# Lessons - suggestion on where to start for someone set in his ways



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

Question for the disciplined types who have had a good deal of musical education;

I've been playing, or rather noodling with my own riffs for years. It's been an on and off thing due to interference from many other hobbies. 
So getting back to it, I'm thinking of taking lessons. I'm a player by ear and have no patience for TAB. I do ok with video tutorials, so I'll using an instructor who will work on that basis. I want to slow down as most of my play time is a compilation of "freak out" playing which pushes me into new areas, but its often by feel and not thought. 

I'm thinking on backtracking to work on fundamentals, but where to start? There's so many things I wan't to learn yet; Slide, finger picking, spanish and of course, more, more, more blues  

My question is this; What should I focus on to get me out of my box and that will serve as a strong basis for further growth? What's the one thing that will expand my playing exponentially and lend a hand to everything else I already know?


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

That depends a great deal on the person teaching you. I can't say how far along you are, but you might find you get as much from playing with new people...period. Of course, maybe paying someone to teach you might be a motivator for you in and of itself. I think, ultimately, you need to decide what you want to put into it and realistically what you want to get out of it. Going to a teacher without a defined goal set might prove fruitless...unless you need someone to tell you what to do. Then it just gets back to you again.

Personally, out of the things you mentioned, I would choose ONE and devote myself to it. Going in with a mish mash of goals might just end up in overload and improvement, but not vast improvement making you think you're not getting much out of it and finding yourself in the same boat and the price of lessons poorer. It's easier to achieve a specific goal and the sense of accomplishment might be what motivates you to tackle the next goal.


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## ThatGingerMojo (Jul 30, 2014)

Two possible ideas to get you out of your box.

Ask yourself, is what I 'm playing fun? If yes, dont change, if no, start listening to another genre of music and find something you like. (Try county, Brad Paisley is a good player, fun to play, or Metal, everyone needs a Slayer riff in their repertoire)

Two, try Rocksmith, it adds a whole lot of different tunes and techniques and arranges it in a video game. Just Google Rocksmith if you don't know what I am talking about.

Good Luck


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Three things come to mind.

1) Goals - Short term ones and long term ones
2) A workable program to get to each of these goals
3) Discipline to stay with the above until those goals are met.


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## Guest (Dec 19, 2014)

do some jamming. 
open mic's are a good place to network with other musicians.
I do that every now and then to spark me up when I'm feeling stagnant.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

pick a different tuning.

it gets you thinking about how the notes relate to each other a whole new way,
and I find you bring that added perspective back when you go back to standard tuning.


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

JBFairthorne said:


> That depends a great deal on the person teaching you. I can't say how far along you are, but you might find you get as much from playing with new people...period. Of course, maybe paying someone to teach you might be a motivator for you in and of itself. I think, ultimately, you need to decide what you want to put into it and realistically what you want to get out of it. Going to a teacher without a defined goal set might prove fruitless...unless you need someone to tell you what to do. Then it just gets back to you again.
> 
> Personally, out of the things you mentioned, I would choose ONE and devote myself to it. Going in with a mish mash of goals might just end up in overload and improvement, but not vast improvement making you think you're not getting much out of it and finding yourself in the same boat and the price of lessons poorer. It's easier to achieve a specific goal and the sense of accomplishment might be what motivates you to tackle the next goal.


This is what I have been thinking in a nutshell. I'd like to focus on specific goals and am trying to determine what the best goals should be. I assume learning scales is one of the biggest fundamentals or the backbone of guitar?


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

laristotle said:


> do some jamming.
> open mic's are a good place to network with other musicians.
> I do that every now and then to spark me up when I'm feeling stagnant.


I'm one of those guys who picks up a little bit of this song, or that one, but never the full song itself. One of my goals is to learn complete songs so that I am comfortable jamming with others. I think that I would do better jamming with others in a freestyle type jam, but not if they wanted to play X, Y or Z songs....then I'm lost. Self confidence is another thing I lack. In my mind, I totally suck, especially when I hear what others play at the local guitar shop


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

ThatGingerMojo said:


> Two possible ideas to get you out of your box.
> 
> Ask yourself, is what I 'm playing fun? If yes, dont change, if no, start listening to another genre of music and find something you like. (Try county, Brad Paisley is a good player, fun to play, or Metal, everyone needs a Slayer riff in their repertoire)
> 
> ...


I do listen and play a variety of music and I do enjoy playing. I think one of my downfalls is that I might be considered a "fairweather" player where I can play all day long one day and the next it is "plink, plink, plink...toss it in the corner" 

I just tried wrapping my head around Rocksmith again. My son got it last year and it boggled me totally. I guess I'm getting old and the concept/format just overloaded me. I did try it again recently (admittedly with help from my kid) and had a much better time of it. I'm going to work with it more, especially as a way to learn complete songs


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

Regarding what to pick...

It doesn't matter what you choose because your list should be always evolving. Just pick something that you're motivated to improve and focus on it.

Regarding only learning pieces of songs...

I used to golf a lot and found that practice, without any context, was nearly useless. If you practice like you intend to play you get more out of it. Don't sit and hit 100 chips from the same spot onto the practice green. Practice chipping one ball onto the green, then putt it out. That type practice can be taken to the course in a real play situation, 100 chips from the same spot can't.

You NEED to learn songs. The song IS the context. I'm guessing the bits you skip are bits that either bore you because they're too easy or frustrate you because you can't do 'em. Learning that tricky change or weird timing thing in a particular song eventually translates to other songs you might want to learn.

Regarding "fairweather player"...

Play when you're motivated to play. I assume you have a life and aren't depending on your musical skills to pay the bills. You'll get more out of the time you spend playing if you're playing when you WANT to play.

Regarding lack of self-confidence...

I too suffered from this for a lot of years and it really held me back from improving. I actually just started playing again about 10 months ago after 5-7 years not playing at all. I started out looking for other people to play with regularly on a casual basis. It took me 8 or 9 months but I eventually surrounded myself with people who were looking for the same thing I was. Playing for fun, playing actual songs, no egos, no bullshit, no hidden agendas. A shame though that our drummer busted up his finger a month ago and we're still waiting for him to mend. I REALLY miss the weekly get together. It's not just about the music, it's about that personal connection with another person within a musical context.

I've improved more in the last 10 months than I did after years of playing alone. Mind you, along the way, I encountered ALL types...and the most valuable thing I learned from them was that there are people out there who suck worse than I do (as well as people that were more f*cked up than I am). Chances are, you're not nearly as terrible as you've led yourself to believe. If you surround yourself with people you can eventually call friends then you can laugh at your mistakes...and make fun of them for theirs. Then the self-conscious thing miraculously vanishes and you can start to stretch yourself without fear of mucking it up.

Here's a couple of things I'm always trying to work on....food for thought.
Listening...really listening. Listen to the musicians around me. Listen to all the guitar tracks that make up a recording in an attempt to de-mystify it.
Dynamics. A huge factor in what separates a guy who plays from an actual musician.
Sometimes less is more.
Sometimes it's not what you put in, it's what you leave out.
Don't be afraid to let a song breathe.

I'm curious...whereabouts in S. Ontario are you?


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

terrific, thanks for your advice JB (and thanks to everyone else) 

I'm in the Guelph/KW area. Clearly not a musician, just a dabbler, so lots of every day life getting in the road. I'm going to start practicing a full hour a day as much as possible.


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

Well, let us know how it works out. Most importantly though, have fun. I assume that's what got you started with music in the first place.


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