need help improving

[budweiserking]

hi, i am a pretty much straight up classic rock and early 90's guitar player. i love hendrix, cream, pearl jam, guns n roses, pink floyd, and so on. i am self taught and am on my 3rd year. the only scale i know is the minor pentatonic with the added note for the blues scale. for some reason, i can improv, but it always sounds the same, the same notes same style, im like blocked into playing the same 4 or 5 licks, just differently. also when im trying to write songs and rythms, i cant get a good feel, its always basic chords with appregios and no special rythm. funny thing is i can play anything by the bands mentioned above, with ease. do you guys have any advice or ways to help me? thanx alot.

[Armotron]

Re: need help improving

id try to take a few lessons, just to maybe teach you the stuff youve missed. If youre not into that or dont have the money to pay, id google for some teaching sites, but i really think some lessons could help you learn improvising, timing, etc.

Good luck!

[drp555]

Re: need help improving

id try to take a few lessons, just to maybe teach you the stuff youve missed. If youre not into that or dont have the money to pay, id google for some teaching sites, but i really think some lessons could help you learn improvising, timing, etc.

Good luck!

Excellent advise Armotron.... everyone gets stuck in a rut sometimes. I've played 10 years and still get frustrated all the time! For the last few years I've felt like you do now, I just seem to do the same things all the time and haven't improved, but with practice I can play most anything thrown at me....
My advise for you is to maybe explore some different genres and styles of music that you usually don't play: Classical, latin, jazz, blues, funk, reggae, flamenco, eastern, etc...you get the idea. Exposing yourself to these styles might give you a new outlook about music and your guitar playing, and then you can incorporate that into YOUR style.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: need help improving

Nothing will help you improve faster than playing with either a good teacher or a guitarist that's better than you are ...

[nuntius]

Re: need help improving

A good teacher is worth their weight in gold... unless of course they are a good largely obesse teacher, in that case, the question "how good" may be raised.






Seriously though, I don't think I'd play to half the standard I could today if I didn't have a teacher who pushed me to. If you can afford it, deffinatley get a teacher. Either that or do what Twilight said and find someone better than you.

Good luck man

[Armotron]

Re: need help improving

i got it! Ressurect JIMI HENDRIX!

[y2stevo]

Re: need help improving

A good teacher is worth their weight in gold... unless of course they are a good largely obesse teacher, in that case, the question "how good" may be raised.






Seriously though, I don't think I'd play to half the standard I could today if I didn't have a teacher who pushed me to. If you can afford it, deffinatley get a teacher. Either that or do what Twilight said and find someone better than you.

Good luck man

Yep thats about it..

Ive definitly improved ALOt since i started taking lessons..Its also a great way of finding new concepts and ways of thinking than if you were just completly self taught.

[KirkLorange]

Re: need help improving

Hi budweiserking.

You need to step away from thinking scales for a while and start thinking chords. Great melody is all tangled up in the chords as they come and go in the time line ... follow them, follow their tones and build your lines using them as the main notes.

here's a lesson: http://www.thatllteachyou.com/chordtones/

Kirk