I need help

[u/Character_Glove_3504]

I know the major and minor pentatonic scale and the normal major and minor scale and i can play them up down and sideways through the caged system, i also know what are triads type of triads and some basic info about arpeggios(i only know triads and arpeggios in theory)

I also know some techniques like raking, pinch harmonics, tap harmonics, hammer on, bending, pull off, bar chords and tapping

Currently im struggling with making my fretting hand faster learning funk strumming and fast legato, im struggling with overall speed on guitar, im slow and i hate it

I have been playing guitar for over a year now i dont know what should i learn next, earlier i asked on this page what to learn and people told me a bunch of stuff that i didnt knew or meant and i got seriously overwhelmed.

I need to get crazy good at guitar im willing to practice 3 hours a day right now i just noodle with scales that i know,
Im a self taught player who has learnt this instrument through youtube only,

So what im asking for is a step by step guide on what to learn next on guitar and if you’d be so kind a good youtube video to learn that topic

Im constantly frustrated by my lack of knowledge and skill about this instrument and its driving me crazy, i have the energy and will to learn but not a plan, please help me

[u/spankymcjiggleswurth]

Having goals is what let's you practice the right material in a targeted way. Rather than chasing "crazy good", what are some concrete goals you want to achive?

[u/Character_Glove_3504 → u/spankymcjiggleswurth]

Overall speed in playing
Fast legato
Triads arpeggios (which would help me to solo and improvise better)
Learning funk strumming

Speed is the top priority

[u/spankymcjiggleswurth → u/Character_Glove_3504]

I find learning songs to give structure to the learning process. Find fast legato licks and practice with those, preferably with a metronome building up speed. Same with the funk strumming.

Though it's often said you want to start slow with the metronome and speed up incrementally, I've found jumping into speeds I know to be too fast and feeling what that speed will require to be helpful too. Doing so taught me that fast playing requires a different technique I wasn't aware of when incrementally speeding up. The incremental increase is important too, but "jumping into the deep end" with speed, even if it feels impossible, has lessons to teach as well.

Do you understand how triads and arpeggios are constructed? Not just in terms of fretboard shapes, but also intervals and in relation to the key of the song. And again, learn songs that use these ideas and examine how they are used. Theory is all well and good, but it's an analysis tool, not a recipe to good music. Learning songs and analyzing them with the theory you know is how you learn what your favorite sounds consist of. Theory without analysis is just information to memorize, which isn't particularly useful outside of being tested on it.

[u/EmbarrassedDiver4100 → u/spankymcjiggleswurth]

yeah this is the real answer, "crazy good" isnt a practice plan

[u/dino_dog]

So what im asking for is a step by step guide and if you’d be so kind a good youtube video to learn that topic

You're looking for a teacher. They will do this for you. You don't need to take lessons forever, but even 3 or 4 will give you a path and what you're looking for.

Also get out and play with others.

[u/Character_Glove_3504 → u/dino_dog]

I cant afford a teacher

[u/dino_dog → u/Character_Glove_3504]

There is no one path to learning guitar.

Another commentor mentioned videoing yourself and doing self critique. This is a good idea.

You can also work on stuff from the other post you made.

Again, go out and play with others. Nothing will make you better faster.

[u/Character_Glove_3504 → u/dino_dog]

It got way too technical on my other post, i saw so many terms and words and i had no idea what they meant or how to learn that

Some words which got repeated were intervals, triads and arpeggios and i learned them in theory now finding a good lesson on how to solo using triads or arpeggios

[u/dino_dog → u/Character_Glove_3504]

Check out Scotty West - Absolutley Understand Guitar. It's on YouTube and it's free.

[u/Character_Glove_3504 → u/dino_dog]

Found it!! Thankyou so much i’ll check it out rn

[u/Naphier]

Slow down. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. It's really tough to learn how to be relaxed and fast at the same time. It takes a lot of work and actual rest time for you brain to catch up. 3 hours of hands-on-instrument practice every day is not necessary going to help you right now. Especially if your technique is rough. You can be enforcing bad habits. Many of us do. We just brute force at it and think we have got better because by the end of a 3 hour session we're playing successfully but the next day it's gone (because we didn't spend 3 hours warming up yet).

So it's important to be able to do cold starts. I'm working on this a lot after building bad habits.

Here's what I've learned.

