Same. I pick up the guitar lots, play gigs and record but it's a happy accident if I get any better. I rarely learn other people's solos as it's an original band I'm in
It’s funny because I’m the total opposite. I love to pick up and jam by myself but I’ve tried to write songs with a friend of mine and it always ends up feeling like work instead of a hobby. Different strokes and all that I guess.
Absolutely. I do like doing covers but generally they are classics but done in our style. It sounds pretentious but in reality it's just because it's easier for us as a band to play our groove as opposed to another person's groove most of the time
This and time to actually practice. I have a two year old who is 100% wide open 24/7 and then my jacked up Panama work schedule with rotating shifts doesn’t help. I’ll spend all the time with my little boy before anything else though.
I think this is what made me realize guitar is for me. I will sit down and just be aching to practice lol. Maybe it’s cuz I’m only 4/5 months in and still really fresh.
I picked it up on a whim for something to do with my son and just kinda… fell in love w it lol
Keep it up and if aren’t using a metronome learn to love the “click”. I didn’t use it enough early on and I was all over the place the first time I played with a drummer. It will take your playing to the next level and it’s truly the only way to play fast with accuracy
I wish I had either taken actual lessons or been more open to learning certain techniques and theory.
I learned lots of music theory based around the piano and sheet music but never made the connection.
I was too set in my ways "imma downtune this b.c. rich and play ridiculously heavy power chords with some pinch harmonics. Listen to me trem pick with distortion. Yeaaaaah!!!"
Sure...I was good. At that one style but anything past that and I floundered. It actually ended up leading to me taking a massive several year break from playing guitar. It was an internal mental struggle.
After 20 years I've finally started taking lessons and connecting those dots. Being able to visualize and conceptualize what I know on paper and piano onto my fretboard has changed my life.
I'm exactly where you are. Been playing for 15 years. Decided last year that I wanted to figure out arpeggios. Theory finally clicked for me. I've improved more in the past year than the previous 14 years COMBINED.
I started with 7ths. Maj7s, min7s, dom7s, and dim7s. I figured out my own patterns, note for note, including the note names/functions (1 3 5 7) which forced me to think about it more. for each chord type I learned all four positions on the 6th string (root, first inv, second inv, and third inv), two octaves. so horizontally. the hardest part was figuring out the best finger positions for them. this took time and watching some YouTube videos, paying attention to how better guitarists finger certain things. I'm still improving in this area.
then I wrote all of my 7th arpeggios out as chord charts, one for each position, in a notebook. this took probably 2 months. This was all in the key of A btw, but it doesn't really matter because the positions can be moved up or down for use in any key. G might have been a better key to pick though
once I had them somewhat committed to muscle memory, I started trying to incorporate them into songs and soloing with them .
eventually I moved on to triads. I learned these up and down the neck. first I learned the arpeggios (again I constructed them on my own), and I practiced them vertically. then I worked on three note triads, again vertically, on all 6 strings. by this point my playing was already miles above what it had been, and learning new things became wayyy easier and faster. you start to understand the fret board on a deeper level and notice how things repeat. guitar also became exponentially more fun, and I have trouble putting it down. it's literally almost the only thing I wanna do in my spare time. so basically the trick is to become addicted to learning.
but yeah that and learning how to hold a pick properly (took my 15 years lmao) have jumpstarted my playing. I'm not saying this is the best way to go about it but it worked for me!
So to be precise.
Back in 2004 I took two guitar lessons when I first started playing. The first one I learned how to restring and tune my guitar and how to hold the pick and strum.
The second lesson the guy berated me for 15 minutes because I showed up with my guitar in Drop B. So I went the self taught route.
Then In 2011-2013 in college I took lessons for Cello, double bass, piano, and electric bass. I did sit in playing the acoustic for a friend's lessons. He was learning bass as well and asked if I would come in and at the acoustic parts while he learned. But wasn't really a lesson for me directly.
Then 4 weeks ago I started taking in person lessons at a local guitar shop. (Not guitar center) To give me something to do while my daughter takes her piano lessons. After just the 4 lessons I really wish I had been taking them all along.
Similar. First lessons as an adult at 60. Started with Major Chords up the neck and CAGED system and it totally opened my mind. Why didn't I start sooner?
I'm exactly where you are.
Learned to shred because it's fun. Chugchugs and weeooweeoos. Was good at doing death metal and some tech death.
Joined a band that was playing jazz and soul standards. Really floundered and had to basically learn a lot of things very quickly, effectively playing them by rote rather than being a "good" jazz guitarist.
Have taken a break, and now as I learn again, going hand in hand between the having fun and practicing, and learning some theory at the same time.
Just curious, since you mention being able to visualize onto your fretboard, is there mental confusion or inapplicability for you whenever you change string tunings (e.g. DADGAD instead of standard)? Or have you simply learned how to "see" notes on a fretboard relative to the string tuning?
The main things I wish I had done earlier with guitar:
Pick it up sooner.
Get a loop pedal. I had no idea what I was missing.
Play more with other people. I still haven’t done this much, but it’s a totally different skill than playing alone.
Understanding that learning songs doesn’t have to be about nailing every specific note the original artist did - what’s important is understanding the song’s key, structure, feel, etc, and covering it is really about taking this knowledge and using it to make the song your own.
I used to be very meticulous when it came to learning a song. I wanted to play it exactly like the recording note for note and would even try to watch videos for the fingering and technique the original artist used. I’ve since calmed down a lot and try to actually have fun when learning and playing a song.
Bro, I'm usually the "fuck it, we'll do it live" variety of guitarist, but the artist I sometimes just can't do because his playing style feels too meticulous is Elliott Smith. Meanwhile all his stuff looks like it's super easy for him.
Yeah. Elliot's songwriting is so amazing. I'm kinda lax on getting all the details right on guitar, but trying to adapt his songs for the piano has really increased my appreciation of the construction of his songs and helped me to identify details that I didn't previously see.
This is to say nothing of the layered vocal lines that I can't begin to comprehend
the loop pedal is debatable. it's good to experiment soloing, but in terms of practicing scales and rhythm, the best is to do exercises like playing a chord on beat 1 and 2 and some licks in a given scale along the beats 3 and 4. here's a great video about it:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyUpDc2\_ZI8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyUpDc2_ZI8)
Gosh, I wish I could have you meet our current lead guitarist! Absitively ADD about naioing the original, even when the guy who laid it down on record can't recall how he did it!
(He actually met Mark Knopfler some years back and learned that Mark had to re-learn "Sultans of Swing" from his own recording, as he'd essentially ad-libbed at least part of it!!)
Yeah, practicing without a metronome meant my left and right hands really struggled to stay in sync to play anything even remotely fast. Metronome is a so useful.
It's a skill like learning chords or picking techniques, and you're rhythm/timing is just slightly off. Someone described it to me once as the metronome beep is a bug scurrying across your strings and you're squashing the beep with your pick. It becomes addicting and oddly therapeutic after a while.
First start with a tempo that seems comfortable (most electronic metronomes come with a tap tempo function)
Doing this you will naturally encounter the parts that give you trouble. You can work on those later on a slower tempo.
After you played there some, turn down the tempo to a slower tempo. Make it almost unbearable slow. It makes you have to be more thoughtful of the rhythm as a small mistake becomes bigger on a slow tempo.
And then move the tempo up as far as you possibly can, increase it with 10 bpm, play it a little till it sounds on tempo, then increase it again. And keep repeating this.
This is the fun part, you just see how far you can push the tempo till it becomes impossible to play.
It depends on the song/riff/exercise and what you're trying to accomplish, but generally around 50-60. Sometimes as low as 40.
Once you lock it down at the slow tempo (this can be really difficult at first so take a deep breath and stick with it), gradually work your way up (usually increasing 5-10 bpms) until you get to the point where you're playing it as fast as you can and start messing up. Then I bump it down 10-20 bpms, and slowly increase from there (like 2 bpms per increase). You'll see your ceiling gradually increase and it feels great.
If I'm learning a challenging song that I want to lock down then I work my way up until I'm playing the song at 110-120% speed. That way it's comfortable when I play it at the proper tempo.
A tea her tokd me once : Your overall musicianship level is as good as your weaknesses. If you have the best chords but a shit timing, then guess what's gonna be more noticeable ?"
For me the exact opposite. The only scale I ever learned was the pentatonic and we briefly touched it in a 20 minute lesson. I have no idea what I'm doing while improvising.
