How to build your repertoire
A big part of enjoying playing guitar is having songs and pieces that you can play.
As you progress with your guitar playing and learn more ways of playing chords, build your speed with switching chords, learning more ways of strumming and picking chords and develop your rhythm and timing, more songs become available to you.
You already understand some really key aspects of learning to play songs including:
-Working on each chord change in isolation
-Playing the sequence for each section without strumming
-Working on strumming using muted strings
-Integrating chords and strumming one section at at time.
Soundtrap gives us some great tools for accelerating our skills with songs and pieces. The biggest help is the looping capability, so you can have a reference for how things are supposed to sound while you are working towards new or faster chord changes. The capability of recording your own playing against a drum track or metronome is also really helpful
Choose at least three songs, pieces or riffs
For one song, you want to work towards playing the complete chord and strumming, or features like riffs.
For the others, you can choose which level you will learn them to – to be able to play along at a simple level, or adding in more of the detail.
Example: Someone You Loved
Base of the pyramid – play each chord on beat 1 of the bar.
Middle of the pyramid – play each chord all the way through the bar with downstrokes
Top of the pyramid – play each chord all the way through the bar, picking the strings separately, then strumming, then switching to power chords when the dynamic builds.
Example: Rescue Me
Base of the pyramid – play the root note of the chord or the chord on the beat where it changes
Middle of the pyramid – play the chord through the bar
Top of the pyramid – play the guitar parts that use picking in more detail through the bar.
Example: Renegades
Base of the pyramid – play the root note of the chord or the chord on the beat where it changes
Middle of the pyramid – add an extra strum
Top of the pyramid – play the full strumming pattern all the way through the bar. Alternative top of the pyramid – play the guitar riff.
