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what do you know so far

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(@frank2121)
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Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 268
Topic starter  

I have always been wondering has my progress been good or even to slow ,
How long have you been playing for and what have you learnt in that time

I started about a year and 3 months ago and so far I can play a quite a few songs half way through (easy ones ), bare chords the A shape and E shape, one song fingerpicking Unchained Melody I know very little theory scales just and how to forum a triad ( I III V) thing .i think that's it !
i forgot to say i cant play and sing yet either man thats hard.

Let us know how your getting on it might give all of us a goal to get to and in a way show us what to learn next through progression of time does that make sense ?


   
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(@ignar-hillstrom)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5349
 

I don't think you can look at it in that way. I started three and a half years ago and you can hear what I learned by clicking the link in my signature. I think I learned a fair bit about composition and production, I can play basic rhythm guitar and some decent leads and got some proficiency with piano, synths and bass-guitar. That sounds like a lot and many fellow-beginners would find my progressing to be quite good. But on the other hand I cannot play any complete song not written by me, I can't shred, my jazz-comping is hopeless, I can only sight-read *very* easy pieces at a *very* slow tempo, I can only know a limited number of chord voicings without pausing to think etc etc etc.

So in short, don't worry about what others can or cannot do. Decide for yourself what your goals are, and don't be shy or insecure with that. Then write down where you are now, what you still need to learn and how you can best do that. It's kinda like sports, it makes no sense for Tiger Woods to compare himself with Ronaldinho, different 'genres' of sports, different intentions and different skills.


   
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(@dogbite)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 6348
 

I know alot. and I forget alot.
the main thing Ive learned is:
less is more.
play clean not slurry.
sometimes what you dont play is more important than what you do play.
(less is more).
oh, and , play with feeling!

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=644552
http://www.soundclick.com/couleerockinvaders


   
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(@mordeth)
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Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 127
 

as already said its not really a good idea to compare yourself to others to much, however I will offer three pieces of advice I wish I'd received at your stage
1. Play with a metronome. This is important, I've meet lots of people who think they've got natural rhythm, but most dont so you need to work at it
2. Learn songs. Can you strum ? Can you play a few chords ? Learn songs. Now. Read dhodges lessons or go to the Easy Song Database and learn some easy strumming tunes.
3. Learn the notes of the fretboard - this is so important as it will make theory, scales and chords make so much more sense.
The best exercise for that is picking a note and finding it all over the fretboard, eg E is found at open 6th string, 12th fret 6th string, 7th fret 5th string, 19th fret...etc etc etc.

thats it, mostly though keeping playing and enjoy it

This is my signature. Fear it.


   
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 cnev
(@cnev)
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Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 4459
 

I think your probably fine but as Sleutelbos mentioned everyone is different and depending on what you've focused on you may be farther ahead or farther behind someone that's been playing for the same time.

You just need to know what is important to you. If learning your favorite song is what you really want to accomplish then you need to work on that until you are comfortable with it.

It's hard not to want to compare your self to someone else but it serves no real value and in the end may be self defeating as you might start doubting yourself if you can't do something someone else can after playing for the same amount of time.

Just keep playing and have fun, you'll get better.

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!


   
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(@frank2121)
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Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 268
Topic starter  

LADS
It's not trying to find out whether I am ahead or behind in my talent I thought it would accomplish a learning graph and give a good indication to what one should learn

as you climb the ladder to progress towards your ultimate goal (what to learn after you achieved you're your last goal )all ready im getting an idea

Maybe we should do a list of basic progression for learning its easy at the start just learn chords but what after that,So you could be more efficient with your practice


   
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 Taso
(@taso)
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Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 2811
 

Again, Frank, that is going to be different for each person. We don't all have the same goals as guitar players, so we won't all need to learn the same things.

Many players are happy with being able to strum a few songs around the family, where other players aren't happy until they can shred 64th notes at 1000 BPM.

For me, I wanted to be able to play like Clapton, blues rock, rock n roll, etc. I learned chords, and then I focused on the basic 12 bar blues pattern, learned the minor pentatonic scale, and then worked on improvisation, which is where I focus a lot of my time. After I felt I was pretty good at that, at Arjen's urging, I wrote a few of my own songs, some with lyircs. I learned jazz chords, a few songs (most importantly Billy Joel's 'Honesty' ) and using them as a model, wrote my own jazz song.

Where do I want to go? I'm trying to work on improvising in styles other than blues, funk, and classic rock, mainly I'm trying to learn to play over Allman Brother's country kind of stuff. I'd also like to learn a lot more about jazz, so I can improvise over jazz chords, and become a better player in general.

So I guess, given what I'm interested in in music, this is what I should be doing.

Taso

http://taso.dmusic.com/music/


   
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(@chris-c)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
 

Hi,

I'd agree with everybody who said that it's too individual to measure in that way.

My goal wasn't so much to copy other people's songs or styles, but to learn how to make music in my own way. So I've been pretty cheerful about it from the first note. I don't see it as a race, or a course with set tasks, or an exam I have to pass on a given day. It's just part of what I do now - experiment with music and slowly broaden my reach.

I enjoyed the very first time I played even something as basic as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I can now play it all over the neck in any key and position, and in a variety of styles, but I still enjoy it - even though I can play a lot of other far more impressive stuff too... :)

The trick to music (or anything really) isn't how good you are yet, but how much enthusiasm you have for it.

