7 months of playing =?

[harmonicchaos]

hey i've been playing guitar for about 6 1/2 months. i'm entirely self taught and don't know any other musicians right now. i know it doesn't really matter and everyone goes at their own speed - but what can a majority a players after this amount of time do? i guess some of my highlights include: i can sight-read quite well especially if i hear the song, i have a very good ear and can play a song after listening to it a little bit (at least all of the songs i've tried which is quite a few). i can fingerpick moderately well and have been getting a little faster at flatpicking during scales (but i'd like to be faster. i don't want to be a shredder (not my style) but i like some stuff like guns 'n roses and i want to be able to play that stuff more easliy too). i can play by ear the slow to medium speed solos i've tried also. i have been writing my own stuff for a while too and it's composed of simple one string melodies, chord sequences and some multi-string melodies. solos are about the only thing i haven't tried to write (i don't play many either).

 

any technique boosters or any interesting licks and miscellaneous stuff would be cool too.

 

i absolutely LOVE playing but sometimes i get curious as to how well i play. it doesn't matter but i would like to try to start playing with other people and not embarass myself! feedback and questions are welcomed and appreciated!

[Gibson CS]

harmon...

Itll come in time. Theres no shortcuts...nothing. You just have to practise everyday.

My daugter is 14. Shes seen me play guitar all of her life. Last year she wanted to learn.

She wanted her own electric, so I got her a nice Ibanez starter model.

Long story short....She gave up after a few weeks. She thought since it came so easily

to me, that shed be "wailing" away in no time flat. As I told her..I have been playing

for over 30 years. You gotta put in the time my friend, and DO NOT GIVE UP!

Learn your chords, and throw in a few scales ( may I suggest Pentatonic to start? )

You can do it....If I can you can.

[harmonicchaos]

your read me wrong. i'm in no way thinking of quitting! i'm in music for the long haul (i really stick stuff out)! i think i'm doing quite well but since i'm slightly obsessive i like to find new things to try as much as possible to help hone my skills. i thought i'd get some feedback on my abilites while i was at it. i never expected to be able to play like page or gilmour within any time frame. i'd like to learn over time and develop my own style. i know most chords, can play and memorize quite a few scales (and alternate pick them) at a reasonable speed. i play everyday as much as possible doing covers, scales, and just jamming and playing around, and i can pick up and play along with most songs just by listening to them.

 

i can't afford and don't want to take lessons (i also like the feeling of teaching yourself something). so i thought i'd ask for some stuff to challenge me. one thing in particular is soloing and blues techniques and tricks.

 

i'd like to find some other musicians to jam with and maybe start a band but i'd like to know that i won't completely embarrass myself and that people might want to actually play with me, so i just wanted to see if i'm on the right track or (even better) seem like i'm doing well.

 

thanks for any feedback!

[daveinspain]

Hi, I am also learning to play... I started teaching myself with the aid of a free internet coarse I found on line... I think its called the Ultimate Beginner’s Guitar course. It helped me get through the basics painlessly... Use the internet to get scale charts, tips and lessons. I have started lessons now with a teacher who is showing me more scales, fingering, exercises and a little theory. I suggest that you get together with someone who can show you stuff one on one. Its important not to start out doing things the wrong way. Later on you will have to get rid of bad habits and re-learn the right way...

 

You obviously have natural ability and are able to pick things up on your own but you will see how somethings make sense and fall into place with the aid of some simple instruction. How to get from one chord to the other smoothly and with less effort. The correct fingering can make life much easier...!! Even if you can only afford a couple of lessons I think it will have great benefits for you. Make sure you find a teacher/professor who is willing to teach you what you want to learn. Don't get bogged down in stuff that will slow you down or discourage you.

 

Anyway good luck, keep it up!!!

[Tim Plains]

If you want to increase your speed, buy a metronome or download one onto your cpu.

 

You said you're a self taught beginner, I don't mean to sound like an arse but do you know what triplets and sixteenth notes are? The best way increase speed is to just run chromatic scales up and down the fretboard, in time. Then, speed it up. If what I just said didn't make any sense to you, than go to your local music store and ask them how to use metronomes effectively. You could also look at a few YouTube videos.

 

For theory and what not, I found this website to be helpful http://www.zentao.com/guitar/theory/.

 

If you do decide to take music lessons, make sure you get a good instructor. I went through a few of them before I found the right one. You don't want an instructor that's just gonna show you how to play your favorite tunes; you can download the script/tabs off the internet for that, right?

 

Obviously, play everyday if you can. O.K., I'm done preaching now...

 

What was I saying again? Oh yeah, get yourself a metronome.

 

Tim

[loboblanca]

Harmonicchaos,

 

Dude you're doing real well.

 

At 6.5 months you have covered a lot of ground. I agree with Tim A, start playing chromatic scales with a metronome, ascending and descending. After you've gone up and down the fretboard, try using alternate strings to help your accuracy. All the scales you know, play them up and down the fretboard also, again with a metronome. Get your foot to tapping with the metronome. If you can find a way to 'cancel' the metronome, start playing scales with the metronome, then 'cancel' it and continue to play the scales at the same tempo, then kick the metronome back in to see how accurately you've kept the tempo.

