Glacies
June 18th, 2012, 08:58 AM
I feel like I'm stagnating right now and I just wanted to run this past you guys and see if I missed something big. I had a rough night with the band last night and I am upset because I've been practicing this stuff for weeks and have no explanation why I screwed the pooch. This is how I taught myself guitar (after I quit lessons because ADE nursery rhymes weren't stimulating me). And before I mention anything I will just say that I seem to have innate rhythm or an internal clock or something, I've never had a problem in that department.
So I started playing power chords. This got me playing popular music that I liked and taught me where my roots are on the first 2 strings. It also got me improvving rock rhythms which is awesome. I wanted to branch out so I learned barre chords. I started learning how they were put together, got into minors, 7'ths, 7#9, 13th. I can use this stuff pretty well. Sometimes I can't freestyle them without thinking but if I have 5 minutes or so I can play just about any chord progression anywhere on the neck. A few of the caged barres I'm not too strong on, but C, A, E are the most popular in what I do anyway so I don't worry about that.
Anyway, then I wanted to get into lead. I learned the pents. I understand the majors and minors and how to locate them. My uncle told me to learn the major scales, so I learned those too. I also understand how to locate them. I understand phrasing and I understand how to resolve to the root to complete the phrase. And I do it fine at home, and then when I play in the band I stumble and get out of time and can't seem to get back in.
My idea of a solution is this: practice standing up to backing tracks and solo with the music of the song I'm trying to learn. STANDING! STANDING! STANDING! I think sitting down and learning is really screwing me for when I play with other people.
And if any of you are remembering when I was nervous to play or sing or do something musical, that's all gone now. I routinely sing for the band, play guitar and I've really lost all of that anxiety I have.
Does all of this seem like a reasonable learning progression to you guys? I don't have too much of a way of knowing if I've missed something crucial that will help me get out of this weird stagnating funk I'm in.
So I started playing power chords. This got me playing popular music that I liked and taught me where my roots are on the first 2 strings. It also got me improvving rock rhythms which is awesome. I wanted to branch out so I learned barre chords. I started learning how they were put together, got into minors, 7'ths, 7#9, 13th. I can use this stuff pretty well. Sometimes I can't freestyle them without thinking but if I have 5 minutes or so I can play just about any chord progression anywhere on the neck. A few of the caged barres I'm not too strong on, but C, A, E are the most popular in what I do anyway so I don't worry about that.
Anyway, then I wanted to get into lead. I learned the pents. I understand the majors and minors and how to locate them. My uncle told me to learn the major scales, so I learned those too. I also understand how to locate them. I understand phrasing and I understand how to resolve to the root to complete the phrase. And I do it fine at home, and then when I play in the band I stumble and get out of time and can't seem to get back in.
My idea of a solution is this: practice standing up to backing tracks and solo with the music of the song I'm trying to learn. STANDING! STANDING! STANDING! I think sitting down and learning is really screwing me for when I play with other people.
And if any of you are remembering when I was nervous to play or sing or do something musical, that's all gone now. I routinely sing for the band, play guitar and I've really lost all of that anxiety I have.
Does all of this seem like a reasonable learning progression to you guys? I don't have too much of a way of knowing if I've missed something crucial that will help me get out of this weird stagnating funk I'm in.