Improving at guitar playing

[pano amo]

I've been playing my accustic guitar for over a year now but not consistently. I can play most a,c,d,e,g and the odd f and b chord which covers a surprisingly large number of songs but I'm not really advancing. I probably know the answer coming but how can I move on, take it to the next level? I struggle with stretching to some chords and don't really experiment with the rest of the fret board. I love blues music esp chicago, bluegrass and I would love to be able to move on to stuff like this but I appreciate this is a lot more technical. Is it just a case of practice and more practice? Will lessons really make much difference? They seem expensive. Any advice welcome. Btw, I'm left-handed (and sticking with it!)

[ShadownINja]

With music, you just have to keep practising and experimenting, I find. Listen to what you want to play and try to emulate it. If you stop for any length of time, your "skill" disappears. The more you do it, the less you have to think and the quicker your hands can move to form the chords and hit the right notes. Lessons can help if you find a teacher who doesn't just teach traditional stuff for exams. If I recall correctly, I think Slash started with an acoustic that had one or two strings missing but just tried to play like his idols... I'd love to be able to play like him but I lack the motivation to do guitar karaoke these days using backing CDs from Total Guitar (did learn half of Sweet Child O' Mine but started feeling a bit silly doing it).

I'd love to play like that guy called "Merton" on youtube who does the piano improv stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTwJetox_tU . However, when I muck about on the piano, it all ends up a bit Enya... but maybe that's just my soul expressing itself. No, I don't mean I'm a homo.

Edited by ShadownINja on Sunday 21st November 11:33

[Nimbus]

pano amo said:

I've been playing my accustic guitar for over a year now but not consistently. I can play most a,c,d,e,g and the odd f and b chord which covers a surprisingly large number of songs but I'm not really advancing. I probably know the answer coming but how can I move on, take it to the next level? I struggle with stretching to some chords and don't really experiment with the rest of the fret board. I love blues music esp chicago, bluegrass and I would love to be able to move on to stuff like this but I appreciate this is a lot more technical. Is it just a case of practice and more practice? Will lessons really make much difference? They seem expensive. Any advice welcome. Btw, I'm left-handed (and sticking with it!)

I'd suggest you follow some kind of structured lesson plan, a la justin guitar..

http://www.justinguitar.com/en/BC-000-BeginnersCou...

yes... you'll be repeating stuff, but you'll also get a proper grounding, and a better idea of where and how to move on to next..

He does other follow on courses, which specialise in blues, rhythm etc and is about to release an 'intermediate' level course.

not much point in paying for lessons unless you know which direction and how you want to go to it really, as most teachers are focussed at the 'beginner' end..

However, ultimately, you already know the answer.... its practice you just need to change your view so that you see practice as something enjoyable, rather than a chore...

[GetCarter]

Rule 1

DO NOT play the chord 'E maj' with fingers 1,2 & 3 (anyone teaching this method should be shot immediately with no trial).

Play it with fingers 2, 3 & 4

This frees up your index finger.

Now... slide your E chord up one fret, and use your index finger as a bar behind the first fret. You are now playing 'F maj'

Take off finger 2 and you are playing 'F minor'

Take off finger 3 and you are playing 'F minor 7'

Put back finger 2 and you are playing 'F 7'

By sliding the same shape(s) up and down the neck of the guitar you have just learnt 48 chords in as long as it took to read this post.

It takes a while to get strength in the index finger - but it's well worth the effort. (top tip, your left arm should be at right angles to the neck of the guitar* - This makes 'bar chords' much easier).

• (assuming you are right handed)

HTH

Edited by GetCarter on Sunday 21st November 14:26

[ShadownINja]

Genius! You should get into professional music. Oh, wait...

[audidoody]

Learn octave scales. They will unlock the doors to your musical kingdom.

Practise them until you're not thinking about what your fingers are doing.

There's no short cut to practise, practise, practise.

[obscene]

GetCarter said:

Rule 1

DO NOT play the chord 'E maj' with fingers 1,2 & 3 (anyone teaching this method should be shot immediately with no trial).

Edited by GetCarter on Sunday 21st November 14:26

WHAT !? I disagree as you can see but I chop and change depending on chords and when/how they are played.

[Pothole]

practiCe

[GetCarter]

obscene said:

GetCarter said:

Rule 1

DO NOT play the chord 'E maj' with fingers 1,2 & 3 (anyone teaching this method should be shot immediately with no trial).

Edited by GetCarter on Sunday 21st November 14:26

WHAT !? I disagree as you can see but I chop and change depending on chords and when/how they are played.

Learning 234 not 123 it only takes half an hour to learn 48 chords. (then a shed load of practice of course). The thing is, I know so many people who play the guitar and get stuck at exactly the same place that the OP has. Being encouraged to go up the neck rather than across it, though harder to begin with will open up far more doors. Open G and daft F chords are a right pain as they stunt understanding. How many beginners move any further up than the 4th fret?

Don't get me wrong, if I pick up a guitar and play an E maj I'd play using fingers 123, but it's not how you play E it's how you play Bb!

I could get the OP to play me a G#min7 (unaided) in less than 5 minutes.

Edited by GetCarter on Monday 22 November 08:06

[pano amo]

er, now I don't know who to believe But thanks anyway. I'll give everything a try.

Thanks Nimbus for that link, have already been using since yesterday.

