How to get good at guitar

[nightlight]

I'd chalk it up to muscle memory, ear training and discipline. But if you're not having fun, you won't get to that stage.

I think it's a common thing for 1/3 or 2/3 of the people who buy a guitar to quit before they learn how to play songs because their fingers hurt and they don't have the desire or discipline to keep pressing on.

Those that do persevere because they're having fun start to develop muscle memory, which is how your fingers know instinctively where to go in say a jam situation or on a darkened stage.

Ear training is what elevates one musician over in terms of having better ideas and better knowledge of how to construct a song or a solo and take it in directions that no one thought possible, which is the pillar of good music.

 

[DanTravis62]

I'd chalk it up to muscle memory, ear training and discipline. But if you're not having fun, you won't get to that stage.

I think it's a common thing for 1/3 or 2/3 of the people who buy a guitar to quit before they learn how to play songs because their fingers hurt and they don't have the desire or discipline to keep pressing on.

Those that do persevere because they're having fun start to develop muscle memory, which is how your fingers know instinctively where to go in say a jam situation or on a darkened stage.

Ear training is what elevates one musician over in terms of having better ideas and better knowledge of how to construct a song or a solo and take it in directions that no one thought possible, which is the pillar of good music.

It's absolutely insane how little most guitar players value training their ear, not to mention learning the craft as far as songwriting and creation

Honestly it makes a lot of sense though, when you hear the same complaints/problems and see the same "help" posts over and over on social media and forums. And not just beginners, too; this is often relatively experienced players who can play "crazy train" (just referencing geo's post lol) just fine, along with the standard covers of VH, ACDC, Led Zep, Metallica, that literally everyone learns when they start.

"Help, I can't write any music"

"Help, I get stuck writing music"

"Help, I don't know where to begin with writing music"

It's because they like guitar a lot, but they don't like music very much at all. They think they do, but you have to dive deeper into it to really get a feel for what bands are doing when they create the music that you like. It's a whole can of worms that takes a whole lot of time and effort, and realistically most players aren't going to put that time in.

 

[PDC]

Western capitalist culture is rooted (to a degree) in the myth that 'anyone can do anything' - that myth is what keeps everyone seated at the zero-sum /winner-take-all game table of life. That's why folks are so easily fomented to resentment against those who appear to 'take from the system' while others get up and go to work every day.

To be clear, I'd rather struggle through my losses and celebrate my wins in a capitalist economy than any alternative. Period.

But ... at some point you realize all the dedicated practice in the word will never allow me to play basketball like Michael Jordan at his peak. And all the dedicated practice in the world will never allow me to play guitar like Eric Johnson or Johnny Hiland or fill in in the blank of your favorite player.

At some point you realize, the folks we admire the most in any endeavor or arena definitely worked their asses off, but they were born with a hard-wired proficiency or aptitude that no amount of good ol American of 'stick-to-it-iveness' can replicate.

 

[Floyd Eye]

Its like any physical act that requires skill. U have to slow down the mechanics of the action into components u can work on and try to improve -- trigger pull, recoil control, support grip -- just like vibrato, alternate picked string transitions, up/downstroke accents, synchronization etc etc.

Visualization, dry fire practice can help too,, just like listening to good players and imagining riffs/lines in your head (I guess thats called "audiation"? had to look it up).

Never thought of this before but gear buying (and forum-ing) is like everything else u do w ur gf/bf in a relationship that keeps things fun, interesting, stimulating. Whereas actually playing guitar is like fucking. Ur not fucking ALLLL the time. But if you're not fucking at all.....

Dude, the fundamentals, which are a perishable skill, have to be imprinted with massive saturation. Like always having a guitar in your hand when you’re at home. You do it so much that it’s muscle memory. If your draw, presentation and trigger control aren’t 100% repeatable, as in the exact same every single time, you got work to do, period.

 

[Omnipotent1]

Western capitalist culture is rooted (to a degree) in the myth that 'anyone can do anything' - that myth is what keeps everyone seated at the zero-sum /winner-take-all game table of life. That's why folks are so easily fomented to resentment against those who appear to 'take from the system' while others get up and go to work every day.