 

One of the problems with playing by yourself so much is that its hard to know when you've let your tempo drag or speed up, and a metronome is brutally precise. Developing your sense of time will be the best thing you can do when it comes to playing with others when you finally find some folks to jam with.

 

Since you can pick stuff up by ear easily, try playing along with a CD or MP3. At 7 months, I thought I was doing fairly well with a few different pentatonic scales until I tried to play them accurately with a metronome; I suddenly sucked, haha. Ditto the music. I did just fine playing a song by myself, but when I tried to play with a CD it was a whole new ballgame.

 

Go to www.audacity.com and download their free music recording software. You can lay down a track of something you've come up with, then play it back and play along with it in unison or play an alternate melody line on top of it. Audacity comes with a built-in metronome, btw. Playing along with your own stuff (with and without a metronome) will help you until you can find some other peeps to play with.

 

But yeah, at 6.5 months you're doing just fine. Better than me, thats for sure.

[Fender]

hey i've been playing guitar for about 6 1/2 months. i'm entirely self taught and don't know any other musicians right now. i know it doesn't really matter and everyone goes at their own speed - but what can a majority a players after this amount of time do? i guess some of my highlights include: i can sight-read quite well especially if i hear the song' date=' i have a very good ear and can play a song after listening to it a little bit (at least all of the songs i've tried which is quite a few). i can fingerpick moderately well and have been getting a little faster at flatpicking during scales (but i'd like to be faster. i don't want to be a shredder (not my style) but i like some stuff like guns 'n roses and i want to be able to play that stuff more easliy too). i can play by ear the slow to medium speed solos i've tried also. i have been writing my own stuff for a while too and it's composed of simple one string melodies, chord sequences and some multi-string melodies. solos are about the only thing i haven't tried to write (i don't play many either).

 

any technique boosters or any interesting licks and miscellaneous stuff would be cool too.

 

i absolutely LOVE playing but sometimes i get curious as to how well i play. it doesn't matter but i would like to try to start playing with other people and not embarass myself! feedback and questions are welcomed and appreciated![/quote']

 

Take your time. Don't get ahead of yourself. The mind progress faster than the body more often than ever. In our minds we should be playing like Yngwie Malmsteen, but our fingers can only match Jack from the White Stripes. It seems like just yesterday i had been playing 2 years and was progressing well but felt like i couldn't improve anymore because i didn't know what more to do. It's now been slightly over 6 years, i have a very nice rig and although i am no pro, i can get through a lot of Steve Vai, Satriani , etc if i work hard at it. Some people will play faster. I remember someone i went to school with who was younger than me and had only been playing for 2 years was shredding. Sloppy a bit, but accurate and articulate to say the least. It was impressive. I couldn't believe it. It made me jealous obviously. Still can't play like that. He spent 6 hours a day doing that. IT was an obsession rather than passion because his playing lack all form of heart or soul. Don't know what he does today, but my life was balanced and returning to my guitar never felt like a ticking clock, it was because i want to.

 

Anyways keep us posted and i hope this helps. You got a long way to go. I don't think there ever is an end to this line, but we try i think!

[harmonicchaos]

i did forget to mention that i have a decent knowledge of music thoery. i took piano lessons for around 6 years and stopped taking them about 3 years ago- i hated piano. i didn't really play at all for about a year and by chance i just sat down at the piano and started playing some songs i used to know. i was a little rusty but i came to find that it wasn't piano i hated, it was the lessons. i've forgotten some of the stuff i learned but i can sight read, play by ear and i'm even composing some of my own songs. overall i think i'm doing better now then when i was taking lessons because i'm actually enjoying it. i do think that they were important though. i figure now since i know the fundamentals i could teach myself guitar (wanted to play since i was six) and not have to go through the pain of lessons. since i'm doing pretty well i don't think i will take them. btw I have done a lot is playing with a cd so i do know i have decent timing. i agree with the love vs. obsession, i definitly have a passion and love for it and let my emotion sink into my playing. i think shredders are okay and it's cool that they can play like that and all but i just can't seem to get into it. it just lacks emotion and something else (i don't know what). and i you think about it, a lot of great players are self taught.

 

so you guys think i'll be able to hold my own okay and not make a complete fool out of myself (not that it matters that much, but i want to wait until i'm ready to play with others) when i try to start playing with other muscians?

 

Thanks for the help - the more the better!

[tango martin]

id start playing with whoever you can find, dont worry about their level or your level of ability look for people you can really get on with and you should hopefully avoid all the "im the best in this band!" crap.

Youl learn so much more from playing with others especially about writing music, listen to everything you can and ignore the charts and you cant go too far wrong, with any luck, the piano knowledge will come into its own as well, very handy that is! Dont worry bout screwing up when playing with people, just get out there an play with anyone who wants a jam and i reckon in another 6 months youl be an extremely capable and versatile musician! listen to pavement, i saw them once an hated them, then i listened to their albums and theyre one of my favourite bands, very unconventional and melodic and just unique band, a good example that you dont have to be at all flashy just have an "ear" for music! anyway as i usually remark, i must stop waffling on

[jesse92]

I Started By Learning Chords and Their Alternate Positions. Then I Learned ALL of The Scales. I Started Playing Song And Finally I am workink With Some Blues Shuffles. I Have Been Playing For 2 Yeras Since I Finished Scales. And There Is Still Alot To Be Learned.