Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

[BloodRose]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

I totally agree. I would love to be able to just play my emotions, but unfortunately, my playing vocabulary is too limited. I also agree that acoustic is one of the better ways to learn to express. Not to mention building dexterity.. Ive had to play silently for so many years though, so limited acoustic play for me..

One last point too, about what you were saying about silence.. I cant recall who I heard say it in an interview years back.. BB maybe?? But that sentiment was quite similar to what you were saying and it really hit me like a brick.. Something like: Sometimes its more important what you DONT play, than what you play.. Speaking of so many players that over play..

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

I totally agree. I would love to be able to just play my emotions, but unfortunately, my playing vocabulary is too limited. I also agree that acoustic is one of the better ways to learn to express. Not to mention building dexterity.. Ive had to play silently for so many years though, so limited acoustic play for me..

Sitting and waiting for new ideas to spring up won't get you far. Learn theory and apply it to your playing is the only way to get out of the rut. Cliche I know, but that's the only way. Or else, you can try resisting the impulse to play certain runs/ patterns the way your brain and fingers are comfortable with/ accustomed to.

 

[leevc5]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

After reading through all this I think the one that I agree with most is obtain a piece of new gear seems to get me out of the rut the fastest unfortunately it is also the method that is the most short lived. The best way is self discipline as painful as it is forcing myself to stop what I'm doing and move off in a new direction. I don't recall specifically what he said but I think mincer said it best.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

If you can read music, picking up music for a different instrument will stretch your ears and fingers.

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

I think this is because most guitar players are educated with blues. Based on anecdotal evidence, 9 out of 10 guitar players automatically resorts to E minor pentatonic in auto-pilot mode when handed a guitar. So, if you want to get out of rut, ditch blues scale and blues progression out of your practice routine. Or forget blues altogether. I actually find it hard for me to play blues licks without the major sixth, major second and major third, all of which are pariah in blues.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

Why ditch the blues? Rock them & make them your friend...

lol ..who says they're limiting? :naughty:



Excessive immersion in theory on the other hand, is what might only limit you and hold you back. If your ears tell you something's fine..then **** what theory says

The ears are the window to the soul After I learned to follow them (and only them) I discovered a lot more fluency & freedom in my playing. Imagination helps too..the most innovative players always did their own thing..

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

Why ditch the blues? Rock them & make them your friend...

lol ..who says they're limiting? :naughty:


Excessive immersion in theory on the other hand, is what might only limit you and hold you back. If your ears tell you something's fine..then **** what theory says

The ears are the window to the soul After I learned to follow them (and only them) I discovered a lot more fluency & freedom in my playing. Imagination helps too..the most innovative players always did their own thing..

Nobody infers immersion in theory. But whether you want to accept it or not, knowledge is king. And to be honest, your premature jump into conclusion insinuates insecurity and defensiveness.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

And to be honest, your premature jump into conclusion insinuates insecurity and defensiveness.

It's called "disagreeing with you"

 

[Mincer]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

Why ditch the blues? Rock them & make them your friend...

lol ..who says they're limiting? :naughty:



Excessive immersion in theory on the other hand, is what might only limit you and hold you back. If your ears tell you something's fine..then **** what theory says

The ears are the window to the soul After I learned to follow them (and only them) I discovered a lot more fluency & freedom in my playing. Imagination helps too..the most innovative players always did their own thing..

Learning about the musical world you live in is never a bad thing. No one ever just 'follows the rules'. That isn't how new musical forms are made.

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

If time is limited, I'd suggest (and I think it may have been mentioned before in this thread) the 'CAGED' system, because it will give you knowledge of the full fretboard using chord shapes you already know, the open C, A, G, E and D shapes. It 'fills in the gaps' of knowledge and give you a simple, easily-understandable map of the board. Any of your favourite little twiddles on the open shapes will be useable all over the neck.

And you can even work on it when you don't have a guitar in your hands, using pen and paper, or even just seeing it in your mind. You're not really learning anything you don't already know, but learning how things you already know connect together along the board. It's simple and effective, and very productive if you don't have a lot of time to devote to playing.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

Learning about the musical world you live in is never a bad thing. No one ever just 'follows the rules'. That isn't how new musical forms are made.

No it's not. The musical world I live in is in my head & it's in the music I love & listen to ....it's not in books. Having said that, I did'nt advocate ignoring theory...I just said that in excess it has the potential to be limiting. I've learnt the basics (and more) myself but in my opinion there's a point where it can get excessive at the expense of actually just playing your guitar (I've met my fair share of armchair guitar gods...you stop being impressed when they start playing ).

 

[Mincer]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

I think that is my point. Most people who study music do so just to understand what is going on in their heads. I don't advocate just blindly learning. I don't know any serious studied musician outside of classical music that doesn't use their knowledge to further their musical vision. Given the chance to communicate my ideas in a language other musicians understand, I'd rather be using the methods that allow the communication to be effective.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

haha..so you've never come across any of those dudes who are founts of musical knowledge and spout all kinds of convoluted unnecessary theoretical garbage and then plug in and play like sh1t? You can't get stuff like bending to pitch & good vibrato out of a book..you can on the other hand get it by jamming the blues...so maybe that's something for the dude up there to keep in mind before dismissing them outright ...especially since that's the stuff (pitch/vibrato) you notice first about just about all great players..

Case in point:



Not saying every player with tons of theoretical knowledge sucks..there are plenty who are awesome. But in the end...what makes the difference between a decent player and a great one is their ear & musical sense, not how much musical theory they know (You're welcome to disagree, but that's my view)

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

I can agree with that... a solid knowledge of music theory will (in my opinion) certainly help you become better, but you have to possess a certain amount of "good" in the first place... it's not a magic potion for turning bad into good!


[emoji450]Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk [emoji441]

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

Knowledge is king, ignorance is bliss. If somebody choose to live in the darkness, that's his/ her prerogative.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

It is all relative...what is ignorance and what is knowledge?

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

It is all relative...what is ignorance and what is knowledge?

eh? ..he made it pretty clear:

Ignorance = Bliss

Knowledge = King

...consider yourself enlightened :bigthumb:

 

[Artie]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

I have become a gearhead and forgotten about being a guitar player.

This describes me to a tee. Thanks for the wake up call. I'm going to pause on buying gear for awhile and concentrate on my playing.

I find it beneficial to play acoustic guitar fairly often. This focuses my concentration on the fundamental process of getting mechanical energy into strings and sustaining that, unaided by electronic means.

+1000 to this.

Many words of wisdom in this thread.

Artie

 

[Mincer]

Re: Ever suddenly find that you've been in a rut with your guitar playing?

haha..so you've never come across any of those dudes who are founts of musical knowledge and spout all kinds of convoluted unnecessary theoretical garbage and then plug in and play like sh1t? You can't get stuff like bending to pitch & good vibrato out of a book..you can on the other hand get it by jamming the blues...so maybe that's something for the dude up there to keep in mind before dismissing them outright ...especially since that's the stuff (pitch/vibrato) you notice first about just about all great players..

Case in point:


Not saying every player with tons of theoretical knowledge sucks..there are plenty who are awesome. But in the end...what makes the difference between a decent player and a great one is their ear & musical sense, not how much musical theory they know (You're welcome to disagree, but that's my view)

I try to stay away from both kinds of players: the ones who have all kinds of knowledge but can't play as well as the ones who can play but I can't communicate with.