After 13 years of playing, I'm finally attmepting to "learn" guitar

[jonitkin]

Hey Everybody

Being a self-taught ear-oriented songwriter who also plays guitar, I've pretty much taught myself most of what I know. Beyond a couple lessons when I was 13 and a light smattering over the years, i've pretty much plowed my way through it without knowing much more than basic scales, chord shapes and I-IV-V theory.

My ear knows what sounds good and what doesn't, which has kept me from going astray or stagnating too much.

Needless to say, there are massive gaps in my musical knowledge. I've decided to attempt to fill those gaps. Right now (at my silly temp job) i'm studying major and minor scale construction and what makes up 7th chords.

Anybody in the same boat as me? Got any tips? instruction book recommendations?

[cacibi]

7th chords are a great place to start. Run those arpeggios in all positions and just try to be conscious of the scale degrees you're playing. This will help you construct solos that take advantage of chord tones and will also help you learn the guitar neck overall. After you have the 1,3,5,7 arpeggios down - start adding in the extensions, 6 & 9 especially.

I've been working on the above a lot lately and it's starting to really pay off.

[Cyrithicus]

Same here Jon, playing for about 11+ years, just now trying to learn theory!