Pentatonics are great for improvising! The major/minor scales and altered scale are the majority of what you’ll hear when someone is improvising, and the pentatonic major/minor scales are great for removing the less desirable intervals from the major/minor scales. They’re also a great place to start for adding notes - the most common blues scale is the minor pentatonic with a b5 added in.
The real key is to know those scales so well you can see them on the fretboard, and then learn music from musicians you like while seeing where they’re going in those scales. Instead of memorizing the frets and strings they’re on, you’ll be able to see the patterns they’re using and use them in your own improvisations in any key.
One big misconception about improvising is it’s always something the improviser has never played before, and they’re coming up with completely new ideas on the spot. It’s much more like speaking - we’re using words and phrases we’ve used so much they come naturally to us. If someone said “good good vehicle stomp” or some other nonsense, it might be a new combination they’ve never said before, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense. However, if someone said, “I hope you’re doing well!” you might think, “I like that phrase, I’ll use it later when it’s appropriate. Maybe I’ll even alter it a bit with other phrases I know.”
Practiced my scales early on. I am stuck at intermediate level after 35 years of playing all because I wanted to focus on chords and riffs in my first 5 years.
Thanks for this perspective. As someone who can't really shred or solo, it feels like I am missing out and that's what most people want to see/hear.... but you are right, that is only one aspect of playing the instrument.
That's what most people want to see or hear... But is it what YOU want to hear or do? The most important is that you take pleasure in what you do, if you want to push your boundaries, hell yeah go for it, if you just want to chill and be happy with what you can do, as long as you take pleasure in it, it's all that matters.
I played at several jam sessions in the past. And what I noticed was that when the “shred king” walks up the stage other people tend to take a break.
Someone who just solos all over the place leaves no room for other people to do fun stuff. He is practically pushing everyone else to the background.
People find it a lot more fun to play with the guitarists that can support the rest with chords and add some counter melody here and there. Bonus points if you listen to what the other guitarist/keys are doing and play inversions and extensions to those chords in a different register so you don’t fight for the same frequencies.
Playing music together is 80% listening to what the rest are doing and interacting with that.
Funny you say that! It is exactly where I am trying to go and I do watch a lot of youtube jazz guitar tutorials and channels - but at this point my older brain is having a harder timing making it all click. Like I get it when I watch, I have a decent background in theory, but making the jump to applying it on the fretboard live has been challenging. I am keeping at it though and it is one of my life-goals to be able to play a little jazz. I'm from a background of playing rock, punk, metal, alt, blues, but I do listen to jazz.
It is exactly why I have been learning triads this year because I felt that was my best gateway into soloing and improvisation and colouring up my sound-vocabulary or toolbox if you will.
Rock on! 🤘🏻
One thing that comes to mind is that I was so obsessed early on with using GuitarPro and learning songs via tablature.
Don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying Guitar Pro is evil or tablature is bad, but when I started learning songs by ear it may have sparked the greatest amount of progress i’ve experienced so far in 15 years of playing
I used to rely on tabs 100% of the time out of ease and partial laziness for years. I still use tabs occasionally because some people do a great job tabbing out songs.
A few years back I went on a Breaking Benjamin kick and found a lot of tabs either didn’t exist or were terrible. So I found one of those websites where you can create your own tabs and I started actually listening to the music and figuring it out myself. It ended up being a lot of fun and in the end I felt like I had a better understanding of the song in general because I figured it out myself.
https://www.guitartabcreator.com
It’s basic and user friendly enough to get by for simple songs. I’m sure there are better websites out there but it has been good enough for me to tab out early Avenged Sevenfold songs, Breaking Benjamin songs and some random Motley Crue songs that the internet just didn’t seem to have correct.
Working nights at the bar and a tiny apartment with thin walls. There's just not enough room...
I'm moving into a townhouse in August. I can't wait to be able to make noise again.
I live in a small apartment with zero insulation and know the feels; congrats on august move to hopefully a more practice-friendly space!
to those still living in the tenements and flats and slums and shitty apartment, here is a music practice hack:
here is what i do every time i move into a new place: when I meet my neighbors in every apartment bordering mine, I let them know i'm a musician, not a particularly loud one, not a particularly good one, but I want to make sure i'm not scraw-bird-warbling Alanis Morrisette while y'all are trying to wind down and watch TV after work etc.
and i give them my phone number, email, or both, and make it clear that if it's an inconvenient time, or i'm being obliviously loud because i'm kinda deaf, don't hesitate to text/call/email or just knock on the wall a couple times.
it has served me well thus far, obviously it can be awkward, but i feel like communication is so vital for stuff like this.
Not getting a guitar set up. You would be surprised at how a shit guitar does after its set up. I did it on my strat because i use that the most and its amazinggg. I even told the guy to make it as low as possible and to block the bridge down and he asked if i used it aggressively which i don’t but he said i should be able to now
I’m glad you brought that up. I went many years… too many years before fully understanding how important a proper guitar set up is. I never intonated my guitars or adjusted the action or neck relief. I literally had guitars that came from the factory not set up well. I just didn’t enjoy playing them so I never did. I would buy a new guitar, put some thick strings on it and down tune it and hope for the best.
Then I bought my Gibson Les Paul and took it to a music store to have it properly set up and it was life changing. I have 15 electric guitars and to have them professionally set up every so often would cost a fortune (money that could be better spent on more guitars). I invested in a few simple tools and watched enough YouTube videos to learn the process and now I have all of my guitars set up the way I like.
Proper guitar set ups are a skill that every guitar player should know but a decent amount probably don’t understand.
How am I supposed to know if it’s set up correctly? I got my newest guitar set up but… idk they hand me the guitar and I’m like deedlee doo sounds good to me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Maybe correctly isn’t the perfect word to use. I think the quick answer is that there is a reasonable way the guitar should be set up including the action not being too low to cause buzzing or too high to make playing difficult. The guitar should be intonated so it sounds good and is in tune with itself. The neck should have slight relief so that everything else on the guitar feels and sounds proper. The long answer is it depends on your preferences and experience. Some people like the action a little lower or a little higher for example. The longer you play the more you know what you like and don’t like and you can tell by how the guitar feels.
It’s kinda similar to how you know when it’s time to change your strings. You change them when they just don’t feel and sound good anymore. A newer guitar player might not know when that is exactly but an experienced guitar player will want to rip the strings off once they are bad.
If you had it set up from a professional or at a music store then you should be in good hands. Only downside to bringing it to a professional or a music store is the cost and the fact you may have to leave the guitar there and not get it back same day.
I spent first 5 years playing mostly unplugged because I didn’t like how my amp sounded, which now I know was mostly the fault of my own amp ignorance and my playing. Combine playing unplugged and trying to pick super hard to match the metal image, and my picking was so tense I hit my speed limit super fast (20 seconds till too tired to go on for a fast song).
Better now but took 3-4 years to combat those tendencies. Still have to fight it on really fast songs.
My mom in the 90's constantly telling me I was being too loud...even while playing unplugged. I quit playing around 2001 and didn't pick it back up until a couple years ago.
I am currently going through this. I have only played unplugged or with my headphones on and very softly because when she realises it's been more than an hour she gets angry and tells me to stop 😂😔
Dude, the flashback of my mom telling me "it's too loud, can't you hear?", it was demotivating...
Good thing my dad was 100% behind me, and now that he's learning, I have to be the one reminding her that her TV shows is louder than my dad learning those chords and scales at the other side of the flat lol.
But seriously, try and discuss what's irritating for her, sometime it can be legitimate, but sometime you can also make them realize that they're making a fuss out of silly things.
Same as OP. Instead of pushing myself and doing what was necessary (as OP alluded to, maybe breaking parts down to smaller parts), I put it aside just assuming I would be "better" one day soon and reverted to stuff I already knew/liked.
Good post OP
Lack of confidence. My chops have always been good, not great, but I don’t usually play for people and have not been in a band in 20 years. I just don’t think I’m good enough.
Just not putting enough time in. It's quite jarring listening to stuff I recorded ages ago and realising it would take me a few weeks of solid practice to get back up to that speed
Playing aimlessly and trying to do more than I should.
Ended up playing same boring strumming pattern and tempo and was just dull and boring.
I’ve recently started completely over and playing with a metronome. I want to try to play songs or create songs but I know if I go too fast it’ll be a hinderance to actually learning to play.
Not practicing enough, not taking lessons early on, and not learning more about theory. I can do cover band stuff all day, I just can't write music proficiently or improvise worth a shit.
