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I want to take the opportunity to recommend this book from Wooten, change my perspective on music https://www.amazon.com/Music-Lesson-Spiritual-Search-Through/dp/0425220931
I urge anyone to read Oliver Sacks' "Musicophilia" which goes into this topic of people visualizing music.
Heck, read ANY book by the late Dr. Sacks. Dude did a wonderful job exploring the mysteries of the mind and writing down all the weird shit that can come from it.
The Chord Wheel: The Ultimate Tool for All Musicians (TOUS INSTRUMENT) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0634021427/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_RT1BHVCPP332SRMDSFEV
I hope I’m allowed to link things from Amazon here. Sorry If I’m not mods.
I think this is a really good book for entry level enharmonics theory
This is what you want. It works from the inside out, but it’s the same concept, plus it has key signatures. Personally I’ve always found chord wheels to be overly complicated, but I learned theory fairly young, and discovered these afterwards.
Edit: this one also has the advantage of rotating to highlight all the diatonic chords in that key.
I think in jamming you need to be able to listen first and imagine what would sound good with everything else being played and then find it on your instrument. This sounds like a slow process in the moment but the better you know your instrument the faster you can become at it. Try playing any melody you can think of all over the neck.
This is a good book that touches on improvisation but in a more abstract way:
https://www.amazon.ca/Music-Lesson-Spiritual-Search-Through/dp/0425220931
Find a book or two about guitar building on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Electric-Guitar/dp/0953104907 this one is pretty excellent) and read it. The book will not only tell you every step of building an instrument, but it will also list every tool and material you will need to complete the project.
The first step to take, though, is to learn basic woodworking skills. Without them (and without good hands-on guidance from a skilled woodworker), you will not build an instrument worth playing.
Dan Erlewine's 2 books on Guitar Repair and Electric Play great are good starting points and likely in your public library. You'll want to measure string height at fret 1 then fret at 1 and measure clearance at 2 and 3, can also ask /r/Luthier
Guitar Player Repair Guide is top notch.
Also you'll find hundreds of free YouTube videos.
If it's your first time I suggest buying a cheap diy kit and learning how to make it playable. It will help you learn a lot about setting up a guitar and how each part works. Going straight to building a full guitar from scratch is tough and it requires a lot of tools.
Good luck, post some pictures as you progress.
I'm a fan of Pat Pattison's book "Writing better lyrics". He has some nice organizational techniques for rhyme scheme and what types of words can convey better emotion/meaning. It's fairly cheap on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779
It's been a long time since I've looked through them, but I believe one or both of the books linked below cover neck through builds:
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Electric-Guitar/dp/0953104907
https://www.amazon.com/Electric-Guitar-Construction-First-Time-Builder/dp/1574241257
Absolutely, yes. I think maybe there is a mechanism by which the muscle memory you've learned is allowed to sink in, so to speak. I'm not altogether sure. Maybe a neuroscientist could explain it better. I only know that if I set the guitar aside for a couple days, when I come back, I play better.
Oliver Sachs wrote a book called Musicophilia where he talks about music psychology. There are some really interesting things in there, like the story of the man who got into a car accident and could suddenly play piano, even though he'd never had a piano or piano lessons.
I enjoyed Musicophilia. Loved the work that he did with stroke patients and the ability to communicate through singing.
Check this book.
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779
Also, start doing some listening / watching / reading on the concept of Story - what makes one, what is one.
Here's a good start
https://www.amazon.com/Story-Substance-Structure-Principles-Screenwriting/dp/0060391685/
It's really hard to write lyrics without a musical context - even if you try to follow (or not follow) a certain structure, until you've given those lyrics a melody (or some other musical context, like chords or a riff or a beat), they aren't lyrics, they're poetry. Even if you go into writing thinking "okay, these are gonna be lyrics this time", without some kind of musical idea to support it and mold it, it's still just poetry. Some people do have luck starting songs by writing lyrics first, and then trying to write a melody that fits them, but personally I've had much better luck starting with musical ideas (a melody, a riff, a chord progression), and a really broad topic for a song (like "this song's gonna be about heartache" or something), and then writing lyrics that fit the rhythmic stresses and topic. Even if you do successfully write a song starting with lyrics, you'll often find yourself tweaking them anyway to fit the music you end up writing (and if you don't, there's a solid chance of your lyrics turning out awkward and forced).
I highly recommend checking out Pat Pattinson's Writing Better Lyrics from your local library / buying a copy if you can - I can't overstate how much it's helped me get into lyric writing in a more intentional way.
I started out by the electronics chapter in "The Guitar Handbook" - maybe it's on Amazon Kindle now, I don't know - they have an entire chapter on the basic circuits of what's inside an electric guitar and how they work. I found it not too difficult to take what I learned there and start studying various wiring diagrams for other guitars online and learn how they work.
