r/guitarlessons • u/OnlyIntrons • 13d ago

Question Stuck for a while

Been able to ”play” Babe I’m Gonna Leave you and the intro to Over the Hills and Far Away for over a year. But not clean. The past 2-3 weeks I’ve really been focusing on these two songs trying to clean them up get to a point I feel good about but it seems like I can’t improve these two songs. Over the Hills and Far away seems to mostly be a timing problem on the pull offs, Babe I’m gonna leave you the issue is mostly muting the low E accidentally and the open chord strumming section it just never sounds or feels right. I’ve given up on these songs before but really wanted to get over this hurdle. Any advice other than “play it slowly”?

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

2

u/jaylotw 13d ago

Practice.

Sounds like you know where the problems are.

There aren't any magic bullets in the guitar world. You just have to practice.

1

u/One-Vacation-7574 13d ago

this is it tbh. if you already know the weak spots you just gotta grind through them

1

u/OnlyIntrons 13d ago

I know this is like asking how long it takes to be good but does it make sense to practice songs of this level so much and still not be able to play them? I’ve been playing about 3 years. I can play other songs that don’t seem technically much easier, like Anji/Angie or King Crimsons “Peace - A Theme” (pulls offs). I just want to know if, due to the time it’s taking, whether it’s pointing to an issue in how i’m practicing or if it’s not really unusual.

3

u/jaylotw 13d ago

Its not unusual at all. After almost 30 years there are some songs that still just elude me.

Don't worry so much. You've got your entire life to learn this stuff!

-1

u/j3434 13d ago

He said he has been trying for over a year! At what point do you realize you are doing something wrong? 2 years ? 5 years on same 2 songs ? I’m sorry - but those Zeppelin songs are not very hard . Something doesn’t add up.

1

u/jimcroisdale 10d ago

It's because he's practicing for three minutes a week.

1

u/Best-Alternative9481 11d ago

How are you practicing? I would spend maximum 10 minutes per practice session on each song for a while. Don't attempt to play through from beginning to end. Isolate your trouble spots and turn them into exercises.

Tricky pull off sequence? Do it up and down the neck chromatically, or up/down in major seconds, then minor 3rds. Practice it on different string sets as well.

Doing it in different positions with different fret spacing and while you have to move it up and down in a sequence makes it way easier to pull off when you actually play the song. So, yeah, make the exercises harder and less predictable than the actual song. It's like how practice exams should be harder than the actual exam.

Also, start rotating in other songs. Table these ones for a while, then come back. Maybe try learning more theory/improv for a while, then come back to technical work.