Learning guitar

gkillmaster

I've been practicing for a couple years and suddenly I zoomed up to a new place and everything seemed to click into place. And I know what it was (for me at least)! I decided a few months ago to take a couple steps back and practise everything MUCH slower. And work on details like quality of sound, accurate finger placement and not accepting mistakes. Where there were mistakes in my scales or music I was trying to learn, I'd go over those areas very slowly, getting good tone and multiple times slow til I didn't make mistakes. Then I'd gradually speed up. This was key for me and I wish I knew this a couple years ago. There are too many songs I love and I wanted to get there too fast.

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

@gkillmaster said:
I've been practicing for a couple years and suddenly I zoomed up to a new place and everything seemed to click into place. And I know what it was (for me at least)! I decided a few months ago to take a couple steps back and practise everything MUCH slower. And work on details like quality of sound, accurate finger placement and not accepting mistakes. Where there were mistakes in my scales or music I was trying to learn, I'd go over those areas very slowly, getting good tone and multiple times slow til I didn't make mistakes. Then I'd gradually speed up. This was key for me and I wish I knew this a couple years ago. There are too many songs I love and I wanted to get there too fast.

This gets at a key aspect of effective practicing: The strategy is to never play anything badly; play everything perfectly always. Take a very short bit and slow it down until you can play it perfectly. If you can’t, slow it down or shorten it further. Always sound great.

gkillmaster

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:

@gkillmaster said:
I've been practicing for a couple years and suddenly I zoomed up to a new place and everything seemed to click into place. And I know what it was (for me at least)! I decided a few months ago to take a couple steps back and practise everything MUCH slower. And work on details like quality of sound, accurate finger placement and not accepting mistakes. Where there were mistakes in my scales or music I was trying to learn, I'd go over those areas very slowly, getting good tone and multiple times slow til I didn't make mistakes. Then I'd gradually speed up. This was key for me and I wish I knew this a couple years ago. There are too many songs I love and I wanted to get there too fast.

This gets at a key aspect of effective practicing: The strategy is to never play anything badly; play everything perfectly always. Take a very short bit and slow it down until you can play it perfectly. If you can’t, slow it down or shorten it further. Always sound great.

exactly. And thing is, you think you are regressing going so slow, but it's the opposite. You are learning as fast as possible

JeffChasteen

@kurth said:
ok....write your own music....always. If you learn to copy, you'll make other people's music. No matter how bad, or how genius, play music you make up yourself. Even if it's just 3 chords. Lou Reed said a great song shouldn't have more than 3 chords ! INterestingLY while reading the comments ....I watching one of justin's videos, that lead me , like any musician to another video....what he thought about tuning an instrument. Honestly, I never saw him play, but if that's all he can teach me about tuning a guitar, I won't trust him with advice on actually playing a guitar. People...there was a time before computers...and people made guitar music....without a clip-on tuner. And my advice on tuning a guitar is....every guitar is different, and must be tuned to itself and it's whole fretboard. Tuning machines have really helped get to the ballpark faster, but they don't catch the leftfield fly. The key to tuning is harmonics. The whole guitar... at least 12frets must be in tune with itself. Justin never once mentioned using harmonics, only his cheap clip-on... ( wasn't even a t c helicon ) . The guitar fretboard, like any ifretless guitar player knows, is an endless repeatable system of notes. Tune the strings to themselves using the same notes on different strings, all the way down. Then use harmonics to exact the relationship between strings. Every guitar fretboard is a tuning compromise. Then make up your own music...cause 99 times out of 100, even the life of a studio musician is repeatable and boring...unless you have the luck to be chosen by a true genius. So...to stay interested for the long run....write songs. It's a proven path to guitar playing excellence. And imho the guitar is the best instrument for doing it. And don't rely on the metronome. Real music flows with the epps and flow of the emotion. And after....learn a few pieces by bach or mozart to play at parties.

“Lou, what’s up with the fourth chord?”

• Sterling Morrison when first presented with Sweet Jane

kurth

yep...Lou really outdid himself.

ecou

@BCKeys said:

@Montreal_Music said:
If I had to start learning guitar again, I would only play with my fingers. For any style.

