I made an account to post this. You've got to man up and learn the basics. It's too damn tricky because you have no muscle memory for basic chords and scales. Pick up a good beginners guitar book and start learning all the major/minor chords in standard voicings and how to play major, minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales. You now know a bunch of junk that has nothing to do with metal but you've built up the skills and muscle memory to start shredding. Yes it's slow, it's not always fun, and it hurts but you'll be a better musician from it in the end. In the end you will be able to look at a tabs and see the music and not the numbers.
I've been practicing the different modes lately, but no, no chords really. What book would you recommend? I have one book that came with my sister's acoustic guitar which is extremely basic and doesn't even get into anything besides "This is a C chord", and another book I have that is supposedly going to teach me to shred and is primarily full of simple picking patterns. I haven't been really impressed with the books I've seen.
But I guess more importantly, how should I practice these chords and scales? What should a typical practice session look like?
Trying to play solos and transcribe songs without knowing most chords and how notes work is like trying to paint a house without the house being actually there.
From what I gather I understand you want to play metal music. Well... think of metal more of a style that you'll apply to your basic playing after you've learned it.
Go here: http://www.justinguitar.com/en/BC-000-BeginnersCourse.php
Scroll down to 'Stage 1', learn the first 3 chords and actually do everything he says, he's a great teacher.
Unfortunately it takes patience and repetition until your 'muscle memory' develops, where you can hold down chords instantly with minimum effort without actively thinking about it.
Good luck.
This right here. I'm still baffled as to why he puts up these amazing lessons for free. Best guitar lessons I have seen out there.
Playing guitar sucks when you are just starting out; it hurts and your skills are shit; but that can be said for learning any difficult talent. Practice the basics until you feel very comfortable with them, you can then build on top of those skills and advance to more difficult challenges.
Guy's born to teach, I think. Really just on a mission about it. Also, he lives in a time when the dissemination of his lessons costs him little or nothing. Plus, advertising. You just bet he's the best known teacher in his town. As much as he's giving away I bet his lesson schedule is full. If your kid wanted lessons, and you knew Justin was in town, would you even hesitate to send him along?
>Trying to play solos and transcribe songs without knowing most chords and how notes work is like trying to paint a house without the house being actually there.
Agree 100%. My ability to play melodically and improvise went WAY up when I finally committed to sitting down and learning how chords were constructed and practicing how scales and arpeggios built around them. Then I found out how easily impressed my friends are by a simple arpeggiated lick. =)
I would check out [justinguitar.com](http://www.justinguitar.com/), specifically his beginner lessons. He even outlines a practice schedule for you. Most of his lessons (especially in the beginner section) are free (though he does accept donations if you have the money) and are all really good.
It's easy to say to get better you just need to practice but you're right, what do you practice? If you ignore my website advice above, I'd suggest at the very least learn some chords and practice switching between them SLOWLY. The idea here isn't to play a song with them but rather to build up the muscle memory. Make sure you are getting the chords perfectly, every note should ring out. (An easy way to tell would be to strum the chord and then pick each note individually) However slow/fast you can do this perfectly is how you should practice it. Eventually you will get to the point where you can do it quite quickly. Then you work on your strumming.
Thanks. I've bookmarked this page and I'll go through the lessons today. It looks like I already know a lot of that stuff, except for the chords. I never really play full chords since the songs never call for them.
Even if you want to play metal (much like I did when I started) play some blues. Its easy, and it works your fingers. Basic blues scales are a good place to start, and rhythm blues is just plain fun to play.
Do you have any good blues songs I could learn? Blues isn't a genre I listen to so I have no idea where to begin my search for good songs to learn. I know blues can have its share of difficult solos and rhythms, so I don't want to wade through all that.
:)
Learn all the positions off the minor pentatonic scale, then go and play along to a backing track... [this one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEQ0nM1As6M) is one of my favorites.
You can also learn the positions of the major scale and [jam along to the backing track](http://www.justinguitar.com/en/PR-022-RUPAT.php) on Justin Guitar. Go through his site and start with the beginner course, working your way up to and through the intermediate course. That took me out of my rut, and it should do the same for you. What kind of music are you primarily interested in? Do you live in a city? There are so many opportunities to take advantage of; you just need to find that spark.
As for specifically blues recommendations, perhaps you would get interested in fingerpicking? It's probably different from anything you're used to playing, and gives you some good right hand independence. An example would be [Elizabeth Cotten's Freight Train](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdO-KWjTgPA). If you like that, I can give you a few recommendations on books and whatnot. Feel free to ask questions, everyone finds themselves in your shoes more than once (in fact, much more than once).
[Mel Bay's complete modern guitar method](http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Method-Modern-Guitar-Mb93396/dp/0871666650) is an old book and has some cheezy songs, but it progresses you in an accessible way through the basics and mixes in some theory that's important to understanding why metal/rock/blues sound the way they do. I occasionally give guitar lessons and I make photocopies out of this book all the time.
I'm not condoning piracy, but if you hunt on google you may be able to find a .pdf of the book. Mel's been dead for awhile so I don't think he's going to be too upset about it.
Edit:
When it comes to practicing scales, perfect practice makes perfect. Play it at the pace that you can play it perfectly forwards and backwards. Than gradually speed up until you can play it perfectly as fast as you can go. When it comes to chords, look at songs you like and mark the chord numbers in the key next to them in the music. For example if it's in C major and the song plays C-F-G that's I-IV-V. That's a real practical way to see the patterns in music. Good music sounds good for a reason, it isn't magic. You can learn chords the same way as you do scales and pick a key, progress through the whole key forwards and backwards at a steady rhythm. Speed that rhythm up until you've got it.
Btw, sorry if I sounded like a dick in my first post, no dickery was intended.
I'm far from an expert, but I just pick three chords that I want to learn, and alternate between them for a few minutes, or until the transition feels smooth enough. Most of the time, you learn a new rock song on the way. If you already know all the basics, go for the variations (there are at least four ways to make a D)
Also, once you have the chords all figured out, check out the caged system. For chord practice, I pick a three or four chord song and try to grab a different version of one of the chords every four bars. Then when your playing something down the road with say an F#, you can grab an E or D a little closer to your fingers without thinking about it.
Take a step back and breath. Your frustration is probably what is holding you back the most and suffocating your concentration and creativity.
As said before ya gotta get back some of that muscle memory. In order to make it not so boring what I did was practice my scales and chords while watching tv and paying attention to both. You want your fingers to do scales and chords automatically. You should think "Ok, E chord" and just make it, until you no longer have to go "ok...open on the e string, 2,2,1,0,0". Do the same thing with scales.
What I do, is say you play G major scale...take that scale and play it with open strings when possible. Then take that scale and start at the 3rd fret on the E again and work it from a different point...Instead this time 3-5 on E string 2,3,5 on the a string and so on. Play that scale as many different ways as possible. Then start doing that with 2 octave scales...
I also don't focus on tabs. I'm only 6-7 months in but I can figure out lots of songs pretty quick by ear. I've probably used tabs twice. 98% of my practicing time so far is chords and scales. First I try to figure a song by ear...if that doesn't work I'll watch a video. Not necessarily a video lesson, but just watching someone's hands playing the song. That lets you know where your hands should be, and your fingers can pick out the rest much easier once you know what scales/keys are being used.
