I'm rubbish and I can't get any better

snowblind

What's that saying along the lines of "Don't compare yourself to others because that will make you vain and bitter."?
No point doing yourself down for an inability to do what someone else does. We all have our own skill set so work with what you've got. The results will come and if you are in the ballpark and everyone gets what you are doing the world is a happier place. 

TheBigDipper

snowblind said:

What's that saying along the lines of "Don't compare yourself to others because that will make you vain and bitter."?
No point doing yourself down for an inability to do what someone else does. We all have our own skill set so work with what you've got. The results will come and if you are in the ballpark and everyone gets what you are doing the world is a happier place. 

Quite. There is always someone who can do something you can't (but would like to). That doesn't diminish the things you do well that sound good. I can't shred. I don't care. I'm not interested in acquiring the skill, so I don't put the time in trying - even though any of us can learn how to do it if we work at it.

There are times when you just have to listen to your inner Capt. Beefheart and hear him saying "Mr Zoot Horn Rollo, play that long lunar note, and make it float..."  

MikeP

I reached a plateau probably in my late teens as a pretty fair fingerstyle player. I was playing a couple of hours a day at least. I can get back up to that level if I play that often, but I can't get much faster/ technically better. I have learnt plenty else other than get faster which has made me a better player over all. I would say for instance that almost every guitar player can improve their basic rhythmic groove/ feel. I found it really mind blowing to hear both buddy guy and jd simo playing John lee hooker covers. Neither could nail the groove. John lee hooker is no one's idea of a technically advanced guitar player...

gearaddict

Dr_Necessiter said:

spev11 said:

tone1 said:

I’m a bit shite too…..let’s have a sub-forum of crappy enthusiasts……

I'm in 

Bet I’m shitter than both of you!! 

Let’s have a shit-off!

gearaddict

TheBigDipper said:

Sometimes, you have to go backwards a bit in order to go forwards.

True enough. I’ve been through a couple of failed cycles of this. One with a teacher years ago who tried to “take my picking apart and build it up again” - which was basically adopting his technique, using a big stubby pick, holding with 3 fingers a la Hetfield. I struggled on for a while but it just felt unbelievably uncomfortable and unnatural and I was getting nowhere.

Then more recently I tried the Guitarmastery courses on YT - the chap describes his technique as “pendulum picking”, which makes absolute sense but my hand simply would not move in that way. Again I tried to do it for a while but wasn’t getting anywhere so gave up again.

I do think there’s some physical issue with my right hand - I don’t seem to be able to do things that others find easy or natural.

Another issue is struggling to relax. I do suffer with very bad performance anxiety. I know that my playing in front of people is probably 50% of what I can play alone. I know that I need to be able to play things in my sleep to have a decent chance of getting away with it live. 

racefaceec90

gearaddict said:

I'm 55. Been playing since I was 14 or 15. Been in a band for about 20 years - just a very crappy pub covers band, nothing special. Over the last couple of years I have been becoming increasing frustrated at my inability to play certain things. Some things I can kind of play but not consistently and certainly not well enough to play in front of people.

I've tried a few teachers over the last couple of years but they haven't really addressed the things that bother me. I feel like there's something wrong with my picking hand especially. To move between arpeggio type picking and faster tremolo-style picking I have to alter the position of my hand - I can't keep the same hand position throughout. And I can't palm mute the low strings and pick at any kind of speed without dropping my elbow right down so that my forearm is almost parallel with the strings. Which is a weird position when standing. I really feel like there is something about the physiology of my arm that just doesn't work for guitar. It's so frustrating.

Teachers just say the same things - slow it down, play it at a speed where it's easy and build up the speed slowly. But the speed doesn't come. Recently there have been songs I'd like to play that I've had to give up on - like Mr Brightside for example. I can play the riff but only once or twice, then I'm making mistakes - and it never feels relaxed. I've been working on that one for months. To the point where I'm actually sick of the song now!

People say I should just play what I can play and focus on the quality of what I can do...but I just find that depressing and it makes me lose the will to play.

Anyone identify with this stuff? Maybe find a way through it?

Cheers. 

i can relate 100% with you (i have been trying to play guitar for 30 odd years and still rubbish myself) i would love to be able to play faster but never been able to speed my fingers up. i wish i had some good advice to offer but good luck :-)  

rossyamaha

Possibly already been said but the problem isn't your playing. It's you. You learn something, can play it, make a mistake and then in your mind you can't play it any more which escalates into you're shit. I've worked a lot on this among other subjects. I don't have time to go into it deep now but will come back when I have more time. 

The short version, you're not rubbish and you can get better. 

snowblind

gearaddict said:

Dr_Necessiter said:

spev11 said:

tone1 said:

I’m a bit shite too…..let’s have a sub-forum of crappy enthusiasts……

I'm in 

Bet I’m shitter than both of you!! 

Let’s have a shit-off!

That is a different corner of the internet.......

KramerVsKramer

So for the guys having issues with fast picking/sync/speed ect do you anchor or float your picking hand & have any of you looked at economy picking ?

No need to watch CTC and 20 eps 30 mins to explain what alex explains in a few mins here

Follow the advise in the above video and you'll find that things improve and feel much better in a number of weeks, like anything it's not over night and it will take a little while to reprogram your muscle memory from pure alt/inside-outside picking to economy but it's worth the time.

 

there are a ton more examples and workouts on YT for economy picking.

