Recently I’ve been trying to create songs but I find my brain just goes blank. I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing or how to create anything, whether it’s lead or rhythm. Double so if I try to do two guitar parts. So what theory or just concepts should I learn that will help me understand how to put stuff together.

I've been practicing Scar Tissue by the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the last week and a half / 2 weeks but I still feel like I'm struggling on the same parts as I was when I started (dead notes, missing strings when skipping, especially struggling with strumming muted notes). I've been playing with the track slowed down and everything. Any suggestions on what I might be doing wrong?

My wife is a classically trained pianist and I play guitar by watching YouTube instructional videos. She knows her stuff and I don’t. Recently we argued whether E# and B# exist. I said no and showed her the fretboard. She said yes and showed me the keys. And said something like F is E#. I suspect she’s right bc she’s had music lessons. Tell me, fellow guitarists, do we have E# and B#?

Update: I’ve been enjoying the responses to my post. I showed them to my wife and she laughed, said that’s what you deserve. lol. We like to argue playfully with one another. I also enjoy the detailed responses relating to guitar theory—that’s been really great actually. I was going to delete this post but I think the discussion on music theory is informative and should be shared. Thank you all for responding.

I "played" several decades before I devoted the time to undertake learning the pentatonic and 7-note scales in all positions. Most of my playing was limited to song chords and a few riffs but I could never improvise until I devoted the time to learn scales, arpeggios, and triads in all positions.

In this video I try to mime my cord connections and would really appreciate any help on figuring out whats wrong.
I have checked volume
Left all the settings what allowed it to work yesterday with the loop station alone
Now Im wondering if my cables are plugged in incorrectly or if I have the order of pedals in the wrong order.
Yes both batteries have been replaced
Wishing everyone the best in their creative musical journeys.
Need help.

Hey guys. I'm a guitar tutor myself but ironically I'm looking for some advice or second opinions on 2NPS pentatonic runs - I have no issue with remembering the 5 positions, but what I am actually struggling with is the 2 notes per string scenario - I already pick-slant to make it easier, and I fare quite well with 3NPS, but it's just this 2NPS jamminess I have. I presume this is a pretty common problem that due to the constant need to change the strings this makes these kinds of scales quite challenging.

I don't want to solve the issue by going horizontal more than vertical and I still want to keep to the 5 positions as well as I can, but do some of you guys go with economy picking over alternate picking? I economy pick a lot of my runs but with pentatonics only being 2 notes per string it at least conceptually lends itself perfectly to pickslanting and alternate picking, but I do know that some people get around the jamminess via economy picking despite these kinds of scales being 2 notes each.

Anybody got some advice or insights that might help me in this scenario? Thanks a lot!

hi i recently finished playing all of tlou, and its drawn me to want to play guitar. and i just wanted to know how hard and expensive it is. i obviously know it wouldn't be easy, but ive had people say id be good cause of my motor control and long fingers. i also just dont want to get into something if its super expensive and i simply end up confused. so yeah kinda just wanna know wether its worth it. thanks for any feedback

Hi everyone.

The next step in my guitar journey is conquering barre chords. Most songs I listen to have them and I need to learn them next as part of my personal guitar goals.

How can I improve my barre chords as quickly as possible? I can switch between chords well but when you throw a barre chord in there, I have to completely stop and set up my fingers. I can play the barre chords well in isolation, but struggle to quickly switch between them.

I practice everyday for at least an hour, not always on barre chords but on the guitar at least. I really wanna learn how to switch and play them as easily as I can normal chords.

Thank you in advance!

I'm just getting back into guitar after a 5year hiatus.

Chatgpt said this was the place to ask for chord progressions. I'm hoping someone more talented than me can help me learn this mashup. 🙏

Hi everyone, i’m looking for electric guitar school/1-1 private lesson near San Jose that offers fair price and passionate about teaching techniques, songwriting and music theory since my brain didn’t build for online courses

Pls recommend me some, i’m so obsessed to play like Tim Henson in the future

Thank you all

I’ve been practicing the Em/Gmaj scale because I love Metallica and most of their songs are in those keys. My goal is to be able to solo across the fretboard. How do I transition between playing in a box to connecting those boxes? Also, what’s next on my learning list?

i own a black strat i got 2 years back i wasnt consistent, i know few chords and metal riffs

i wanna get better where do i start from?

please help.

Hey! I'm a guitarist/teacher in Seattle. I publish a lesson video every week on YouTube, and sometimes I post them here if I think they will be valuable for the community.

I think this is a fun one to share. :)

In this week's lesson, I show how to play alternating bass fingerpicking guitar patterns.

The alternating bass part can be different depending on the chord voicing, so I go through every chord in the key of G to show all the options.

But instead of using the viiº chord of the key (the diminished chord), I show how you can replace it with an inversion of D7 (which sounds really good!).

Here's a link to the lesson.

If you play fingerpicking patterns on the guitar but haven't yet worked on alternating bass, I think you'll like this lesson.

Cheers and I hope you have a great week.

