Tip: Feeling Stuck

Here’s a letter from a player who’s feeling a bit stuck.

I’ve been playing guitar off and on for several years, but I feel stuck; I keep playing the same chords to the same songs every time I play.

If you were me and could play only a few chords, what would you choose to learn? Riffs? Scales? Any guidance is appreciated.

[Following is my response.]

Thanks for your message. I understand the problem you’re going through. You’re bored with your playing. You’re looking for something fresh. There are lots of ways of finding this.

One thing to keep in mind is this: if you try to tackle something that has little meaning for you, all your effort will be for nothing. So, follow what you like most about playing.

Another idea: consider getting a book on beginning chord melody playing. This type of playing doesn’t require that you be the world’s greatest guitarist. In other words, with a little bit of input you get a lot of output.

Chord melody arrangements give you the complete song: chords plus melody. You said you were bored just playing chords. Chord melody shows you how the chords go along with the melody. It’s very satisfying for the hands and for the ears. And if anyone besides you happens to be listening, it’s satisfying for them, too.

Search on Google or the Hal Leonard sites for “Chord Melody.” Also, Volume 1 of William Leavitt’s Modern Method for Guitar has some very sweet chord melody etudes. And they’re short.

Chord melody arrangements are just one way of beating boredom. I think you also might like to learn some fingerpicking arrangements. Fingerpicking makes the guitar sound like several guitars. Lots of fun. Get a book showing you how Paul Simon played back in his Simon and Garfunkel days.

You might find learning licks fun, but in my experience they don’t satisfy for very long. Because they’re just part of a tune, not the whole thing.

Above all, learn songs: chords, melody. All parts. You mentioned that you are reading the play by ear series on Maximum Musician. If you enjoy this, you can expand on this reading by committing to learning a melody by ear every day. Learn a melody in all the major scale forms that you know. If you don’t play scales yet, don’t spend tons of time learning all the forms at once. Just learn a few strings of one form at a time, and then use what you’ve learned by playing simple melodies on it. Again, Leavitt’s Modern Method is good for this.

These are just a few ideas, R. Keep asking questions, and the answers will come, and your feet will get out of the mud.

Thanks for reading.

Copyright © 2008 Darrin Koltow

This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News – April 1, 2007 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.