What made you a good guitar player?

[steviejr92]

I want to get better at playing guitar. What made you better? Playing songs? Practice routine? I would love to hear what made you guys better at playing guitar!

 

[jimilee]

Playing with a band and jamming with people.

 

[Harry Klippton]

Good is subjective. Start with figuring out what you actually want to improve. Is it staying in time? Is it playing flashy and fast? Is it writing guitar parts? Improvising? Learning by ear? The answer is basically always practice, but depending on what the goal is, what that practice is like will change

 

[steviejr92]

Making a lot of sense. I think I want to work on my guitar skills overall but since you said I think my timing needs to be worked on immensely.

I find myself learning where my hands need to be quickly but staying in tempo is always my downfall…

 

[Harry Klippton]

For me personally, I also think having a good ear for pleasing and appropriate guitar tones is part of being a good player. Learning how to dial stuff in to sound good for a given context is important IMO

 

[Harry Klippton]

Also there are some really good guitar players on this forum. @Guardians of the analog has absolutely rock solid timing, @MichaelW played very tastefully and expressively, @Bricksnbeatles has an immense depth of knowledge of theory, plus the skill to apply it in complex ways, @jjjimi84 is very creative and never plays the same thing twice, @Paradox916 can play very technical material and learn in a short amount of time. There are certainly more but that's all I'm able to think of at the moment

 

[Guardians of the analog]

Practice is always the answer. Wanna get better timing? Practice along to a drummer, backing tracks or a metronome. Want more speed? Practice progressively faster. Improvising? Practice theory and scales. Playing with others will always make you a better player. Much of what I learn is from learning other songs and then incorporating techniques into stuff I learn. I also love learning new chord voicings and inversions as it unlocks lots of creativity very easily.

 

[Coda]

Everything that has been said is excellent. I’ll add what I call “small guitar.” It comes from something I read Mike Bloomfield suggested to guitarists; learn to play the same chord in as many different places on the guitar as possible. Same goes with scales and modes. And on the subject of scales and modes; don’t worry about the whole thing, just focus on the intervals. I never spent anytime on interval training, but I now that I am able to play by feel because the intervals have become muscle memory…

Edit: I’ll second the post above; play all the time.

 

[steviejr92]

This is exactly what i needed to read. @Guardians of the analog I love the suggestions on how to get better in specific areas. This helped me put things in some kind of order when trying to go about how to practice.

I think i need to start focusing what i want to get out of it rather than just putting my hands on it and plucking stings....

The other thing i know i need to work is my ear for sounds. I have a pretty broad mindset when it comes to tones i think trying to dial in a great guitar tone is something i should work on as well. Pretty much i need to work on everything

I think im going to start practicing with that metronome i think itll give me a solid point to start practicing period. Start getting in the groove.

 

[bhcarpenter]

+1 to everything above. A couple of other suggestions that are currently helping me as I try to improve:

- record yourself playing and listen back to it. It’s almost impossible to judge how you sound while you’re doing it.
- no matter what level you are, play with other people

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

First off— I don’t consider myself to be an incredible guitarist, but I’m more than capable enough to play just about everything I write and I think that’s a pretty comfortable position to be in: I have the means to express just about everything I’ve wished to express thus far.

That said, my biggest personal roadblock is left hand speed. While I’m always striving to improve my playing (honestly though it’s suffered a bit the past two years since I’ve been busy with school, and I’m the time I have available to play, more focused on blowing off steam and exploring new ideas, and less focused on technically pushing myself), I find that I’ve started to plateau in my ability to play fast, and where I top off isn’t something I’d consider to be particularly fast as it is. I’m not sure if it’s a matter of stamina or dexterity, but I’ve worked on it with a multifaceted approach, and had mostly diminishing returns. As a big progressive rock fan, there are lots of fast runs by Frank Zappa, Robert Fripp, Alex Lifeson, Allan Holdsworth, and others that I’d like to be able to play, but struggle to im that one aspect.

That brings me to my point, which is… if you’re working on an area of study in your playing, and you simply aren’t seeing improvements after a long time, it’s maybe time to focus on something else. Don’t abandon working on that difficulty altogether, but in my case for example, as I found myself plateauing in my speed endeavors (and to make it clear, I’m not a speed freak lol) I started to divert a large portion of that mental energy on explanding my melodic vocabulary. While I already was at a point pretty happy with my vocabulary, it’s, first off always worth expanding, but anyway I felt that some of my lines were becoming stale; I had a bag of licks that I felt were identifiably “me” sounding, but I relied to heavily on them, so I started crafting more and working out ways to integrate them into my playing more— I worked on transcribing snippets of sounds like bird calls and squeaky doors, as well as interesting melody fragments from Glenn Campbell and Jerry Reed records, and I would rearrange them, alter their rhythms and tonalities, and then I would play a few of them in a series, then record myself humming back what I remembered them as sounding like— they’d wind up simplified when I’d hum them due to me forgetting bits and pieces, and what I’d be left with was the most memorable bits to interpolate into new melodic fragments and licks. Exercises like that open you up to creative ideas you might have never had otherwise, and primes your mind for thinking with not only a broader palette, but also new brushes to paint with. Creativity is key, and improvements to your creative mind will be the most dramatic improvement when all else fails.

