Taking The Time To Learn New Pieces Of Music On The Guitar.

[Silence Dogood]

Just putting this out there to see if anyone else is like me in this area. 

I have a growing number of instructional videos saved in my "watch later" tab on YT, but I hardly ever get around to actually watching them, much less learning the pieces.  Like many of you here, I work long hours, have a house to keep up with, a family, etc, and playing guitar seems to drift to the bottom of my priority list lots of times.  I still manage to pick up my guitar for at least a few minutes most days, but not always.  And when I do, I generally just play what I know, what's enjoyable and fun, and rarely get around to learning the new pieces I've saved.  This is how someone plays the same stuff over and over for 30 years. 

How do you all handle this? 

I'm thinking of making my Sat and Sun mornings time for learning new pieces, and then spending the rest of the week sharpening them up, interspersed with my usual fun things to play.   

[William2]

Well, I'm retired so time isn't an issue for me. I never watch instructional videos. When I hear a piece of music that I like and want to add it to my repertoire, I purchase the music. The act of spending the money forces me to address the piece when it arrives. And it helps support the composer or arranger of the music. I usually play maybe two hours a day. I do break this down to technical exercises, learning something new, and running through pieces I already know if I'm in the mood.

[Queequeg]

I'm also retired now, here.
I have purchased a lot of music from Harold Streeter [Lewalt Publishing] which arrives as a .pdf and a tabledit file I can hear, slow down, replay...
Also I subscribe to CHORDIFY. Link the youtube and the chords are displayed as they occur.

[ducktrapper]

I have almost 60 odd years of I'll get around to it. Sometimes I actually do. 

[William2]

I'm also retired now, here.
I have purchased a lot of music from Harald Streeter [Lewalt Publishing] which arrives as a .pdf and a tabledit file I can hear, slow down, replay...
Also I subscribe to CHORDIFY. Link the youtube and the chords are displayed as they occur.

Thanks for the links. I will check them out. I personally like song standards and there seem to a number of them in this link you posted. I also like playing classical guitar works and in particular, things that have been composed since I left the guitar in the 1980s. You may want to check out Chris Whiteman on You Tube. His numerous videos include solos that can be purchased by the attached links. He is one of my favorite young artists. And I recently purchased a couple of guitar works by the composer Richard Charlton. Here are two pieces I have purchased and am currently working on. I love the descriptive title of the Charlton piece and the beautiful romantic melody it has. One of the things I like about the C. Whiteman solos is that they are in the song's original key. And this gives me opportunities to play music in flat keys. I play his Round Midnight which is in the key of Eb minor. And I find that these two styles of music work very well on the acoustic steel string guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WaYtndtiyY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQhTK5rsdbk

[ducktrapper]

The late, great Marcel Dadi generously included complete and accurate tab with every album. I have them all and have worked on certain pieces off and on for many years. Damn some of them are difficult and if you don't play them daily, you forget them. At least, I do. 

[Silence Dogood]

Well, I'm retired so time isn't an issue for me. I never watch instructional videos. When I hear a piece of music that I like and want to add it to my repertoire, I purchase the music. The act of spending the money forces me to address the piece when it arrives. And it helps support the composer or arranger of the music. I usually play maybe two hours a day. I do break this down to technical exercises, learning something new, and running through pieces I already know if I'm in the mood.

I learn best from videos since I can watch someone playing.  I'm trying to get better at learning from books but it's a struggle for me.  I can't read notation and have to rely on tab. 
 

[StringPicker6]

I have the same problem as you when it comes to learning new music.  With a 2 year old at home, I try to get up around 5:30am and get some guitar playing in, but I'm usually too groggy from sleep and time is too limited to know where to start.  The only way I have been able to progress with learning songs is to pick ONE song, and dedicate myself to learning it for at least a week.  I figure that with 52 weeks in a year, I can hopefully learn a few new songs in a year.  But I am often overwhelmed by songs I want to learn that I easily find on youtube, and I also have a few DVDs from Stefan Grossman playing blues fingerstyle that I am desperate to learn. 

I try to remember the old saying, "How do you eat an elephant?     One bite at a time." 

[Silence Dogood]

For something completely different, yesterday I decided to tackle Beethoven's Fur Elise.  Deceptively simple in theory but much harder to play with nuance and authority.  But, man, what fun!

[Queequeg]

For something completely different, yesterday I decided to tackle Beethoven's Fur Elise.  Deceptively simple in theory but much harder to play with nuance and authority.  But, man, what fun!

Fur Elise- one of my favorite Beethoven pieces. 

Thanks for the links. I will check them out. I personally like song standards and there seem to a number of them in this link you posted. I also like playing classical guitar works and in particular, things that have been composed since I left the guitar in the 1980s. You may want to check out Chris Whiteman on You Tube. His numerous videos include solos that can be purchased by the attached links. He is one of my favorite young artists. And I recently purchased a couple of guitar works by the composer Richard Charlton. Here are two pieces I have purchased and am currently working on. I love the descriptive title of the Charlton piece and the beautiful romantic melody it has. One of the things I like about the C. Whiteman solos is that they are in the song's original key. And this gives me opportunities to play music in flat keys. I play his Round Midnight which is in the key of Eb minor. And I find that these two styles of music work very well on the acoustic steel string guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WaYtndtiyY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQhTK5rsdbk

Very good. Thanks for introducing me to these two artists/composers, William.
Rather challenging. These would keep me out of mischief for quite a while.

