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Most challenging guitar skill?


Gilliangirl

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Of all the skills you've learned on guitar, which one has been the most challenging? bar chords? fingerstyle stuff? slides? bending? performing in front of others? What's been your biggest obstacle, or the thing that caused you the most grief?

 

For me it's palm muting. I can't get the hang of it. I can do it if it's a straight clear stop/mute, but to gently brush my palm alongside the strings as I strum to partially mute them is just not coming together. I feel like screaming. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

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I guess I could say, reading music or tab.....but really the most difficult thing for me to do is to play in front of others..... LOL...on my sofa, I can play pretty well, but when I try to show someone something, or play at an open mic......I seem to tense up and make a lot of mistakes that I usually don't make. I would LOVE to get over that.....

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Ha!! Bringing new equipment into the house without getting caught.... I gave up on that years ago! I've been playing for about 45 years..... palm muting just comes.... you figure it out because you want to get a certain sound. For me, the hardest thing is anything other than basic finger picking...and slide....am working on that right now.... oh to be Derek Trucks!

B

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Singing and finger picking at the same time. Not that I do either well individually, but try and bring them together and it is just crash and burn!

 

Then as OWF says ....to then try and do the two together with an audience .....I just peed myself thinking about it .....

 

8-[

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Playing fingerstyle with three/four/five fingers was the hardest task for me to master, for some reason. For years I played that Mississippi style thumb-and-index technique, until I had gotten everything out of it that I could. About a year ago, something clicked in my mind and I managed to bring three,four and five finger techniques into play with great success, much to my surprise,and now I often play two hour shows that feature extended fingerstyle segments where I get involved in some serious pickery. Mastering fingerstyle has been the most rewarding and satisfying of all the episodes in my guitar playing experience, I'd say.

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#-o Playing guitar solos...

Never learned.

I learmed to make songs on a guitar.

To express the melody of one poetry in chords and musical melody on the neck, into the strings.

I can entwine that "verse melody" among the strings of a guitar using my fingers and my voice.

I learned that myself.

I can do it good.

Playing solos - I never learned :D ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,)

Even that short solo in the beginning of "Whish you were here" that I try to play 34 years i can not make without a mistake...

#-o #-o #-o #-o

:-&

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Playing fingerstyle with three/four/five fingers was the hardest task for me to master' date=' for some reason. For years I played that Mississippi style thumb-and-index technique, until I had gotten everything out of it that I could. About a year ago, something clicked in my mind and I managed to bring three,four and five finger techniques into play with great success, much to my surprise,and now I often play two hour shows that feature extended fingerstyle segments where I get involved in some serious pickery. Mastering fingerstyle has been the most rewarding and satisfying of all the episodes in my guitar playing experience, I'd say.[/quote']

 

 

I have to agree that this was my hardest skill to learn too. After finally mastering the intro to "Wheel in the Sky" by Journey, the different styles started coming easier. A year and a half ago I was diagnosed with Parkinson's desiese. This has of course screwed up all my guitar skills. Now that I am on the right medication, I have been able to get alot of them back during periods of the day when the medication is at its best. However, I lost all the finger picking skills. I don't have the needed control over my hand for that.

 

The good news in all this is that I am under doctor's orders to play as much as possible every day. This makes sneaking new equipment into the house unnesessary. My wife told me to buy the best guitar I could afford. That's when I got my LP custom. Next is an accoustic in a few months. Any suggestions for one between $1000.00 and $1250.00?

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Mississippi style thumb-and-index technique

What's that?

Finger picking is my biggest problem .... I started to learn when I was young and someone pinched by instruction book so I gave up #-o

Now my nails break easily and it never seems loud enough with the finger tips

AND getting the thumb to concentrate solely on bass runs whilst the fingers play a melody is well nigh impossible ........just HOW do you guys do that #-o

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I guess I could say' date=' reading music or tab.....but really the most difficult thing for me to do is to play in front of others..... LOL...on my sofa, I can play pretty well, but when I try to show someone something, or play at an open mic......I seem to tense up and make a lot of mistakes that I usually don't make. I would LOVE to get over that.....[/quote']

 

One of my favourite bands from the 80s, XTC was fronted by guitarist Andy Partridge. He was notorious for stage fright and it is said, never got over it in his 20 odd years of being in a band and playing live. It got so bad that he apparently suffered a nervous breakdown and untimately caused the break up of XTC. There is no doubt in my mind that they would have been a world class band if he'd carried on.

 

So you're in very good company in my eyes OWF.

 

I trust you will not suffer the same fate so here, FWIW, are a couple of tips from a fellow occasional (but becoming more regular) open micer.

 

> try to play with an experienced player where you can. This will give you confidence.

 

> don't worry about mistakes. 95% of your audience won't notice anyway.

 

> if you drink, only have one beforehand.

 

> pick songs you know really well and practice them on the day, even if you do know them well. Im bad at this and always think I'll remember them - often don't!

 

> if you are a pick dropper, like me, have some spares handy.

 

> shut your eyes when singing, unless looking at the words.

 

> don't eat chocolate or drink milk before singing.

 

> have a positive attitude. Tell yourself that you're going to enjoy it whatever happens.

 

> do it again and again. It gets easier the more you do it.

 

Don't want to preach OWF, as I said I am a mere amateur but I do love open mics. Our fear is simply a fear of making a complete tit of ourselves which just won't happen unless you are drunk or on drugs.

 

Hope you can pick a couple of useful tips from these ramblings.

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Albert John....THIS is exactly why I play in front of friends and do open mics. And it is getting better. Thanks for the tips!!

 

GG......I thought the hardest thing for you was finding a comfortable position behind your guitar??? Cough.>>>>>>

Haha I've learned to live with it! :-D

 

It's nice to read that I'm not the only one with challenges here. I'm still working on the palm muting thing. I know technically HOW to do it as I've watched a few YT videos.... it's the really subtle as-you-go muting I can't get, and I am wanting to do songs with a more percussive sound to them. The ex boyfriend suggested practicing I Love The Rainy Night by Eddie Rabbitt to learn the full-out palm mute. That was a great song to practice that skill on. Now, onto the next....

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I would say bar chords have been the biggest challenge for me. I learned all the "regular" chords when I was young and supple, now my middle aged fingers -thumb especially- just do not like those bar chords, especially when played on my Gibson acoustic. I find changing to a bar chord smoothly to be very hard, it takes a long time to get my fingers in place.

Palm muting is another skill I have to work on but I feel like I could get it if I just practiced more.

As for playing in front of others, also extremely difficult.

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Gretchen, is it the "clamping force" that's getting you? My hands are old, and I sometimes take a couple of aspirin before I play if my fingers have pains, (doesn't happen too often, and even then it's usually only the index finger on my left hand). Thumb is usually okay, just make sure it's placed properly on the back of the neck.

 

Bob

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I would say bar chords have been the biggest challenge for me. I learned all the "regular" chords when I was young and supple' date=' now my middle aged fingers -thumb especially- just do not like those bar chords, especially when played on my Gibson acoustic. I find changing to a bar chord smoothly to be very hard, it takes a long time to get my fingers in place.

Palm muting is another skill I have to work on but I feel like I could get it if I just practiced more.

As for playing in front of others, also extremely difficult.[/quote']

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