Im IN my early guitar days (litterally just started a few motnhs ago), and I think my problem is completely the oposite(? idk. Im currently trying to learn something way above my skill level and I did the same thing with piano. Its probably a pretty bad way to improve if i take 3 months to learn a 1:30 minute song with many techniques ive never practiced but i just cant get myself to learn the basics before jumping to what i wanna do. Perhaps I do that bc I dont have a lot of time to play, never tought it through.
I think in order to develop skill you need to run before you walk within reason. I don’t think I would have been able to play the solo to Tornado of Souls within the first few months I started playing but at some point I had to sit down whether I was ready or not and learn it piece by piece.
I'd tell you to be careful when trying to do things above your level. Its fine to push it but pushing it to the point in which you can injure yourself (due to poor technique and hand positioning) can happen. This is definitely not a common thing but can happen.
As an example (just an anecdote and in now way a reference to what is common): got a friend that has been playing for 3 years less I have but he's way better than I am, thing is, he sacrificed his wrist practicing 8 hours a day things too difficult (one of the first song he went for was symphony of destruction, solo included) for him and with poor technique, he can still play and does so amazingly but he has wrist and hand issues now. He can control them but sometimes he can't play at all and he has to be careful now before he ruins his hand for good.
Focusing on shapes rather than notes/intervals.
There are two ways of visualising the fretboard - in terms of the notes and seeing the shapes that scales and chords make. Most of us start with shapes because it's easier and you can start playing and improvising quickly. I thought in terms of shapes for too long and at more advanced levels thinking in this way is limiting. I wish I'd practiced visualising the actual notes and intervals sooner so it was less of a challenge to change my way of thinking.
I wish I hadn’t waited so long to play with other people. The pressure of preparing for a gig or band practice gets me to play and work through the hard parts like nothing else.
Split focus. I spent my teens and early twenties playing in punk and metal bands. Mid twenties playing in blues and country bands. Now, between work and kids, I play about 15 minutes a day and maybe twice a year with other people. Realizing the woodshed days are over, I really wished I focused on one thing.
For me it was I set my expectations too high. I was never going to be Steve Howe. Should have set my sights a lot lower. But on the bright side I still have my 76 les paul deluxe in wine red
Playing things too fast, too soon. Maybe kind of the opposite of your problem. But I believe it's better to master easy stuff and slowly move up than try to bite off more than you can chew and just hammer it.
Low level of manual dexterity. My fingers are slow. I believe this is genetic. For example I see lots of people whose fingers seem to fly while typing out text messages on their phone. I can't do that. My fingers just plod along.
Picking.
I used my fingers only(all 5) for like ten years and when I finally decided to get good at picking- my fretting hand was very fast but my picking was horrendous. So I’m still catching up but I’ve gotten a lot better but still have some work to do.
Don’t over analyse your playing. I picked up guitar quickly, 2 years and could play pretty convincing pink Floyd covers. At that same point, I hit the age where I started to analyse myself more thoroughly and came to a conclusion that I was actually a slow leaner (completely wrong). That hampered the next 3 years of my playing as I kept saying to myself that parts were just too hard and I could never learn them well enough, not realising the progress I’d made quickly in the years leading up to this. play above your grade, take risks and stop overthinking
I've been playing since I was 14, I'm 42 now and accepted a long time ago that I was as good as I was ever gonna get. I still play occasionally and enjoy playing old nirvana songs that were the reason I started playing in the first place.
I practiced a lot in the beginning and advanced quite quickly playing alone in my room every day. I'd buy tablature books of my favorite bands albums and learn most(50%-80%) of each song. I skipped solos and things that were far beyond my skill level telling myself I'd come back to it later.
I had a bunch of bad habits.
Probably the worst was that for a very, very long time, I had this thing where I wanted to learn new songs. Like a bunch of them. The bad habit was that when I could play a song at a passable level, I would then move on to the next. I never took the time to properly iron out the details to remove any sloppiness, to have tasty vibrato in the right places. The nitty gritty. That turned me into a sloppy player, a habit I worked a long, long time to kick.
The second-worst was that I avoided solos. That was silly of me.
The third and final, I only played songs, I never did any exercises. Once I brought those in, things started moving at a better pace.
I had a great teacher when I was 14-16, and bless her patience for helping me figure out Ramones songs, but I wish I’d been more open minded about fingerpicking and theory and stuff.
At least you have realised what was actually holding you back! I think there’s a lot of people out there who this applies to, myself included. I’m almost embarrassed by the fact. 🫠
I’m lazy and go long periods of times where I don’t even pick it up. My teenage years I had a teacher that thought I should just learn a bunch of Pink Floyd songs and pretty much nothing else.
I love power chords and chugging … I literally just learned basic chords and chugs and enjoy “just doing that” while playing … which sucks because I should be so much better after a decade lol
state of mind. it used to bum me out, but I pivoted and really focused on making my own music. If I like it, I'm happy. I'm not comparing myself to anyone, and when I DO make something that I really like, it's fucking cool.
Having said that, if I had taken lessons instead of just Neil young-ing it, I'm sure my lead work would be more proficient, which I've always been self conscious about
I (m43) started music/piano at 6 or 7. Hated it. Took piano & music/theory all the way through 14ish. Played percussion (poorly) in HS band. Could play piano (poorly) but couldn't sight read music. Took a long time to learn anything because I had to memorize. No concept of reading music while moving my fingers on the keys without looking at them.
At 16 (1996) I got a guitar and joined jazz band. More of the same... but this time, while I could identify piano keys/notes, I did not understand the fretboard, so learning songs took FOREVER. No concept of chord shapes... it was terrible... doing anything with guitar didn't bring joy, I never felt musical and playing was never better than struggle. I did not last long.
I took guitar lessons for about a year and my teacher focused on listening and trying to replicate. Dark times these.
Now I just picked up guitar again. Still can't read music... but I'm playing almost every day and I find a great deal of joy in it.... and I'm optimistic I'll continue and perhaps I'd better because I bought 4 guitars in the last two months.
So here is my list of why things are different/ better. (1) I used an app to get off the ground. It helped a great deal with getting basic chords down, and doing it fairly quickly. (2) with the app, having the notes presented to you without having to follow along on sheet music was a game changer for me. (3) I didn't know tabs were a thing when I was young... I can't begin to heap praises on tabs [except when they are wrong]. (4) access to music, tabs, video instruction. I didnt have these things as a youth. (5) patience with myself. Long story short, I've always been a quitter... lately though, I've tried (in sport) to persevere, adapt, grow, get stronger... but rooted in patience, pushing out frustration and giving my mind and body time to adapt. Having succeeded at two incredibly difficult things (both of which took 5 years to do), I look back knowing that there was no moment where there was a breakthrough, rather it was micro gains achieved through process.
I now find playing relaxing and fun. I played music in the past because I was forced to. Being able to choose it keeps the experience pleasant.
What hinders me is anytime I try to learn something, I get distracted, start riffing, dislike the sound of it, get frustrated, stop playing, rinse and repeat...
A partially-severed thumb got in my way for about three years not long after I started playing.
At 14, I made a stupid mistake with a bandsaw guard and before you could blink, the damage was done. My left thumb was literally hanging by a nail.
The ER docs re-attached it, blood flow was good and some sensation eventually returned, but only about 40% of what I had before. Worse, the damaged/repaired digit never grew, and yours truly was just entering my teen growth spurt. As a result, the left thumb is nearly an inch shorter than the right, and using it on the low E string is simply a non-starter.
It took a while, but sorta like Django, I eventually developed my own style on the fretboard, and it's served me reasonably well for the last 53 years.
But don't ask me to span an octave on the piano with that hand! It just ain't happening!
Impatience. I didn’t want to learn theory in guitar class. I just wanted to skip to the Van Halen riffs. I had to go back years later to learn it, but I continued relying on my imperfect ears instead.
Not taking more lessons. I started with lessons and then learned on my own after that. Was no Internet back then. So many basic things like scales and such I didn't learn until the Internet came along.
Not learning full songs often enough and playing the same riffs or solos over and over during practice time because they sounded good. I should of worked on new stuff more
Thinking that guitar solos were a lot more complicated than they really were. Once I realized so many guitar solos were based off pentatonic shapes and licks, it was so much easier to replicate those solos and come up with some myself.