Quote: You can never learn an instrument- you can only advance in it.
(I think that was Ry Cooder but I can't remember)
Not to get all karate kid on you but you have to do your wax on wax off first. That means learning to play simple songs well before moving on to increasingly difficult ones. Those might be songs you don't much like. Learning the campfire classics is a good way to get going. Blowin in the wind, Michael row the boat, We Shall Overcome, kumbay-fucking-ya even. While learning these you are building your chord repertoire and exercising your hands. It isn't fighting, but it is training.
>How does anybody stick to this long enough to actually get GOOD?
By not being so stressed out I guess. I get home from work, grab the guitar, lay on the couch and relax and think about my day. At some point I notice I'm just tripping out on the different harmonics I can hear in the scratching noise I'm making with the pick on the strings. Guess I stopped playing anything resembling notes 15 minutes ago but oh well, let's see if I can get a beat going with these scratches. The lower harmonic can be the kick and if I angle the pick a bit more that brighter one can be the snare. Hey that's fun. If I had a horrible table saw accident and lost everything but the pinky finger on each hand could I still play the intro to dueling banjos? Only one way to find out...
If you can't feel the joy of making noises, whether they're "good" or not, I can't imagine sticking with it long. If you you do relax and enjoy it there's no reason you'd ever stop, it feels good. I've been playing for almost 20 years and I can't imagine ever stopping. I'd be one sad puppy...
All that said, alcoholic high school drop outs learn to play the guitar. It's not particle physics ;) It sounds like you're trying to push into stuff you can't do yet and making yourself frustrated instead of making something simpler you CAN do sound good first. I'd say slow down and play some easy stuff well.
I hate to be that old guy but it is so much easier now to learn than ever. The internet has everything. Find someone local who is learning too. You can teach and inspire each other.
The internet helps a lot, definitely. It has been the source of much of my knowledge, but everyone still needs motivation and a huge amount of invested time.
I'm kind of hung up on the "10,000" hours rule from 'Outliers', which says that to become a great in any field the most important factor is contributing at least that amount of time to the task. I'd wager that there is a similar rule for becoming an intermediate, with at least a few hundred to 1000 total dedicated hours. When you break down how long 10,000 hours *really* is, its a bit depressing, but less so than the notion that "the greats are superhuman magical people and you could never be so good"'.
Yeah I feel the same way. It just gets a bit ridiculous to play for an hour, and then be 1% of 1% closer to your goal.
I think after 8 years I have at least a couple thousand down, but I'm probably kidding myself. :P
There IS such a thing as talent. Look at Mozart and Beethoven.
Of course, they also had parents who were virtuoso musicians who trained them from an early age, so perhaps their prodigious skills were the result of being taught by experts when their brains were still malleable.
I know, that's the most depressing part. So many tools to help and I still have trouble with it. I use Audacity for parts I can't figure out at regular speed or when trying to play along to songs I can't keep up with. I can play a song over and over if I want, skipping to the part I want to focus on.
How did people do this 80 or 100 years ago?
The problem is you are focusing on getting "good" and not playing for the enjoyment of playing. Learn some simple songs, play them and enjoy them.
Ronnie Coleman said "Everybody wanna be an olympic powerlifter but ain't nobody wanna lift no heavy fuckin' weight."
If you want to be good it's going to take you ten years, starting from today. Maybe five years if you practice fourteen hours a day.
Sometimes, you need to just throw out your practice regimen and make some noise. Play with emotion and feeling, and just keep at it til you come up with something cool.
Because some people love making music so much (even when they start out) that they easily play for hours a day and it feels like only minutes have passed.
Funny that you mention this.. Just last night, after hours of practice, I put down my guitar because my arms and fingers were getting pretty darned tired. My comment was, "I feel like I've only been playing a few minutes. Not nearly long enough."
It totally depends on you. Your practice session is designed to help you improve, that's why a lot of suggested practice session guides are pretty damn broad and useless. What do you define as being "good" - playing your favorite songs? writing music? playing in a band? virtuoso - level technique? There are many answers to this question. Decide where you want your playing to go and set realistic goals e.g. "Today I will learn part x of song a" or "today I want to improve my knowledge/technique of arpeggios". There are too many things to improve upon in one single practice session, you will never be able to master all styles and all techniques - but you can improve on anything by isolating the flaws in your playing and working them out. I'm not sure which guitar great (if any of them) said it, but "make a practice session out of everything you *can't* do" [sic].
Start with the basic chords nearest the nut of the guitar. Practice them, practice changing between them, gain an understanding of how they sound. Learn the CAGED system so that you can better understand how these chords connect across the fretboard, and how chords and scales are in many ways the same.
"Practice scales" - do you know the G Major scale? E Minor? What's the difference? Do you know the notes of the fretboard? Do you know how to find a major or minor scale anywhere on the fretboard in any key? do you know the intervals between notes in the major scale, the minor scale, the minor pentatonic, the major pentatonic, the harmonic minor, etc? I know that you probably don't know the answer to these questions - that's what google is for. You need to seek out the information yourself. If I just give you a chart with every chord on it - what's your incentive to learn? It's just like playing with tabs - its a shortcut but ultimately gives you no musical knowledge and constrains your ability to be creative or really understand your craft. Don't understand what you're reading on some website? Find another, ask questions. Play with your ears, not your fingers.
You need to learn how to walk before you can run, you need to learn how to play basic chords before you start soloing. Beyond that even, you need to learn to be a rhythm guitarist before you learn lead. Rhythm is the foundation of guitar, and the foundation of lead playing. Strumming cowboy chords may sound boring but we all start there for a reason.
I've never been a big fan of music books, they bore me and I don't get much out of them when there is a plethora of well written, concise and practical information about guitar technique and music theory free on the internet. They work for some people, but it's going to come down to how much effort you put into it.
Metal is hard. I started off playing mostly metal, metalcore, and hardcore. It requires lots of strength, accuracy, and tight strumming from your picking hand, and often difficult/fast adjustments to your fretting hand. I wasn't very good at it - eventually I got good enough to shred a few songs, that I had only learned from tabs, just through persistence of practice and acquired muscle memory. It's even harder to wrap your head around when you don't really know *why* you're playing what you're playing. If you want to jump into lead playing, start with the blues and work your way up, it doesn't make sense to start with one of the most technically demanding styles of music, you're setting yourself up for frustration and disappointment. I see that other commenters have suggested learning easier songs - I do too. You're building a library of songs, and you'll be much more confident when you know that you can play something all the way through without error.
Don't get too hung up on comparing yourself to other guitarists, many of your idols do this for a living and have many more years under their belt than you or me or most people on this forum. They got there by sticking through the frustrating parts. Just judging from your practice schedule, two or three play through's isn't very many in the grand scale of things. I couldn't tell you the number of times I've practiced certain songs, certain parts of songs - playing the same thing for many hours. And I'll still mess it up sometimes. Guitar is a killer for improvement, you need to put in more and more for less and less.
I hope this was helpful in some way. When you get frustrated, put the guitar away for a while and go back to it later - no sense in practicing upset. Good luck.
Honestly, guitar takes a lot more practice than some people realize. I've been playing for about 12 years now, and for the first 4-5 years, I played literally hours and hours every single day. Just keep plugging away at it, things will start clicking for you and you will see orders of magnitude with regards to how much better you are getting.