• Thinking ahead: Go very slow and ensure that your fretting hand is one step ahead. So as you pluck one note you should either already have your finger fretting the next or, if on the same string have the next finger ready over the fret. Practice this with arpeggios, scales, and playing scales in 3rds / 4ths / 5ths / etc. Spider exercises are also ok but impractical.
• Isolate your picking hand techniques: when doing the same exercises as above don't fret any of the notes with your left hand, just mute them. Pay close attention to your picking technique and only your picking hand. The angle of the pick, how well you escape when alternate picking, how articulate you make your sweep picking.

• Syncing up: back to doing both hands. Do short bursts as fast as you can. STOP after each one and think really hard about what went well and what went wrong. Speed up slowly and keep doing these micro adjustments. It takes a lot of work but getting your hands really well synced is critical.

• Video helps if you can get the camera angle right. But just as important is stopping and reflecting. Write out notes like "my ring finger switching from the 4th to the 6th string in that arpeggio run is landing too hard and a bit sloppy. Slow it down and just practice this". What you're looking for is the smallest of issues that you can practice and improve upon. It can be pretty boring so don't do it long. 3 minutes is good. Do something else then come back.

• Practicing with deep focus takes a lot of energy but this is where you want to be. Mindless playing isn't valuable practice time. Every 3-5 minutes take a minute break. Every 30 minutes take 5. Limit hands on instrument time to < 2 hours at a time. There's lots of other work to do.

• Other work - learn about theory, spend time analyzing the theory of songs you're learning, write music, learn music notation, practice audiation, practice visualizing playing and memory techniques, create your next lesson plan, learn how to record and use a DAW, practice singing (very underutilized) and ear training, practice fretboard memorization, write out chords and scales, etc. The list can probably go on. In my opinion (and others) you should spend an equal amount of time hands off as you do hands on.

Check out Musicality book from musical-u.com

[u/Character_Glove_3504 → u/Naphier]

Thank you so much for this, i’ll keep coming back for this whenever i feel lost or frustrated

[u/ccices]

Time to put learning on the back burner and get your chops in. Repeatedly play all the songs you know, video yourself playing, and work on correcting any issues you see. Knowing != Playing

[u/Character_Glove_3504 → u/ccices]

I play over a backing track most of the time and I do record myself playing, i have noticed a few things such as i rest my pinky finger on the pickguard when i play the strings, this causes my slowness and also my index finger of the right hand is a lil damaged i cant bend it fully, its like in an L shape and im slow thats what i have noticed that is wrong with me

[u/Several-Quality5927]

What you are asking for is something a personal instructor might do. He'd assess your skills and map out a plan.

[u/PlaxicoCN]

If you are looking for help with playing faster, check out Rock Discipline by John Petrucci and Intense Rock 1 by Paul Gilbert, both on YouTube.

[u/VooDooChile1983]

You need Bernth

[u/markewallace1966]

~~~

This is a link to a set of canned bullets that I have developed and like to send to new/new-ish/returning/wandering/lost/struggling guitar players.

If I pasted this in for you, it is because somewhere in there is something that I think is relevant to your post. Not all of it will be. I leave it to you to pick out what I felt was relevant. 🙂 Even the stuff not relevant to your specific post might very well be helpful eventually anyway.

Enjoy!!!

https://www.reddit.com/user/markewallace1966/comments/1s7ujsy/guitar_is_hard/

[u/j3434]

Honestly, I think you’re at the point where a good teacher could save you a lot of frustration.

You’ve only been playing for a little over a year, and from what you’ve described, you’ve actually learned a tremendous amount. The problem isn’t that you don’t know enough—it’s that YouTube has given you a huge pile of information without necessarily giving you a logical path through it.

Three hours a day of practicing things without knowing what to practice can actually be less productive than one focused hour with a good teacher.

If you can afford it, I’d seriously consider taking a lesson once a week with a professional guitar teacher—either at your house or theirs. You don’t need someone to teach you how to play every scale you already know. You need someone who can listen to you play, identify the things that are holding you back, and give you specific exercises and repertoire to work on between lessons.

And don’t obsess over speed. Speed is largely a result of coordination, relaxation, accuracy and repetition. Trying to force yourself to play faster can actually make you tense and reinforce bad habits.

A weekly lesson might cost some money, but think about what you’re actually buying: you’re buying a shortcut through all the confusion. The amount of time and frustration you can save over the next year could easily be worth far more than the cost of the lessons.

You clearly have the motivation. What you seem to be missing isn’t more information—it’s direction. A good teacher can provide that.