To be clear, I'd rather struggle through my losses and celebrate my wins in a capitalist economy than any alternative. Period.

But ... at some point you realize all the dedicated practice in the word will never allow me to play basketball like Michael Jordan at his peak. And all the dedicated practice in the world will never allow me to play guitar like Eric Johnson or Johnny Hiland or fill in in the blank of your favorite player.

At some point you realize, the folks we admire the most in any endeavor or arena definitely worked their asses off, but they were born with a hard-wired proficiency or aptitude that no amount of good ol American of 'stick-to-it-iveness' can replicate.

That’s the spirit! Just buy your hero’s signature rig, & really put your mind to it. Jokes aside learning covers, & other’s technique is 90-99.9% achievable. The part you actually admire is the creative bone that lead you to your favorite artist to begin with. Not everyone has that..

 

[anomaly]

Smash, respectfully, you need to consider some other factors before you give up:

1. How long are your toenails?

2. Do you keep a plush silver rug beneath your amp during practice sessions?

3. Have you provided weed and bourbon to your local bluesman in exchange for pentatonic secrets?

4. Do you own a Twin Reverb?

5. Are you still hobbling your technique with flat picks?

Anyways, just a handful of things to think about.

What about foot wear?

 

[anomaly]

What is good anyways, there's good like Petrucci who can play anything but has no feel in his playing. Then there's good like Jerry Cantrell, can't play sweeps but has a very good ear for melody, harmony and has tons of feel in his playing.

Most are probably gonna say Petrucci is better, but I say Cantrell kills him when it comes to playing interesting riffs and tasteful solos.

 

[VonBonfire]

What about foot wear?

With a question like this you just made it obvious that you have serious chops on a guitar.

 

[311boogieman]

What is good anyways, there's good like Petrucci who can play anything but has no feel in his playing. Then there's good like Jerry Cantrell, can't play sweeps but has a very good ear for melody, harmony and has tons of feel in his playing.

Most are probably gonna say Petrucci is better, but I say Cantrell kills him when it comes to playing interesting riffs and tasteful solos.

Well said

 

[VonBonfire]

At some point you realize, the folks we admire the most in any endeavor or arena definitely worked their asses off, but they were born with a hard-wired proficiency or aptitude that no amount of good ol American of 'stick-to-it-iveness' can replicate.

That's the problem though. You can't become someone else, you have to find yourself. It's great to have guys whose tone and chops you admire, and you can even borrow some of it, even a lot of it, especially starting out But if you never find "you" then you're just a shitty facsimile of someone who did.

 

[NeubyWanKaneuby]

It's absolutely insane how little most guitar players value training their ear, not to mention learning the craft as far as songwriting and creation

Honestly it makes a lot of sense though, when you hear the same complaints/problems and see the same "help" posts over and over on social media and forums. And not just beginners, too; this is often relatively experienced players who can play "crazy train" (just referencing geo's post lol) just fine, along with the standard covers of VH, ACDC, Led Zep, Metallica, that literally everyone learns when they start.

"Help, I can't write any music"

"Help, I get stuck writing music"

"Help, I don't know where to begin with writing music"

It's because they like guitar a lot, but they don't like music very much at all. They think they do, but you have to dive deeper into it to really get a feel for what bands are doing when they create the music that you like. It's a whole can of worms that takes a whole lot of time and effort, and realistically most players aren't going to put that time in.

Funny enough, I've never liked learning covers. I've always enjoyed writing my own songs, but I have a feeling that not learning some other folk's songs might have hurt my overall playing abilities, which hurt my final products.

 

[Omnipotent1]

That's the problem though. You can't become someone else, you have to find yourself. It's great to have guys whose tone and chops you admire, and you can even borrow some of it, even a lot of it, especially starting out But if you never find "you" then you're just a shitty facsimile of someone who did.