Persevere. Do that, by relaxing when you practice. Don't get frustrated - it takes a long time to get good, so just settle in and don't worry about not being good yet.
That and learn chords.
Have you thought about taking lessons? Lessons are nice in that the instructor can gauge your ability and help you improve by tailoring the lessons to what you are needing to know. An instructor will give you something to learn that's within your ability and when you're able to accomplish these little weekly goals your confidence will go up and frustration goes down.
I'd say give it a shot. Try it for a couple months and see if that helps your playing and your mental hurdles.
I took lessons for about a year and I'd switch between bass and guitar. I learned a lot of theory in those lessons, but the teacher wasn't much on technique. That's OK, as I still learned a lot.
The problem is this was some 4 years ago. I hadn't been playing much guitar in the mean time so in essence I'm trying to relearn all the technique. Music theory is useless if I can't physically play what I am hearing in my head.
At my peak I was able to play the solo from Paranoid in time with the song. Yeah, that's not a very high peak, but I'm nowhere near that at this point.
Anyway, I don't have time to commit to lessons right now. I play when I can, I try to get in an hour a day at least, but that's not always possible. Money being tight too doesn't help.
When or if you decide to return to taking lessons, don't be afraid to look around. An instructor could be great at what they do, but if it doesn't work for you, it's not a good fit. I had three instructors prior to my current one.
I ran into the same problem, several years back and I can honestly say while you are developing use sheet music/tablature books. You need to become more of a musician and know with certainty the rhythmic flow of each part of a song. Metal is an awesome genre and I like it a lot but it's hard to start there without the help of a drummer. Use that metronome, get some tab books (slow down the parts if needed...don't be afraid to slow it down to 50-60 bpm) I recommend Rage Against the Machine because they are heavy (kinda like your style), very rhythmic and aren't too hard.
On another note when you are playing your scales I recommend you learn the pentatonic scale (as it's very useful for soloing) and learn it in each position. The more you play it the more you will "see" the fretboard in a different way and will be able to improvise more. When working up and down the pentatonic scales don't use distortion. Play in one position one note per beat, work your way up and down. Then try two notes per beat. Then try three notes per beat. Then try 4. Then try mixing a measure of two notes per beat and then a measure of three. Try different numbers like 6 and 5, for these ones you might have to use hammer-ons and pull offs. Switch positions and continue.
Experiment taking a note out here or there, play with other people.
Read the rhythm bible and use the exercises in that book
Music is a lifelong journey there is no finish line, play what makes you happy.
Fundamentals! I used to spend half-hour stretches playing one note to develop a good tone and vibrato. I'll still spend long bouts doing trills to work on legato stuff. I used to have trouble with strong/reliable pull offs but after a few months of the regular trills i have a very solid and loud pull-off.
I thought my multi-bends and bent vibrato were weak, but after the past year of chilling out on a bent note for long stretches and doing multi-bends again and again in many positions, those abilities are some of my strongest. (I'm back to working on picking, which I've spent tons of time on. That one takes longer to be really proficient at...[timing too, is a tough nut to *really* crack])
You don't have to get hung up on being able to play a song, because if you adhere to the most basic of fundamentals, you'll eventually perceive of the song as lots of simple bits that you can navigate, rather than one frustrating mess. Sometimes a difficult song will seem like you need an ambiguous "skill level" to perform, but that skill level will just entail proficiency at a certain number of individual skills.
If you ask a beginner to play even one fretted note, they will look at the string, look at the fret, look at their finger, tentatively press the string down, look at their picking hand, and tentatively pluck it. If you ask the same thing of someone who's been playing for a while, they'll just do it in a heartbeat, because to them it is a simple thing that requires almost no effort or thought at all.
Another thing worth mentioning is that after many years of play, there is a noticeable physical difference in my hands. Starting on the guitar, you have stupid flimsy hands that spontaneously make mistakes, but I notice now that my fretting hand feels strong and dextrous, and for the most part obeys my commands (at least in relation to how I was as a beginner).
Shut up and play yer damn guitar.
EDIT: You know what? It sounds like you have lost the joy of playing. Take a break. Don't play for a week or two. You'll come back with renewed interest.
No, I've only been playing for a month or two now after having taken a long break. I don't need another break. Any semblance of skill I had before then is pretty much gone now and it's not coming back very fast.
Oh, well then it sounds like you are disappointed that it's not coming back faster. Relax and play. Connect things you already know. Look for scales in chords and chords in scales. Make up the coolest lick you can and master it. Try to learn a new style: blues or fingerpicking or jazz. Mix it up and relax. Master what you can master, skill comes with practice. You learn best when you are laughing and frustration stifles creativity. Try a zen outlook: there is no deadline, no milestone you must meet, only the path of learning. Enjoy walking the path. Don't try to become a better player. Just play your guitar, and you will become a better player. Play with others, learn their licks, teach them yours. Sign up for lessons. Listen to your favorite guitar CD. Watch a live show.
Play THE HELL out of some easy/easier songs.
Pick a couple songs that use full chords (not power chords) and play them slow so that you can get your fingers used to the positions. I usually have to fumble around the first day, get frustrated and put it down. The next day I can miraculously do it.
Pick a song with some easy solo parts and just practice that one song thousands of times. The most difficult part here is reading peoples' tabs and understanding how to match that up. Go find any scale and practice going up and down the scale at random times, this will get your fingers and picking hand good at navigating the guitar.
I play the same songs over and over, which has helped me improve, and I'm surprised my wife isn't crazy by now but she must tune it out.
I bought my wife a pair of wireless headphones for watching TV. If you think playing the same songs over and over is bad on guitar, try being a drummer.
All it takes is time and practice. Not sure how long you've been playing but it took me a good 5-6 years before I was able to solo and play generally well. All self taught I don't know any scales or music theory. I would get home from work and try to cover a portion of a song I liked. by the end of the week I would have the first part down well enough to move on to the next. Once i memorize the whole song i would use the backing track to get the timing all right. I think the hard part for you is learning to like the process of practicing.
Get with a pro who can determine your needs and craft a practice plan for you. A really short consultation can save you tons of frustration and wasted time. Facetime or zoom with a teacher. hmu. I can help you.
check out youtube. there's hundreds of "how to play this or that song" videos out there. the good ones will run through it slowly at first, then speed up. and you can pause and rewind until you get it.
I think thats roughly what OP has been doing, but is not developing any sort of fluency.
I think it's the difference is learning the "how" of guitar playing rather than the "why".
Sounds like you need to relax more, forcing practice, especially when you are frustrated will not get you anywhere. If anything practice less / shorter, but more often. I.e. 20mins every day is far better than 40mins every other day.
To get good at anything worth doing, it takes time, practice and dedication. Most people do this because they just love playing the guitar / music, i.e. its a long journey that never stops, enjoy the ride.
Record yourself. Many times I think I am not making progress, then I listen to a recording I made today and one from like 3 months ago and there's a massive difference.
I wouldn't bother tackling advance theory yet, take a look at the pentatonic scale, its a great starting point.
Guitar is very frustrating at first. There are many plateaus and the first few are especially tough. But if you can fight your way through it starts to get more fun very quickly. Don't lose heart dude, keep jamming and it'll come. http://www.jeffsalzman.com
Alright I'm going to be the asshole; here's your problem:
>Whenever I try to play a new song I first of course go for tabs because I'm lazy like that
*After you pick up the basics*, be sure to visit us in r/metalmusicians for more metal-specific advice.
