Members puppiesaresmall Posted December 26, 2006 Members Posted December 26, 2006 Being a new player, I'm slowly ingesting chords. I'm learning my basic chords until my fingers hurt. Doing some teechyurself guitar books to read standard tablature. Learning a couple of songs and trying to practice them until they're flawless. Yet, it still seems to be lacking. It feels like I'm sort of moseying about, no matter how many hours I put in. Is this a natural feeling? Could someone suggest some other methods of practice for a beginner to make more efficient use of my time?
Members 1001gear Posted December 26, 2006 Members Posted December 26, 2006 You just may be over doing it at this point.The best tact is get good instruction and a good curriculum. You need all the fundamentals to make any solid, real gains. And patience, patience, patience... it may take from 2 to 5 years before you have a fully functioning system for advancement.
Members captain average Posted December 26, 2006 Members Posted December 26, 2006 i would also learn scales: major, minor, and pentatonic. that way you can begin to learn the basics of improv and soloing. also, once you learn the chords, start learning as many simple songs that use those chords as you can, which will give you a much better understanding of how songs are built.
Members puppiesaresmall Posted December 26, 2006 Author Members Posted December 26, 2006 What songs would you describe using the word simple?
Members astring Posted December 26, 2006 Members Posted December 26, 2006 practice for 15 minutes at a time then take a short break. That is how we learn best. People remember the first and last thing best so you will create more first and last things with 15 minute bursts.
Members captain average Posted December 26, 2006 Members Posted December 26, 2006 most folk and blues songs are very simple in structure.
Members hcprimerib Posted December 28, 2006 Members Posted December 28, 2006 as stated before, set some goals. you want to study this and that within this window. if you sit there festering with your guitar, its not a good thing.
Members puppiesaresmall Posted December 28, 2006 Author Members Posted December 28, 2006 Thanks for the tips! I have an Idea of my larger overall goal, (excuse my lack of imagination) but could you give me an example of a goal you would set to improve over a set period of time? Specifically for a beginner, what would be recommended? Learning a piece of music? Improving speed and accuracy by practicing scales and such? I suppose I'm just looking for a certainty of direction. I don't want to be the guy that farts around on the guitar and never tests his potential.
Members Terje Posted December 28, 2006 Members Posted December 28, 2006 The best thing you can do is to play with other people, especially other people that are a little (or a lot) better than you. The next best thing is to play along with recordings. After that I'd learn tunes, then chords and comping then scales and soloing.
Members BarneyGumbel Posted December 28, 2006 Members Posted December 28, 2006 A few years ago, I was seriously stagnating on the guitar, so I bought a Boss Jam Station. My playing improved more in my first month of owning it than it did the previous 2 years. I eventually got burned out on the programmed loops and sold it. Then I bought a roland loop station so I could create my own loops to jam with, and that improved my playing yet again. After stagnating again, I decided to start taking lessons, which has opened up a whole new world of possibilities. The teacher I have is very non-linear, in the sense that he introduced me to a whole bunch of concepts immediately - modes of the major scale, intervals, and arpeggios, then we dive deeper into those each lesson. The idea is to be exposed to the "food groups" of music from the get-go, and start using them all immediately (as opposed to spending the next 10 months trying to fully master all modes of the major scale). Anyway, I think the important thing is to recognize when you are stagnating, and then take an action to break out of that. That could be jamming with someone or a machine or a jamtrack cd, taking lessons, getting together with a friend who plays guitar and exchanging riffs/knowledge, studying a few things online, etc...
Members raggety Posted December 28, 2006 Members Posted December 28, 2006 I felt the same so I started to learn some classical guitar and i bought the Frederick Noad solo guitar book 1. in 4 months i have learned how to [slowly] read music, better technique, a lot of new scales and things and I am working through the book which is supposed to take 2 years to complete! maybe have a look at it yourself?
Members 1001gear Posted December 29, 2006 Members Posted December 29, 2006 PBS in the 'Colonies' will sometimes run Frederick Noad's lesson series. Good stuff.
Members astring Posted December 29, 2006 Members Posted December 29, 2006 Originally posted by Terje The best thing you can do is to play with other people, ] oh yea that to
Members cheesemaster Posted December 29, 2006 Members Posted December 29, 2006 learn the three note arpeggios and learn how to build your own chords. that is one of the most useful things i know.
Members Judge Groovyman Posted December 31, 2006 Members Posted December 31, 2006 Just came across this on another thread. "Learn How To GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR PRACTICE TIME"http://www.guitarprinciples.com/
Members sumpm1 Posted January 1, 2007 Members Posted January 1, 2007 Originally posted by puppiesaresmall What songs would you describe using the word simple? It definately should not feel like work man. Learn some songs that you enjoy, whether they are electric, acoustic, piano, etc... MAKE them easy enough for you to play. Figure some things out for yourself and you will feel more confident and rewarded, more willing to continue. Books are boring! Don't get me wrong, I love theory, and it will really help you, but don't move forward too fast, to say scales, unless you will use them for your music. Whether other people's songs that you are learning, or your own, it must be meaningful. Don't try to take too much in at once, it is about fun, learn some new tunes and learn to sing with them, you will enjoy it. If you stare at a bunch of theory, you will be turned off. Learn ONE small concept in theory, and tinker with it, it will keep things fun.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.