I'm crap at guitar

Edukator – Reformed Troll

Edit: Most of the songs I play and sing only need four or five chords and variants thereof, seoamamh77

well that’s a fair point in itself. Not everyone needs to know loads of theory, if people are happy with the knowledge they have, all good. I’m just firing out concepts on the basis that the op was wondering how people can switch scales etc etc. theory is how. But there’s no necessity to learn it. Take what you need, discard the rest! 🙂

Though saying that, going on about 10th fret 1 pentatonic box 10-13, 10-12 etc etc is an incredible awkward way of communicating.

Well everyone I play with is French. Doh, Ré, gamme … etc. so my English musical vocab is generally passive.

Good thread this, thanks. I will come back to it.

molgrips – Member
Good thread this, thanks. I will come back to it.

phew, think I’ve ran out of things to waffle about anyhow! 😆

really useful stuff guys thanks – seosamh77 you are as big a theory nerd as me 🙂

Has anyone got any good tips on resources for specific guitar techniques and practice drills? I’m a sax player who has limited guitar skills but I need guidance on how to play scales/lead, I can play open chords/barre, rhythm etc from what I’ve applied from other instruments and theory knowledge – basically my fingers run out of talent past the basic stage !

welcome to my world.

have been trying to play guitar on and off for 25 years now but am still rubbish.

edhornby – Member
really useful stuff guys thanks – seosamh77 you are as big a theory nerd as me

Has anyone got any good tips on resources for specific guitar techniques and practice drills? I’m a sax player who has limited guitar skills but I need guidance on how to play scales/lead, I can play open chords/barre, rhythm etc from what I’ve applied from other instruments and theory knowledge – basically my fingers run out of talent past the basic stage !

Justin guitar is as good as anyone tbh.

Thing is I’ve never really followed any such course or anything, just always have guitars lying out in the living room right next to where I can pick it up and play what ever I feel like at the time. Which has always been more heavily based on just noodling about, hence my interest in theory. i’ve never had any set way to learn just whatever i’m interested in at the time and i’ve never really looked to one place either, i just google things as I find out about them.

Best advice, don’t put your guitars in cases, always leave them lying about within reach of whereever you are!

That’s basically my piano strategy at the moment, it sits in my living room, so I just switch on whenever i fancy a shot and do the first thing that comes to my head. Try and mix up whatever you are doing though, if you are struggling try something different, then go back to it. Practice in that sense isn’t linear. Doing something else and a wee break is actually helpful rather than obsessing over one thing.

Essentially learn through sheer brute force of persistence, hours and variety.

Yeah that’s alright unless you have family members in the house 🙂 Also, I’m too shy to let them listen to my crappy plinging.. that was always my problem practising. Less of a problem on an electric guitar than with a trombone mind.

This young lady’s rather good:

Essentially learn through sheer brute force of persistence

This ^^^

I’m too shy to let them listen to my crappy plinging

And they probably don’t want to listen to you practising either 😉

Its important to find a practise space where you can leave everything either set up or where it can be quickly set up so that when you have an hour spare you can get started with no messing about and make the most of it.

Ah Jess Greenberg. A lady of many talents just one of which is guitar 😀

Lisa X

Just while it’s in my head as well, another composition/arranging thought that was a bit of a eureka moment for me aswell (btw, i still don’t claim any greatness, any stuff I do is generally for my own entertainment and nothing more! 😆 )

Going back to what can you play over a Dm.

Say the guitar plays the Dm. If the Bass then plays a B under that, they the overall sound then changes to a Bm7b5 sound. The sum of the parts is important. The chord/sound isn’t just what one person plays it’s what everyone plays.

Other example probably easier to expand, if guitar plays a D chord, and the bass plays a B note, then the overall chord is Bm7. The lead can then play over that and take the chord in different directions too. ie, if they focus on the 9th, then the over all sound of the 3 instruments is actually a Bm9 sound. if they focus on the 11 the general sound would be off a Bm7add11 sound etc etc.

Obviously this has many applications but i guess I’m just mentioning it to show how malleable sound is, and thought it an interest point to share! 🙂

My path for what its worth

Bought an electric guitar no amp for 3 years

Spent 1 year pre internet just bagging around

took lessons with a heavy dose of theory for 3 years – practiced theory and drills every day for 30 minutes to an hour

I play guitar every day – not practice – just whatever is fun

never learnt a song and still don’t learn songs unless I need to play it in a band

normally I have a quick look at whatever song we have to learn on youtube, make a note of key and Nashville number chords

typically I have not played the song when I turn up but because I always play – my technique is good, my theory is good so I’m always streets ahead of everyone else while they bicker about the intro/key/feel blah blah

Ultimately now I have my own style that isn’t based on anyone else, I can copy any lick/chord/phrase/solo and more importantly invent something of the top of my head that will fit

So theory will unlock your brain, enjoy just playing your guitar at whatever level and play your own music

the biggest problem I find is people want to be/play like ‘insert name here’

Those name guitarists are typically complete guitar nerds and have been playing for decades – what make you think you can be like that in 5 years?

Copying note/chords is one thing but copying a feel or thought process is completely different

be yourself – you will be much happier in the long run

And then I wont have to play with somebody who can only sound like a really poor slash or gilmour…………………………………

Playing your own stuff is great, till you paly it to people who don’t know it, which they won’t. It’s amusing watching local bands, it’s only people that know them that get into it until they play something familiar. Even on a public park level where I play with a mate, if we play Chuck, Zep, Beatles, Téléphone, ZeeZee, Skynard, Jimmy Reed etc. people stop and listen, anything unknown they walk on by.

