Plateau's, boredom, bricks wall..... Help me smash them please

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I have been playing for 2.5 years, I practice about an hour a day and love the guitar. I originally picked one up as all I wanted to do was play along to songs. My journey to this point has included constant weekly lessons from three different guys. I have learned all the usual stuff, open chords, barre chords, major scales, minor scales pentatonics etc etc. I am still trying to link pentatonic patterns together, memorise the fretboard, learn soloing techniques, speed and accuracy amongst many other things.

I am coming up to 50 years old and while I still love the guitar and practice everyday I am wondering which direction to take. Do i practice scales, linking them together with drills and licks or should I just say the hell with it and learn songs that I love and put a smile on my face when I learn them?

I am at another crossroads and if I don't sort it out I may get bored and that's the last thing I want to do. So what would you all recommend? This can't be unusual.

Thanks
Chris




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  • Toms_DadToms_Dad Frets: 168
    One of the beauties of guitar is that it means very different things to different people.  I'll make a suggestion in a minute, but someone else will be along shortly to suggest something else.  That's OK, what you do will depend on your interests and where you want to go with it.
    For me, I read your post and what you say is all about technique practice and then say maybe learning songs for the hell of it.  I think the whole purpose of all that technique is to be able to play tunes either solo, or in a band, so your instinct may well be right.
    When my sons were learning instruments through school, they learnt whole pieces of music with difficulty carefully graded according to their current ability.  They only learnt a new technique when the music required it.
    My suggestion would be to get either a play along book, or perhaps a Trinity Rock and Pop grade book and start to learn whole songs.  You can do this alongside your technique practice and then maybe experiment with changing the solos as it suits you.
    Even if your aim is to write your own stuff, I think it pays to play other people's first to see how they put the songs together.
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  • On the subject of linking the pentatonic scale patterns together, I would suggest working on that with an eye towards looking into "chord tone targeting" and the "CAGED" system.  I avoided these for years but once I dug in (it doesn't take all that much brain power or effort as you might think) a light came on and a lot of things started making sense and a new direction of discovery took hold.   From there the major scale made more sense and became less of a hurdle.   Toms_Dad's advice to play along with songs is also an integral part of seeing how this all fits together, I play along to several of the many, many jam tracks on youtube to test out these things as I learn them.

    “Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay


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  • RolandRoland Frets: 8590
    ... should I just say the hell with it and learn songs that I love and put a smile on my face when I learn them?
    Learn the songs you love. Why else are you learning guitar.

    Find other people to play them with. You will learn how to listen and play with others, find things in the songs you didn’t know were there, and your playing will improve.
    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
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  • When you are having lessons you can end up being given something new every week ,pretty soon you will become bogged down with too much stuff to practice .

    find a song you like that is suitable for beginner to intermediate  and get some tabs for it .
    have a look at , rhythm /riff parts plus solos intros etc .

    work on different parts for 10 or 20 minutes .

    most riffs will have some standard type approaches . Power chords , double stops  either of these alternating with single bass notes ,  picked arpeggios etc .

    solos or intros will most likely have a selection of standard techniques ranging From slides, hammer ons pull offs ,bends ,vibrato , harmonics and some sort of scale run .

    so a song may give you a wide variety of techniques to work on , while working towards a 
    tangible piece of work when it is finished .

    once you have figured out how the whole song goes together and can play it ,it will spur you on to 
    try another there is nothing more empowering than succeeding at something to encourage you to tackle something new.

    if you come up against something challenging. A certain riff,part of a solo , a particular technique 
    Have a look at it slowly and try to see where the difficulty is , there is usually a specific place that you can trip up . Once you can see the part that is the trouble, isolate it into as small a part as possible and then focus on getting it to work, seeking help on here or other forums or YouTube etc if need be .

    choose yourself something not too difficult to start , do a search for easy songs to learn in your specific genre of interest and see which ones you think might be suitable . You can then work up to more advanced stuff as you succeed .

    Exercises can be valuable and you can work in a few minutes a day for alt/tremolo picking 
    finger independence ,legato stamina (trills ) etc  But you may find sections of a song you are working on suitable for this. Good luck







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  • RockerRocker Frets: 4943
    Stock answer:  find someone who plays and/of sings and play music together.  The music is where it is at.  Enjoy the experience and fun of playing 'three chord' songs.  Over time, you and your fellow musician(s) can develop arrangements of songs.  These arrangements may need specific techniques to be learned.  Until you reach that stage, keep it simple.  And fun.
    Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [Albert Einstein]

    Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

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  • vizviz Frets: 10644
    Lock the guitar away and concentrate on studying advanced music theory and composition for the next 12 years. 

    That was a joke, don’t do that. 

    I think you answered it perfectly in your question - play the songs you love!
    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • Take a break from progressing as a player. It probably feels like work, with objectives and deadlines and measurements. Try and have some fun, instead - possibly without any objective at all apart from just enjoying the moment.

    I've been doing something along those Iines recently that's worked for me. Something similar but appropriate to your playing style and background might work for you, too. As a complete change from everything, I've found myself running through old classical guitar pieces - sight reading as I go. I can lose myself in that for a couple of hours and feel great afterwards. I'm not "learning" the pieces (yet) and I'm not working on tricky passages, more just playing through the pieces, dipping in and out, to just enjoy the process - and it's working. I just enjoy doing it. Guilt free time wasting, TBH! 

    Pick a few things you like and just start playing them without worrying about where that's leading you. 