[William2]

I learn best from videos since I can watch someone playing.  I'm trying to get better at learning from books but it's a struggle for me.  I can't read notation and have to rely on tab. 
 

I guess what I see from these videos is it takes so long to get through the video and the music isn't that good. If I had the music or the tab, I could just read through it. And I find that with notes or tab, the music just sticks in my mind better. Note reading was the first thing I learned when I took up the guitar. And when I gave up guitar to play lute, that whole repertoire is in tab. Of course, there is Italian tab, French tab, and German tab. In another post, someone mention Stephan Grossman. I have one of his books which I only bought because it had an arrangement of Duck Baker's Pretty Girl Milking A Cow. It is a 17th century tune I love and used to play it on recorder. Anyway, all the tab in the book is written so badly. Instead of putting the fret number on the correct line, they put it on the space above I believe. Drove me mad!!! And Duck Baker does the same thing on his publications. Thank God things are getting better in publishing.

[Silence Dogood]

I guess what I see from these videos is it takes so long to get through the video and the music isn't that good. If I had the music or the tab, I could just read through it. And I find that with notes or tab, the music just sticks in my mind better. Note reading was the first thing I learned when I took up the guitar. And when I gave up guitar to play lute, that whole repertoire is in tab. Of course, there is Italian tab, French tab, and German tab. In another post, someone mention Stephan Grossman. I have one of his books which I only bought because it had an arrangement of Duck Baker's Pretty Girl Milking A cow. It is a 17th century tune I love and used to play it on recorder. Anyway, all the tab in the book is written so badly. Instead of putting the fret number on the correct line, they put it on the space above I believe. Drove me mad!!! And Duck Baker does the same thing on his publications. Thank God things are getting better in publishing.

If I'm lucky and if the piece is well-known enough, I'll find multiple videos and take bits from each one and end up learning a piece that way.  Some people have the heart of a teacher and some just show you "where to put your fingers."  Books are great, but unless I know a piece well I have to have a sound example, which is also way easier these days because of YouTube.  The hard part these days isn't finding material, but deciding on it and then sticking with it till it's learned.

[eded]

As a cowboy chord strum hard and sing loud player, I hesitate to call what I learn "pieces of music", but I have ended up with a few sites that have new songs I want to learn.  Here's one that has a bunch: https://ozbcoz.com/Songs/ .  You can select various uke tunings, guitar tunings, mandolin, etc.  To some extent, the hardest part (but the part that helps me learn them so much better) is editing the tunes so they fit on one page, with chords exactly where I need them. 

Ed

[William2]

As a cowboy chord strum hard and sing loud player, I hesitate to call what I learn "pieces of music", but I have ended up with a few sites that have new songs I want to learn.  Here's one that has a bunch: https://ozbcoz.com/Songs/ .  You can select various uke tunings, guitar tunings, mandolin, etc.  To some extent, the hardest part (but the part that helps me learn them so much better) is editing the tunes so they fit on one page, with chords exactly where I need them. 

Ed

Just as a note, My Norton Security system won't allow me access saying the is a dangerous site.

[ducktrapper]

Taking The Time To Learn New Pieces Of Music On The Guitar.

Players should do more of this rather than obsessing about strings, tonewoods, picks, bridge pins and all the things that really don't matter. The guitar is for making music on. Then again, I am the master of unpopular opinions.     

[Silence Dogood]

Taking The Time To Learn New Pieces Of Music On The Guitar.

Players should do more of this rather than obsessing about strings, tonewoods, picks, bridge pins and all the things that really don't matter. The guitar is for making music on. Then again, I am the master of unpopular opinions.     

No, you are absolutely correct here.  I used to be a gear-head for years and then one day realized I knew all about musical equipment but still sucked at guitar.  It can happen easily. 

[eded]

Just as a note, My Norton Security system won't allow me access saying the is a dangerous site.

Bummer. I've been using it for years. 

Ed

[eded]

Taking The Time To Learn New Pieces Of Music On The Guitar.

Players should do more of this rather than obsessing about strings, tonewoods, picks, bridge pins and all the things that really don't matter. The guitar is for making music on. Then again, I am the master of unpopular opinions.     

That's a conclusion that takes many folks a long time to come to.

I don't mean to say you're an old fart, but...

  

Ed

[ducktrapper]

That's a conclusion that takes many folks a long time to come to.

I don't mean to say you're an old fart, but...

  

Ed

I prefer mature fart. 

[Queequeg]

Taking The Time To Learn New Pieces Of Music On The Guitar.

Players should do more of this rather than obsessing about strings, tonewoods, picks, bridge pins and all the things that really don't matter. The guitar is for making music on. Then again, I am the master of unpopular opinions.     

Absolutely.
You can't buy or accessorize your way to improved playing and/or performing.
Don't believe the marketing hype regarding some new string manufacturing technology.
Your guitar sounds the way it does almost entirely due to the way you're playing it.
(Yeah, I know that's harsh.)
You have to put in the time and intentional practice.
There's just no substitute.

Someone told Chet Atkins, "Man, that guitar sure sounds good!"

Chet set the guitar down on a chair and asked him, "Ok, how does it sound now?"