I only play guitar with fingers for any style and I’d like to play with a pick ! Truely

From the start I did both styles. Never too late to start.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

yowza

As a long time guitarist and instructor I think the single most thing you can do that will give the most long term benefits is to learn the notes on the guitar neck. Start by learning notes up the neck on each string one at a time, use octave shapes to tie things together. Of course all this goes out the window somewhat if you use different tunings.

ecou

@BCKeys said:

@ecou said:

@BCKeys said:

@Montreal_Music said:
If I had to start learning guitar again, I would only play with my fingers. For any style.

I only play guitar with fingers for any style and I’d like to play with a pick ! Truely

From the start I did both styles. Never too late to start.

I try .. but I have to admit that I don't have the same thirst for learning that I had when I was young.

.. and much less free time, for sure !

Same here. Trying to learn the piano for the last 10 years. Very slow progress. And my guitar skills are declining fast too. 😂😂

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

@yowza said:
As a long time guitarist and instructor I think the single most thing you can do that will give the most long term benefits is to learn the notes on the guitar neck. Start by learning notes up the neck on each string one at a time, use octave shapes to tie things together. Of course all this goes out the window somewhat if you use different tunings.

No, it’s still extremely useful. The intervals don’t change when you retune, just the fundamental. Once you’ve learnèd to play on one string, then you can learn any other new stringed instrument in a very short time.

audiblevideo

I don’t play guitar, but if I did I’d take a look at this guys course Complete Chord Mastery.

I watch his YouTube vids for music theory, and he’s almost inspired me to want to be a guitarist just from his teaching style.

denx

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:

@yowza said:
As a long time guitarist and instructor I think the single most thing you can do that will give the most long term benefits is to learn the notes on the guitar neck. Start by learning notes up the neck on each string one at a time, use octave shapes to tie things together. Of course all this goes out the window somewhat if you use different tunings.

No, it’s still extremely useful. The intervals don’t change when you retune, just the fundamental. Once you’ve learnèd to play on one string, then you can learn any other new stringed instrument in a very short time.

Not with a drop D 😊
After that it gets even more fun.

yowza

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:

No, it’s still extremely useful. The intervals don’t change when you retune, just the fundamental. Once you’ve learnèd to play on one string, then you can learn any other new stringed instrument in a very short time.

Of course. I did say somewhat

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

@denx said:

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:

@yowza said:
As a long time guitarist and instructor I think the single most thing you can do that will give the most long term benefits is to learn the notes on the guitar neck. Start by learning notes up the neck on each string one at a time, use octave shapes to tie things together. Of course all this goes out the window somewhat if you use different tunings.

No, it’s still extremely useful. The intervals don’t change when you retune, just the fundamental. Once you’ve learnèd to play on one string, then you can learn any other new stringed instrument in a very short time.

Not with a drop D 😊
After that it gets even more fun.

The intervals don't care what note you tuned the string to. The harmonic series remains constant.

wim

I tune all my strings to 432Hz. It has changed my life. Everyone should try this.

JoyceRoadStudios

@wim said:
I tune all my strings to 432Hz. It has changed my life. Everyone should try this.

Interesting... do you do this because when you attack the string it pushes up to 440 at the onset? It’s interesting how different playing styles and string gauges can play a role in this. For example I don’t own Evertune bridges on any guitar but apparently it doesn’t push up no matter how hard you attack. I use .12 or .13 gauge strings and tune them as flat as possible while still “in the slot”, works with a heavy handed attack...

wim

No, I mean tune all the strings to 432 hz, every one to the same pitch. 432Hz is the fundamental frequency of the universe. Since I've been doing that, it doesn't matter so much really what I play, my aura intensifies until it's almost visible to the naked eye, my children drop the video games and settle down to their homework with a contented sigh, and my wife will often come to lovingly massage my feet as I play. Once the cat even levitated.

