Look for Bears: Improve Ambient Guitar Playing!

The forest is a great place to mull over ideas, and in this video, I share some ideas for improving your ambient guitar playing while hiking on one of my favorite trails. And yes, I do keep an eye out for bears when I hike! And snakes and bobcats and...
How to Play Ambient Guitar Series:
• How to Play Ambient Gu...
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[@chordsoforion]

Do you have suggestions for how to improve playing ambient guitar? Let's discuss!!

[@Funkywallot]

For the beginner : Learn as much chords as possible and concentrate on playing them neat and tidy. Your left hand has a lot of learning to do. After some practice you will want to improvise after your hearts content and learn how to put chords together and learn the pentatonic scale both major and minor, that is going to put you on firm ground whatever you play, and you are able to make some really serious ambient improvisations with confidence. I used to listen a lot of classical music with solo artists. I learned a lot about musical expression that way. Music happens in between notes mostly. I found out that way. Your guitar is your wife/husband . A relationship. Its not all roses and fluffy clouds its also frustration and discontent. And that is music too ! Just play. Do it !

[@ziggyzipgun]

I think you need to do a video exploring the Alesis Quadraverb2 - it allows the signal path to be routed any way you want, including feedback loops. Very easy to simulate the early Frippertronics setup, within a 1U rack processor, and fully controllable via midi. I have no experience with the slightly newer T.C. Electronics G-Force processor (reportedly used by Fripp himself at some point, though known to have reliability issues), but on paper they seem very similar. The Quadraverb2 has 5.5 seconds of available delay, which gets shared between however many mono/stereo/ping-pong/multi-tap delays you have in the chain (across 8 available effects blocks). Plus quad chorus and early Eventide Harmonizer-style pitch shifting!

[@silvansky]

My great tip: don't be afraid to experiment. Try all these pedals and digital processors, go and find your own sound, if you like putting delay before overdrive - go for it! Don't let anyone tell you what effects to use and how to combine them "the right way". The only "right way" is the way you combine them to create your sound.

[@twoys440]

love ur content 11/10

[@muhammadrezahaghiri]

Play more instruments. This is the way I improved my skills in my music. I started classical guitar in the age of 14 (Now I'm 23), and in the age of 20, I bought my first electric guitar. Both of them are guitars, and I felt I need more instruments and I started learning harmonica and Lute. Now, I play all of those instruments and also I compose electronic music. In my opinion, playing different instruments, can help improving music skills a lot. And also, playing folk/traditional instruments can help even more (for example here in Iran, the main scale has 24 notes instead of 12. and in some other cultures it can be about 53 notes!)

[@PKVarianceArts]

That bear in the thumbnail is way too chill - obviously an ambient fan.

[@chordsoforion]

Indeed! :-)

[@Nautilus_Music]

Agree with all of these points, especially listening to other styles of music. The only other tip I have is dedicate as much time as possible to the things you find hard to do / play regardless of the frustration - it helps stop falling in to the same riffs or patterns.

[@otek_]

Love the nature setting. Thanks for the video!

[@Billingtano]

The bear found you! Great channel and content. Thanks for the great lessons. 👍🐻👍

[@Geotubest]

Love your channel. Thank you.

[@daren.t.housse2121]

Well said Bill good tips and its not just for guitar playing ,,,,,,

[@chordsoforion]

Very good point!!

[@crisepuyao7722]

It would be very interesting to see and hear you playing progressive music. Thanks for share all your wonderful knowledges with us master!

[@quiet216]

Congrats on 60k 🎉

[@davilillodegg]

Thanks for your tips brother.

[@chordsoforion]

You are welcome!

[@planetpjr]

A no brainer: listen to every Allan Holdsworth record you can find.

[@laurena227]

This gives me the idea to put ambient effects over Steve Vai songs and play his stuff at half speed, i'm gonna give this a try.

[@forestoffrogs8117]

Listen to the sounds around you. Go outside and tune in to the cosmic song that is always playing

[@Eventual420]

Bill, Fishman Tripleplay and Spectrasonics software synths are another world of sounds, with the unique touch sensitivity that a guitar offers. Much better than plastic keys in my opinion. Thousands of patches that benefit well from all your favorite ambient effects like Reverbs and Delays.

[@chordsoforion]

I do think about getting back into guitar synths from time to time. Do you know if the TriplePlay would work on a baritone?

[@Eventual420]

Chords Of Orion Yes, I prefer to drop tune my guitar to drop C for the increased range, and the TP will register those low notes. The pickup is situated for 6 strings, ie 6 individual pole pieces. Its also wireless, convenient. Battery lasts a week, longer, unless you forget to turn it off, then its about 12hrs

[@lightnintrucker]

I got a suggestion for you Bill. Why don't ya do a post where ya play a country/bluegrass piece with ambient effects like delay and reverb. I got a new video I'm puttin' up tomorrow. I play an easy country chord progression on my 12 string guitar and I got some ambient effects runnin'. This is sort of an experimental piece where I lump country and ambience together. I suggest you try that too. And as always, keep up the good work!

[@davelanciani-dimaensionx]

Definitely listen to other styles of music that you may not even like. I tried listening to Deltron3030 (a rap/hip-hop project) and the beats inspired me to try to do my own version of hip-hop influenced synth-prog-rock that turned into my Dimaex5000 EP.

[@treyvisqueux7973]

Good tips, thanks Bill! What will you do when you find that bear?

[@chordsoforion]

I actually have seen several bears in this part of the forest. As a matter of fact, my wife saw a mother with 2 cubs just last week.

[@m10538]

Ask him if he wants to do a duet. Who knows, maybe he's a player.

[@mcfleury]

You wouldn't happen to be in British Columbia, Canada eh?

[@silvansky]

This video should be called "Improve ANYSTYLE Guitar Playing!" C'mon, these tips can improve your guitar playing in any style.

[@chordsoforion]

Of course!!!

[@robertbossart]

Use pedals and effects in an uncommon way …