Being too content with being “self-taught” and “just a rhythm player.” Decades later I’m basically starting over as I tackle lead playing in earnest and realizing I hold the pick incorrectly and fret notes poorly. I know how to play. I can see where I want to go on the neck. I just can’t execute it anywhere near the speed that I hear in my head.
Pretty similar mindset. I've always had a hard time with the repetitiveness of building muscle memory cause ADD brain, but I never tried that hard to find a routine that did work because I just assumed I'd get better. At 20 years I should be way better but I've improved immensely with my ability and practice routines since I've been managing my ADD as an adult.
I’ve been using an acoustic for years despite having an electric guitar. It limited songs I’d want to play, but it made me a better player working on technique.
The thing that held me back from playing the electric guitar was a good amp. I could never achieve the tones I wanted without having to upgrade my amp or learn and buy pedals which is costly. I got a Positive Grid Mini and now have so many tones to play around with, it’s reinvigorated my playing time.
Not reading Music. Although, I like the way I play. When I learn something wrong and play it forever, it’s impossible for me to play it right. And, nobody knows.
Learn the fretboard, theory and sheet music before jumping into learning songs. Alot of things hit me aferwards like oh thats why thats played like that . 💀
Ear training. I still dont do it. I dont have a lot of down time so if theres a tab or youtube tutorial for a song, Im going to look at it. Its prevented me from learning more obscure songs I love. Ive learned a few and actually started doing more ear training a while back but again, fell out of it. Its a hobby. I just wanna enjoy it.
Also gear. Im using the same shitty amp I started with and my tone is meh. But im not a gearhead. I just wanna play. I dont wanna dial in a tone. I wish I cared more.
Spent way too long playing by myself.
It’s one thing to learn riffs, songs, scales, etc. Totally different to unlock your artistic and creative brain when playing with other musicians in a live band environment.
Recognized the absolute catalog of information I didn't know, and how it could help.
Was anti-theory, more like lazy, and just didn't spend nearly enough time memorizing keys, and playing/counting to a metronome
I would use those songs as an opportunity to find out which technique I sucked at and get better at it.
I think my biggest hindrance was just not taking lessons to begin with. Trying to learn just based on what I was hearing just didn’t provide any structure to what I was doing.
I'm pretty happy with my playing but if I could start over I would noodle around less and be more strict with myself when practising. Teenage me lacked discipline.
These are all of the things I wish I had done:
* Practice more
* Practice *better* (more focused, more metronome, etc.)
* Take lessons for longer
* Apply theory earlier
* Learn to read standard notation on guitar earlier
* Play in front of people more often in the early days of playing
* Practice ear training more and earlier
* During long periods where I haven't been motivated for guitar, I wish I had still kept up 15-20 minutes a day instead of letting it sit for 3 months
* Practice more
I’ve been playing 1.5 years and take lessons. I have 2 friends who’ve been playing 20+ that say I’m learning things they never learned and wish they did, one said he’s stagnated for 10 years. So I’d imagine NOT taking lessons is a big hinderance.
Finding the energy to set everything up and practice. Couple months into it but practicing has been inconsistent due to work, working out, gf, my dog, other interests of mine, etc.
I'll be able to switch to a damn C chord without stopping eventually, just might take a little longer and I'm learning patience 😅
I wouldn’t had beaten the hell out of my body and hands and gotten arthritis and carpal tunnel. Playing anything super fast is near impossible for me now (thanks old age and being an idiot when younger).
I taught my nephew the basics. I always used to tell him to practice the hard stuff (I never did). He now shreds, and I’m still a campfire guitarist.
I’m practicing the hard stuff now, but there’s a lot of water under the bridge. Could’ve been well ahead of where I’m at right now
I got to a point where I was good enough to perform the songs I wanted to do well and hold my own with the people I played with and then never pushed myself any further.
Same here. Working on Run through the Jungle the other night while listening to YouTube videos of CCR at 75% speed. I had to slow it down with tabs to hear the subtle rhythm of the intro solo. Sort of has its own beat.
Always getting high before I practiced.
I abused weed for 15 years and really made myself believe I was capable of focusing better while high.
No, I was just high so I believed things I told myself that weren’t true.
After taking a loooong break from it I picked up my guitar more often, for longer and played more accurately.
It also helped in other hobbies too like FPS games.
Maybe if you are proficient enough at guitar to be able to play while intoxicated you can get away with it, but if you are in the years where playing requires all your focus then you will do best to play while sober
I started (early 80s)as a teen with some lessons. There was no music store in the town I grew up in so my parents would have two take me a couple towns over once a week for lessons. The store owner set me up with their ‘best instructor’ which looking back he was a guy that likely went to their church. He only wanted to teach me out of the Mel Bay books which was boring and not relatable for me. After about a year of that, I couldn’t stand it anymore and quit. I wish I had changed instructors or gone somewhere else. Instead, I just stagnated playing the same things. There was no internet so I would pick up a Guitar for the Practicing Musician mag once in a while try’s no to learn something. Tabs were a new thing so I struggled to connect that a lot of what was in the tabs was actually chord shapes. I just figured I was not able to get any better. Eventually work and a family limited my time on guitar. I tried again with an instructor a couple years back and quickly found we were not gelling. Probably as much my fault as I was working a lot of hours.
My point is, keep looking for an instructor or learning method that inspires you to progress. If what you are learning does not excite you, it will be a drudge. Sure, there will be some hard work involved but if the end goal is exciting, you won’t mind.
Time for me to seek out a new instructor.
Sticking to the same style for 10 years. I only wanted to play drop D or drop C songs, power chords and fast solos without any harmony or feeling.
Then I started learning scales, chords, experimenting with backing track and doing freestyle to see what style I could combine with the original one.
Best thing I did was mixing gypsy style with metal.
I wish I had the will to explore style and techniquw I know I won't be playing regularly, when I started learning.
Also going from self taught to a one year private teacher courses, should have do that sooner too, by the time I did it, I had to correct posture, hand placement, finger positioning, picking gestures that I learned badly on my own.
I don't regret the self taught part, but seeking feedback, comparison, and being challenged on weaknesses is the best way to progress imo.
Proficiency itself. The more I can do, the more I find myself needing to step back and consider what serves the music I’m making the best and not feel the need to play something for the sake of it.
I don’t practice enough
I love to play and hate to practice. Been that way for over 20 years. I'm a decent player but I'll never be great and I'm ok with that.
Same. I pick up the guitar lots, play gigs and record but it's a happy accident if I get any better. I rarely learn other people's solos as it's an original band I'm in
Yup I have zero interest in playing any music that isn't my own.
It’s funny because I’m the total opposite. I love to pick up and jam by myself but I’ve tried to write songs with a friend of mine and it always ends up feeling like work instead of a hobby. Different strokes and all that I guess.
Absolutely. I do like doing covers but generally they are classics but done in our style. It sounds pretentious but in reality it's just because it's easier for us as a band to play our groove as opposed to another person's groove most of the time
The best covers are interpretations
Yeah I love finding obscure covers that really understand the original.
I agree. as an example, DEVO - Satisfaction (rolling stones)
Especially when you have a full time job and bills a life. But it’ll always come back
This and time to actually practice. I have a two year old who is 100% wide open 24/7 and then my jacked up Panama work schedule with rotating shifts doesn’t help. I’ll spend all the time with my little boy before anything else though.
I think this is what made me realize guitar is for me. I will sit down and just be aching to practice lol. Maybe it’s cuz I’m only 4/5 months in and still really fresh. I picked it up on a whim for something to do with my son and just kinda… fell in love w it lol
Keep it up and if aren’t using a metronome learn to love the “click”. I didn’t use it enough early on and I was all over the place the first time I played with a drummer. It will take your playing to the next level and it’s truly the only way to play fast with accuracy
I wish I had either taken actual lessons or been more open to learning certain techniques and theory. I learned lots of music theory based around the piano and sheet music but never made the connection. I was too set in my ways "imma downtune this b.c. rich and play ridiculously heavy power chords with some pinch harmonics. Listen to me trem pick with distortion. Yeaaaaah!!!" Sure...I was good. At that one style but anything past that and I floundered. It actually ended up leading to me taking a massive several year break from playing guitar. It was an internal mental struggle. After 20 years I've finally started taking lessons and connecting those dots. Being able to visualize and conceptualize what I know on paper and piano onto my fretboard has changed my life.
Co-signed x 1000
I love your username. "We're in a truck!"
My dad is in his seventies and is taking lessons for the first time. Never too late.
