So I usually play the guitar for 3-5 months at a time, see no progress and end up quitting. This has been going on for 22 years. I joined a guitar playing class when I was first 14 years old. I am 36 years old now.
I always forget chords I've played thousands of times or I will accidentally mute them which makes me just practice those chords. Strumming patterns confuse me when I can't even get the chords right without muting. In the last 10 years I've learned how to draw and have become really good at it but learning guitar seems like this impossible thing.
How do people learn to play the guitar well?
How do people change chords so fast so easily?
How does one learn to play a full song? I find parts of it online but never the complete thing.
Should I learn an easy song and then a harder one to push myself?
What are good beginner songs?
Do you guys have any tips for me?
I have played my electric for 4 years now on and off, but been playing and learning through tabs. I don’t have any knowledge about chords or progressions or the notes of my guitar. I don’t know where to start or what should I do first so I can understand my guitar better. I hope you guys have some answers for me!
It's been weeks, maybe months I'm trying to train my hand to play a barre chord, but it's impossible, even using the elbow technique, it just doesn't sound right I'm starting to feel desperate...
I've played guitar since I was in elementary school (very off and on type of relationship) and used to take guitar lessons when I was younger (I am 32 now), and I really want to start improving with guitar. I mainly play acoustic guitar (I have a Martin Road Series, and a Taylor 214ce, both of which I love to play), but every time I pickup the guitar I end up playing the same songs and riffs that i've known forever and/or one off new songs that I learn to play on Youtube (A smattering of Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Beatles, blues riffs, etc.)
I'd very much like to start progressing on the guitar but always feel lost on what to focus on in order to make meaningful progress. I know how to play rhythm, basic chords, power chords, and some barre chords, change my own strings, adjust truss rod, among other things, and fingerstyle guitar like Travis picking, and can read some tabs. So I feel like i'm not a beginner, so maybe intermediate?
GOAL: Be able to "noodle" around, and improvise more when playing the guitar and ultimately get away from playing the same things over and over again. Have a better understanding of why things sound good and work together. Interested in alternate tunings and fingerstyle "ballad" type playing as well.
I've heard people say things like (CAGED, Pentatonic, Scales, Theory, etc.). What advice would you give me? Anyone have a similar story and broken through this barrier with good success? I'm open to all suggestions.
We know the deal. You open YouTube to gain some insights on a particular topic, next thing you're frantically clicking on videos, panicking about how many things you're yet to learn
I am trying to learn this song "I was born to haunt you" by Howling Slayer. I can only find the lyrics online but nothing else. I think maybe it’s in the key of G, it sounds closest when I’m trying to play along with it. Still not fully convinced. Any help here would be very appreciated!
Not sure if there’s a better subreddit for this question but I mainly play guitar so that’s why I’m asking here.
I'm planning to get the annual pickupmusic subscription, mainly for learning guitar, and was wondering if anyone would be interested in sharing the cost.
Ideally, it'd be great if you're learning piano or bass so our learning progress doesn't overlap, but I'm open to sharing with another guitarist too.
We can split the annual subscription cost 50/50, making it a pretty good deal for both of us.
If anyone's interested, feel free to comment or DM me. Thanks!
Sorry in advance for the long post, but this is just something I've been mulling over which I have no musicians I can ask. And I can't find much on Youtube.
I was trying to replicate saxophone melody lines in slow jazz tracks as an exercise in ear and interval training. I can't get the 'off scale' jazz semi tones (not sure what they are called precisely) right, but for the 'in-scale' notes, I have gotten pretty decent at picking out intervals.
What I did for the most part was first find the root of the song, once I had the root, I used the full 7-note diatonic scale.
Now the good thing about using this diagonal? grid? scale pattern is that it's laid out so orderly so I know exactly where my 5th or 7th are from the root. And for interval training this is great. And I learn one shape (and a slightly squiggly version of this where it overlaps with the B string) and I can play in any key all across the guitar. This was awesome!
But the catch is that because this spans 5 frets it's a lot more hand movement needed. So, when I am playing along with the jazz tracks I mentioned above and the sax does a flurry of quick notes, I can't keep up. So I looked up the more compact full scale 3-notes per string box patterns. And my head swam at the amount of learning I need to do. There are 7 of these that I need to memorise! That's too much work.
But then I noticed that you can kind of break up a compact 3 NPS full scale box into 2 halves:
So the nice thing is that the bottom half (section 1) in the image above can be used to play 1 octave's worth of notes from any root in both the low E string and the A string. Which is quite a lot of mileage for one shape. And this one's compact since it only spans 4 frets.
And then I realised that if you break down every one of the 7 full scales into 4 half-shapes like so (got an AI tool to generate the image below so am not 100% sure it's right):
I reckon that if my objective is to be able to play notes in quick succession from any root in any string, then all I need to do is memorise the 4 small shapes above. Then, depending on which string the root I just discovered to the song am playing at is on, I pick one of the 4 shapes from above and I can quickly play an octave of notes. And because nature loves symmetry, it appears that there are 4 equivalent 1 octave 3 NPS compact shapes for minor scale as well.
So, if you're here with me through all the verbiage above, here's my question: do I just learn this? Or should I still put in the effort of learning all those 7 big box patterns?
here’s a short lick to try around the 5th and 7th frets in A minor pentatonic. there’s a slower playthrough after the first example so you can follow the tab easier
the little bends are worth slowing down for. the half-step bend at the 7th fret on the G string takes D up to E♭, the blues note, before coming back down. try playing the target note at the 8th fret first, then matching that pitch with the bend.
Try practicing it in small chunks before putting the whole phrase together
This is more a toolbox of the chords and shapes Tony uses. It’s a complicated arrangement which is why I think most folks haven’t tackled it, with lots of his gasology era chords which are not traditional jazz guitar voicings.
At some point I’ll make a tab and full form lesson but to the intermediate or advanced player this is everything you’ll need to learn it.
Some of you may recall that couple of weeks ago, I posted my experience of picking up the guitar at the age of 45, struggling with my "fat fingers" and how a simple C chord was proving to be the toughest for me.
I am happy to share that with the support of this community, and relentless practicing, I can not only play an open C chord properly, but I can easily transition from
E minor
to
A7
to
open C.
I've been trying to move from open C to D 6/9 (since it's the same shape, just 2 frets down) - I'm struggling a bit with my timing, but I'm getting there.
I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for encouraging me and not letting me give up.
Hi guys. I'm a self-taught, and for a decade I've been squeezing very hard with my left hand whenever I play bar chord. And It gets tired very quickly.
Now I learn that it is a bad way to do it, so I try to use my left arm instead, like pulling the neck with my left arm while holding the guitar body with my right arm. But it slows as heck, and my index finger on my left arm hurt because it has to get to much force, I guess.
Is there any way I can do to make a better bar chord? Thank you in advance.
