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Stuck and unsure of how to proceed.

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(@wreckless)
New Member
Joined: 14 years ago
Posts: 2
Topic starter  

Hello, I am new to this place and wanted to give a backdrop before I start asking for help. I Picked up the guitar in 9th grade after playing violin for 6 years and well I misplaced the part of my brain that was capable of reading notation so when I picked up the guitar i started reading tablature on songs that I liked and after i learned about 20 songs I began to experiment with making up my own material with a little help from what I had learned on the violin. 4 years later I am fairly decent at creating a bunch of unique sound scapes with the looping feature on my m13 which i run through a spider III 15 watt amp. I use a schecter C-1 artist with a set of DR Strings EH-11.

The first problem I noticed was that after just playing for hours and hours everyday and not really practicing aside from some finger exercises that I am limited to only a couple scales that I sounded out originally with my ear and then came to memorize through repetition. I don't even know what scales I am playing on, which kind of makes me feel like after all the time I put in I've actually regressed rather than progressed.I can play along or add new things to songs I hear on the radio(internet,etc..etc.), what really slows me down is that I am using my ear to stab in the dark and for the most part my brain is turned off while I am playing. At first I tried dropping and altering the tuning of my guitar but even then I still found myself playing stuff that sounded very similar and that changing the tuning wasn't the answer to finding new scales.
So i guess all that brings me to my final point, when I go online its easy enough to look up whatever scale on the guitar but its rather overwhelming and I have no idea where to start or where to finish and how i can retain all of it on a day to day basis.
So instead taking more random stabs in the dark with how to practice I started looking around forums and searching the wastes of youtube rummaging through many a bad video occasionally stumbling upon something useful but nothing that brought me to that AHA! moment that I could use as a launch pad and start actually learning. I love playing guitar and that's why i play about 3-5 hours every day but, I think its long since over due that I start learning what the hell I am doing. And so I humbly ask this community to give me whatever knowledge they have to offer in helping me get started. Until then I'll be eagerly awaiting a response :mrgreen:


   
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(@blue-jay)
Noble Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 1630
 

Really, I just wanted to welcome you since I'm in the right place at the right time. :D

Sorry , I can't really help you (but others sure can!!!) since I'm self taught and been flubbing around for almost 40 years.

FWIW, and being mainly self-taught except for watching others, I play many different chords, with different configurations or voicings, partial chords, strumming, arpeggios (ala "House of the Rising Sun", "It Don't Come Easy" and other 50's style like in "Diana"), picking (example Luther Perkins and that Johnny Cash stuff?), strumming and picking in different orders, finger picking, chording with fills or quick runs inbetween leading to the next chord, chording with leads, some leads but certainly no genius and never a shredder (not useful to me), thumping, banging and muting, :shock: and can't forget - pinch harmonics until my thumb splits, bending and occasional finger tapping. I'm so out of it, and not a real player because I don't do scales. :roll: If you have an electric, I recommend using the whammy bar in both directions, and if not, be careful here... I bend and twist the whole guitar and shake it for vibrato, tremolo and Leslie effects.:lol:

Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.


   
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(@wreckless)
New Member
Joined: 14 years ago
Posts: 2
Topic starter  

hmm, should i rephrase the question?


   
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(@davidhodge)
Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 4472
 

Well, this one is vague enough:
And so I humbly ask this community to give me whatever knowledge they have to offer in helping me get started.

It's important to have a starting point. If you know the scales you're playing - in terms of playing them even if you don't know what they are - that is a starting point. What you might want to do first is to write out where on the fretboard you play a scale and then figure out what notes those are. If you post that, someone here will be able to help you find out what type of scale it is. That's a definite starting point.

If you're looking for a general overview as a place to start, check out our lessons page ( https://www.guitarnoise.com/lessons/ ) and see if any of the main topics in the "Topic Box" appeal to you. For an overview on theory, for example, you'll find many good articles on the music theory page ( https://www.guitarnoise.com/tag/music-theory/ ) > You can't go wrong starting with either Theory Without Tears ( https://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/theory-without-tears/ ) or The Musical Genome Project ( https://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/the-musical-genome-project/ ). There are many, many more articles (and many, many more on all sorts of topics here at Guitar Noise) and there's something that can be easily learned from any of them.

More important, you have to know that retaining the knowledge you get is going to take time. Don't expect things to sink in overnight. And do feel free to post whenever you've a question. Or you can also email me directly at [email protected] if you'd like.

Hope this helps. Welcome to Guitar Noise, by the way. Looking forward to seeing you around on the boards.

Peace


   
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(@kent_eh)
Noble Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 1882
 

hmm, should i rephrase the question?
Not yet.

Sometimes it takes a few days (especially if the weather is nice) for the right people (I.E. the ones with the answer) to get to their computers and see your message.

But, the answers that I have (even though I'm not that advanced at the moment):

Theory is like anything else, if you don't pull it out now and then and knock the dust off it, you'll forget some things.

Playing by ear is not a bad skill to have in your toolbox. (I wish I could do that.) But the more tools you have available (chord theory, standard notation reading, scale construction, knowing the note names on the neck of the guitar,...) the more options you have for making music.
If you have a good understanding of chord progressions, you can have a good chance at predicting where a new song is going to go before you hear it.

Perhaps a trip to the Guitar Noise Theory Forum might be helpful?
Or some of these lessons?

I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep


   
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