So what's missing from your guitar playing, the thing you think holds you back the most.
For me I feel like my ear skills are extremely weak, I can barely tune my guitar to itself, I can usually tell if something is right but not always if it's wrong (figure that out). I've improved a great deal, but I feel this particular weakness holds me back in a lot of ways, I even have difficulty telling if something I'm listening to increases or decreases in pitch, it's not so bad when listening to something clean but if there is much processing it gets real hard. Obviously I need to put a lot of time into transcribing songs to work on this. Of course, I think with well trained ears I could play almost anything and wouldn't really have to memorize a song, just remember how it went... There are many places where I have alot of room to improve, but this is the one that I feel holds me back the most.
What are you missing? It could be something big, or something small, maybe you can't sing and keep time or maybe you just can't get sweep picking down or pinch harmonics or site reading music.
Right (picking) hand technique.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Rhythm, knowledge of where each note is exactly and technique. Apart from that I'm the best.
So what's missing from your guitar playing, the thing you think holds you back the most.
For me it's physical limitations.
On the one hand, I'm not suppossed to be able to use my left arm at all, so the fact that I play guitar is pretty cool. I used to be able to do short runs of 16th notes at 120 bpm pretty easily . . now quarter notes at that speed are a real difficulty. And the lack of left hand mobility has made me lazy about my right hand ..
If I move to the more generic stuff -- knowledge of music outside my preferred genre. I can play a rock tune, but it always sounds like a Wes Montgommery cover :)
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
It's probably easier to list the things that aren't missing - if I can find a postage stamp, I'll list them for you. :lol: :lol: :lol:
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
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Alot of times, it's the ability to "let go." I find myself occasionally doing this and it sounds really good, as well as being able to figure out riffs previously incomprehensible. I don't spend too much time learning other people's songs. I use to, but found that what I was learning wasn't "local band material." I mean, what's the point in learning with "Lark's Toungues in Aspic" or "Birds of Fire" or "Tubular Bells" if you can't find musicians that even heard the stuff. Yeah, there is a sense of self esteme you get with such things, but after a while, it just gets depressing. A good example of letting go, one night I had a couple of beers and picked up the guitar, or more leaned back with the guitar, and learned alot of The Stranglers songs. I found that they were the type of band that all learned the song and then all played leads, jamming on the song (jazz punk?). Most of the time, I'm so contained and cautious. What did George Clinton say? "Free your mind and your ass will follow."
Brain-cleansing music for brain-numbing times in a brain dead world
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The thing that holds me back the most at the moment is a lack of practice time; when you attend lectures from 9am to 4pm then work until 3am, it doesnt leave a lot of spare time to practice (and housemates are not as understanding about being woken up by an electric guitar at 4am as you'd think) :lol:
That being said, I'm also lacking motivation at the moment as well, as a result of being *drained* by univeristy. Least that'll be over in a few months, then I can get back on track.
Pete
ETD - Formerly "10141748 - Reincarnate"
I need to be less Lazy, I just started a few days ago really getting back into "focused" practicing, meaning that I'll take a song, play through it then go and look for any areas of trouble and focus on them (sometimes measure by measure), I was surprised at how much I improved and I didn't even practice for that long, it was just the way I practiced.
I also wouldn't mind if I could sing better, but I suppose I have time to practice that as well.
Steve-0
my hair, other than that i got it all :wink:
#4491....
how to change from dull scales to nice solos :)
Just like the thread starter, my ear skills is what needs working on the most. It's a shame it's so boring to transcribe songs :P .
I think my fretting hand is so fast I want it to be, but my picking hand has problems with palm-muted, fast alternate picking. I also don't like my tone.
"Talent is luck. The important thing in life is courage."
A basic knowledge of music theory - though I have picked up a fair bit from GN over the lst couple of years.
A lack of knowledge of open tunings - I tend to stick to open G or open D, I'd love to get into open E.....
Agile fingers.....I'd love it if they'd keep up with my brain cell, and keep in time....
And the one thing that really holds me back? Having to sleep every couple of days or so for a few hours - there just aren't enough hours/minutes/seconds in the day/week/year to spend on my one obsession.....GUITAR!!!
: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.)
I need to be less Lazy, I just started a few days ago really getting back into "focused" practicing, meaning that I'll take a song, play through it then go and look for any areas of trouble and focus on them (sometimes measure by measure), I was surprised at how much I improved and I didn't even practice for that long, it was just the way I practiced.
I also wouldn't mind if I could sing better, but I suppose I have time to practice that as well.
This is a good one....instead of going to practice I spend more time in this FORUM !! ..and then when I practice I get asleep quite easy..geez.
Sticking to something until I learn it :evil: In other words ...DICIPLINE :evil:
Time. That's it so far.