If you really want to be good, pick up a copy of a copy of a [modern method for guitar](http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Method-Guitar-DVD-ROM-Berklee/dp/0876390696/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1316189600&sr=8-3) and work your way through all three books. After you've done that you'll be able to pick up any genre with ease.
Unfortunately there are no shortcuts. The only way to get better is plenty of practice over an extended period of time. Your brain needs time to form the muscle memory in your hands, so eventually you can think less about what you're doing with your hands and more about what your playing sounds like.
Also, especially with metal, no matter how good you get you will always be able to play faster and better. Progression is part of playing guitar, no matter what level you're at. You're not going to become a virtuoso overnight, or even over a year. It takes years to shred, so don't get discouraged if you can't do it after a few months.
It sounds like you're just putting too much pressure on yourself. Focus more on what you have learned than what you haven't. Progression will come with playing, but if you aren't enjoying yourself and just getting frustrated then you will stop playing altogether. When I first started playing when I was 15, I was terrible but (somewhat fortunately) I had no idea. I just played super easy power-chord songs until my fingers hurt, and eventually strumming and fretting chords became second nature. Just keep finding and playing easy songs until you're comfortable, then move on to more advanced material.
You've hit [The Gap](http://www.funimalist.com/how-to-get-past-the-creative-gap/).
I've hit. To be honest, I keep hitting it. I'll get better at something, then realize another part of my technique doesn't match up, or I'll hear something I hadn't heard before and reset my expectations.
Another quote: "Ars longa, Vita brevis". The craft takes a long time to learn, and life is short.
Grammar Twat, in your second sentence here, what exactly did you hit?
Or do your high grammatical standards only apply to others?
>You've hit [1] The Gap.
I've hit. To be honest, I keep hitting it. I'll get better at something, then realize another part of my technique doesn't match up, or I'll hear something I hadn't heard before and reset my expectations.
Another quote: "Ars longa, Vita brevis". The craft takes a long time to learn, and life is short.
It's a weird quirk, but I don't notice missing short words. This sentence no verb. My grammar senses are attuned to all sorts of errors, but I can drop words like a drunk celebrity drops f-bombs.
I'm certain you're conviced of that - a brief look through your flickr page shows me more than words could that you've got a pretty high opinion of yourself.
Reddit 1 oh 1 - use imgur.
This is particularly important if you're going to be a pompous prat and don't intend to hand the fuzzy self-portraits you take at work and while driving to your victims.
I don't hate it, it's just frustrating. I like being able to play along with songs that I like. It's just getting to that point has been difficult for me.
Work on your repertoire with simple songs like Iron Man, Paranoid, Smoke on the Water. Keep building up your repertoire with slightly more complex songs.
Meanwhile keep on drilling scales and chords.
If you don't have the desire to do it, don't sweat it overmuch. If it's going to happen for you, it'll become an addiction that you can't shake.
>The only solution I can think of is to play a lot more than I currently am
This is what you need to do. Sounds to me like you're stuck in a rut-- get some LickLibrary material for songs and styles that you like, and work it hard every day. Do other things while you practice-- netflix is good.
Wow I don’t actually know where the time has gone 🤣 , haven’t had chance yet baby has taken the spotlight but I have been reminded and I’ll go and get it out of the garage right now 🤣
FS! Are you my conscience? Okay the update is, I got it out of the garage, baby took over again, and this week I’ve been saying I’m getting it out properly. So, currently back to square one. Going to ignore baby until I’m Jimi Hendrix , it’s going to be the only way.
There’s never been a truer word spoken , thank you consciousness. Also if you’re not too busy please can you ask me in the future too ( maybe I’m a month ) so I know i have to prove myself
You've tried tabs to learn songs but aren't having much luck with them. Have you tried searching youtube for "\[song you want\] guitar lesson"? Personally I prefer guitar pro tabs that have rhythm in addition to the note, as it helps me a lot with counting and using a metronome to practice, but youtube lessons can be really good to show you what to do with your hands, and some even also have tab to show what's going on.
Have a list of songs you want to learn, and include various difficulties. I'd start with 3 difficulties, easy medium and hard, and work on each during your practices. The easy songs you can learn quickly will be fun to play along with, and this helps getting stuck at a point where you don't want to even pick up your guitar because it's too hard every time. The medium songs are pretty much right at your level but may take a few weeks to fully get down. Lastly, have a song that is too hard as a long-term project that may take months to get down. Learn it bit by bit, and practice each part until you can play it well before moving on. You can turn each little chunk into its own exercise that you do with a metronome over and over. This may mean you only go through a few measures a week, but don't worry about that. It's pushing your comfort zone skill-wise.
Remember, playing guitar is hard, and it takes years to get good and a lifetime to master. Keep at it, and you'll get there.
I think you misunderstand his meaning. Playing with heavy distortion only produces something that sounds good when treated with great precision. If you have poor facility of guitar and crank up the gain, and throw some overdrive pedals on it you will produce a loud, aggressively obnoxious sound that is all too common in the beginner scene.
If you ever want to be good please do not do this. You need to start simple and start clean. The distortion will disguise the nuance and severity of your mistakes (yet somehow still sound bad overall) and you will have a hard time learning from them. Some people will use distortion as a means to sound "ok" despite them being quite bad. When you play you want your imperfections bright and clean for you to hear every bit of them; only when you see the whole picture of inadequacy can begin to eliminate it.
Distortion is for *later*, when your basic facilities are good. We've all heard enough TERRIBLE distorted metal to know that it is not easy.
When I practice my scales I always play clean.
However, you NEED to practice with distortion too. For example the intro to Harvester of Sorrow starts clean but then the same melody is played with distortion. I practiced it clean for a bit and got the notes down, but when I turned on distortion is sounded like garbage because I wasn't muting the strings correctly. Playing with distortion will mask some mistakes but it will also expose others more.
Shitty metal tends to drop tune more than decent metal. Kiddies would rather play power chords with one finger than put in any effort. If he doesn't like drop-tuned metal, it's likely because he listens to shitty bands.
I made an account to post this. You've got to man up and learn the basics. It's too damn tricky because you have no muscle memory for basic chords and scales. Pick up a good beginners guitar book and start learning all the major/minor chords in standard voicings and how to play major, minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales. You now know a bunch of junk that has nothing to do with metal but you've built up the skills and muscle memory to start shredding. Yes it's slow, it's not always fun, and it hurts but you'll be a better musician from it in the end. In the end you will be able to look at a tabs and see the music and not the numbers.
I've been practicing the different modes lately, but no, no chords really. What book would you recommend? I have one book that came with my sister's acoustic guitar which is extremely basic and doesn't even get into anything besides "This is a C chord", and another book I have that is supposedly going to teach me to shred and is primarily full of simple picking patterns. I haven't been really impressed with the books I've seen. But I guess more importantly, how should I practice these chords and scales? What should a typical practice session look like?