    Good luck.  :)
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  • soma1975soma1975 Frets: 6627
    Buy Guitar Aerobics and do the 1 tiny exercise every day. 
    My Trade Feedback Thread is here

    Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
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  • soma1975 said:
    Buy Guitar Aerobics and do the 1 tiny exercise every day. 
    I have never heard of these books before, they do look rather interesting, thanks
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  • soma1975soma1975 Frets: 6627
    edited August 2020
    I'm on week 10. Lots of exercises I've done loads of times before but using their picking patterns to get out of my comfort zone it's like they are brand new. I'm definitely already a better guitar player but not because I have mastered a lick, rather just getting 1-2% better in each technique discipline. By week 52 I'll no doubt be standing on a mountaintop blazing sweeping harmonic minor flurries. 
    My Trade Feedback Thread is here

    Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
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  • grappagreengrappagreen Frets: 1340
    A pretty well known American guitar educator once told me that if guitarists realised that all they had to do to improve was to listen, transcribe (and sometime analyse) the stuff they like, then guitar teachers would largely be out of a job.

    The point is learn what you actually like, real world music (all guitar parts and maybe not guitar if you like the sound). If you hit a part you cannot play technically make up a technical exercise to work on it (don't just practise 'blind' technique with the only goal being technique itself); make it all have a purpose and head towards where you want to be.

    If you take this approach you will never tire, always be moving in a (more or less) straight line to where you want to be and actually enjoy the journey. As you taste changes over your time the material you consume will align and you'll become 'you'; ultimately a function of everything you've done..

    Si
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  • Thank you everyone for some great advice. I think I know where I want to go and what I want to do. 
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  • CrankyCranky Frets: 2629
    On the subject of linking the pentatonic scale patterns together, I would suggest working on that with an eye towards looking into "chord tone targeting" and the "CAGED" system.  I avoided these for years but once I dug in (it doesn't take all that much brain power or effort as you might think) a light came on and a lot of things started making sense and a new direction of discovery took hold.   From there the major scale made more sense and became less of a hurdle.   Toms_Dad's advice to play along with songs is also an integral part of seeing how this all fits together, I play along to several of the many, many jam tracks on youtube to test out these things as I learn them.
    I second the CAGED system. 

    But also find some exercises in voice leading with inverted chords and in sweep picking.  CAGED and chord inversions are both good for your chord and fretboard theory knowledge, and sweep picking will be excellent practice for your mechanics.  Even if you don't care to do a picksweep ever in real time, it is I think one of the more athletic or dexterous things one can do on a guitar and some practice will make a lot of other playing feel much easier and more fluid for you.
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  • RockerRocker Frets: 4943
    @chrisoldroyd, why are you putting yourself under such pressure to improve on the guitar?  Like playing golf, there is no absolute requirement to improve your playing standard year on year.  If you are able to play some of the songs you set out to play when you first started playing, well done.  You have achieved that much in around 2½ years.  Guitar is meant to be a distraction for most of us.  A diversion from the stresses of living.  Not another source of stress.  Think about what you can do rather than what you are unable to do.  If it stops being enjoyable, something is most definitely wrong.  Take a step or two back and locate that fun bit that the desire to improve has hidden from your view.
    Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [Albert Einstein]

    Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

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  • vizviz Frets: 10644
    edited August 2020
    Rocker said:
    @chrisoldroyd, why are you putting yourself under such pressure to improve on the guitar?  Like playing golf, there is no absolute requirement to improve your playing standard year on year.  If you are able to play some of the songs you set out to play when you first started playing, well done.  You have achieved that much in around 2½ years.  Guitar is meant to be a distraction for most of us.  A diversion from the stresses of living.  Not another source of stress.  Think about what you can do rather than what you are unable to do.  If it stops being enjoyable, something is most definitely wrong.  Take a step or two back and locate that fun bit that the desire to improve has hidden from your view.
    Yes. Steve Vai says something really nice about this. I’ll try and find it. It’s about “Passion” and how all you really need is to like playing. “Hey I really like doing this” is enough. 


    5:35 to 8:00: but all of it really - this is a GREAT little video to watch. 

    https://youtu.be/7G3zDCf8Mzc

    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • soma1975 said:
    Buy Guitar Aerobics and do the 1 tiny exercise every day. 
    Genius comment, this give me focus at the start of my practice every day.
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  • 545454545454 Frets: 184
    Learning by ear is a really good thing to work on if you are used to working from tabs / charts. For me it really helped with timing and generally getting a better feel for songs, like you can anticipate the changes. 
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  • When I started playing in 1975 information came in small amounts. Copping a lick off of a record, a mate showing you something they'd discovered. Now, people are bombarded with information - way too much information. There is NO point in learning all the scales and modes unless you have a very good idea what you want to do with them. Why THREE teachers ? And what on earth are they telling you ? Go back to the minor and major pentatonics which as a great place to start. Do you like Blues ? If so, listen to lots of it and I mean LOTS so you can get a strong idea in your head of how the music works. If you want to learn how the major scale works listen to nursery rhymes which are mostly major. You really have to listen first.
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  • The reward of learning a whole song , riffs,rhythm solo etc is the greatest motivational tool ever. More so if you have overcome a previous obstacle ,as you know you can tackle similar or even slightly more advanced ones .

    For fast passages software like tux or guitar pro can be invaluable for getting timing phrasing spot on  especially if you have a good tab off a teacher/Patreon etc . You can hear and get the micro timing in fast passages and use the speed trainer to repeat so many times before increasing speed by a small percentage . I was surprised when using it to learn a fast passage in the solo in hold the line by toto the other day ,a simple descending run but there were certain timing nuances I was not hearing without constant repetition 


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  • duotoneduotone Frets: 971
    Would recommend this songbook. Really well put together with chords/lyrics & the important song intros or riffs.

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