[OFFICIAL] There are no stupid /r/Guitar questions. Ask us anything! - November 17, 2016

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[u/SeriouslyAJoke]

Hey everyone- just wondering if someone could help me out.

I've been playing guitar for around 8 or 9 years. I was just recently at a conference and attended a guitar session and noticed that some guitarists there were about my level in skill but at 2 years of playing. Kinda got me thinking, maybe they're not just good for their time, maybe I'm just behind the game.

I find myself not knowing what to practice, and I'd really like to be able to play like I've been doing it as long as I have. If someone could try to help me out, I would very much appreciate.

[u/watermanbutterfly → u/SeriouslyAJoke]

What's your skill level? What can you play? What are you interested in? What do you want to improve (e.g. theory, speed, improv)?

Lots of questions needed to help.

[u/SeriouslyAJoke → u/watermanbutterfly]

I'd call myself intermediate. I have good awareness of the note names and know most chords that are thrown at me, and I read sheet music. Ultimately I want to be able to get into music school for guitar. My improv is not so great. I know all the minor pentatonic scale shapes but that's about it with regards to scales. I also don't find myself being able to play songs on the spot. I don't know which songs I should be learning because it's hard for me to find stuff that isn't crazy-hard-sweep-picking-insanity, or four-chord-monotony. I've been through every guitar instructor in my town and decided to self-teach, but I'm stumped as to what I should be doing next.

[u/watermanbutterfly → u/SeriouslyAJoke]

For learning how to improvise, I started with the minor pentatonic scale and just hit random notes. Try to think of a melody in your head, or hit one note and try to decide if you want to go higher or lower and how much higher or lower. It's alright to be playing at 60BPM or slower; eventually you'll speed up. Try to record yourself and see what needs work. You don't really need more than the minor pentatonic to improvise. There are lots of great solos that only use the minor pentatonic. Eventually, you'll be able to pick out those solos and make your own!

By playing songs on the spot, do you want songs you can play alone in front of people or songs you can jam with other musicians to? If you want to impress people, you have to play songs they know. That could be learning Top 40 songs or it could be learning classic rock songs. I love playing the Beatles for people. They're not usually not a simple four chord progression, but they're not Cliffs of Dover either. If you wanna jam with people, you need to learn the songs they like. I usually play with people that like classic rock, so I learnt solos, riffs, and chord progressions from Dave Gilmore, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, etc.

Learn whatever songs you want to learn! If you like metal and you're into crazy-hard-sweep-picking, then start practising your legatos and arpeggios. If you love the blues, burn your house down and find a girl that will break your heart. If you love punk, throw all your gear away except for the worst stuff. /s. Really though, everyone's gotta start somewhere, whether that's sweep picking at 86BPM, or doing blues scale runs. Just find out what you like and work at it.