I suck at guitar

Its all in the fingers, or is it?

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hamo
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Re: I suck at guitar

Post by hamo »

Ahh, it's all so relative, really. I feel like I suck because, if put on the spot, I could rustle up maybe four or five riffs from other people's songs, or some pentatonic twiddling that never really goes anywhere. But if 13 year old me was watching, they'd be like "whoa".

At this stage I am happy enough to plateau a bit, maybe I'll never get my head around playing solos, but having a bunch of killer riffs or being able to play through whole songs might be enough

One thing I would say, it can be enough to keep morale up just by learning a song well enough that it sounds close enough to what it should that it's satisfying to play - that it's fun to play. Then maybe you worry later that you can't really nail this phrase or that run, but you are on too much of a high right now just playing. This is where regularly learning something new is a good idea - I want to do it more often myself, but I need to write a list as I listen to stuff so that I have it ready to go rather than sitting down to practice and wasting time deciding on the song then searching for the tab etc.
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Re: I suck at guitar

Post by JHorner »

hamo wrote:Ahh, it's all so relative, really
True.
hamo wrote:learning a song well enough that it sounds close enough to what it should
That's an illusion. Stop listening to studio recorded stuff, find some people to play with and realise that when stuff goes sideways everyone goes with it and that it is actually more fun than replicating tracked recordings.
hamo wrote:wasting time deciding on the song then searching for the tab etc.
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Re: I suck at guitar

Post by Jay »

Kiwiaxe wrote:Good spotting.

Fat cats go down and eat bananas is the circle of fifths ... BEADGCF is the circle of fourths. Obviously they are the same just opposite directions.

Also helpful to know the order of #s (the same as the circle of fifths) and flats (the same as the circle of fourths).
Never heard of that so I read the whole wiki page on it... then had to read it again... and I still only understand 20% of it. Then practised the chords in the chord progression table and I see the pattern... But what is the essence I should get out of understanding this???

Sorry but I don't get it (yet) :oops: :oops:
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Re: I suck at guitar

Post by StratMatt »

I just had a dream where I was on stage absolutely butchering Crazy Train. I was playing a Tele though so I think that may have been the problem.
Loving it so far

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Re: I suck at guitar

Post by Bg »

Can I point out that I love playing Crazy Train on a Tele.... It just feels so wrong that the poor old Tele is being corrupted by beelzebub himself :D
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Re: I suck at guitar

Post by Bg »

Oh and Mr Crowley's even better :D
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Re: I suck at guitar

Post by Vince »

AAAAND... there IS the possibility that you (anybody) may suck at guitar because they're not meant to be playing guitar anyway.

I started off when I was 10 and never quite got into it. With hindsight, I think my problem was that I wanted to be a Guitarist without necessarily wanting to play guitar. In other words, I was in love with the idea of being cool and "a lead guitarist", but I wasn't really crazy about the instrument itself.

And then, we were forming a band, and I was less than mediocre on guitar. I knew that we had a better chance of finding a decent guitarist than even the shittiest of bass players so I "stepped down" (or so it felt at first) and took up bass.

And it was like some switch had been tripped, all of a sudden I loved what I was doing and even playing single notes ("dommmm... dommmmm...") was a source of fascination. There weren't enough hours in the day. It's been over 30 years. I still love playing bass and I have no interest in going back to guitar at all.
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Re: I suck at guitar

Post by mttn3 »

That's very possible too. I've only picked up the guitar at age 34 because I've always liked it, guitars are cool, but it was too hard. Now I've decided I'm going to do it anyway. I had kind of hoped that I'd be "naturally good" at it though, like I can do a lot of things if I try, but I have to face up to the fact that I'm not a natural at this. I'm possibly worse than average at it. :oops: :( But that's the reality and it helps me to know that most players have the same feeling about themselves and I'm going to try to keep my motivation and practice going so I chip away at it until I suck less. :thumbup:

I don't really get bass, i dunno. It's super important in a band and sounds great, but I don't think I'd like to play it.

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Re: I suck at guitar

Post by Danger Mouse »

mttn3, don't assume you're not a natural just because you haven't nailed the guitar in the time you've been playing. It's a long game, it takes a good couple of years to be able to progress from someone learning to play guitar to someone who plays guitar. It takes practice and time, but mostly time.

When I first started playing I just kept telling myself I'll be a good guitarist in 10 years time, because I knew it would at least take that long to be a good guitarist. 10 years later, I was, but 25 years later, when I get compliments on my playing I just think "oh good, all these years working on this haven't been wasted then".

Be patient, play what you enjoy and you'll get there...
The older I get, the more disappointed in myself I become.

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Re: I suck at guitar

Post by Molly »

jvpp wrote: But what is the essence I should get out of understanding this???

Sorry but I don't get it (yet) :oops: :oops:
Hard to say. We all know that AEIOU are the vowels but it doesn't make us better writers. I guess if you know the circle of fifths / fourths you can look at a key signature and know which one it is by the number of sharps or flats.

Edit: I'm not sure we all make sense of music theory in the same way. I have my own way of understanding modes that works for me but last time I tried to explain it it .... well, it was hard work.

We're really lucky that fretted instruments allow such ready access to keys and modes. I'd find it so much harder on a keyboard.

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Re: I suck at guitar

Post by Kiwiaxe »

Circle of fourths helps me from a composition perspective. Also for improv when there's modulation because often it's either switching between minor and major of the same tonal center or it's changing its tonal center by a fourth/fifth (depending whether you view it as going up or down)

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Re: I suck at guitar

Post by Danger Mouse »

Post edit fail, lol
Last edited by Danger Mouse on Wed Jul 13, 2016 7:58 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: I suck at guitar

Post by jeremyb »

Aren't modes simply playing the same scale but from a different starting note? nothing super complicated there, just helps you to move it up the neck a tad?
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Re: I suck at guitar

Post by Slowy »

mttn3 wrote:That's very possible too. I've only picked up the guitar at age 34 because I've always liked it, guitars are cool, but it was too hard. Now I've decided I'm going to do it anyway. I had kind of hoped that I'd be "naturally good" at it though, like I can do a lot of things if I try, but I have to face up to the fact that I'm not a natural at this. I'm possibly worse than average at it. :oops: :( But that's the reality and it helps me to know that most players have the same feeling about themselves and I'm going to try to keep my motivation and practice going so I chip away at it until I suck less. :thumbup:
The real trap is that most of us compare ourselves to other players, and no matter what we learn, we will always compare ourselves to someone better. We forget that we learned a whole pile of stuff and keep focussing on what we can't do. This is good motivation but we have to remember to give ourselves some credit for the progress we've made.

I may have this wrong but I understand the original version of Nigel Gavin's Gitbox Rebellion ensemble had a heap of very average and novice players. Gavin's philosophy was, "bring what you got and we'll use it; even if it's only one note".

You don't have to be technical or complicated to make great music. Watch what happens 40 seconds into this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNoPNC3ebYQ[/youtube]
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Re: I suck at guitar

Post by Molly »

Edit: Shit removed
Last edited by Molly on Wed Jul 13, 2016 12:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

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