I am tired of sucking at playing guitar!

[Bob Savage]

Whenever I get annoyed at my lack of progress I just remember, I'm not putting in the time necessary to progress. Everyone will peak at different places but for me it's a matter of putting in the hard work, not running into a brick wall for lack of aptitude.

 

[Anonymous]

I love you bro I hear you Steve. Time to forget Lynch and Malmsteen and listen to SRV, Jimi, Timmons etc...

Steve will correct me if I'm wrong, but that's not what he's saying. What he's saying is play MUSIC. Don't just play guitar as if it's a solo instrument. Play over changes, write, use the guitar in the context of music.

That's exactly what I'm saying.

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

Whenever I get annoyed at my lack of progress I just remember, I'm not putting in the time necessary to progress. Everyone will peak at different places but for me it's a matter of putting in the hard work, not running into a brick wall for lack of aptitude.

Anytime you get annoyed with your playing, go should back and listen to "Retrofitted" and revel in the awesomeness of that achievement.

Steve

 

[Heritage Softail]

Lol.

I hear you Carl. But damn i should play cleaner than i do and just plan know more than i do.

You're VERY clean and VERY fast on your practiced licks. It's melody and timing that would make you feel better if you ask me... Plays over tons of changes. Jam over drum tracks where you have to write something. Study the Musicians' Institute Harmony & Theory book - it will open up a whole new world... You already have the chops - speed and accuracy... Many wish they had that - great foundation...

Steve

This is the best advice.

I pay good money to take a lesson every few months with a studio player. 100$ an hour.

Right now I just get jam tracks, some modulate keys, some emphasize a relative minor chorus... Just something to sense the change, move in to it with some feel, then out of it. All about flowing in a jam session.

Playing in a different mode, or starting note of the scale, is a feel thing I am working on. Feeling how a different jumping off point sounds for the mood.

Guitar Center has tracks on the King of the Blues contest. I got a suggestion to do that from the ATL store and my guitar teacher had a few years worth of contest tracks. I made myself a practice CD for my boom box. Seven tracks to work over.

Great different stuff. Chicago Blues. Texas rock type blues rock.

Also I did a few months of trying to play the melody lines from a pop artist. Bruce Hornsby and the Range. Don't dismiss that as too easy.

Check out the melody lines for Mandolin Rain, or the one everybody knows, That's just the Way it Is.

Also there are some cool sections in Steve Morse Travels of Marco Polo you may like. Some are wicked hard that I never figured out, or had the dexterity to play.

I like your clips and you get a great tone.

Too bad you are so far away, you have lots of things I could learn from.

 

[the grimbrewer]

Don't worry about sucking (I know I do) Just make some noise and scare the shit outta" the neighbors!

 

[yngzaklynch]

Thanks guys. I guess at the very least i'm not a lost cause.

 

[LowDesertSludge]

I've seen panties fly off when Mandolin Rain is playing! Bruce rules!


Your videos give me the same feeling you were having. I want nothing more than to play some EVH or some Uli Jon Roth. Haven't been able to pull it off yet. So I'm sticking to filling my bank of Sludgy Matt Pike Riffs.

Dig the rig by the way : )

 

[Bob Savage]

Anytime you get annoyed with your playing, go should back and listen to "Retrofitted" and revel in the awesomeness of that achievement.

Steve

Right on brother, really appreciate that and of course, stoked you still dig it.

 

[yngzaklynch]

What you have to remember is that many of the players you probably aspire to play full-time. They at least had a period (usually years) in their lives that, literally, all they did was play. It's their career and livelihood. You only get to that top tier level if you sleep, eat and breath playing. Most of us have full time jobs, families, and responsibilities other than playing guitar. From reading many of your posts over the years I believe you fall into this category as well. Playing becomes more enjoyable when you come to terms with this and stop comparing yourself to other players.

There's a player somewhere kicking themselves in the ass because they 'can't play as clean' as your youtube clips.

 

[Mr. Willy]

What you have to remember is that many of the players you probably aspire to play full-time. They at least had a period (usually years) in their lives that, literally, all they did was play. It's their career and livelihood. You only get to that top tier level if you sleep, eat and breath playing. Most of us have full time jobs, families, and responsibilities other than playing guitar. From reading many of your posts over the years I believe you fall into this category as well. Playing becomes more enjoyable when you come to terms with this and stop comparing yourself to other players.

There's a player somewhere kicking themselves in the ass because they 'can't play as clean' as your youtube clips.

Man, I needed to hear this too. Excellent post. I've felt the same way about my playing lately.

 

[xXDaveyJonesXx]

Dude, you suck at suckinging at playing guitar.

 

[C1-ocaster]

Thanks. I feel like i just can't reach the level that i would consider "good".

When I start feeling that way I start concentrating more on melodies and the awesomely wide range of music that can be created with simple technique. It gets my mind off of the fact that I can's sweep pick worth a damn, and my hybrid picking is nearly nonexistent.

For me, and I'm sure some others, I get sucked into comparing my playing with that of players who can do things that I can't and then that makes me feel like I can't do anything on the guitar.
When that mentality creeps in I stop with guitar hero uber technique wants and just play music, which is why I started playing guitar in the first place oh so so many years ago.

Don't sweat it. Let the technique practicing go for a while and just play music enjoying the combinations of notes and rhythm.
It'll reset your thought process.

 

[C1-ocaster]

I love you bro I hear you Steve. Time to forget Lynch and Malmsteen and listen to SRV, Jimi, Timmons etc...

Steve will correct me if I'm wrong, but that's not what he's saying. What he's saying is play MUSIC. Don't just play guitar as if it's a solo instrument. Play over changes, write, use the guitar in the context of music.

YES!

 

[MichaelG]

Thanks. I feel like i just can't reach the level that i would consider "good".

"Suck" is relative. If you don't feel that you can reach the level of "good" then I haven't got a hope in hell of being "good"

Jim, love your playing in your clips... if I could play leads like you I'd be more than happy.

 

[timeroo]

I went through this a few years ago, my rhythm skills have always been above average but my leads were non existent. So I grabbed the Andy James 6 weeks of shred series and a few of his other videos and I registered on jam play. A few years later I have above average lead skills. Just gotta find that one thing that opens the door for you to "get it".

 

[gibson5413]

Ok i feel better now that i got that frustration out

You have phenomenal physical ability. What you need is to to do a lot of jamming to different stuff to get the melodies, timing and nuance into your soloing. Then you would think you were good...

I wish I had your speed and accuracy...

Steve

Steve has got it here. I think your playing is fantastic. My playing got better when I started to jam to backing tracks more often. Joining the band pushed me to learn music I would never have played helped a lot too (out of my comfort zone).

I envy your skill as I can't come close. Pushing myself outside of jamming alone made the biggest improvements by far. I am very limited in what I can do but where I stay I feel pretty competent.


BTW, Steve is a killer player as well!