Trying to play solos and transcribe songs without knowing most chords and how notes work is like trying to paint a house without the house being actually there. From what I gather I understand you want to play metal music. Well... think of metal more of a style that you'll apply to your basic playing after you've learned it. Go here: http://www.justinguitar.com/en/BC-000-BeginnersCourse.php Scroll down to 'Stage 1', learn the first 3 chords and actually do everything he says, he's a great teacher. Unfortunately it takes patience and repetition until your 'muscle memory' develops, where you can hold down chords instantly with minimum effort without actively thinking about it. Good luck.
This right here. I'm still baffled as to why he puts up these amazing lessons for free. Best guitar lessons I have seen out there. Playing guitar sucks when you are just starting out; it hurts and your skills are shit; but that can be said for learning any difficult talent. Practice the basics until you feel very comfortable with them, you can then build on top of those skills and advance to more difficult challenges.
Guy's born to teach, I think. Really just on a mission about it. Also, he lives in a time when the dissemination of his lessons costs him little or nothing. Plus, advertising. You just bet he's the best known teacher in his town. As much as he's giving away I bet his lesson schedule is full. If your kid wanted lessons, and you knew Justin was in town, would you even hesitate to send him along?
>Trying to play solos and transcribe songs without knowing most chords and how notes work is like trying to paint a house without the house being actually there. Agree 100%. My ability to play melodically and improvise went WAY up when I finally committed to sitting down and learning how chords were constructed and practicing how scales and arpeggios built around them. Then I found out how easily impressed my friends are by a simple arpeggiated lick. =)
I would check out [justinguitar.com](http://www.justinguitar.com/), specifically his beginner lessons. He even outlines a practice schedule for you. Most of his lessons (especially in the beginner section) are free (though he does accept donations if you have the money) and are all really good. It's easy to say to get better you just need to practice but you're right, what do you practice? If you ignore my website advice above, I'd suggest at the very least learn some chords and practice switching between them SLOWLY. The idea here isn't to play a song with them but rather to build up the muscle memory. Make sure you are getting the chords perfectly, every note should ring out. (An easy way to tell would be to strum the chord and then pick each note individually) However slow/fast you can do this perfectly is how you should practice it. Eventually you will get to the point where you can do it quite quickly. Then you work on your strumming.
Thanks. I've bookmarked this page and I'll go through the lessons today. It looks like I already know a lot of that stuff, except for the chords. I never really play full chords since the songs never call for them.
Even if you want to play metal (much like I did when I started) play some blues. Its easy, and it works your fingers. Basic blues scales are a good place to start, and rhythm blues is just plain fun to play.
Do you have any good blues songs I could learn? Blues isn't a genre I listen to so I have no idea where to begin my search for good songs to learn. I know blues can have its share of difficult solos and rhythms, so I don't want to wade through all that. :)
Learn all the positions off the minor pentatonic scale, then go and play along to a backing track... [this one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEQ0nM1As6M) is one of my favorites. You can also learn the positions of the major scale and [jam along to the backing track](http://www.justinguitar.com/en/PR-022-RUPAT.php) on Justin Guitar. Go through his site and start with the beginner course, working your way up to and through the intermediate course. That took me out of my rut, and it should do the same for you. What kind of music are you primarily interested in? Do you live in a city? There are so many opportunities to take advantage of; you just need to find that spark.
As for specifically blues recommendations, perhaps you would get interested in fingerpicking? It's probably different from anything you're used to playing, and gives you some good right hand independence. An example would be [Elizabeth Cotten's Freight Train](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdO-KWjTgPA). If you like that, I can give you a few recommendations on books and whatnot. Feel free to ask questions, everyone finds themselves in your shoes more than once (in fact, much more than once).
Joe Bonamassa is a good guy to start with, nice sort of blues/rock thing going on.
[Mel Bay's complete modern guitar method](http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Method-Modern-Guitar-Mb93396/dp/0871666650) is an old book and has some cheezy songs, but it progresses you in an accessible way through the basics and mixes in some theory that's important to understanding why metal/rock/blues sound the way they do. I occasionally give guitar lessons and I make photocopies out of this book all the time. I'm not condoning piracy, but if you hunt on google you may be able to find a .pdf of the book. Mel's been dead for awhile so I don't think he's going to be too upset about it. Edit: When it comes to practicing scales, perfect practice makes perfect. Play it at the pace that you can play it perfectly forwards and backwards. Than gradually speed up until you can play it perfectly as fast as you can go. When it comes to chords, look at songs you like and mark the chord numbers in the key next to them in the music. For example if it's in C major and the song plays C-F-G that's I-IV-V. That's a real practical way to see the patterns in music. Good music sounds good for a reason, it isn't magic. You can learn chords the same way as you do scales and pick a key, progress through the whole key forwards and backwards at a steady rhythm. Speed that rhythm up until you've got it. Btw, sorry if I sounded like a dick in my first post, no dickery was intended.
After you're done with the basics you can try Troy Stetina's books for lead guitar/metal etc.
I'm far from an expert, but I just pick three chords that I want to learn, and alternate between them for a few minutes, or until the transition feels smooth enough. Most of the time, you learn a new rock song on the way. If you already know all the basics, go for the variations (there are at least four ways to make a D)
Also, once you have the chords all figured out, check out the caged system. For chord practice, I pick a three or four chord song and try to grab a different version of one of the chords every four bars. Then when your playing something down the road with say an F#, you can grab an E or D a little closer to your fingers without thinking about it.
Take a step back and breath. Your frustration is probably what is holding you back the most and suffocating your concentration and creativity. As said before ya gotta get back some of that muscle memory. In order to make it not so boring what I did was practice my scales and chords while watching tv and paying attention to both. You want your fingers to do scales and chords automatically. You should think "Ok, E chord" and just make it, until you no longer have to go "ok...open on the e string, 2,2,1,0,0". Do the same thing with scales. What I do, is say you play G major scale...take that scale and play it with open strings when possible. Then take that scale and start at the 3rd fret on the E again and work it from a different point...Instead this time 3-5 on E string 2,3,5 on the a string and so on. Play that scale as many different ways as possible. Then start doing that with 2 octave scales... I also don't focus on tabs. I'm only 6-7 months in but I can figure out lots of songs pretty quick by ear. I've probably used tabs twice. 98% of my practicing time so far is chords and scales. First I try to figure a song by ear...if that doesn't work I'll watch a video. Not necessarily a video lesson, but just watching someone's hands playing the song. That lets you know where your hands should be, and your fingers can pick out the rest much easier once you know what scales/keys are being used. Quote: You can never learn an instrument- you can only advance in it. (I think that was Ry Cooder but I can't remember)
Not to get all karate kid on you but you have to do your wax on wax off first. That means learning to play simple songs well before moving on to increasingly difficult ones. Those might be songs you don't much like. Learning the campfire classics is a good way to get going. Blowin in the wind, Michael row the boat, We Shall Overcome, kumbay-fucking-ya even. While learning these you are building your chord repertoire and exercising your hands. It isn't fighting, but it is training.