Cheers, Chris

BTW. Hi Taso - good to see you again. :)


   
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(@vic-lewis-vl)
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Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 10264
 

I've been playing for over 30 years, on and off, and I learn something new every day.....and about 95% of what I've learned has come from this site....

My goals were pretty simple to start with - I wanted to be a reasonably competent rhythm guitarist with a good selection of songs I could play. Trouble is, the goalposts keep moving - like everyone who ever picked up a guitar, I started playing around, trying to write my own songs - then I wanted to put music to them. (OBVIOUSLY!) Now it's got to the stage where when I get an idea for a song, I'm thinking of lead,rhythm, keyboard and bass parts.

I'm learning as I go along.....

:D :D :D

Vic

"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)


   
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(@ricola)
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Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 177
 

...Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I can now play it all over the neck in any key and position, and in a variety of styles.

That is an excellent idea! Didn't think of that. This will help me learn the fretboard. 8)

Psa. 42:8
By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.


   
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(@chris-c)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
 

...Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I can now play it all over the neck in any key and position, and in a variety of styles.

That is an excellent idea! Didn't think of that. This will help me learn the fretboard. 8)

Hope it's useful. :) That's exactly what I've been using it for. It's such simple tune and it's almost a scale anyway. It starts with a jump of a fifth (I think that's the right term) which is a handy thing to learn from an ear point of view too. The benefit of using such an ingrained nursery rhyme tune is that you know instantly if you've got it right or wrong.

I play it across four frets and 3 strings in a very simple pattern, starting and ending on my middle finger.

Once I learned the pattern I could just move the same shape around anywhere on the neck, automatically changing keys and/or octaves as I went, just by moving it. Of course when you get to the B and high E strings you have to adjust the pattern slightly, because of the semitone step, but it's not a hard adjustment to learn if you start on the other strings first.

And when I stopped and really looked at that simple little pattern, I learned an amazing amount of useful stuff from it. Not just about where the notes were along the neck but about how they related to their neighbours. I now use that info to play all sorts of stuff in different places.

I was rather stuck playing chords in the first position, and never seemed to tackle either soloing or learning the rest of the neck. So I devised that exercise as a way of "Twinkling Round the Neck". It's paid off big time! :D

Cheers,

Chris


   
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(@frank2121)
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Joined: 18 years ago
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Topic starter  

I am delighted to say something good has come out of this already

...Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I can now play it all over the neck in any key and position, and in a variety of styles.

That is an excellent idea! Didn't think of that. This will help me learn the fretboard. 8)
Ok let's rephrase this a little, who would you like to emulate and what have you been practicing to get you towards your target... If however your destiny is writing and to have an individual style (excellent) then what are you doing to achieve this
How are you going about it what process are you taking? Bare in mind that time is not of the issue any more just the progression

Its getting very heavy with all of you on my back :lol:


   
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(@ignar-hillstrom)
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Joined: 21 years ago
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If however your destiny is writing and to have an individual style (excellent) then what are you doing to achieve this.

Well, I don't worry too much about an individual style, as I believe it's impossible not to develop one. How I work greatly depends on what kind of music I want to write. Usually I chose a genre that conflicts heavily with the previous genre I was working in. So if I just did some rock Í might look at classical music, and after that I could look at electronica. For the more 'mainstream/conservative' genres I try to take a good look at what has happened before me. If I want to do a romantic solo piano piece I'll check out Chopin, if I want to do a modern string quartert I'd check out on Beethoven and if I'm into counterpoint I'd might check out Bach's inventions. Try to find those things that define the genre, either the general structure, the instruments used, the way melodies and harmonies are used etc etc. If you discover that both Mozart and Beethoven studied a book called 'Gradus ad parnassum' then I'll need to get myself a copy of that. In short: learn, analyze, try to understand why the masters did what they did. Individuality is cool but refusing to learn from the greatest composers ever is just stupid.

Now if I'd be doing electronica I'd usually do it much different. I'll start by finding a nice sound and then I'll think about what that sound 'feels' like. Is it aggresive, slow, sad, trippy etc. Then I'll decide on the general structure of the song and get a melody or soundscape from my sound. From there on I just try stuff, lot's of trial and error involved.

With rock/guitar music usually the 'classical' approach works, in a milder way. Listen to the artsists in the genre you'd like to play and try to analyze *why* you like those songs so much. Then use the same 'frame' for your song and fill it up with whatever you want. Don't bother trying to be unique or different, thanks to DNA you already are, whether you like it or not.

But most important of all: get off your back and do something! Write a song atleast every week, preferably every day. Improve on each next one. Change genres every now and then so you don't get stuck and you'll learn new things which can be used in the old genre. Stay active, think about music wherever you are. If you notice a sound (a fork falling on the floor on the restaurant, a car starting, whatever) try to think of a way to use that sound in a song. Give yourself excercises like writing a song with only four different notes, or with one fixed rhythm. Get a recorder, set of bongos or a bluesharp and spend some time on that. Try to transfer what you've learned back to the guitar.

Finally, don't worry. If you're doing something you're doing the right thing.


   
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(@chris-c)
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Joined: 19 years ago
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Great post Sleutelbos. :D


   
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(@frank2121)
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Joined: 18 years ago
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Topic starter  

Great post Sleutelbos. :D

yes ill second that I am standing already


   
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