’t and then decide how you can label it reffering to your skills, a campfire, a developer or a dreamer?
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