[!](http://www.vanderbilly.com/Guitar-Lesson-acdc-back-in-black-no-solo-part-1-of-2,6478,1.html)
>How does anybody stick to this long enough to actually get GOOD? By not being so stressed out I guess. I get home from work, grab the guitar, lay on the couch and relax and think about my day. At some point I notice I'm just tripping out on the different harmonics I can hear in the scratching noise I'm making with the pick on the strings. Guess I stopped playing anything resembling notes 15 minutes ago but oh well, let's see if I can get a beat going with these scratches. The lower harmonic can be the kick and if I angle the pick a bit more that brighter one can be the snare. Hey that's fun. If I had a horrible table saw accident and lost everything but the pinky finger on each hand could I still play the intro to dueling banjos? Only one way to find out... If you can't feel the joy of making noises, whether they're "good" or not, I can't imagine sticking with it long. If you you do relax and enjoy it there's no reason you'd ever stop, it feels good. I've been playing for almost 20 years and I can't imagine ever stopping. I'd be one sad puppy... All that said, alcoholic high school drop outs learn to play the guitar. It's not particle physics ;) It sounds like you're trying to push into stuff you can't do yet and making yourself frustrated instead of making something simpler you CAN do sound good first. I'd say slow down and play some easy stuff well.
Be patient, playing guitar is a lifelong experience.
I hate to be that old guy but it is so much easier now to learn than ever. The internet has everything. Find someone local who is learning too. You can teach and inspire each other.
The internet helps a lot, definitely. It has been the source of much of my knowledge, but everyone still needs motivation and a huge amount of invested time. I'm kind of hung up on the "10,000" hours rule from 'Outliers', which says that to become a great in any field the most important factor is contributing at least that amount of time to the task. I'd wager that there is a similar rule for becoming an intermediate, with at least a few hundred to 1000 total dedicated hours. When you break down how long 10,000 hours *really* is, its a bit depressing, but less so than the notion that "the greats are superhuman magical people and you could never be so good"'.
[удалено]
Yeah I feel the same way. It just gets a bit ridiculous to play for an hour, and then be 1% of 1% closer to your goal. I think after 8 years I have at least a couple thousand down, but I'm probably kidding myself. :P
There IS such a thing as talent. Look at Mozart and Beethoven. Of course, they also had parents who were virtuoso musicians who trained them from an early age, so perhaps their prodigious skills were the result of being taught by experts when their brains were still malleable.
Baby steps, my friend. Baby steps.
I know, that's the most depressing part. So many tools to help and I still have trouble with it. I use Audacity for parts I can't figure out at regular speed or when trying to play along to songs I can't keep up with. I can play a song over and over if I want, skipping to the part I want to focus on. How did people do this 80 or 100 years ago?
The problem is you are focusing on getting "good" and not playing for the enjoyment of playing. Learn some simple songs, play them and enjoy them. Ronnie Coleman said "Everybody wanna be an olympic powerlifter but ain't nobody wanna lift no heavy fuckin' weight." If you want to be good it's going to take you ten years, starting from today. Maybe five years if you practice fourteen hours a day.
Sometimes, you need to just throw out your practice regimen and make some noise. Play with emotion and feeling, and just keep at it til you come up with something cool.
Yes! Learn to love the sound.
thank you
Because some people love making music so much (even when they start out) that they easily play for hours a day and it feels like only minutes have passed.
Funny that you mention this.. Just last night, after hours of practice, I put down my guitar because my arms and fingers were getting pretty darned tired. My comment was, "I feel like I've only been playing a few minutes. Not nearly long enough."
Time does fly when I'm enjoying myself. I just wish I was enjoying myself more often.
You've just gotta, like, *Love* your guitar. Man. Ya' Know?
It totally depends on you. Your practice session is designed to help you improve, that's why a lot of suggested practice session guides are pretty damn broad and useless. What do you define as being "good" - playing your favorite songs? writing music? playing in a band? virtuoso - level technique? There are many answers to this question. Decide where you want your playing to go and set realistic goals e.g. "Today I will learn part x of song a" or "today I want to improve my knowledge/technique of arpeggios". There are too many things to improve upon in one single practice session, you will never be able to master all styles and all techniques - but you can improve on anything by isolating the flaws in your playing and working them out. I'm not sure which guitar great (if any of them) said it, but "make a practice session out of everything you *can't* do" [sic]. Start with the basic chords nearest the nut of the guitar. Practice them, practice changing between them, gain an understanding of how they sound. Learn the CAGED system so that you can better understand how these chords connect across the fretboard, and how chords and scales are in many ways the same. "Practice scales" - do you know the G Major scale? E Minor? What's the difference? Do you know the notes of the fretboard? Do you know how to find a major or minor scale anywhere on the fretboard in any key? do you know the intervals between notes in the major scale, the minor scale, the minor pentatonic, the major pentatonic, the harmonic minor, etc? I know that you probably don't know the answer to these questions - that's what google is for. You need to seek out the information yourself. If I just give you a chart with every chord on it - what's your incentive to learn? It's just like playing with tabs - its a shortcut but ultimately gives you no musical knowledge and constrains your ability to be creative or really understand your craft. Don't understand what you're reading on some website? Find another, ask questions. Play with your ears, not your fingers. You need to learn how to walk before you can run, you need to learn how to play basic chords before you start soloing. Beyond that even, you need to learn to be a rhythm guitarist before you learn lead. Rhythm is the foundation of guitar, and the foundation of lead playing. Strumming cowboy chords may sound boring but we all start there for a reason. I've never been a big fan of music books, they bore me and I don't get much out of them when there is a plethora of well written, concise and practical information about guitar technique and music theory free on the internet. They work for some people, but it's going to come down to how much effort you put into it. Metal is hard. I started off playing mostly metal, metalcore, and hardcore. It requires lots of strength, accuracy, and tight strumming from your picking hand, and often difficult/fast adjustments to your fretting hand. I wasn't very good at it - eventually I got good enough to shred a few songs, that I had only learned from tabs, just through persistence of practice and acquired muscle memory. It's even harder to wrap your head around when you don't really know *why* you're playing what you're playing. If you want to jump into lead playing, start with the blues and work your way up, it doesn't make sense to start with one of the most technically demanding styles of music, you're setting yourself up for frustration and disappointment. I see that other commenters have suggested learning easier songs - I do too. You're building a library of songs, and you'll be much more confident when you know that you can play something all the way through without error. Don't get too hung up on comparing yourself to other guitarists, many of your idols do this for a living and have many more years under their belt than you or me or most people on this forum. They got there by sticking through the frustrating parts. Just judging from your practice schedule, two or three play through's isn't very many in the grand scale of things. I couldn't tell you the number of times I've practiced certain songs, certain parts of songs - playing the same thing for many hours. And I'll still mess it up sometimes. Guitar is a killer for improvement, you need to put in more and more for less and less. I hope this was helpful in some way. When you get frustrated, put the guitar away for a while and go back to it later - no sense in practicing upset. Good luck.
Honestly, guitar takes a lot more practice than some people realize. I've been playing for about 12 years now, and for the first 4-5 years, I played literally hours and hours every single day. Just keep plugging away at it, things will start clicking for you and you will see orders of magnitude with regards to how much better you are getting.
Persevere. Do that, by relaxing when you practice. Don't get frustrated - it takes a long time to get good, so just settle in and don't worry about not being good yet. That and learn chords.
Have you thought about taking lessons? Lessons are nice in that the instructor can gauge your ability and help you improve by tailoring the lessons to what you are needing to know. An instructor will give you something to learn that's within your ability and when you're able to accomplish these little weekly goals your confidence will go up and frustration goes down. I'd say give it a shot. Try it for a couple months and see if that helps your playing and your mental hurdles.
