what has kept you from improving

Started by Crunchy Wacko, August 28, 2006, 08:31:30 PM

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It surprises me how many really great guitarist I know that cannot hold a beat for the life of them,they can play all sorts of songs extremley well, but put them in a situation where they need to work with others, they just cant keep time with them.
Also I always tell all of my students that it is better to practice at least 20 minutes a day, than to play for 6-8 hours once a week,you can get more from a 20 minute practice, than long sessions and to play with as many friends as you can and try to find different styles of music,dont limit yourself to playing only one type of music when you first start out.
After all that the only other thing is to make sure that the guitar has been set to give it best performance,make sure you spend the few bucks to have the guitar set by either a luthier or tech,saddle bridge and strings and that the neck is set at just the right amount of relief when the guitar sound great than you will play more often and much longer than a guitar that sounds and plays like crap.louis :bgrin:

This is one of the very best threads I have ever read (I realize it's kinda old by now, but it moved back to the top and I just saw it).  Thanks for starting it - and thanks to everyone who added to it.  As I read it, I related to a whole bunch of things that people said -  by the end, I found so much that I read here to be interesting - and HELPFUL - that I'll just say there were great insights throughout.

I especially related because I was thinking about the idea of plateauing and feeling like that happens with me a lot.  I've been trying to learn this instrument on and off for longer than I care to admit, but have found that patience and practice do yield results over time.  It's just astonishing, to me, how slowly I progress (doesn't stop me from buying ever more expensive guitars though!).  I particularly agree on two points: 1) the benefits of playing with other musicians (something I don't do, and it shows) and 2) learner's performance anxiety . . . I commented to my guitar teacher once that I'm a wreck whenever I play in front of other people, including HIM, whom I PAY to play guitar with me! 

It's also reassuring to see that I'm not alone in my struggles with learning to play. For those of us who aren't so great at this, it is just a love of the instrument that keeps us coming back . . .

Thanks again for this post. 

:nana_guitar
(for inspiration)

This is a great thread!  :thumb I think that pretty much every reason I have for not improving has been covered here. As a former horn player, I admit to being all practiced out, especially after going through a 2 year college diploma program. I took up the guitar to relax and have fun with music again. Having said that, I realized after about three years of playing the same things over and over again that I wanted to improve...

I try to put my desire for improvement in a positive light, and recognizing that I can't do everything at once, I focus on a few things that should help me to progress over time. Don't get me wrong...I don't think I am any kind of practice guru, but this approach seems to be working so far.

1. Play with a group at least once a week (with players both "better" and "worser" than myself)...this relates to the idea of accountability mentioned earlier.

2. Develop a practice regimen that includes everything from soup to nuts. I start with scales and exercises, then licks and riffs, move into chording and singing (when the family is out) and then return to specific problem areas that need more attention... I almost always use a metronome or play along with a CD.

3. Practice at least 15 minutes a day...there are days when I am just too darned tired (mentally fatigued) from my day job to practice, and going beyond 10 - 15 minutes is pointless. I find that practice is hard work and takes concentration. I usually recognize this before I even pick up the guitar and if its not working, then I will just rock out for a while...after all music is supposed to be fun, no?

Oh yeah...I also bought a couple of really nice Larrivee guitars. I am so NOT worthy, but I hope to be some day.

BUMP!

Wow. This threat just won't die. One thing I forgot to mention MONTHS AGO when I first posted...

The FIVE-MINUTE rule. One poster mentioned practicing at least 15 minutes a day. I use the five-minute rule. No matter how busy I am, I always have at least five minutes. If I accomplish no more than keeping my calluses going, that's fine, but 90% of the time, five minutes grows into 15 or 30 or 60 minutes. Five minutes a day. I once mentioned this to a kid and his mom (I overheard our teacher telling the mom that the kids just wasn't working very hard) and the next week his mom told me he had practiced more that week than ever before.
Ray
San Diego

Larrivee D-03
Washburn D-11

I'm finding the hardest thing to work on is tempo. When you're playing solo at home keeping the same tempo throughout an entire song is really hard. You just want to speed up for no reason. So i try and tap my foot..but i find it very hard to tap a tempo and pick and keep them both going. I've got a digital metronome..i really got use it more. Don't even get me started when it comes to playing with someone else. I'm learning Old Love (Clapton) and my instructor wanted me to inprovise through the scale while he strummed..sounds easy right, but you find yourself listening to his strumming and not concentrating on what you are doing. I think once i commit the scale to memory and don't have to think about it things will get better.

Not sure which is harder  ..Guitar or Golf 

2005 Larrivee L-03R "Elle"
2005 Seagull S6+ Spruce -"Doc"
2008 Gibson ES-339
Vox AD50VT Amp


Don't just practice -  practice  RIGHT!



Quote from: JoeInLex on September 26, 2006, 08:25:23 AM1 - Focusing too much on theory (I'm an engineer by trade).  I'm about as creative / artsy a person as a corpse.  I needed to just relax and play a few easy songs to start enjoying the guitar.  Learn "some" theory, play "alot" more.

I'm an engineer as well, but always thought of my artistic side as being more typical of a tree stump. I suppose the stump is just a wooden corpse, though, so I guess that fits :)

I recently had the epiphany that barre difficulties come not from the barre itself, but from trying to tie the other fingers into unfamiliar knots, err, forms. The open chords I play are all unbarrable, because I use my index finger as the key to all of the forms, so it's tough to hit a clean barre quick. Even when playing melodies up the neck, I've always depended heavily on my index and middle fingers (in spite of a brief period of classical lessons many years ago) and only use my 4th fingee when I have to.

I've spent the last several weeks trying to "reprogram" my hand and brain by playing with the last three fingers only (index finger extended) and using 3 and 4 as much as possible just to force myself to exercise all the fingers.

Personally, a guitar with a complex, seductive tone helps me really enjoy practicing, but good (make that excellent) intonation is what I find to be most essential. I can live with stiff action or crappy tone, but if what I play sounds wrong even when it's right, I get nowhere.

On the other hand, one of my biggest obstacles early-on was fret buzz, finger squeeks, muted notes, etc. Somehow I got it in my head that I had to play perfectly clean always, no matter how far I fell behind the tempo (playing alone, of course). It took me a long time to learn to "just play".

You mean other than visiting forums too much? Nothing. I'm always improving. Everyone does whether they like it or not. It's patience and practice habits that don't improve.

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