 

[steviejr92]

First off— I don’t consider myself to be an incredible guitarist, but I’m more than capable enough to play just about everything I write and I think that’s a pretty comfortable position to be in: I have the means to express just about everything I’ve wished to express thus far.

That said, my biggest personal roadblock is left hand speed. While I’m always striving to improve my playing (honestly though it’s suffered a bit the past two years since I’ve been busy with school, and I’m the time I have available to play, more focused on blowing off steam and exploring new ideas, and less focused on technically pushing myself), I find that I’ve started to plateau in my ability to play fast, and where I top off isn’t something I’d consider to be particularly fast as it is. I’m not sure if it’s a matter of stamina or dexterity, but I’ve worked on it with a multifaceted approach, and had mostly diminishing returns. As a big progressive rock fan, there are lots of fast runs by Frank Zappa, Robert Fripp, Alex Lifeson, Allan Holdsworth, and others that I’d like to be able to play, but struggle to im that one aspect.

That brings me to my point, which is… if you’re working on an area of study in your playing, and you simply aren’t seeing improvements after a long time, it’s maybe time to focus on something else. Don’t abandon working on that difficulty altogether, but in my case for example, as I found myself plateauing in my speed endeavors (and to make it clear, I’m not a speed freak lol) I started to divert a large portion of that mental energy on explanding my melodic vocabulary. While I already was at a point pretty happy with my vocabulary, it’s, first off always worth expanding, but anyway I felt that some of my lines were becoming stale; I had a bag of licks that I felt were identifiably “me” sounding, but I relied to heavily on them, so I started crafting more and working out ways to integrate them into my playing more— I worked on transcribing snippets of sounds like bird calls and squeaky doors, as well as interesting melody fragments from Glenn Campbell and Jerry Reed records, and I would rearrange them, alter their rhythms and tonalities, and then I would play a few of them in a series, then record myself humming back what I remembered them as sounding like— they’d wind up simplified when I’d hum them due to me forgetting bits and pieces, and what I’d be left with was the most memorable bits to interpolate into new melodic fragments and licks. Exercises like that open you up to creative ideas you might have never had otherwise, and primes your mind for thinking with not only a broader palette, but also new brushes to paint with. Creativity is key, and improvements to your creative mind will be the most dramatic improvement when all else fails.

Huge help right here!

I find myself practicing the same thing only to not see improvement and ultimately give up. I think im bumping my head against the same thing when i should try to explore other areas in guitar playing and eventually come back to whatever it is that was giving me trouble. I think getting better in another area might alleviate the difficulty of the thing that was holding me back...again my timing sucks lol Every time i would try to practice on it i wouldnt go very far cause of said reasons above.

Creativity is another aspect im not very good at. I think a big part in why that is, is because i dont know music theory and how things should flow. I can listen to a song all day long and dissect it and see why the artists did what they did in that moment but executing it....thats a different story for me!

 

[MBFX]

Metronome practice, playing with people better than me, playing live, playing in bands, and RECORDING. That last one is the great hunbler

 

[eh là bas ma]

I'd say it's a matter of time spent on the instrument, and the quality and relevance of the exercises.
Many hours per day and some fingerpicking tunes, progressively increasing the difficulty and complexity of the tunes, is a good path in my experience.

Playing with other musicians is great if you want to improve your game when playing with others, but you can improve on your own and play on your own too. I'd say that we don't focus and learn the same things with or without other musicians around.

Fingerpicking guitar is the most interesting way to progress, in my opinion. Exploring many styles (classical, punk rock, blues, etc) is also effective.

I've learned a lot with Stefan Grossman fingerpicking video lessons. He released all his videos on utube a long time ago, with various difficulty levels.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=stefan+grossman+guitar+lessons

Here is an easy exemple : Allison's piano blues.
I can't find Grossman's video about this song, but there are other utubers who made some demos. A video will help you see how to move your hands, it's not absolutely necessary.

Of course it's hard in the beginning, but once you are familiar with the chords and the tune, knowing everything by heart, it's really a short, easy and beautiful tune.