This man preaching

 

[tjnx]

There's a lot of directions you need to go in order to be like your guitar heroes like songwriting, appeal, and technical ability.

I've found the best way is to have a 3 day split learning riffs or songs, the first day you build up to a doable tempo advancing 10 bpm every 5 minutes for 15 or 20 minutes. The second day see how much of the riff you can get to at just above your max tempo for the full 15 minutes. The third day record yourself at your doable tempo, then cut it in half and see how much you lined up at half speed. Analyze all aspects then repeat the cycle again.

This is basically Justin Hombach's (Eternities End) method from his yt channel and I found breaking it down into these 3 days to be the simplest way to get results. Keep lesson notes (for bpm & fixes) and do this 15 minutes per riff / technique or whatever and shoot for a full hour x 5 days a week. Basically you need to play with a metronome, record yourself, compare to fix issues, and do it consistently.

With song stuff I think you just gotta learn songs and write songs. If you had nothing else to do the simplest thing you could start with is to record yourself learning and playing covers and compare it with the original. From there write as many crappy songs as you can until good things start popping out. Recording yourself is key though and it will humble you realll quick

 

[stephen sawall]

Nothing keeps you more honest than recording. We record every band practice and show. It makes a huge difference.

 

[DanTravis62]

Funny enough, I've never liked learning covers. I've always enjoyed writing my own songs, but I have a feeling that not learning some other folk's songs might have hurt my overall playing abilities, which hurt my final products.

The reason that my statement is generally true, is that most guitar players focus on learning other people's songs, to the exclusion of all else

If you're in the minority that's never spent time learning to play famous people (or even joining a band and learning their songs) then yeah that makes sense that it would have stunted your growth

But the fact is, there are very, very few people that go at it from this direction

 

[stratjacket]

I think there are many definitions of “good”, really depends on what you want to do.

 

[gudbrand]

This is why playing original music and playing in a cover band are vastly different things. I've done both. I'm not saying you have some moral superiority or something by doing originals, but it's a wildly more difficult, demanding thing to accomplish - and they are just different. Trying to sell someone a product they've already bought before, and trying to cold-sell are exponentially different difficulty levels.

Absolutely. I'm only in a cover band right now because it's all I have time for. The amount of time an original band takes up is crazy, but I got better so fast doing it. Now I'm always learning new songs, but I'm not pushing or improving like I used to.

This is a good reminder make the time to write and record more original music again.

 

[DanTravis62]

Absolutely. I'm only in a cover band right now because it's all I have time for. The amount of time an original band takes up is crazy, but I got better so fast doing it. Now I'm always learning new songs, but I'm not pushing or improving like I used to.

This is a good reminder make the time to write and record more original music again.

I have spent long periods of my life doing both

there is 100% a satisfaction and the feeling of "progress" you get by doing your own stuff. Even if it's just recording demos or whatever, which I do all the time - I'm playing in an original band but it's not my favorite style of music ever, so I have a ton of "left over" creativity that needs to go somewhere. With a cover band it's a similar feeling, just more intense, at least in my experience. I felt like I was honestly devolving as a musician in my last cover gig, playing classic rock, YMMV

with writing your own stuff, you can challenge yourself so much literally however much you want - there's no limits

Unless you want people to pay attention, to give you praise, or recognition - cover bands are way better for that just like doing covers gets more attention when you post it vs posting an original. I don't really care about that or else I would cover something really flashy like yngwie or something and post that instead of my original songs that get like 5 views in the clip sub forum

 

[gudbrand]

Unless you want people to pay attention, to give you praise, or recognition - cover bands are way better for that just like doing covers gets more attention when you post it vs posting an original.

There's a lot to enjoy. I do like learning songs I've loved my whole life and finally get to play. We only play out occasionally, and I enjoy that too. It's fun to have my friends and family come to the shows and rock out.

But as far as creativity, musical expression, and improvement go, you're 100% on the money.

 

[TheBiggestJerk]

EVH didn't have a girlfriend until he was almost 30 years old.

Yeah that’s bullshit.