I went to see Michael Jones who played with Goldman. The audiance was pretty good and responded well to his personal repetoire, then he played a Goldman oldie and had everyone on their feet bopping.

Ah Jess Greenberg. A lady of many talents just one of which is guitar

Just a shame she can’t seem to draw people in without flashing her bits……or she’s perhaps a savvy evil genius

I’m a bassist of 30 year standing. The one thing that brought me on more than anything else was when I put the bass aside and started getting into electronic music production. This doesn’t have to be expensive something like Korg Gadet for iPad is great. It helps by teaching you about groove. There’s nothing moe important. Like Victor Wooten says ‘don’t lose the groove to find a note’.

I’ve been playing for 32 years, some of that professionaly, and I still get frustrated with my lack of progress. Problem is I can now sit and play (most days) and make a good noise, but don’t really have a direction.

I have overcome plateus in the past by changing things up entirely like throwing away my plectrums, switching to acoustic or learning a new style.

Aimed at the OP: If you hear music in your head, how about doing a bit of writing? I’ve dabled with instrumental guitar music, and had to learn how to play guitar parts I wrote but couldn’t play. This was the main driver for progression for a good few years.

Maybe it’s time to start up the forum jam again?
7 year old one HERE

^^^ interesting…

Thanks to this thread I’ve picked up my guitar again.

Couple of years ago had some lessons every other week and playing and understanding came on pretty well.

Also learnt some chords when at school and tried to play like xxx.

Fast forward to lessons and I decided to just be able to noodle and not learn any songs.

If I want to learn a so g I get the tab. Most of the time j just muck about

Biggest tip was using backing tracks to play against. Also pentatonic and blues scales are the only two I know. But could work out others at a push.

Also found a ditto pedal really helped. To look my own backing to then solo over the top.

Have fun!

let see us all playing – for a laugh

Ah no.

molgrips – Member
Ah no.

Then we can realise you’ve been secretly bullshitting us all along and are probably better than any of us! 😆

nice one plumber

I wish that were the case!

I went to school with the best guitarist I know, who’s a bit of a name on the world stage now.

Him and his bro spent hours listening to favourite songs, then working out the chords and stuff, and then practising them til perfect.

I was about to start a thread but found thisun. Like many here I started playing decades ago but never really progressed beyond playing in crappy punk bands, moved abroad, gave guitar to b-i-l to look after for 10 years (!) and recently got it back, popped on new strings, and here I am wondering what to play.

I’d like to have a go at finger picking but my right hand tells me it’s impossible to learn. Where do I start? Any good books, youtubers, etc. you could recommend? I’m thinking along the lines of early blues and/or slide, Son House up to CW Stoneking. Might even buy a little parlour guitar to encourage me to keep at it.

Definitely Youtube, there are plenty of bedroom experts on there that will show you how/what to..

Just search for your style and about 1m vids come up 😀

I’d like to have a go at finger picking but my right hand tells me it’s impossible to learn. Where do I start?

Its not impossible its just bloody difficult to start with. If you want to do stuff with alternating base lines like ragtime blues or the Chet Atkins/Tommy Emmanuel “boom-chick” style to have to get to the place where your thumb can churn out the base lines independent of what your other fingers are doing. Think of it like patting your head with one hand and rubbing your stomach with the other only on steroids.There’s no short cut to achieving this just practice and practice till it clicks.

I’d say start off learning some country/delta blues where you just have to thump away on the E or A string then move onto alternating base lines. I can recommend Tommy Emmanuel’s Fingerstyle Milestones or Muriel Anderson’s Fingerstyle Essentials on Truefire and also Toby Walker’s courses are good.

its just bloody difficult to start with

You’re not kidding. I’ve spent a couple of hours on this tune (seemed an easy one to start with) and I’m not even close to nailing it.

Thanks for the recommendations, I’ll get cracking on them.

Just two hours! I’ve been practicing “Windy and Warm” on and off for the last three years and its only now I reckon I’ve got it down well enough to record it. Here’s Tommy doing it properly

I’m partly bookmarking and partly saying: Amateurs! I’ve a fender Princeton reverb 12W amp, a hotrod vintage 52 Tele, a US hss strat (with the scratchplate swapped out with a prewired bareknuckles job), a MIJ Tokai Les Paul copy with upgraded caps and bkp mules, oh and three other guitars out on semi-permanent loan. And, yup, I’m still crap… But you can hear each note in beautiful clarity… 😆

Here you go, Plumber. Normally played with a mate on rhythm guitar and a beat box. Here on my own so I can’t use the time he’s on lead to press the buttons, just me and my guitar then.

This is one of mine

Here’s some racket/noodling I did about a year and a half ago or something, I’;ve nothing more recent. This was really just a bit of an investigation into getting the modes at this point, and to get to understand how abelton works(I hadn’t long bought it). From this point I deliberately decided to stop recording stuff and to increase my theory knowledge and playing a bit more.

I actually think it’s time I started putting stuff down again, see much I’ve progressed, if any! (I understand the mechanics better now, whether that translates to music is a whole other story! 😆 It’s just a hobby after all, so whether it does or doesn’t is unimportant. )

it’s interesting putting stuff down, yer respect for other musicians increases exponentially!

Edukator – Reformed Troll

linky no worky.

Ta, and now?

aye working now. 🙂

I reckon I could handle Ed’s tune. Not guitarhero’s though without a lot of practice. Probably some of seosamh’s.

Don’t be shy now, lets hear! 🙂