Just a footnote - the old blue cover version I have on paperback - the first diagram for the single humbucker guitar shown at the start of the chapter has proper left-handed wiring, I got a crash course in left and right-handed wiring when I wired my first guitar using that as a guide.
Here's the Book - https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Handbook-Ralph-Denyer/dp/0679742751/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471535240&sr=8-1&keywords=the+guitar+handbook
Also...this has a ton of other info in it as well...chords, scales, repair...its a great all around book I would advise any player to get. You will reference it many times.
I've been setting up my own instruments for 25+ years.
<em>The Guitar Handbook</em> by Ralph Denyer is the book that got me started.
I bought and read through this book, it was quite helpful. Though I don't remember paying $48 for it.
I also used a lot of internet research, but this was my main basis.
Videos are great but for something as complex as this, maybe you need a video series. I haven't found a good one yet . I did find a book that teaches caged in depth which is a good way to navigate the fretboard and scales. Finally got my answers from here. The book is called fretboard logic. I'd recommend getting both volumes. I'm still working through them. There's so much content and all of it relevant to understanding the fretboard.
https://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060
Invest in this book and try learning how to do a setup. It’s not hard, but things need to be done in order. I do everything myself except for nut cutting and that’s just because I have the tools. Oh yeah, fret dressing is also beyond my scope. But you can easily adjust the neck, string it, adjust the whammy, string height, pickup height and make it very playable.
Definitely this! I'm trying to teach myself keyboard!
Plus, this is a must-have for any aspiring guitarist. ESPECIALLY if you want to learn theory AND work on your instruments:
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Handbook-Professional-Acoustic-Electrice/dp/0679742751
Read it cover-to-cover and you'll be AMAZED at the landscape laid in front of you.
After that, I just picked songs I loved that seemed IMPOSSIBLE. I forced myself to do the research to learn how to play them start-to-finish. They'll take you down roads you initially may have been too timid/unsure to tread. It's a slow an arduous process. But you'll come out the other side a much better player :)
Just this morning I realized the perfect challenge for me: Eric Johnson's "Song for George." I've been tackling Adam Young/Sky Sailing's first album for a long time which has FORCED me into the world of alternate tunings. FAR more than I would have ever wanted to go (avoided them for 20 years). But I'm getting comfortable with them now (working a lot in open Dsus4 and Dmaj9) and this morning I realized "Song for George" was likely based on a low D and his intro/outro would reveal the tuning itself. Sure enough! (All Ds and As, easy peasy!). It's a fingerpicking monster (EJ, go fig). But DaddyStovePipe on YT and Sky Sailing have forced me to up my (finger)picking game. I think I'm ready to tackle a song I've been in awe of for 30 years...
There's no easy answer. Plateaus are a BITCH. Knuckle down - find what stirs your soul and go for it. Put the work in. No other way. All the best!
If your local store doesn't have it. it can be found at amazon:
I recommend looking at used instruments and Erlewine's book about minor repair/setup whihc i think most public libraries have
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Electric-Guitar-Great/dp/0879309989
(He has another bigger book on repair which is kind of overwhelming...
I agree, piano was my first instrument and I've been struggling with guitar for 15 years. I sort of don't care what guitar I play as long as frets/neck/pickup are decent but still very sensitive to keyboard touch.
Asian factory semihollows: these can be tricky if you're not versed in set neck angles and good at looking at necks/fret jobs. Can you have a guitarist friend look at it and also flip thru Guitar setup book that's probably in your libary: https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Electric-Guitar-Great/dp/0879309989
If you're looking for something formal, and you have the discipline to set up a routine, get yourself a copy of Fretboard Logic. It won't teach you how to play songs -- it will help you master your instrument.
You might want to pick up this
I have an alternative, but I'd suggest doing so after you have someone with experience set it up. There's a book called The Guitar Player Repair Guide. I know it's guitar focused but the luthier concepts are the same. It'll tell you the set up of electric and acoustic instruments as well as explaining common repairs. You might even be able to find it at your local library.
Hey fellow human, just thought I'd suggest alternative if in the future you want to handle your set up yourself (I'd still suggest having an experienced person set it up first). There's a book called The Guitar Player Repair Guide. It'll teach you how to do a setup on electric and acoustic as well has how to make the cheap bass more playable outside of intonation (ex. feel the roughness of the edge of the frets as you drag your hand along the neck). I know it's guitar focused but a lot of the luthier concepts are the same.
Ce bouquin est génial, pour les débutants comme pour les confirmés : https://www.amazon.fr/Guitar-Handbook-Professional-Acoustic-Electrice/dp/0679742751
En dehors de ça, youtube pour choper les bases, ne pas chercher à brûler les étapes, quelques exercices, et surtout se faire plaisir !
Bon courage :)