Practice advice

[web1]

Hi there, i am a self taught novice guitar player stuck in a practising rut.

I want some advice on how to improve my guitar playing.

I am really fluent with easy chords and ok with difficult barre chords.

My routine is this, 20-30minutes practicing chords, 20 minutes practicing scales,though i only know the major pentatonic and then as long as learning a new song.

My problem is this. I am finding it difficult to move into new ground, I practice my chords, scales etc but dont find it easy taking this into playing and still seem to struggle with the songs as though i am a total beginner.

I find repetitive rhythm songs easy and so these are what i learn mostly, (sail away, david gray, slide away acoustic, noel god gallagher etc.)

What am i doing wrong, i love the acoustic and play purely for the love but i am getting frustrated with it atm, I have had a few lessons but all i get told is practise practise practise, But my practise is the same every time, and how do i take the scales into soloing,

Help people...Please:help::help:

[Lockjaw]

Not necessarily the answer to your specific requirements but; the biggest jump in my ability and confidence occurred when I took the step from practising alone to playing with other people. This, in turn, led to more focussed practising because I moved on from practising just to get better to practising specific songs and tunes with a view to playing them out.

[Antone]

Agree about playing with other people. It does wonders for lots of aspects of your playing.

 

But also you want to develop your own skills, and the key here is to find something you can't do and start to learn it. I see you say you only know one scale - do you know it all the way up and down the fretboard? And how many key do you know it in? The answers to these might provide the answer of what to learn next.

[Susil]

how do i take the scales into soloing,

 

Obviously I've just taken a snippet here... but it this the main thing you're wanting to move towards, but struggling to?

 

If so, here's a few things to consider. Firstly, are you looking to improvise? I'm sure I don't need to tell you that, broadly speaking, improvising is making it up as you go. You can't be wrong, so don't be afraid of just hitting some notes and see what happens. You might be surprised at the result!

 

On a more serious note, the scales you mention are a good place to start, they give you a 'palette' of notes to use. I don't know what you're music theory knowledge is like - but its simple enough to match a scale to the key of music. Get a dictophone or a phone app or similar to record yourself playing a simple chord sequence in a known key (try A - play the chords of A, D and E in a 12 bar blues) and use this as your basis to try a bit of improvising over it. If you start your pentatonic scale from an A (5th fret on the bottom string) and just play around using the notes off the scale, it should slot in pretty well with the backing. Again, have a muck around, there's no wrong way to do it, have fun.

 

If you're interested in putting together planned solos your best bet is to learn some existing ones. I'm sure there's tons of examples you know that you can dig out tabs for - try bands like Nirvana for some straightforward guitar solos. Try and pay attention to what you like about the solos you hear, then try and steal these ideas for your own purposes.

 

 

 

Wow, wall of text. I know its far from a full answer, but it might be of some use. Drop us a line if its helpful and you want to ask any more questions!

[craigwent]

If you need any more help, check out my website. http://www.craigwent.com

 

Im a guitar tutor based in sheffield. I can help with all aspects of lead and rhythm playing and help you back it up with theory and concepts. Practise can be structured around set goals and aims.

 

Visit http://www.craigwent.com or email info@craigwent.com

 

Thanks

Craig