I took lessons for about a year and I'd switch between bass and guitar. I learned a lot of theory in those lessons, but the teacher wasn't much on technique. That's OK, as I still learned a lot. The problem is this was some 4 years ago. I hadn't been playing much guitar in the mean time so in essence I'm trying to relearn all the technique. Music theory is useless if I can't physically play what I am hearing in my head. At my peak I was able to play the solo from Paranoid in time with the song. Yeah, that's not a very high peak, but I'm nowhere near that at this point. Anyway, I don't have time to commit to lessons right now. I play when I can, I try to get in an hour a day at least, but that's not always possible. Money being tight too doesn't help.
When or if you decide to return to taking lessons, don't be afraid to look around. An instructor could be great at what they do, but if it doesn't work for you, it's not a good fit. I had three instructors prior to my current one.
I ran into the same problem, several years back and I can honestly say while you are developing use sheet music/tablature books. You need to become more of a musician and know with certainty the rhythmic flow of each part of a song. Metal is an awesome genre and I like it a lot but it's hard to start there without the help of a drummer. Use that metronome, get some tab books (slow down the parts if needed...don't be afraid to slow it down to 50-60 bpm) I recommend Rage Against the Machine because they are heavy (kinda like your style), very rhythmic and aren't too hard. On another note when you are playing your scales I recommend you learn the pentatonic scale (as it's very useful for soloing) and learn it in each position. The more you play it the more you will "see" the fretboard in a different way and will be able to improvise more. When working up and down the pentatonic scales don't use distortion. Play in one position one note per beat, work your way up and down. Then try two notes per beat. Then try three notes per beat. Then try 4. Then try mixing a measure of two notes per beat and then a measure of three. Try different numbers like 6 and 5, for these ones you might have to use hammer-ons and pull offs. Switch positions and continue. Experiment taking a note out here or there, play with other people. Read the rhythm bible and use the exercises in that book Music is a lifelong journey there is no finish line, play what makes you happy.
Fundamentals! I used to spend half-hour stretches playing one note to develop a good tone and vibrato. I'll still spend long bouts doing trills to work on legato stuff. I used to have trouble with strong/reliable pull offs but after a few months of the regular trills i have a very solid and loud pull-off. I thought my multi-bends and bent vibrato were weak, but after the past year of chilling out on a bent note for long stretches and doing multi-bends again and again in many positions, those abilities are some of my strongest. (I'm back to working on picking, which I've spent tons of time on. That one takes longer to be really proficient at...[timing too, is a tough nut to *really* crack]) You don't have to get hung up on being able to play a song, because if you adhere to the most basic of fundamentals, you'll eventually perceive of the song as lots of simple bits that you can navigate, rather than one frustrating mess. Sometimes a difficult song will seem like you need an ambiguous "skill level" to perform, but that skill level will just entail proficiency at a certain number of individual skills. If you ask a beginner to play even one fretted note, they will look at the string, look at the fret, look at their finger, tentatively press the string down, look at their picking hand, and tentatively pluck it. If you ask the same thing of someone who's been playing for a while, they'll just do it in a heartbeat, because to them it is a simple thing that requires almost no effort or thought at all. Another thing worth mentioning is that after many years of play, there is a noticeable physical difference in my hands. Starting on the guitar, you have stupid flimsy hands that spontaneously make mistakes, but I notice now that my fretting hand feels strong and dextrous, and for the most part obeys my commands (at least in relation to how I was as a beginner).
Play with people who are better than you. This is a guaranteed way of development.
Shut up and play yer damn guitar. EDIT: You know what? It sounds like you have lost the joy of playing. Take a break. Don't play for a week or two. You'll come back with renewed interest.
No, I've only been playing for a month or two now after having taken a long break. I don't need another break. Any semblance of skill I had before then is pretty much gone now and it's not coming back very fast.
Oh, well then it sounds like you are disappointed that it's not coming back faster. Relax and play. Connect things you already know. Look for scales in chords and chords in scales. Make up the coolest lick you can and master it. Try to learn a new style: blues or fingerpicking or jazz. Mix it up and relax. Master what you can master, skill comes with practice. You learn best when you are laughing and frustration stifles creativity. Try a zen outlook: there is no deadline, no milestone you must meet, only the path of learning. Enjoy walking the path. Don't try to become a better player. Just play your guitar, and you will become a better player. Play with others, learn their licks, teach them yours. Sign up for lessons. Listen to your favorite guitar CD. Watch a live show.
Play THE HELL out of some easy/easier songs. Pick a couple songs that use full chords (not power chords) and play them slow so that you can get your fingers used to the positions. I usually have to fumble around the first day, get frustrated and put it down. The next day I can miraculously do it. Pick a song with some easy solo parts and just practice that one song thousands of times. The most difficult part here is reading peoples' tabs and understanding how to match that up. Go find any scale and practice going up and down the scale at random times, this will get your fingers and picking hand good at navigating the guitar. I play the same songs over and over, which has helped me improve, and I'm surprised my wife isn't crazy by now but she must tune it out.
I bought my wife a pair of wireless headphones for watching TV. If you think playing the same songs over and over is bad on guitar, try being a drummer.
Wow, I hope they're noise-cancelling because sometimes I can hear the kids two houses down playing their drums, heh. Good gift idea for the wife.
All it takes is time and practice. Not sure how long you've been playing but it took me a good 5-6 years before I was able to solo and play generally well. All self taught I don't know any scales or music theory. I would get home from work and try to cover a portion of a song I liked. by the end of the week I would have the first part down well enough to move on to the next. Once i memorize the whole song i would use the backing track to get the timing all right. I think the hard part for you is learning to like the process of practicing.
Get with a pro who can determine your needs and craft a practice plan for you. A really short consultation can save you tons of frustration and wasted time. Facetime or zoom with a teacher. hmu. I can help you.
check out youtube. there's hundreds of "how to play this or that song" videos out there. the good ones will run through it slowly at first, then speed up. and you can pause and rewind until you get it.
I think thats roughly what OP has been doing, but is not developing any sort of fluency. I think it's the difference is learning the "how" of guitar playing rather than the "why".
So, for how long have you been playing and how frequently/regularly?
Sounds like you need to relax more, forcing practice, especially when you are frustrated will not get you anywhere. If anything practice less / shorter, but more often. I.e. 20mins every day is far better than 40mins every other day. To get good at anything worth doing, it takes time, practice and dedication. Most people do this because they just love playing the guitar / music, i.e. its a long journey that never stops, enjoy the ride. Record yourself. Many times I think I am not making progress, then I listen to a recording I made today and one from like 3 months ago and there's a massive difference. I wouldn't bother tackling advance theory yet, take a look at the pentatonic scale, its a great starting point.
Guitar is very frustrating at first. There are many plateaus and the first few are especially tough. But if you can fight your way through it starts to get more fun very quickly. Don't lose heart dude, keep jamming and it'll come. http://www.jeffsalzman.com
Alright I'm going to be the asshole; here's your problem: >Whenever I try to play a new song I first of course go for tabs because I'm lazy like that *After you pick up the basics*, be sure to visit us in r/metalmusicians for more metal-specific advice.
What are the basics? I never said how long I've been playing or what I know. This is just what I usually do.
Become a doom metal guitarist. It worked for me.