JoyceRoadStudios

@wim said:
No, I mean tune all the strings to 432 hz, every one to the same pitch. 432Hz is the frequency of the universe. Since I've been doing that, it doesn't matter so much really what I play, my aura expands until it's almost visible to the naked eye, my children drop the video games and settle down to their homework with a contented sigh, and my wife will often come to lovingly massage my feet. Once the cat even levitated.

Ok I’m trying this tonight, my feet do hurt...

denx

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:

@denx said:

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:

@yowza said:
As a long time guitarist and instructor I think the single most thing you can do that will give the most long term benefits is to learn the notes on the guitar neck. Start by learning notes up the neck on each string one at a time, use octave shapes to tie things together. Of course all this goes out the window somewhat if you use different tunings.

No, it’s still extremely useful. The intervals don’t change when you retune, just the fundamental. Once you’ve learnèd to play on one string, then you can learn any other new stringed instrument in a very short time.

Not with a drop D 😊
After that it gets even more fun.

The intervals don't care what note you tuned the string to. The harmonic series remains constant.

You’re right of course, I misunderstood.
I tend to think firstly of the relation between different strings.

GovernorSilver

@yowza said:
As a long time guitarist and instructor I think the single most thing you can do that will give the most long term benefits is to learn the notes on the guitar neck. Start by learning notes up the neck on each string one at a time, use octave shapes to tie things together. Of course all this goes out the window somewhat if you use different tunings.

True, the multi-string shapes that you may have learned in standard guitar tuning - eg. the CAGED shapes for major triads, minor triads, etc. - may have to be discarded or altered if you elect to use a different guitar tuning.

OTOH, it's worth noting that Michael Hedges would often compose his music away from the guitar first and then would find the guitar tuning that best suited the composition, for performance purposes.

McD

A guitar tuning force you into certain musical choices due to the number of strings and the shapes 4 fingers (with an optional wrap around thumb).

So, to break through to something new many song writers create new tunings and listen to what their fingers can create. Sonically, open strings have a magical sound so tunings that sound good using combinations of open strings are powerful. The song Iris by the Google Dolls uses a tuning where most of the strings are tuned to a D which creates an acoustic "Chorus" effect. That's an extreme case but the logical conclusion of using tuning to find new sounds.

Joni Mitchell would also create a tuning and get a song out of it. The chords that jazz piano players gravitate towards are easier to create using Open Strings if you tune to make those sounds. Many song writers that use this approach to guitar can't tell you what chords they are making. They see the song as a series of hand shapes and movements which is similar to tablature... "1st finger on 6th string at 3rd fret".

This is a great way to go if you want to create songs and a terrible way to go if you want to "learn the notes of the neck". But a standard guitar tends to make music that sounds like music you've heard a million times. Life continues to be a series of trade offs.

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

@denx said:
I tend to think firstly of the relation between different strings.

Guitar encourages thinking in positions. But most stringed instruments are the opposite--they encourage soloing up and down a single string. Once you have this skill, you can easily pick up any stringed instrument and play something.

royor

Musical Intentions with Paul Gilbert is part of a mini documentary series that explores the mental states, struggles, and insights of taking a creative path in life. This film features progressive rock guitar virtuoso Paul Gilbert, sharing perceptions and insights from his prolific and successful 30 plus years in music.

Ailerom

I would say do what you like. Chances are it will make you a more unique player and you might enjoy it more. That could reduce the likelihood of getting sick of it and stopping, again. Try not to get discouraged. That happens a lot but if you really want to play you have to push on. It's hard sometimes but worth it in the end. IMO.

My teacher, 45 years ago, had me dip my fingers in metholated spirits after practice. I was only young but seem to recall it toughening them up pretty quickly.

JeffChasteen

@wim said:
No, I mean tune all the strings to 432 hz, every one to the same pitch. 432Hz is the fundamental frequency of the universe. Since I've been doing that, it doesn't matter so much really what I play, my aura intensifies until it's almost visible to the naked eye, my children drop the video games and settle down to their homework with a contented sigh, and my wife will often come to lovingly massage my feet as I play. Once the cat even levitated.

Ahh...”The Enlightened Ostrich Tuning”
Nicely done 🤣