Plectrum

I've been playing for over 60 years and don't class myself as particularly good at lead guitar. But so what? I can stand up in front of a crowd and (hopefully) entertain them. There's a lot more to music than self-indulgent widdling. 

Roland

rossyamaha said:

The short version, you're not rubbish and you can get better. 

This!!. The key questions are:
1. What does “better” mean to you?
2. How do you move towards it?

octatonic

gearaddict said:

Teachers just say the same things - slow it down, play it at a speed where it's easy and build up the speed slowly. But the speed doesn't come. Recently there have been songs I'd like to play that I've had to give up on - like Mr Brightside for example. I can play the riff but only once or twice, then I'm making mistakes - and it never feels relaxed. I've been working on that one for months. To the point where I'm actually sick of the song now!

People say I should just play what I can play and focus on the quality of what I can do...but I just find that depressing and it makes me lose the will to play.

This is the problem.
You have been given the method but are not implementing it.

gearaddict said:

Maybe find a way through it?

I'm another one of those teachers who will say, slow down, focus on quality.
Speed it a byproduct of accuracy.
You've got to love the method, or at least not hate it, because it is a long old road.

Just do the work and it will happen- but be patient.
Grind it out.

bbill335

wear your guitar higher up and things might get easier

HAL9000

snowblind said:

What's that saying along the lines of "Don't compare yourself to others because that will make you vain and bitter."?
No point doing yourself down for an inability to do what someone else does. We all have our own skill set so work with what you've got. The results will come and if you are in the ballpark and everyone gets what you are doing the world is a happier place. 

Good post. The more I play, and the more I meet up with other musicians, the more I realise it’s not a competition, and that nearly everyone wants you to succeed. There are certain aspects of my playing that will never be that good but, as you say, the trick is to work with what I’ve got and find something that works. Also, when comparing with others we have a tendency to compare upwards and then get frustrated by our limitations, rather than recognising and playing to our strengths.

gearaddict

HAL9000 said:

snowblind said:

What's that saying along the lines of "Don't compare yourself to others because that will make you vain and bitter."?
No point doing yourself down for an inability to do what someone else does. We all have our own skill set so work with what you've got. The results will come and if you are in the ballpark and everyone gets what you are doing the world is a happier place. 

Good post. The more I play, and the more I meet up with other musicians, the more I realise it’s not a competition, and that nearly everyone wants you to succeed. There are certain aspects of my playing that will never be that good but, as you say, the trick is to work with what I’ve got and find something that works. Also, when comparing with others we have a tendency to compare upwards and then get frustrated by our limitations, rather than recognising and playing to our strengths.

I agree with the above but it’s not so much that I’m comparing myself to others. It’s more that others in the band suggest songs we could play and I just can’t. Mr Brightside for example. I’d love to add it to the list but I just can’t play it. 

flying_pie

If in find I'm getting sick of it frustrated by a song I want to play but lack the technique then I'll just park it for a while. If usually stop if I'm making the same mistakes consistently and I don't want to practice the mistakes so that the mistakes become hardwired.

I'll then go off and try another song with the same technical challenges and maybe even more difficult, and accept I will screw it up. When I can play it a bit at a slower tempo  and start to feel okay I will come back to the first song and find I've made a little progress without trying.

And don't worry about not being able to play Mr Brightside. It's a dreadful song that's so over played it should be banned. There are so many better songs out there

Plectrum

flying_pie said:

And don't worry about not being able to play Mr Brightside. It's a dreadful song that's so over played it should be banned. There are so many better songs out there

Try as I might I'm finding very hard to argue with your statement. Maybe that's because I've always hated that song...

snowblind

I too have had to play Mr Bloody Brightside and it was always going to be a stretch for my mediocre abilities. That said, with a bit of improvisation I came up with some variations that I could manage but which kept the overall feel of the tune (one bit I actually thought sounded better but who am I to judge?). Went down ok at the gig and we all walked away without having embarrassed ourselves. Perfect? No. Recognisable? Very definitely. And the crowd seemed to like it. Job done.

flying_pie

snowblind said:

I too have had to play Mr Bloody Brightside and it was always going to be a stretch for my mediocre abilities. That said, with a bit of improvisation I came up with some variations that I could manage but which kept the overall feel of the tune (one bit I actually thought sounded better but who am I to judge?). Went down ok at the gig and we all walked away without having embarrassed ourselves. Perfect? No. Recognisable? Very definitely. And the crowd seemed to like it. Job done.

There's a lot to be said for finding your band's sound and just doing it your way

We learned a long time that we're better off not trying to copy studio versions and to go with our instincts, even if that means turning Boys Of Summer into a hair metal song after the breakdown. It worked better for us and goes down well. Same thing with And She Was by Talking Heads which I just play with a Led.Zep/ACDC guitar tone and turn the ending riff into something more like the chorus of Panama.

If the audience like it then that's all that matters. And they're more likely to like it if you're having fun, and messing around with songs definitely communicates having fun

gearaddict

Loads of great advice on here - I really appreciate it. Thanks!

flying_pie said:

We learned a long time that we're better off not trying to copy studio versions and to go with our instincts, even if that means turning Boys Of Summer into a hair metal song after the breakdown.

Ironically, Boys of Summer is another one we had to bin because I just couldn't get that breakdown section. Playing that rhythm while palm muting is a thing my right had just would not do. I tried to cover it by grunging it up a bit but it was just a bit pants.