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endsjustifymeans wrote:
A year on and I still have can't smoothly play a song. I hate sucking so bad, and I continuously think about giving up. But I love guitars. I love modding them. I love playing them. I love having one in my lap and just mindlessly noodling while watching tv. I think I just started too late to ever be a worthwhile guitarist.

That's nonsense, mate; unless you've got some age-based hand-finger-brain problem, you still have the same hands and brain as your 16 year old self. Kids only really find it easier because they've generally got more time and tenacity than most adults.

I'd consider having a lesson or two to see if a guitar teacher can give you a little help. And yeeeeah, practise x lots. Think about the great sounds you're making all by yourself rather than focussing on what you can't do.

If you don't believe you're awesome you never will be.

start playing with a band, even just for fun, you'll be amazed at how much better you get (especially if you have regular rehearsals). i went from being totally shit to 'ok' at the guitar in about 3 months. i'm still at the 'ok' stage to be honest, but i can live with that.

stewart wrote:start playing with a band, even just for fun, you'll be amazed at how much better you get

This, to the power of eleventy. Playing in the improvised music thingy has given my playing (and how I think about my playing) the biggest boost it's had since being in bands *gulp* eighteen years ago.

Doog wrote:

endsjustifymeans wrote:
A year on and I still have can't smoothly play a song. I hate sucking so bad, and I continuously think about giving up. But I love guitars. I love modding them. I love playing them. I love having one in my lap and just mindlessly noodling while watching tv. I think I just started too late to ever be a worthwhile guitarist.

That's nonsense, mate;

It is, aye.

Keep at it. Sometimes there isn't any sort of magic answer or anything, you just have to get on with it, and keep practising. Rewards will come at some point, but sometimes there'll be a long period where there is no reward.

Also, didn't Fran only start playing when he was 19 or something?

Dave Wyndorf from Monster Magnet didn't start playing til he was 28/29 and he's a pretty good guitarist.

well, it doesn't appear ends has visited this thread since february, however I'd just like to throw in;

you're gonna be saying the same "I shoulda done it at 16" when you're 45 about what you shoulda done at 30. it's never too late to pick something up. you are a constant work in progress. the minute you stop learning new things is the minute you die.

Mike wrote:If you don't believe you're awesome you never will be.

Most important truth ever told on Shortscale. Ever.

As an update, I've progressed quite a bit since I posted this. I still suck, but I am now able to suck in more technical ways than before.

I find, and why I wish I had started earlier (i.e. when I had far less responsibilities), that weeks when I have more time to invest into practice I am visibly much better than weeks where work/life limits my guitar time. It's frustrating because it sometime feels for every busy guitarless week, I lose two weeks of progress that I have to work double time to catch up on.

I believe I am going to be awesome, if not the best guitarist ever. I'm just not sure how long it's going to take me to get there. A year and a half on, I'm just now able to almost change fluidly between a C and G, go me!

I just tried to learn honey bucket by Melvins and so help me... my fingers will NEVER move fast enough to do that riff. I can almost play it an 8th, almost because my fingers just can't make sense of the rhythm.

Mike wrote:If you don't believe you're awesome you never will be.

Hm I should have read back further I'm a bit late to the party but since nobody mentioned it the first time, I'll toss in my 2 cents. I remember the guy who taught me the open position chords when I started playing pointed out one very useful concept. Anchoring. Only move the fingers you need to move and leave the rest where they are. It gives you a reference for your overall hand position, after which its all a lot easier. Probably the most basic example is C (x32010) to Am (x02210) For that change all you move is your ring finger. What you need to do (forgive me if youre way past this already) is repeat that chord change to a metronome or a simple drum track. Back and forth until you're absolutely sick to death of it. Then increase the tempo a little and do it some more until you think you're going to die of boredom. What you're doing is developing muscle memory. Eventually when you think "Am" your hand will simply assume the right position without your brain getting in the way at all. Another good example is G-D where your ring finger stays anchored on the second string. Use it as a foundation and a pivot. and you'll have a much easier time.

A few years ago I made a concerted effort to rid myself of all my bad habits. My playing had peaked at "mediocre" (and thats being kind about it) and I never seemed to get any better. What I was doing was just playing the same things over and over. Stuff that never took me beyond my comfort zone because I lacked the confidence to push myself on to better things. So what I did was went back to basics. I played scales. I played open chords. I played three chord pop songs. And at every step I made sure I wasn't just playing them adequately but perfectly. No hits on superfluous strings, no strings accidentally muted, proper hand position, clean picking, perfectly in time... all that malarkey. I really had to force myself to do it too. I refused to let myself play until after I'd practiced for an hour. Note those are two very different things. Another thing that I found helps too is when you're practicing or learning a new song, play it with a clean tone. Even if what you want is the filthiest, nastiest, most over the top distortion, play it clean first. Fuzz really does cover a multitude of sins but with a clean tone you'll be able to hear what you're doing wrong.

Sorry if this all comes off as preachy and self-righteous but it really did work wonders for me. I'm still mediocre but I'm at a higher standard of mediocrity than I was.

That's all great advice actually. I'm on pretty well with chords I can anchor with... It's full finger changes that kill me. I.e. G to c and back. For about a week now I've just been strumming g and c switches. I never want to here that chord change again...

Which of course is a change that occurs in a good 75% of the music of the last 50 years.

Okay, having said all that before here are a couple of things to bear in mind about that particular change. About half the time I play a G I end up playing 320003 rather than 320033. In this case 320003 is a perfectly valid Gmaj chord and as such it isnt really cheating. It leaves your fingers in a much easier position for the C. The other nice thing is that you can drop your index finger onto the 1st string for a very smooth transition to G7 (320001) It does have a slightly different sound however. Always sounds a little darker to me.

Another fun thing with that change is leave your ring and pinkie fingers anchored on the 1st and 2nd strings and instead of playing Cmaj you're playing Cadd9 (x32033) which works for a lot of songs and gives you a nice high almost mandolin-like drone. In fact you'd be amazed how many well known songs you can play without ever moving those two fingers. The more you learn to play more sedate guitar based pop or modern singer-songwriter type stuff, the more you start to realise that these people generally aren't great guitarists and they cheat too

Mike wrote:If you don't believe you're awesome you never will be.

This will be my new signature for sure.

when i first learned guitar i played power chords like kurdt did. with index finger, middle finger and ring finger. the the bottom 3 notes, its the easiest way to transition back and forth between a A/D or G/C, F/Bb and so on.

thats great if all you want to do is make a lot of noise....so after about 5 years of playing like that i finally re-taught my self how to play a bar chord with all 4 fingers and transfer back and forth smoothly. i wish i had learned the proper way right off the bat. then after teaching my self that way to play it, i taught myself how to play them with my thumb too.

im gonna make a little video and show you the 3 different ways to play basic "5" chords with the guitar tuned normal.

look forward to the video.

[youtube][/youtube]

robroe wrote:[youtube][/youtube]

^This is one of the reasons I love this community. Thanks Rob.

now someone make me a video on writing riffs.