| When I went to Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton | | | | distortion used to create just a little bit of grit over a |
| AB back in 2003-05, I learned so much about how to | | | | clean tone, to heavy, burn your hair off distortion |
| play the guitar. I learned a ridiculous amount about | | | | used by groups like Dream Theater and Metallica. |
| every fret on the fretboard, how to interpret and | | | | If a guitar player doesn't know how to use different |
| create any chord, anywhere on the neck. We ran up | | | | tones and effects that are available (and there are a |
| and down many scales, learned how to improvise, | | | | lot), he/she is going to be rather limited in their |
| and worked in different styles of music (still mostly | | | | musical vocabulary. I don't care if you know how to |
| jazz). This was all good and fine, except that we did | | | | play a G7(#9#5) chord, or all the ways to play |
| not learn a thing about different types of guitars, or | | | | C7(b9) up and down the neck, this is a metal song, |
| pedals used, or amps, or anything that deviated from | | | | give me some heavy distortion that will rip my face |
| music theory. We were focused on the fretboard, | | | | off! Of course, if you're playing a jazz song, and |
| that was all. Not that there was anything wrong with | | | | come to a passing diminished chord between the I |
| that, I mean, I only had 2 years at the school, and I | | | | and ii, or the IV and V chords, then it's gonna help to |
| still work on material that was covered then. | | | | know all the ways to play those diminished 7th |
| This isn't meant to be a slam on learning the | | | | chords, no distortion will be needed, this is a jazz |
| fretboard and all that comes with it. But, as a | | | | song! |
| professional guitar player, I see the importance of | | | | I guess what I'm really getting at here is, being |
| working with different types of gear. It is important | | | | versatile enough to be fluent in all styles. So as not |
| to know how to play the guitar and know how to | | | | to limit yourself, get to know distortions, delays, |
| use all 12 notes, obviously. But it's also important to | | | | chorus, wah-wah, compression, etc. And also learn |
| be proficient in distortion pedals, for example. There | | | | your theory and your scales and notes as well. |
| are many varying types of pedals from light | | | | Thanks for reading my article! |