Simple things that are a struggle…?

slacker

There's things are can't do like use a pick that we'll but I incorporate things I can do. I can't sweep pick but work on slide guitar. I'll use that more. 

I struggle at working at things that don't come easy. I've been working on brothers in arms. It sounds simple and the notes are. But the emotion in the original. Forget sweep picking I want to move people. 

GoFish

A simple (non barre) F chord - getting the middle finger 'A' note to ring cleanly has always been hit and miss.

CaseOfAce

Playing slowly.

Every guitarist can seem to keep in time on medium tempo (120bpm or thereabouts) blues / rock etc...

Slow it down to 80bpm and let the fun and games begin. 

Not just guitarists - we do Crystal Gayle's Brown Eyes Blue and our drummer cannot maintain the 84bpm tempo.

GuyBoden

Most guitarists struggle playing the simplest tunes by ear. They struggle, struggle, struggle, then give up and come back next week after a lot of practice......................

Yorkie

guitarjack66 said:

Yorkie said:

There's something about a C chord that my left hand doesn't like. I can do most other chords no problem, but C is something I struggle with and I don't know why. I can do it, just not as fast as the others. 

In the open position I assume? There are two,at least,alternatives. You can simply fret the B string at the first fret and play the open G,B(fretted on 1st) and open high E. Or you can just fret the B string 1st fret and 4th string 2nd fret and play the high 4 strings. I also sometimes do that plus fret the high E at the 3rd fret and this adds the fretted G. 
I struggle with this too,as you can tell.
I also struggle to play a full open G chord.

Sorry, lost track of this thread! Yes, open C is something I have trouble with. I knew a couple of the alternatives, but I'm quite obstinate and usually go to the difficult one because I see to be unable to accept defeat. 

Rocker

The C chord I learned over fifty years ago turns out to be a C/G chord.  Much easier to fret than a C chord and you can strum all six strings.

Tannin

Yorkie said:

There's something about a C chord that my left hand doesn't like. I can do most other chords no problem, but C is something I struggle with and I don't know why. I can do it, just not as fast as the others. 

I imagine that most people are the same insofar as playing chords with the fingers well apart is more difficult than chords where the fingers form a near-solid block.  With an open A minor, for example, your three fingers are touching one another and can easily all hit the strings together.  But an open C has a one-string gap between the second and third fingers; this means that the third finger is floating around and can easily be placed incorrectly. 

The same applies to chords like that rock staple D/F# - play an open A, x02220 barring strings 2, 3 & 4 with your index finger, then turn it into D/F#  x04230. Nailing that F# on the D string with your ring finger is similarly tricky. Like most things, practice makes perfect. 

Tannin

Mine: any A-shape 7th chord - B7 for example, played x24242.

I used to have trouble with the barring finger playing E-shape 7th chords, but enough practice and a bit of concentration sorted that. However A-shape 7ths still give me grief, especially Bb7 where the strings are tightest. 

Oddly enough, some far harder-looking chords are in practice easier - my party-trick chord is a C# power chord x46699 which looks much harder than it is ... so I feel a nice little glow every time I nail that one   and immediately afterwards often fluff the following F#7/C# - x44656 - which is fairly easy.   The transition between the two is the tricky bit, you have to rotate your wrist quite a way and I often mess that up. Getting there ...

But those A-shape 7ths ... a way to go on that one.

Danny1969

I rarely barr any chords these days as my hands have got arthritis and I have damaged my wrist. it's not a problem though as my thumb has turned into a double jointed ninja and seems quite happy to contort into all kinds of crazy positions. 

mudslide73

Hammer on patterns where you have to use one finger per string (Gary Moore etc.). I can do about 6-7 before my brain freezes, I get a mental block and have to stop. Usually I can blast though things if I devote enough time to them at low bpm but not here.

G4pei

I've been struggling for some with tensing up my picking hand/arm when I want to play a relatively fast run of notes (not Eric Johnson speed). It's like the anticipation creates some for of physical reaction. I know that the key is to relax - but how?

topdog91

G4pei said:

I've been struggling for some with tensing up my picking hand/arm when I want to play a relatively fast run of notes (not Eric Johnson speed). It's like the anticipation creates some for of physical reaction. I know that the key is to relax - but how?

Play slowly enough that you can execute the run without excess tension. Speed up gradually and only without tension. Breathe.

stufisher

Interesting to read about C chord and F chord difficulties ... it reminds me of my own experience of such when I first learned to play in the 1970s.

I found it more comfortable and easier to play them both by using my pinky to fret the 6th string G bass note and 5th string C bass note, respectively.

I don't always play the bass notes but my comfort factor is much higher.

These days I struggle most with playing clean hammer-ons and pull-offs when playing along to a track. I lack discipline in technique practice so usually descend into noodling and fiddling with amp presets, purely to avoid prolonging the misery.

Plectrum

stufisher said:

These days I struggle most with playing clean hammer-ons and pull-offs when playing along to a track. I lack discipline in technique practice so usually descend into noodling and fiddling with amp presets, purely to avoid prolonging the misery.

The mistake many people make with hammer-ons and pull-offs is in not allowing the note time to "develop" before performing the hammer-on or pull-off.

stufisher

Could you elaborate for me @Plectrum ; ... I'll take all of the guidance I can get.

Is there a really good YT vid from someone who is a good teacher and who patiently goes through the rudiments? 

I'd like to be able to play reasonably fluently Final Countdown or the like ... I know it's not that difficult but I just can't make my guitar make sounds anything like that.

topdog91

stufisher said:

Could you elaborate for me @Plectrum ; ... I'll take all of the guidance I can get.

Is there a really good YT vid from someone who is a good teacher and who patiently goes through the rudiments? 

I'd like to be able to play reasonably fluently Final Countdown or the like ... I know it's not that difficult but I just can't make my guitar make sounds anything like that.

Care to upload a vid of you having a go? Not clear exactly what the issue is. You say you lack discipline in technique practice; not sure how you intend to improve technique without practicing. Does playing it slow then gradually speeding up only when it sounds good not work for you?

stufisher

From the top ...
I'm not techy and don't have facility to make a vid or upload it ... real Luddite  
Happy to practice a bit at a time if I thought I was getting better but I just don't understand what I'm trying to do in the first place.
Sure, slow to begin with and then speed up will be the right approach but honestly ... I am cringeably bad  

How low should the action on my guitar be?
Any particular amp settings for tone/gain/delay/reverb that would help?
Should I be using the pad of my picking finger or the fingertip or pick edge?

topdog91

If you can post here mate, you can upload a vid to YouTube and shove the link in here. It's impossible (at least for me) to answer those questions if we can't see what you're doing or what the problem is. The answer to them all in the absence of other information is "whatever works for you". Just trying to help.

stufisher

Fresh pair of eyes this morning and having read through my previous comments I realise that it's a bit of a pathetic post ... I'm really not lazy and defeatist at all ... I don't know what prompted me to comment actually.

So, with renewed vigour and intent I am starting out again with a blank sheet and gonna learn to hammer on/pull off correctly ... first port of call is Justin Guitar as I enter a new mission to Final Countdown.

Thanks for your indulgence.

digitalkettle

stufisher said:

Could you elaborate for me @Plectrum ; ... I'll take all of the guidance I can get.

Is there a really good YT vid from someone who is a good teacher and who patiently goes through the rudiments? 

I'd like to be able to play reasonably fluently Final Countdown or the like ... I know it's not that difficult but I just can't make my guitar make sounds anything like that.

The Final Countdown is a sneaky bugger...look at that 'extra' note snuck in there with the pull-off!

It's also harmonised


(full transcription link in my sig)