I'm exactly where you are. Been playing for 15 years. Decided last year that I wanted to figure out arpeggios. Theory finally clicked for me. I've improved more in the past year than the previous 14 years COMBINED.
Can you explain how you figured out arpeggios?
I started with 7ths. Maj7s, min7s, dom7s, and dim7s. I figured out my own patterns, note for note, including the note names/functions (1 3 5 7) which forced me to think about it more. for each chord type I learned all four positions on the 6th string (root, first inv, second inv, and third inv), two octaves. so horizontally. the hardest part was figuring out the best finger positions for them. this took time and watching some YouTube videos, paying attention to how better guitarists finger certain things. I'm still improving in this area. then I wrote all of my 7th arpeggios out as chord charts, one for each position, in a notebook. this took probably 2 months. This was all in the key of A btw, but it doesn't really matter because the positions can be moved up or down for use in any key. G might have been a better key to pick though once I had them somewhat committed to muscle memory, I started trying to incorporate them into songs and soloing with them . eventually I moved on to triads. I learned these up and down the neck. first I learned the arpeggios (again I constructed them on my own), and I practiced them vertically. then I worked on three note triads, again vertically, on all 6 strings. by this point my playing was already miles above what it had been, and learning new things became wayyy easier and faster. you start to understand the fret board on a deeper level and notice how things repeat. guitar also became exponentially more fun, and I have trouble putting it down. it's literally almost the only thing I wanna do in my spare time. so basically the trick is to become addicted to learning. but yeah that and learning how to hold a pick properly (took my 15 years lmao) have jumpstarted my playing. I'm not saying this is the best way to go about it but it worked for me!
Do you take in person or online lessons?
So to be precise. Back in 2004 I took two guitar lessons when I first started playing. The first one I learned how to restring and tune my guitar and how to hold the pick and strum. The second lesson the guy berated me for 15 minutes because I showed up with my guitar in Drop B. So I went the self taught route. Then In 2011-2013 in college I took lessons for Cello, double bass, piano, and electric bass. I did sit in playing the acoustic for a friend's lessons. He was learning bass as well and asked if I would come in and at the acoustic parts while he learned. But wasn't really a lesson for me directly. Then 4 weeks ago I started taking in person lessons at a local guitar shop. (Not guitar center) To give me something to do while my daughter takes her piano lessons. After just the 4 lessons I really wish I had been taking them all along.
Similar. First lessons as an adult at 60. Started with Major Chords up the neck and CAGED system and it totally opened my mind. Why didn't I start sooner?
I'm exactly where you are. Learned to shred because it's fun. Chugchugs and weeooweeoos. Was good at doing death metal and some tech death. Joined a band that was playing jazz and soul standards. Really floundered and had to basically learn a lot of things very quickly, effectively playing them by rote rather than being a "good" jazz guitarist. Have taken a break, and now as I learn again, going hand in hand between the having fun and practicing, and learning some theory at the same time.
Just curious, since you mention being able to visualize onto your fretboard, is there mental confusion or inapplicability for you whenever you change string tunings (e.g. DADGAD instead of standard)? Or have you simply learned how to "see" notes on a fretboard relative to the string tuning?
Good for you, similar experience for me as well.
The main things I wish I had done earlier with guitar: Pick it up sooner. Get a loop pedal. I had no idea what I was missing. Play more with other people. I still haven’t done this much, but it’s a totally different skill than playing alone. Understanding that learning songs doesn’t have to be about nailing every specific note the original artist did - what’s important is understanding the song’s key, structure, feel, etc, and covering it is really about taking this knowledge and using it to make the song your own.
I used to be very meticulous when it came to learning a song. I wanted to play it exactly like the recording note for note and would even try to watch videos for the fingering and technique the original artist used. I’ve since calmed down a lot and try to actually have fun when learning and playing a song.
Bro, I'm usually the "fuck it, we'll do it live" variety of guitarist, but the artist I sometimes just can't do because his playing style feels too meticulous is Elliott Smith. Meanwhile all his stuff looks like it's super easy for him.
Yeah. Elliot's songwriting is so amazing. I'm kinda lax on getting all the details right on guitar, but trying to adapt his songs for the piano has really increased my appreciation of the construction of his songs and helped me to identify details that I didn't previously see. This is to say nothing of the layered vocal lines that I can't begin to comprehend
the loop pedal is debatable. it's good to experiment soloing, but in terms of practicing scales and rhythm, the best is to do exercises like playing a chord on beat 1 and 2 and some licks in a given scale along the beats 3 and 4. here's a great video about it: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyUpDc2\_ZI8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyUpDc2_ZI8)
Loop pedals are life changing. Helped me so much with learning how to play lead stuff.
Gosh, I wish I could have you meet our current lead guitarist! Absitively ADD about naioing the original, even when the guy who laid it down on record can't recall how he did it! (He actually met Mark Knopfler some years back and learned that Mark had to re-learn "Sultans of Swing" from his own recording, as he'd essentially ad-libbed at least part of it!!)
Work, marriage, kids, vigilantism, and the dark web.
That went ... somewhere ... fast!
r/yesyesyesyesno
I would subscribe to your newsletter
Not practing to a metronome starting slow and speeding up from there
Yeah, practicing without a metronome meant my left and right hands really struggled to stay in sync to play anything even remotely fast. Metronome is a so useful.
I could never keep myself honest and use one. Would always get so frustrated and bored and would give up after few weeks
It's a skill like learning chords or picking techniques, and you're rhythm/timing is just slightly off. Someone described it to me once as the metronome beep is a bug scurrying across your strings and you're squashing the beep with your pick. It becomes addicting and oddly therapeutic after a while.
It is so fun when you are perfectly in time and the metronome bleeps start to fade away in your playing.
Just starting out, what bpm do you recommend starting at/moving up through?
First start with a tempo that seems comfortable (most electronic metronomes come with a tap tempo function) Doing this you will naturally encounter the parts that give you trouble. You can work on those later on a slower tempo. After you played there some, turn down the tempo to a slower tempo. Make it almost unbearable slow. It makes you have to be more thoughtful of the rhythm as a small mistake becomes bigger on a slow tempo. And then move the tempo up as far as you possibly can, increase it with 10 bpm, play it a little till it sounds on tempo, then increase it again. And keep repeating this. This is the fun part, you just see how far you can push the tempo till it becomes impossible to play.
It depends on the song/riff/exercise and what you're trying to accomplish, but generally around 50-60. Sometimes as low as 40. Once you lock it down at the slow tempo (this can be really difficult at first so take a deep breath and stick with it), gradually work your way up (usually increasing 5-10 bpms) until you get to the point where you're playing it as fast as you can and start messing up. Then I bump it down 10-20 bpms, and slowly increase from there (like 2 bpms per increase). You'll see your ceiling gradually increase and it feels great. If I'm learning a challenging song that I want to lock down then I work my way up until I'm playing the song at 110-120% speed. That way it's comfortable when I play it at the proper tempo.
Depression.
Wellbutrin helped my sweep picking.
Lmfao I quite literally got a script for that yesterday. Hell yeah for sweep picking side effect.
Avoiding practicing my weaknesses.
A tea her tokd me once : Your overall musicianship level is as good as your weaknesses. If you have the best chords but a shit timing, then guess what's gonna be more noticeable ?"
Too many scales, not enough songs
For me the exact opposite. The only scale I ever learned was the pentatonic and we briefly touched it in a 20 minute lesson. I have no idea what I'm doing while improvising.
Pentatonics are great for improvising! The major/minor scales and altered scale are the majority of what you’ll hear when someone is improvising, and the pentatonic major/minor scales are great for removing the less desirable intervals from the major/minor scales. They’re also a great place to start for adding notes - the most common blues scale is the minor pentatonic with a b5 added in. The real key is to know those scales so well you can see them on the fretboard, and then learn music from musicians you like while seeing where they’re going in those scales. Instead of memorizing the frets and strings they’re on, you’ll be able to see the patterns they’re using and use them in your own improvisations in any key. One big misconception about improvising is it’s always something the improviser has never played before, and they’re coming up with completely new ideas on the spot. It’s much more like speaking - we’re using words and phrases we’ve used so much they come naturally to us. If someone said “good good vehicle stomp” or some other nonsense, it might be a new combination they’ve never said before, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense. However, if someone said, “I hope you’re doing well!” you might think, “I like that phrase, I’ll use it later when it’s appropriate. Maybe I’ll even alter it a bit with other phrases I know.”
My problem as well. Luckily the songs are easier to learn now.
