Members yjsays Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I know it's a bit late, but I've been wanting to post this up for a while now, just never got the chance to. So how much did you guys improve from 1/1/2006 to 12/31/2006? I havn't improved as much as I wanted to. I know my pentatonic and how to use it, also I know my way around a song that's either in G or D fairly accuratly, I don't think that's good enough though for 1 year of self teaching guitar. So how much have you guys improved over the 1 year? I'm not putting a poll because I actually want people to respond so I have something else to read other than my music theory book today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peavey_impact Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I didn't really improve. Or at least I don't notice it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members metallica_00 Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 Hmmm... I didn't make a concious effort to improve my mechanics this year, so if I've gotten any faster/more accurate it's just been a natural growth I guess this was the year of the blues for me. I went on a big SRV kick at the beginning of the year and learned a bunch of of his tunes and stole a bunch of those licks and riffs. I took some jazz lessons so I learned more voicings of different 7th and 9th chords around the neck, and learned how to play over changes which I can't do that fluidly over jazz (yet) but has made my blues soloing over simpler progressions much more interesting. I also got better at playing electric lead with my fingers Knopfler-style. It's nice to mix it in and get some extra slap and pop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Minitruth Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 Here's my first recording, about 8 months ago.http://dratomic.hypermart.net/allyourbase.mp3My latest one, from a couple of days ago, at the top of the list."Penile Dementia"http://www.soundclick.com/evildoerThe others there are pretty much in chronological order, from bottom to top.I'm wondering myself, how I've done in nine months of playing/songwriting.Hard to evaluate myself, I just think I suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Burgess Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I haven't had any noticeable improvement to my playing in over 20 years. So my answer would be none. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RaVenCAD Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I put some effort into learning to read music this year, as well as using a metronome more often. I've cared more about general music than specific guitar technique as of late. I can play like a madman when I put fingers to the strings, but knowing WHAT to play once I'm outside my comfort zone of the pentatonics has always been a downfall of mine. Theory, theory and more theory for me in 2007. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members _pete_ Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 Damn, I didn't realize there would be a test at the end of the year. I think I had a good improvement. More refining and fine tuning my playing than anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jrockbridge Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I improved one. I'm 1 better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pascal Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I did not improve at all. I'm getting worse and worse, actually.The fact that I don't play out or with people anymore, and don't even have a guitar around half of the time (traveling for work) doesn't help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JSD Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 If anything I think I actually got worse, if thats even possible... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RaVenCAD Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 If anything I think I actually got worse, if thats even possible... It is.. I played a lot better back in high school. I didn't know as much about music, but I was faster and more accurate back then. But then, all I did was school and then guitar. Constantly, I had a guitar in my hands back then. So yeah, it's entirely possible to get worse over time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LAracer Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I improved one. I'm 1 better. Funny.I started taking lessons in '06. Needless to say, big improvement. Probably a bigger improvement over the last year than in all the previous 15 years combined.I'm working exclusively on technique. I've never had a problem knowing what to play. It's making my fingers do it that's the hard part.fwiw, www.guitarprinciples.com pointed me in the right direction regarding technique. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Darylb23 Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I just started learning in 2006 so I improved exponentially. For the first half or better, it seemed like I was learning a lot but not playing much better. I was trying to learn chords, figure out what scales were, etc. Then it all started to click. It is like my hands are starting to catch up with my head. I didnt get lessons (I actually had 4 but not the right teacher) and really dont know any guys who play so the biggest challenge was to figure out what to learn. I am pretty good at learning but I probably wasted some time learning the wrong things. I feel like I have a decent base of knowledge of theory and will continue to learn but I finally am playing some riffs and songs and they sound pretty good. Not only that, but now, when I try somethig new, I seem to catch on faster. Honestly, I found a guy doing video lessons on youtube and in about a month my playing has improved more than it has all year. There is something about his method that really works for me. Plus, it creates great practice for moving chords around and strumming and such which in turn speeds up my learning curve even more. I am having way more fun playing now. I really recommend checking him out if you are a relative newcomer. He has several videos on line and is about to open a full site. He can be found at:http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=TheNextLevelGuitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Prages Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I haven't had any noticeable improvement to my playing in over 20 years. So my answer would be none. Same here, only change that to 10 or 11 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FUBTAG Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I improved tremendously. After years of playing with a guitarist who was technically better then me, but a bit shy at gigs .... I started playing with a guitarist who stands head and shoulders above me. I have to be stretching my limits to stay presentable with him. I still am not an 'ace' guitarist, self taught (I don't know theory -- which I should try to), don't practice, but I hold my own. I am my own wirst critic, but I have definitely improved. Still fat and ugly.. but what am I gonna do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vonscott Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I feel like I have made quite a bit of improvement by delving into some basic theory like learning my pentatonic positions and have been playing some country stuff, (you mean there is a major pentatonic too) I went from knowing nothing about theory to a very little about it. I still make some bad note choices when I'm improving but they definitely sound a lot "less wrong" lol I also have been using my ear a lot more instead of relying on TAB for everything. That has made a big differance for me also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Beckman Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 For the first time since 1985, I tried to learn some theory. Mainly learn more scales, take some online lessons. I found out, I am not as bad as I thought I was, so I gues improved alot. I can play songs that I wasn't able to figure out in the past, and can hear scales in songs. Yeah, I sucked before, I couldn't tell what key anything was in. Self taught hobbiest for 20 years. Well, I had one year of lessons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sweetbabyjezuz Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I've learned how to tap like crazy I've learned harmony theory I've learned inside out the Harmonic Minor scale (my fav) I've learned how to play standing up lol as i only did it 1 time before this year, and when i started to my skill regressed about 60% until I got used to it and went up to where i am when i'm sitting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mchen Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I improved alot, mainly because the younger guys that I play with really pushed me. This is a GOOD thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thefuryone Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I know it's a bit late, but I've been wanting to post this up for a while now, just never got the chance to.So how much did you guys improve from 1/1/2006 to 12/31/2006?I havn't improved as much as I wanted to. I know my pentatonic and how to use it, also I know my way around a song that's either in G or D fairly accuratly, I don't think that's good enough though for 1 year of self teaching guitar. So how much have you guys improved over the 1 year?I'm not putting a poll because I actually want people to respond so I have something else to read other than my music theory book today. Well, I went from, say a 0 to a 1. So 100% improvement!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fanuvbrak Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 It is easier to measure the continental drift than my progress, but I have improved this year. I gained a lot of confidence (thanks to a crappy youtube video and the nice responses from the guys on this site) and joined a band. I'm expecting GREAT things for 2007. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members emuhunter Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I got a lot worse, but realized it bothered me in about November, so I started setting time aside every day (or close to it) to play for 30-60 minutes, which as a full-time student and 30-hour a week worker is about all I've got time for. But I've found as I just sit with a guitar in my hands, tinkering on it, I'm more able to play "cool stuff" like I used to. So worse, but 2007 is already looking better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlackCat Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 It Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bbreaker Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I think my reading improved. But then again, my sight reading is poor to begin with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EdMan63 Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I made a decent improvement mainly because I picked my guitar back up after not playing for awhile. So maybe I just got back to where I was. But I think my sense of melody improved quite a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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