[GetCarter]

If you only learn one new shape... make it this one (index finger is the bar - strings 1, 5 & 6 - It can be used on any fret to play every major chord)



Then take finger two off and you have every minor chord.

That's 24!

[Elderly]

pano amo said:

er, now I don't know who to believe But thanks anyway. I'll give everything a try.

Persist with Get's way; it will make life easier in the end.

My first guitar teacher, an associate of Segovia for a time, told me that
in some of the Segovia Editions of guitar music, he sometimes fingered them in
a manner which made them harder to play than they actually were.
She said that his motive was to make him appear an even more proficient player
than he was .

[Gaspode]

As others have said, practice. Some people reckon you need all the scales in all the positions. I get by with G, A, D, E, & C in the 1st and 4th position, plus their relative Minor pentatonics. Anything else I just wing it (or bung on a capo)

No harm in brushing up your music theory, especially regarding the use of modes. Then you'll find it an awful lot easier to figure out what people are playing. Bluegrass, for example, uses Dorian mode a lot, whereas lot of rock and folk music uses Myxolydian mode.

So if you're listening to a bit of Bluegrass and they seem to be using D as a root note, but it doesn't seem to be in the key of D, you'll quickly spot that it's probably the Dorian mode of C and you can warble around it using an Am Pentatonic.

If the theory side doesn't get your juices flowing, how about improving your right hand techniques with a bit of fingerpicking?

[kiteless]

GetCarter said:

If you only learn one new shape... make it this one (index finger is the bar - strings 1, 5 & 6 - It can be used on any fret to play every major chord)



Then take finger two off and you have every minor chord.

That's 24!

Excellent advice.

Once I got the hang of the barre chord, the guitar world (well, some of it anyway) was my oyster.

Also, OP, if you like the blues (I moved on from Spanish classical to Chicago blues early on) then get to grips with the minor pentatonic scale. It's a piece of piss to learn, and is the foundation for every great rock / blues solo invented.

[Alfanatic]

Nimbus said:

pano amo said:

I've been playing my accustic guitar for over a year now but not consistently. I can play most a,c,d,e,g and the odd f and b chord which covers a surprisingly large number of songs but I'm not really advancing. I probably know the answer coming but how can I move on, take it to the next level? I struggle with stretching to some chords and don't really experiment with the rest of the fret board. I love blues music esp chicago, bluegrass and I would love to be able to move on to stuff like this but I appreciate this is a lot more technical. Is it just a case of practice and more practice? Will lessons really make much difference? They seem expensive. Any advice welcome. Btw, I'm left-handed (and sticking with it!)

I'd suggest you follow some kind of structured lesson plan, a la justin guitar..

http://www.justinguitar.com/en/BC-000-BeginnersCou...

yes... you'll be repeating stuff, but you'll also get a proper grounding, and a better idea of where and how to move on to next..

He does other follow on courses, which specialise in blues, rhythm etc and is about to release an 'intermediate' level course.

not much point in paying for lessons unless you know which direction and how you want to go to it really, as most teachers are focussed at the 'beginner' end..

However, ultimately, you already know the answer.... its practice you just need to change your view so that you see practice as something enjoyable, rather than a chore...

Seconded. Also for blues, knowing the minor pentatonic scale is just a bit useful and just completely opens doors. Justinguitar's blues solo series is a really simple and intuitive way to learn blues scales and licks, though the high number of full tone bends make the licks more suited to electric guitar. But if you get that scale and the idea of the licks down you'll be improvising along to your favourite blues tracks in weeks. His lessons also make practising less of a chore because he shows you how to use what you're learning so the potential benefits are often immediately clear, which makes practice more enjoyable and rewarding.

And try to play every day. Apparently half an hour a day is better than an hour every second day.

[audidoody]

Pothole said:

practiCe

Doctors practiSe (verb) medicine at their practiCe (noun)

Anyway, just practiSe and one day you'll be as good as this guy:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12aQPOCtw0c

Edited by audidoody on Thursday 25th November 22:05

[obscene]

GetCarter said:

obscene said:

GetCarter said:

Rule 1

DO NOT play the chord 'E maj' with fingers 1,2 & 3 (anyone teaching this method should be shot immediately with no trial).

Edited by GetCarter on Sunday 21st November 14:26

WHAT !? I disagree as you can see but I chop and change depending on chords and when/how they are played.

Learning 234 not 123 it only takes half an hour to learn 48 chords. (then a shed load of practice of course). The thing is, I know so many people who play the guitar and get stuck at exactly the same place that the OP has. Being encouraged to go up the neck rather than across it, though harder to begin with will open up far more doors. Open G and daft F chords are a right pain as they stunt understanding. How many beginners move any further up than the 4th fret?

Don't get me wrong, if I pick up a guitar and play an E maj I'd play using fingers 123, but it's not how you play E it's how you play Bb!

I could get the OP to play me a G#min7 (unaided) in less than 5 minutes.

Edited by GetCarter on Monday 22 November 08:06

Oh, I agree completely. Maybe they just have crap teachers? I always try to teach them E (1,2,3) but then explain the shape can be moved up the neck using the first finger to barre, same with the A chord etc. and make sure they learn the root notes and note names. Again, seems to be a teacher issue if they give up/get stuck.

[davepoth]

The E thing does make a lot more sense to learn 234 in the first instance to make the basic barre chords easier. But there are times when fingering it "wrong" is better for a song. Best to learn the right way first though.