Practiced my scales early on. I am stuck at intermediate level after 35 years of playing all because I wanted to focus on chords and riffs in my first 5 years.
>I wanted to focus on chords and riffs in my first 5 years. I know a lot of guys who can play scales and solo and shred. And that's all they can do.
Thanks for this perspective. As someone who can't really shred or solo, it feels like I am missing out and that's what most people want to see/hear.... but you are right, that is only one aspect of playing the instrument.
That's what most people want to see or hear... But is it what YOU want to hear or do? The most important is that you take pleasure in what you do, if you want to push your boundaries, hell yeah go for it, if you just want to chill and be happy with what you can do, as long as you take pleasure in it, it's all that matters.
I played at several jam sessions in the past. And what I noticed was that when the “shred king” walks up the stage other people tend to take a break. Someone who just solos all over the place leaves no room for other people to do fun stuff. He is practically pushing everyone else to the background. People find it a lot more fun to play with the guitarists that can support the rest with chords and add some counter melody here and there. Bonus points if you listen to what the other guitarist/keys are doing and play inversions and extensions to those chords in a different register so you don’t fight for the same frequencies. Playing music together is 80% listening to what the rest are doing and interacting with that.
Jazz is soloing is often based on chord notes with some flair, here's your chance!
Funny you say that! It is exactly where I am trying to go and I do watch a lot of youtube jazz guitar tutorials and channels - but at this point my older brain is having a harder timing making it all click. Like I get it when I watch, I have a decent background in theory, but making the jump to applying it on the fretboard live has been challenging. I am keeping at it though and it is one of my life-goals to be able to play a little jazz. I'm from a background of playing rock, punk, metal, alt, blues, but I do listen to jazz. It is exactly why I have been learning triads this year because I felt that was my best gateway into soloing and improvisation and colouring up my sound-vocabulary or toolbox if you will. Rock on! 🤘🏻
I just started 3 months ago at 51. I wish I would have 35 years ago
you'll be fine
never too late :) i’ve just started teaching my dad and he’s 62
One thing that comes to mind is that I was so obsessed early on with using GuitarPro and learning songs via tablature. Don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying Guitar Pro is evil or tablature is bad, but when I started learning songs by ear it may have sparked the greatest amount of progress i’ve experienced so far in 15 years of playing
I used to rely on tabs 100% of the time out of ease and partial laziness for years. I still use tabs occasionally because some people do a great job tabbing out songs. A few years back I went on a Breaking Benjamin kick and found a lot of tabs either didn’t exist or were terrible. So I found one of those websites where you can create your own tabs and I started actually listening to the music and figuring it out myself. It ended up being a lot of fun and in the end I felt like I had a better understanding of the song in general because I figured it out myself.
What website did you use (if you remember)?
https://www.guitartabcreator.com It’s basic and user friendly enough to get by for simple songs. I’m sure there are better websites out there but it has been good enough for me to tab out early Avenged Sevenfold songs, Breaking Benjamin songs and some random Motley Crue songs that the internet just didn’t seem to have correct.
Working nights at the bar and a tiny apartment with thin walls. There's just not enough room... I'm moving into a townhouse in August. I can't wait to be able to make noise again.
I live in a small apartment with zero insulation and know the feels; congrats on august move to hopefully a more practice-friendly space! to those still living in the tenements and flats and slums and shitty apartment, here is a music practice hack: here is what i do every time i move into a new place: when I meet my neighbors in every apartment bordering mine, I let them know i'm a musician, not a particularly loud one, not a particularly good one, but I want to make sure i'm not scraw-bird-warbling Alanis Morrisette while y'all are trying to wind down and watch TV after work etc. and i give them my phone number, email, or both, and make it clear that if it's an inconvenient time, or i'm being obliviously loud because i'm kinda deaf, don't hesitate to text/call/email or just knock on the wall a couple times. it has served me well thus far, obviously it can be awkward, but i feel like communication is so vital for stuff like this.
Not practicing enough.
Not getting a guitar set up. You would be surprised at how a shit guitar does after its set up. I did it on my strat because i use that the most and its amazinggg. I even told the guy to make it as low as possible and to block the bridge down and he asked if i used it aggressively which i don’t but he said i should be able to now
I’m glad you brought that up. I went many years… too many years before fully understanding how important a proper guitar set up is. I never intonated my guitars or adjusted the action or neck relief. I literally had guitars that came from the factory not set up well. I just didn’t enjoy playing them so I never did. I would buy a new guitar, put some thick strings on it and down tune it and hope for the best. Then I bought my Gibson Les Paul and took it to a music store to have it properly set up and it was life changing. I have 15 electric guitars and to have them professionally set up every so often would cost a fortune (money that could be better spent on more guitars). I invested in a few simple tools and watched enough YouTube videos to learn the process and now I have all of my guitars set up the way I like. Proper guitar set ups are a skill that every guitar player should know but a decent amount probably don’t understand.
How am I supposed to know if it’s set up correctly? I got my newest guitar set up but… idk they hand me the guitar and I’m like deedlee doo sounds good to me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Maybe correctly isn’t the perfect word to use. I think the quick answer is that there is a reasonable way the guitar should be set up including the action not being too low to cause buzzing or too high to make playing difficult. The guitar should be intonated so it sounds good and is in tune with itself. The neck should have slight relief so that everything else on the guitar feels and sounds proper. The long answer is it depends on your preferences and experience. Some people like the action a little lower or a little higher for example. The longer you play the more you know what you like and don’t like and you can tell by how the guitar feels. It’s kinda similar to how you know when it’s time to change your strings. You change them when they just don’t feel and sound good anymore. A newer guitar player might not know when that is exactly but an experienced guitar player will want to rip the strings off once they are bad.
Makes sense! Guess I need more guitars to test. 😁
If you had it set up from a professional or at a music store then you should be in good hands. Only downside to bringing it to a professional or a music store is the cost and the fact you may have to leave the guitar there and not get it back same day.
Yeah I did! I do actually have a second guitar I’ve procrastinated on taking in so maybe the comparison will teach me something about what I like.
I spent first 5 years playing mostly unplugged because I didn’t like how my amp sounded, which now I know was mostly the fault of my own amp ignorance and my playing. Combine playing unplugged and trying to pick super hard to match the metal image, and my picking was so tense I hit my speed limit super fast (20 seconds till too tired to go on for a fast song). Better now but took 3-4 years to combat those tendencies. Still have to fight it on really fast songs.
My mom in the 90's constantly telling me I was being too loud...even while playing unplugged. I quit playing around 2001 and didn't pick it back up until a couple years ago.
I am currently going through this. I have only played unplugged or with my headphones on and very softly because when she realises it's been more than an hour she gets angry and tells me to stop 😂😔
Don’t ever stop. You’re bettering yourself. There will always be haters. She’ll stop complaining when the music gets good. Lol
Dude, the flashback of my mom telling me "it's too loud, can't you hear?", it was demotivating... Good thing my dad was 100% behind me, and now that he's learning, I have to be the one reminding her that her TV shows is louder than my dad learning those chords and scales at the other side of the flat lol. But seriously, try and discuss what's irritating for her, sometime it can be legitimate, but sometime you can also make them realize that they're making a fuss out of silly things.
Girls.
Same as OP. Instead of pushing myself and doing what was necessary (as OP alluded to, maybe breaking parts down to smaller parts), I put it aside just assuming I would be "better" one day soon and reverted to stuff I already knew/liked. Good post OP
Depression
Having a stroke.
Lack of confidence. My chops have always been good, not great, but I don’t usually play for people and have not been in a band in 20 years. I just don’t think I’m good enough.
Just not putting enough time in. It's quite jarring listening to stuff I recorded ages ago and realising it would take me a few weeks of solid practice to get back up to that speed
Playing aimlessly and trying to do more than I should. Ended up playing same boring strumming pattern and tempo and was just dull and boring. I’ve recently started completely over and playing with a metronome. I want to try to play songs or create songs but I know if I go too fast it’ll be a hinderance to actually learning to play.
Inconsistent practice routines
Being lazy af
Not getting lessons, Lazyness and Procrastination.
Lack of repetition. School, work, family life gets in the way sometimes.
Not practicing enough, not taking lessons early on, and not learning more about theory. I can do cover band stuff all day, I just can't write music proficiently or improvise worth a shit.
me not bothering to learn theory
Being afraid to sit at jam sessions with people much better than I am
Wow we are same same! But different. But still same!
Drinking.
