Hey everyone! I've been playing now for a year and a half and for about the 3rd time I seem to be hitting a wall with my playing. I get to play for about at least an hour everyday, usually closer to 2 hours if you count stops and starts during the evening. I am progressing and I enjoy that but I'm just kind of directionless right now. Anyways at this point I know I will get past this because I love playing too much to get down on myself at all. What I'm wondering is where everyone else was at that point of their playing careers and how they went about learning. My quick background is I am 34 and for my first 6 months I took lessons to get the basics. At that point my teacher stopped teaching and I went my own way. At this point I can play some basic songs like Nirvana stuff or most stuff without any major solos. Most of all though I'm turning into a riff guy who plays bits and pieces of various songs and it drives me nuts. I'm probably never even going to play for anyone who doesn't happen to overhear me banging away in my basement but I still want to be a complete player. Any tips on what you all did with your playing or tips on what direction I should be heading in?

I can relate to what you are experiencing because I have only been playing 11 months and have hit a wall 2 times already. I too feel like I am playing and enjoying myself but have turned into someone who can play parts of many songs instead of being able to sit down and play a song straight through to completion, with or without the solo. I've just accepted this as what everyone goes through. I can't decide if I want to or should proceed by learning ONE song at a time or continuing to learn bit and pieces as I progress. So I know this doesn't help but I know exactly what you are going through and it will be interesting to see the replies that come about.

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Blues with a feeling.

GUILD GUITARS: MADE TO BE PLAYED!

I've been playing for just over a year, finished parts 1, 2 and 3 in a series of beginner books. A couple of weeks ago bought a book of xmas songs and an intro to blues books. The xmas book has about 130 songs, many simple picking tunes, towards the end more complex arrangements. I started at page one and played one after another if I knew the tune. Just keep playing them over and over again. As soon as the holidays are over I get to tackle the blues book. Then more blues, maybe 60's / 70's rock next.

I have a jazz book but I'm not ready for that yet.

Variety has kept me interested, and mastering even very simple stuff has made me feel I am improving.

My girl sings along with the xmas carols, well I can't play, (and she can't sing) but we have a good laugh.

Nice to see that I'm not alone. I think that a big part of my stalling is my inability to want to get down and dirty and learn an entire song when it gets too tough. My thinking in that is that while I would love to learn Red House for example by Hendrix am I hindering my learning by trying to do something that I may physically be unable to do at this time or am I unable to do that because I am not pushing myself? Also is it better to play things that you are good at until you perfect them or should you be constantly grinding it out with new more challenging stuff? Some days I just screw around and play bits and pieces of the songs that I know but I try to really play them, not just practice them. It usually gets me going again and gets me to the next goal I have set up.

dude ive been playing for about 25 years and the only way i can play whole songs is when im playing with the band other than strummin on an acoustic but playing your leads and solos you realy need a bass and drums to do it. get out bro and jam with other people and then the guitar will come to you. perfect example is my son whos 15 hes been coming to our practices about a year and a half , been playing about 2 years , tried out for an established metal band in our area, 2 weeks ago , now hes got there lead guitar player. sorry to brag but it is my son proud poppa

Nice dude that is awesome news. When it comes to kids it's not bragging . I have 2 little girls and there's nothing better than seeing your kids do something like that. You'll have to post when they do their first gig. You'll be a mess,lol. You know I've heard so many people say that I should get out and play with other people. I guess that if I get out there and play with people who are better and I enjoy hanging with them it's basically free lessons. A few guys at work play and they get together every week and jam. They always ask but since I'm the newbie of the group I find it intimidating to say the least. That is my fault and insecurities though not them. They're good people. I think I'll have to make that jump. In reality if I'm sitting in my basement playing over backing tracks I might as well get out and hang with the guys.

yeah dude i was the same way. Seriously, my teacher taught me the basics and i just winged it from there. My tip is, practice the song you want over and over and over. If you play the song you want for like an hour and move on to a new one youre not gonna get it down pat. Just practice dude youll get the hang of it

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I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk...

I was $@!& when I was at your stage, I had no idea where I was going.
But with persistence, I firced myself to learn whole of songs, not just the main riff. I'm a big nirvana fan, I love every single song by them. I learn a shi$ load by them now. Look where I am, I'm writting songs now.

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riley

Dude, i think you should go play with them, you may just surprise yourself. I had only been playing for 4 months when 3 of the guys at work asked me to come play with them, but they asked more in a comical "come play with us" way so they could see if I was any good. For them it was more of a joke. But, when I got there I found out that the one guy who had been playing for 15 years was really good, but the other 2 who had played for 2-3 years and were the main ones that wanted to be critical at the office, well lets just say after 4 months I was better than both of them who only knew how to play Wish You Were Here and like one part of Layla. By the end of the night the other guy was showing me how to play stuff and I was picking it up and the other two had already put their guitars away. I say go for it, it'll help you get past that wall and tyou'll learn a lot!

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Blues with a feeling.

GUILD GUITARS: MADE TO BE PLAYED!

You gotta play out on the open mike or find jam buddy(ies). Also you can find a ton of backing track links on this forum.

I woud also suggest not to worry about the actual songs/riffs until you want to gig and cover the songs. Just work on your chords and different rhythms.

Once you are confident in that record your self (hey it is your own tune ) do a major progression and another tune with the minor progression. Play pentatonic minor scale and major scales over them.

If the song is in Em (pick your own Em progression groove) Play G major scale (6th degree of the Em scale) mixed with some Em pentatonic with some chromatic "tasty" notes. Turn your gain up and whail my friend. If you screw up just do a quick slide one fret up or down and the right note will wait for you there.

This will teach you a fretboard without the learning pains.

Hope that helps you refresh you playing approach

That's awesome advice guys. I have to say that in my years of being on different forums this one is by far the coolest bunch of people to chat with. Rarely do I see people on here bashing others or just basically trying to piss people off. Thanks!

Your ultimate goal should be to play full songs with a band.

To prepare for the band part play along with songs, a drum machine, a metronome, backing tracks, etc but nothing can replicate playing with other people. Go find someone to jam with now! By the time you actually find someone you'll be half good.

To play full songs only takes time. This is the basic arrangement for a song:

Intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus-verse-chorus

Like 99% of guitar players you know the intro and solo riffs to a million songs now all you have to do is learn the stuff to play over the verse and chorus to connect it all together. To make it easy don't worry about tabs or playing note for note, learn the chords and play the progressions. Once you learn the progressions it's easy because all you have to do it repeat it a bunch of times. If you don't think it's that easy just listen to Hendrix...

My two top tips: stand up when you play & sing!!!

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

I don't where you might be in your faith but, churches are, pretty much, always looking for players. You might only get a gig playing rhythm on an acoustic. However, believe me when I say, if you think you know your chords, go play in a church band and see how good you think you are. I thought I had a pretty good command of open and barr chords.

You will likely find yourself asking questions like, "What is a Dmaj7 or a C2 anyway?"

Then once you learn that chord, now you gotta get to it sometimes quickly. Needless to say, I have learned a lot playing in this band.

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Calling an illegal alien an undocumented immigrant is like calling a drug dealer an undocumented pharmicist.