 

[Paradox916]

Everyone is different, but practice is key, 15min of structured practice is practice, an hour of noodling is not. Two simple drills that were a game changer for me personally was,

1) learn the “octave triangle” this is very easy to remember vastly helpful in intuitively memorizing and understanding the fretboard without being overly complicated, for staters play it in the major scale up to the full octave I like to start from the 3rd fret (G)

2) pick a mode of the major scale ( not the pentatonic! The full scale!) doesn’t matter which one ( JUST ONE!) and learn in the 5 one positions one position/ pattern at a time, you know one mode in the 5 position you know all the modes, and knowing one and being able to use it is way more helpful then trying to digest overly complex theory all at once… it’s a game of inches.

You learn just those two thing and stick with it for a month and you will see improvement I bet, it opened a lot doors for me.

 

[PunchySunshine]

I took time off from playing guitar in high school. During that time I learned how to DJ with records and properly mix beats. When I returned to guitar in college I had actual rhythm that allowed me to jam with others. And that opened up the whole thing. Being able to play with a click/metronome is great but being able to make a drummer smile is so much more fun!

 

[steviejr92]

Everyone is different, but practice is key, 15min of structured practice is practice, an hour of noodling is not. Two simple drills that were a game changer for me personally was,

1) learn the “octave triangle” this is very easy to remember vastly helpful in intuitively memorizing and understanding the fretboard without being overly complicated, for staters play it in the major scale up to the full octave I like to start from the 3rd fret (G)

2) pick a mode of the major scale ( not the pentatonic! The full scale!) doesn’t matter which one ( JUST ONE!) and learn in the 5 one positions one position/ pattern at a time, you know one mode in the 5 position you know all the modes, and knowing one and being able to use it is way more helpful then trying to digest overly complex theory all at once… it’s a game of inches.

You learn just those two thing and stick with it for a month and you will see improvement I bet, it opened a lot doors for me.

Memorizing the fretboard has been one of my biggest problems too! I really like the 2nd suggestion. Im going to stick with one full scale and learn the hell out of it!

I know chord shapes but thats about it....lol

 

[jjjimi84]

Learning inversions was a huge help to unlocking the fretboard, especially when jamming with other people. I like to transcribe vocal melodies and work on phrasing. Pick songs you love and tear them apart.

I love to noodle but if you find yourself repeating the same shit, pick a key you would normally not play in and figure out the chord key formula for it and get weird. For soloing I will sit while my wife watches tv and play back what people say. Using the rhythm of there voice as the template for me to throw notes over.

Playing with a good drummer or drum app is my favorite way to improv.

Or just do what Dickey Betts did, sniff cocaine until you can play as fast as he can.

He said that in an interview, true story.

 

[Guardians of the analog]

I think you need to figure out what kind of player you want to be. I played in band in school so I always had a structured musical theory. I learned the basics of piano and percussion but brass and woodwinds were my focus. While all this made me a better guitar player, I liked the freedom that guitar gave me to be more unique and creative. I never wanted to be the technical guitarist, probably why I gravitated to punk and alternative rock of the 80s and 90s. Practice for what you want to play like. Focus on technique and speed, or melody and writing. I spent a lot of time being the only guitar player in bands or playing by myself and had to adapt a style that incorporated lead lines with rhythm and chords and that helped me express what I want now in a very instinctual way.

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

For improving rhythm, I have two suggestions.

First: play a steady stream of slow quarter notes in sync to a long delay with one repeat (ie, each time you play a note, it should line up perfectly with the repeat of the previous note) and just chill there for a minute. Then try to slowly (over a course of a minute or two) and gradually speed up until you’re playing at double the rate of the delay; you want your tempo to smoothly increase so you go out of sync with the delay, and then sync back in— not to flip straight from quarter notes to eight notes. Chill out there for a bit just metronomically locked into the delay for a few minutes, and then repeat that process until you’re at triple the delay time (triplets) and finally 4 times the delay time (16th notes), and then work back down, slowly falling behind back into triplets, then eights and then quarters. I can try to record an example of this at a later point if it doesn’t quite make sense, but it helps to both lock in tempo steadiness and strengthen your independence from a metronomic beat. It’s sorta like an exercise on the concept of phasing as popularized by Steve Reich, though that’s purely coincidental and something I realized much after I came up with this exercise.

The second exercise is more deliberately Steve Reich based, and it’s one I started doing for fun after I realized the Reich connection to my first exercise. It’s simply this: take a looper pedal, and play an ascending whole tone scale from a note of your choice, to the rhythm of Steve Reich’s ‘Clapping Music’ and just get that loop going. Now, over that loop, play through all of the clapper 2 permutations of the rhythm from a whole tone scale a minor third up.