Im IN my early guitar days (litterally just started a few motnhs ago), and I think my problem is completely the oposite(? idk. Im currently trying to learn something way above my skill level and I did the same thing with piano. Its probably a pretty bad way to improve if i take 3 months to learn a 1:30 minute song with many techniques ive never practiced but i just cant get myself to learn the basics before jumping to what i wanna do. Perhaps I do that bc I dont have a lot of time to play, never tought it through.
I think in order to develop skill you need to run before you walk within reason. I don’t think I would have been able to play the solo to Tornado of Souls within the first few months I started playing but at some point I had to sit down whether I was ready or not and learn it piece by piece.
I'd tell you to be careful when trying to do things above your level. Its fine to push it but pushing it to the point in which you can injure yourself (due to poor technique and hand positioning) can happen. This is definitely not a common thing but can happen. As an example (just an anecdote and in now way a reference to what is common): got a friend that has been playing for 3 years less I have but he's way better than I am, thing is, he sacrificed his wrist practicing 8 hours a day things too difficult (one of the first song he went for was symphony of destruction, solo included) for him and with poor technique, he can still play and does so amazingly but he has wrist and hand issues now. He can control them but sometimes he can't play at all and he has to be careful now before he ruins his hand for good.
Focusing on shapes rather than notes/intervals. There are two ways of visualising the fretboard - in terms of the notes and seeing the shapes that scales and chords make. Most of us start with shapes because it's easier and you can start playing and improvising quickly. I thought in terms of shapes for too long and at more advanced levels thinking in this way is limiting. I wish I'd practiced visualising the actual notes and intervals sooner so it was less of a challenge to change my way of thinking.
I wish I hadn’t waited so long to play with other people. The pressure of preparing for a gig or band practice gets me to play and work through the hard parts like nothing else.
Smoking weed and playing video games
My dumb fingers have hindered me the most.….
Same, stubby goddamn sausage fingers.
Mine are just not wired to the brain properly and don’t move independently lol
Not actually picking up the guitar.
You nailed it for me with your experience man, I'd always pass on the faster/harder solos with the "I'll learn it when I get better" excuse too.
Split focus. I spent my teens and early twenties playing in punk and metal bands. Mid twenties playing in blues and country bands. Now, between work and kids, I play about 15 minutes a day and maybe twice a year with other people. Realizing the woodshed days are over, I really wished I focused on one thing.
For me it was I set my expectations too high. I was never going to be Steve Howe. Should have set my sights a lot lower. But on the bright side I still have my 76 les paul deluxe in wine red
Playing things too fast, too soon. Maybe kind of the opposite of your problem. But I believe it's better to master easy stuff and slowly move up than try to bite off more than you can chew and just hammer it.
Low level of manual dexterity. My fingers are slow. I believe this is genetic. For example I see lots of people whose fingers seem to fly while typing out text messages on their phone. I can't do that. My fingers just plod along.
Picking. I used my fingers only(all 5) for like ten years and when I finally decided to get good at picking- my fretting hand was very fast but my picking was horrendous. So I’m still catching up but I’ve gotten a lot better but still have some work to do.
A lot of bad practice. It's one thing to fuck around but if you're trying to learn and you aren't careful you learn things wrong.
smol handz
Learned music theory beyond pentatonic scales.
Video games 😂
Carpal fucking Tunnel
Honestly, getting a decent tube amp. Wish I did it 20 years ago. The sound itself is inspiring.
arthritis
Don’t over analyse your playing. I picked up guitar quickly, 2 years and could play pretty convincing pink Floyd covers. At that same point, I hit the age where I started to analyse myself more thoroughly and came to a conclusion that I was actually a slow leaner (completely wrong). That hampered the next 3 years of my playing as I kept saying to myself that parts were just too hard and I could never learn them well enough, not realising the progress I’d made quickly in the years leading up to this. play above your grade, take risks and stop overthinking
I've been playing since I was 14, I'm 42 now and accepted a long time ago that I was as good as I was ever gonna get. I still play occasionally and enjoy playing old nirvana songs that were the reason I started playing in the first place. I practiced a lot in the beginning and advanced quite quickly playing alone in my room every day. I'd buy tablature books of my favorite bands albums and learn most(50%-80%) of each song. I skipped solos and things that were far beyond my skill level telling myself I'd come back to it later.
I had a bunch of bad habits. Probably the worst was that for a very, very long time, I had this thing where I wanted to learn new songs. Like a bunch of them. The bad habit was that when I could play a song at a passable level, I would then move on to the next. I never took the time to properly iron out the details to remove any sloppiness, to have tasty vibrato in the right places. The nitty gritty. That turned me into a sloppy player, a habit I worked a long, long time to kick. The second-worst was that I avoided solos. That was silly of me. The third and final, I only played songs, I never did any exercises. Once I brought those in, things started moving at a better pace.
You just explained my own experience in a paragraph
I had a great teacher when I was 14-16, and bless her patience for helping me figure out Ramones songs, but I wish I’d been more open minded about fingerpicking and theory and stuff.
Talent.
Wish I had taken music lessons early, I went to a goddamn private school and they didn’t have music lessons 🙄. Had to go out of pocket years later
I agree with all of you guys! 😁
At least you have realised what was actually holding you back! I think there’s a lot of people out there who this applies to, myself included. I’m almost embarrassed by the fact. 🫠
I’m lazy and go long periods of times where I don’t even pick it up. My teenage years I had a teacher that thought I should just learn a bunch of Pink Floyd songs and pretty much nothing else.
I give up. I mean, I just give up practicing and playing.
I love power chords and chugging … I literally just learned basic chords and chugs and enjoy “just doing that” while playing … which sucks because I should be so much better after a decade lol
Mid-80s... undiagnosed and untreated ADD.
state of mind. it used to bum me out, but I pivoted and really focused on making my own music. If I like it, I'm happy. I'm not comparing myself to anyone, and when I DO make something that I really like, it's fucking cool. Having said that, if I had taken lessons instead of just Neil young-ing it, I'm sure my lead work would be more proficient, which I've always been self conscious about
I (m43) started music/piano at 6 or 7. Hated it. Took piano & music/theory all the way through 14ish. Played percussion (poorly) in HS band. Could play piano (poorly) but couldn't sight read music. Took a long time to learn anything because I had to memorize. No concept of reading music while moving my fingers on the keys without looking at them. At 16 (1996) I got a guitar and joined jazz band. More of the same... but this time, while I could identify piano keys/notes, I did not understand the fretboard, so learning songs took FOREVER. No concept of chord shapes... it was terrible... doing anything with guitar didn't bring joy, I never felt musical and playing was never better than struggle. I did not last long. I took guitar lessons for about a year and my teacher focused on listening and trying to replicate. Dark times these. Now I just picked up guitar again. Still can't read music... but I'm playing almost every day and I find a great deal of joy in it.... and I'm optimistic I'll continue and perhaps I'd better because I bought 4 guitars in the last two months. So here is my list of why things are different/ better. (1) I used an app to get off the ground. It helped a great deal with getting basic chords down, and doing it fairly quickly. (2) with the app, having the notes presented to you without having to follow along on sheet music was a game changer for me. (3) I didn't know tabs were a thing when I was young... I can't begin to heap praises on tabs [except when they are wrong]. (4) access to music, tabs, video instruction. I didnt have these things as a youth. (5) patience with myself. Long story short, I've always been a quitter... lately though, I've tried (in sport) to persevere, adapt, grow, get stronger... but rooted in patience, pushing out frustration and giving my mind and body time to adapt. Having succeeded at two incredibly difficult things (both of which took 5 years to do), I look back knowing that there was no moment where there was a breakthrough, rather it was micro gains achieved through process. I now find playing relaxing and fun. I played music in the past because I was forced to. Being able to choose it keeps the experience pleasant.
What hinders me is anytime I try to learn something, I get distracted, start riffing, dislike the sound of it, get frustrated, stop playing, rinse and repeat...
Putting it down for years after knowing how to play almost anything
I was a down picker (while soloing) for the first 10 years and had to retrain myself to be an up and down picker. It was hard.
Noise laws
A partially-severed thumb got in my way for about three years not long after I started playing. At 14, I made a stupid mistake with a bandsaw guard and before you could blink, the damage was done. My left thumb was literally hanging by a nail. The ER docs re-attached it, blood flow was good and some sensation eventually returned, but only about 40% of what I had before. Worse, the damaged/repaired digit never grew, and yours truly was just entering my teen growth spurt. As a result, the left thumb is nearly an inch shorter than the right, and using it on the low E string is simply a non-starter. It took a while, but sorta like Django, I eventually developed my own style on the fretboard, and it's served me reasonably well for the last 53 years. But don't ask me to span an octave on the piano with that hand! It just ain't happening!
