Classical lessons are having an effect on my electric guitar playing.

relic245

I've been having classical lessons for 6 weeks now and loving it. 

We're focusing a lot on my technique which has felt so alien to me. Probably as expected I have many really bad habits picked up over the last 40 years of playing electric guitar that I need to overwrite. 

Thing I've noticed is that, without trying, my electric technique is improving too. My left hand position is a lot less random (and awkward) and I'm noticing accuracy improvement. 

In particular I played the intro to Mr Brightside yesterday using the correct fingering and it felt quite natural and sounded good. A while ago I spent literally months practicing it everyday but could never do it and it felt so unnatural. I had to find a way to approximate it so that we could put it into our covers set. 

Just wondering if anyone else started lessons (classical or otherwise) and noticed improvements and changes in unexpected areas. 

Supportact

I can definitely relate to this, and I've thought about it quite a bit. I play electric guitar in a band but I play classical guitar at home just for my own entertainment. 

 I'd had classical lessons as a child but then switched to steel string and electric for many years. A few years ago I started having some online lessons to get back in to classical playing and I'm really into it now. I've definitely noticed and improvement across electric and acoustic, as well as classical as a result.  

One thing my teacher has worked on is getting me to play with a lighter touch and less tension, and this translates across the genres. Then that obviously lets you play with more fluidity. 

I find my approach to playing 'lead' guitar is less about single line solo parts and more arpeggios and double stops and so on, which must be an influence. 

The biggest thing though is that I think absorbing a different genre of music in a lot of detail gives you a more diverse range of influences and lets you hear possibilities outside of whatever genre you normally play within.  

relic245

Supportact said:

I can definitely relate to this, and I've thought about it quite a bit. I play electric guitar in a band but I play classical guitar at home just for my own entertainment. 

 I'd had classical lessons as a child but then switched to steel string and electric for many years. A few years ago I started having some online lessons to get back in to classical playing and I'm really into it now. I've definitely noticed and improvement across electric and acoustic, as well as classical as a result.  

One thing my teacher has worked on is getting me to play with a lighter touch and less tension, and this translates across the genres. Then that obviously lets you play with more fluidity. 

I find my approach to playing 'lead' guitar is less about single line solo parts and more arpeggios and double stops and so on, which must be an influence. 

The biggest thing though is that I think absorbing a different genre of music in a lot of detail gives you a more diverse range of influences and lets you hear possibilities outside of whatever genre you normally play within.  

Sorry I missed your reply up until today. 

I get what you mean about lighter touch although it seems counter intuitive to me. The action is higher than my steel string acoustic and I feel the need to squeeze to fret properly whereas in reality I don't. 

One of the best things I'm getting from the lessons is my teacher won't allow me to get away with stuff. 

In one of the pieces I'm learning I was going for a barre and could make it sound ok. He told me that I'd never play that part well with a barre and to use individual fingers which was all well and good, but my fingers would not go into the required position. 

On my own I would have got it sounding pretty good but not more. After what seemed like hours of frustration I can now get my fingers to go where they need to. I get a tremendous sense of satisfaction from being able to do something that I couldn't a few weeks ago. I also know that I'm building a much more solid technique for when I get onto more technical pieces. 

Supportact

Yes I think that's a good point about building a good basic technique, which then is more useful in future. Definitely having a teacher to check and correct any little problems as they arise and before they become embedded should help in the long run. 

I'd say that I enjoy the progression but it's more that I enjoy the process of playing and doing the exercises.