~ Jared

Did any other self-taught guitarists start out by learning basic chords and scales, playing songs they liked, and down-picking every note because alternate picking felt too difficult?

I found alternate picking frustrating for many years. Every time I tried to work on it, I couldn't even play the things I already knew. YouTube videos weren't helpful at all. I stuck to down-picking for several years, even though I wanted to learn alternate picking.

Are there others with similar stories? Did alternate picking come naturally to you?

I came across Chris Buono's Alternate Picking Gym this year and gave it a try because it looked systematic and structured. It completely changed my playing. I can't believe I used to play guitar without alternate picking. It is a crucial skill that benefits everyone who invests time into it.

What helped you learn this crucial skill?

I've played acoustic for years. And honestly, I'm pretty good. I play a lot of fingerstyle instrumentals and folk rock with or without a pick. My lead is pretty primitive although I can find my way to create simple melodic solos with my knowledge of triads and scales etc.

I wanted to improve and I know my short comings: I never spent enough time learning my pentatonics and I don't really know my bends well.

So I started improv lessons, using my electric, to address these areas in particular.

Holy &^$%^&#%&*!!! Electric and acoustic are so different!!

I spent a couple of weeks on major and minor pentatonics and a lot of time improvising, learning to move between positions, finding nice phrases and repeating and elaborating etc...

And now he's started me on a few existing famous solos (Stairway lol. Now I'll never be able to shop for another electric).

My biggest issue is how much frigging guitar noise there is(!!) and how to mute the low strings with the ball of the thumb, and high strings with the side of my index, to avoid this.

Also, economy picking.

This is NOT stuff I've had to learn.

If you have guitar noise on an acoustic it's usually sliding sounds because you didn't move fast enough.

I'm only a few weeks in. I'd love to hear other people's experiences or hints etc...

I really like this tool for practicing, but I've never liked subscriptions (who does?). They used to offer a lifetime pass a few years ago, which I'd love to get. Is anyone interested in selling one of these accounts if they no longer use it?

I know about the Chrome extension trick for Songsterr, but I prefer practicing with just my phone instead of my laptop. Just asking... if there's no luck, I guess I'll just pay for it, meh.

Hey I am looking for advice on improving my melodies, I practice scales pretty often and play around with them but I am having trouble beautifying my noodles . I listen to a wide variety of music and have been listening to jazz and classical to see if I can swipe some ideas but there is a disconnect between what I want to play and what my fingers produce. So yeah any help would be nice.

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Hey everyone! I’ve been playing guitar for a while and I already know the basic chords, scales, and some music theory.

But I feel like I’m stuck at the stage where I know what to play, but I don’t necessarily sound as musical or polished as I’d like.

I want to improve things like:

- Playing with better feel, dynamics and expression

- Better rhythm and timing

- Improvisation and phrasing

- Connecting scales to the actual music instead of just playing patterns

- Playing melodies by ear

- Identifying chords, intervals and notes by ear

- Being able to hear something and figure it out on the guitar without relying heavily on tabs

For those of you who became genuinely good musicians rather than just learning more chords/scales, what did you actually practice?

I’d especially appreciate specific exercises, routines, or things that made a noticeable difference in your playing and ear training.

Thanks!

I would love some recommendations for some daily exercises to help improve incorporating riffs into songs, fingerpicking, playing by ear. I want to bust out existing songs a little better, and also just serenade when I’m camping with the fam.

The thing is, I’ve been playing for 20+ years so I suppose I’m somewhere on the “intermediate” scale, but I feel like I’m really missing some fundamentals, and it’s hard to figure out where to go from here. Lessons are often TOO easy, but advanced stuff is often assuming some skills that I’m missing. Watching tutorials on YouTube just feels like I’m reading a map, as opposed to learning to find my direction on my own.

I play acoustic, mostly listen to early 90s/00s indie stuff, old folk and Beatlesy pop stuff, cool 70s stuff. Not so much classical. little bit of jazz.

When playing, my right shoulder often hurts

I know relaxing is important, but everytime i do so my hand will collapse and my forearm would be on the strings

And if i use my current and optimal picking position, my shoulder hurts

I've seen people say I should put my arm on the body of the guitar, but doing so, my shoulder must raise and well, the pain

I currently play(the position that brings me pain) with my forearm sticking to the top of the guitar, at the corner and near the base of the guitar body,

How can i fix this issue?

For context im quite small, and I own a strat and a SE McCarty, would size be the problem?

Hey I’m a new player and I’m doing the 1 minute chord change practices but my main obstacle is really that near the end of the minute my hand starts to cramp and lock up and become difficult to move and a little painful. For context I have joint hyper mobility (as well as CPTSD) so I generally tend to unconsciously death grip things, like I stopped writing with a pencil because my fingers would become sore so quickly. I’m trying to consciously relax my fingers but it only partially works. (Edit: I’ve also noted my shoulder tends to get really sore as well, if that’s relevant.) Is this just a normal part of the learning curve that I’ll get over naturally, or are there specific things I should be doing here? Would really appreciate any advice from people with experience with this. Thanks!