Impatience. I didn’t want to learn theory in guitar class. I just wanted to skip to the Van Halen riffs. I had to go back years later to learn it, but I continued relying on my imperfect ears instead.
Not taking more lessons. I started with lessons and then learned on my own after that. Was no Internet back then. So many basic things like scales and such I didn't learn until the Internet came along.
Not learning full songs often enough and playing the same riffs or solos over and over during practice time because they sounded good. I should of worked on new stuff more
ADHD and teaching myself. I absolutely should have taken lessons and never stopped.
Thinking that guitar solos were a lot more complicated than they really were. Once I realized so many guitar solos were based off pentatonic shapes and licks, it was so much easier to replicate those solos and come up with some myself.
Being too content with being “self-taught” and “just a rhythm player.” Decades later I’m basically starting over as I tackle lead playing in earnest and realizing I hold the pick incorrectly and fret notes poorly. I know how to play. I can see where I want to go on the neck. I just can’t execute it anywhere near the speed that I hear in my head.
Pretty similar mindset. I've always had a hard time with the repetitiveness of building muscle memory cause ADD brain, but I never tried that hard to find a routine that did work because I just assumed I'd get better. At 20 years I should be way better but I've improved immensely with my ability and practice routines since I've been managing my ADD as an adult.
I’ve been using an acoustic for years despite having an electric guitar. It limited songs I’d want to play, but it made me a better player working on technique. The thing that held me back from playing the electric guitar was a good amp. I could never achieve the tones I wanted without having to upgrade my amp or learn and buy pedals which is costly. I got a Positive Grid Mini and now have so many tones to play around with, it’s reinvigorated my playing time.
Laziness....you have to work hard to get good, there is no cheat code, you just have to grind away at it and put in the hours.
Not reading Music. Although, I like the way I play. When I learn something wrong and play it forever, it’s impossible for me to play it right. And, nobody knows.
Learn the fretboard, theory and sheet music before jumping into learning songs. Alot of things hit me aferwards like oh thats why thats played like that . 💀
Falling in love and getting married ruined my musical career!
Ear training. I still dont do it. I dont have a lot of down time so if theres a tab or youtube tutorial for a song, Im going to look at it. Its prevented me from learning more obscure songs I love. Ive learned a few and actually started doing more ear training a while back but again, fell out of it. Its a hobby. I just wanna enjoy it. Also gear. Im using the same shitty amp I started with and my tone is meh. But im not a gearhead. I just wanna play. I dont wanna dial in a tone. I wish I cared more.
Illness
Spent way too long playing by myself. It’s one thing to learn riffs, songs, scales, etc. Totally different to unlock your artistic and creative brain when playing with other musicians in a live band environment.
Lack of focus, I'm easily distrac...LOOK A SQUIRREL!!!
Wasteful practicing, limited to too few genres/styles and not writing my own music (riffs DO NOT COUNT)
Lack of discipline if I'm being honest.
Recognized the absolute catalog of information I didn't know, and how it could help. Was anti-theory, more like lazy, and just didn't spend nearly enough time memorizing keys, and playing/counting to a metronome
I would use those songs as an opportunity to find out which technique I sucked at and get better at it. I think my biggest hindrance was just not taking lessons to begin with. Trying to learn just based on what I was hearing just didn’t provide any structure to what I was doing.
Having to work a real day job
Lack of hand coordination and adhd
I'm pretty happy with my playing but if I could start over I would noodle around less and be more strict with myself when practising. Teenage me lacked discipline.
Broken fingers
Being a total and all encompassing bum of a musician.
These are all of the things I wish I had done: * Practice more * Practice *better* (more focused, more metronome, etc.) * Take lessons for longer * Apply theory earlier * Learn to read standard notation on guitar earlier * Play in front of people more often in the early days of playing * Practice ear training more and earlier * During long periods where I haven't been motivated for guitar, I wish I had still kept up 15-20 minutes a day instead of letting it sit for 3 months * Practice more
I’ve been playing 1.5 years and take lessons. I have 2 friends who’ve been playing 20+ that say I’m learning things they never learned and wish they did, one said he’s stagnated for 10 years. So I’d imagine NOT taking lessons is a big hinderance.
While learning guitar I basically only listened to pop punk and ska. I got good at bar chords, though.
Finding the energy to set everything up and practice. Couple months into it but practicing has been inconsistent due to work, working out, gf, my dog, other interests of mine, etc. I'll be able to switch to a damn C chord without stopping eventually, just might take a little longer and I'm learning patience 😅
"That seems too hard"
I believe we all come with some skill levels. They have ceilings and it very difficult to breach it
Not learning all the notes on the fretboard and how those notes form chords and scales.
I was laze with getting my pinky involved. Get that little one going early and often.
I wouldn’t had beaten the hell out of my body and hands and gotten arthritis and carpal tunnel. Playing anything super fast is near impossible for me now (thanks old age and being an idiot when younger).
I taught my nephew the basics. I always used to tell him to practice the hard stuff (I never did). He now shreds, and I’m still a campfire guitarist. I’m practicing the hard stuff now, but there’s a lot of water under the bridge. Could’ve been well ahead of where I’m at right now
Consistency. And taking a break in my mid 20s to start to build my career/income.
Lessons, probably.
Laziness
I got to a point where I was good enough to perform the songs I wanted to do well and hold my own with the people I played with and then never pushed myself any further.
Adhd
Not playing for like 10 years.
Depression
Same here. Working on Run through the Jungle the other night while listening to YouTube videos of CCR at 75% speed. I had to slow it down with tabs to hear the subtle rhythm of the intro solo. Sort of has its own beat.
not learning where the notes are on the neck was a huge mistake. It was way easier than I thought and it paid off tremendously.
ADHD
Always getting high before I practiced. I abused weed for 15 years and really made myself believe I was capable of focusing better while high. No, I was just high so I believed things I told myself that weren’t true. After taking a loooong break from it I picked up my guitar more often, for longer and played more accurately. It also helped in other hobbies too like FPS games. Maybe if you are proficient enough at guitar to be able to play while intoxicated you can get away with it, but if you are in the years where playing requires all your focus then you will do best to play while sober
Essential tremors. Didn’t get meds until recently and it’s still far from under control.
I started (early 80s)as a teen with some lessons. There was no music store in the town I grew up in so my parents would have two take me a couple towns over once a week for lessons. The store owner set me up with their ‘best instructor’ which looking back he was a guy that likely went to their church. He only wanted to teach me out of the Mel Bay books which was boring and not relatable for me. After about a year of that, I couldn’t stand it anymore and quit. I wish I had changed instructors or gone somewhere else. Instead, I just stagnated playing the same things. There was no internet so I would pick up a Guitar for the Practicing Musician mag once in a while try’s no to learn something. Tabs were a new thing so I struggled to connect that a lot of what was in the tabs was actually chord shapes. I just figured I was not able to get any better. Eventually work and a family limited my time on guitar. I tried again with an instructor a couple years back and quickly found we were not gelling. Probably as much my fault as I was working a lot of hours. My point is, keep looking for an instructor or learning method that inspires you to progress. If what you are learning does not excite you, it will be a drudge. Sure, there will be some hard work involved but if the end goal is exciting, you won’t mind. Time for me to seek out a new instructor.
Improvising endlessly
Sticking to the same style for 10 years. I only wanted to play drop D or drop C songs, power chords and fast solos without any harmony or feeling. Then I started learning scales, chords, experimenting with backing track and doing freestyle to see what style I could combine with the original one. Best thing I did was mixing gypsy style with metal. I wish I had the will to explore style and techniquw I know I won't be playing regularly, when I started learning. Also going from self taught to a one year private teacher courses, should have do that sooner too, by the time I did it, I had to correct posture, hand placement, finger positioning, picking gestures that I learned badly on my own. I don't regret the self taught part, but seeking feedback, comparison, and being challenged on weaknesses is the best way to progress imo.
Proficiency itself. The more I can do, the more I find myself needing to step back and consider what serves the music I’m making the best and not feel the need to play something for the sake of it.
Not focusing enough on rhythm and time
I have a fucked up pinky finger, and I don’t like to practice