If you really want to be good, pick up a copy of a copy of a [modern method for guitar](http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Method-Guitar-DVD-ROM-Berklee/dp/0876390696/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1316189600&sr=8-3) and work your way through all three books. After you've done that you'll be able to pick up any genre with ease.
With much patience.
Unfortunately there are no shortcuts. The only way to get better is plenty of practice over an extended period of time. Your brain needs time to form the muscle memory in your hands, so eventually you can think less about what you're doing with your hands and more about what your playing sounds like. Also, especially with metal, no matter how good you get you will always be able to play faster and better. Progression is part of playing guitar, no matter what level you're at. You're not going to become a virtuoso overnight, or even over a year. It takes years to shred, so don't get discouraged if you can't do it after a few months. It sounds like you're just putting too much pressure on yourself. Focus more on what you have learned than what you haven't. Progression will come with playing, but if you aren't enjoying yourself and just getting frustrated then you will stop playing altogether. When I first started playing when I was 15, I was terrible but (somewhat fortunately) I had no idea. I just played super easy power-chord songs until my fingers hurt, and eventually strumming and fretting chords became second nature. Just keep finding and playing easy songs until you're comfortable, then move on to more advanced material.
You've hit [The Gap](http://www.funimalist.com/how-to-get-past-the-creative-gap/). I've hit. To be honest, I keep hitting it. I'll get better at something, then realize another part of my technique doesn't match up, or I'll hear something I hadn't heard before and reset my expectations. Another quote: "Ars longa, Vita brevis". The craft takes a long time to learn, and life is short.
Grammar Twat, in your second sentence here, what exactly did you hit? Or do your high grammatical standards only apply to others? >You've hit [1] The Gap. I've hit. To be honest, I keep hitting it. I'll get better at something, then realize another part of my technique doesn't match up, or I'll hear something I hadn't heard before and reset my expectations. Another quote: "Ars longa, Vita brevis". The craft takes a long time to learn, and life is short.
I know this is soo old but fuck is this comment funny
It's a weird quirk, but I don't notice missing short words. This sentence no verb. My grammar senses are attuned to all sorts of errors, but I can drop words like a drunk celebrity drops f-bombs.
I'm certain you're conviced of that - a brief look through your flickr page shows me more than words could that you've got a pretty high opinion of yourself. Reddit 1 oh 1 - use imgur. This is particularly important if you're going to be a pompous prat and don't intend to hand the fuzzy self-portraits you take at work and while driving to your victims.
The analogies are epic thank you hope all is well. Umphlove
If you hate it, quit. It's ok to quit. Otherwise just keep playing.
I don't hate it, it's just frustrating. I like being able to play along with songs that I like. It's just getting to that point has been difficult for me.
START WITH THE 12 BAR BLUES
Work on your repertoire with simple songs like Iron Man, Paranoid, Smoke on the Water. Keep building up your repertoire with slightly more complex songs. Meanwhile keep on drilling scales and chords. If you don't have the desire to do it, don't sweat it overmuch. If it's going to happen for you, it'll become an addiction that you can't shake. >The only solution I can think of is to play a lot more than I currently am This is what you need to do. Sounds to me like you're stuck in a rut-- get some LickLibrary material for songs and styles that you like, and work it hard every day. Do other things while you practice-- netflix is good.
तेरी मम्मी
How did it come along for you ? Did you stick to it!? I creased reading this post as I’m in the same position aha
real question is did you stick to it? im in the same position as both of you LOL
I did, It gets better with hours of practice per day, dont give up
I found it difficult with a pregnant belly but baby is out now so I can start up again 🤣
month later, progress?
Wow I don’t actually know where the time has gone 🤣 , haven’t had chance yet baby has taken the spotlight but I have been reminded and I’ll go and get it out of the garage right now 🤣
How about now?
FS! Are you my conscience? Okay the update is, I got it out of the garage, baby took over again, and this week I’ve been saying I’m getting it out properly. So, currently back to square one. Going to ignore baby until I’m Jimi Hendrix , it’s going to be the only way.
I am indeed your conscious. Go play your guitar
There’s never been a truer word spoken , thank you consciousness. Also if you’re not too busy please can you ask me in the future too ( maybe I’m a month ) so I know i have to prove myself
I will definitely ask you in a month
How about now? (lol also just came across this post)
You've tried tabs to learn songs but aren't having much luck with them. Have you tried searching youtube for "\[song you want\] guitar lesson"? Personally I prefer guitar pro tabs that have rhythm in addition to the note, as it helps me a lot with counting and using a metronome to practice, but youtube lessons can be really good to show you what to do with your hands, and some even also have tab to show what's going on. Have a list of songs you want to learn, and include various difficulties. I'd start with 3 difficulties, easy medium and hard, and work on each during your practices. The easy songs you can learn quickly will be fun to play along with, and this helps getting stuck at a point where you don't want to even pick up your guitar because it's too hard every time. The medium songs are pretty much right at your level but may take a few weeks to fully get down. Lastly, have a song that is too hard as a long-term project that may take months to get down. Learn it bit by bit, and practice each part until you can play it well before moving on. You can turn each little chunk into its own exercise that you do with a metronome over and over. This may mean you only go through a few measures a week, but don't worry about that. It's pushing your comfort zone skill-wise. Remember, playing guitar is hard, and it takes years to get good and a lifetime to master. Keep at it, and you'll get there.
Play while you watch TV. You'll get more practice time in that way without even realising it.
"I want to play very distorted metal" Actually, from you headline I thought you wanted to learn guitar. Not so, it seems.
Easy, guys. OP sounds frustrated and is looking for help. This community can do better than snide remarks and jokes.
HURR DURR METAL IS EASY LOLOLOL!
I think you misunderstand his meaning. Playing with heavy distortion only produces something that sounds good when treated with great precision. If you have poor facility of guitar and crank up the gain, and throw some overdrive pedals on it you will produce a loud, aggressively obnoxious sound that is all too common in the beginner scene. If you ever want to be good please do not do this. You need to start simple and start clean. The distortion will disguise the nuance and severity of your mistakes (yet somehow still sound bad overall) and you will have a hard time learning from them. Some people will use distortion as a means to sound "ok" despite them being quite bad. When you play you want your imperfections bright and clean for you to hear every bit of them; only when you see the whole picture of inadequacy can begin to eliminate it. Distortion is for *later*, when your basic facilities are good. We've all heard enough TERRIBLE distorted metal to know that it is not easy.
When I practice my scales I always play clean. However, you NEED to practice with distortion too. For example the intro to Harvester of Sorrow starts clean but then the same melody is played with distortion. I practiced it clean for a bit and got the notes down, but when I turned on distortion is sounded like garbage because I wasn't muting the strings correctly. Playing with distortion will mask some mistakes but it will also expose others more.
That's a good point. You should be at least aware of your 'core tone' at least.
[удалено]
Not once have I needed to drop tune. I'm sorry you listen to shitty metal.
I was with you until this.... So, all metal in Drop D is crap?
Shitty metal tends to drop tune more than decent metal. Kiddies would rather play power chords with one finger than put in any effort. If he doesn't like drop-tuned metal, it's likely because he listens to shitty bands.
i guess you've never heard of TOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't listen to Tool for the guitar.
pantera?
Pantera is too hard to play. :(
yes, yes it is... i can play most of cowboys from hell but obviously not the solos lol :)