A whine about feeling a bit frustrated and stalled.

[sunvalleylaw]

Well, you fine folks are about the only ones I can do this to, and I have to vent so I can accept the situation and move along.

For a good chunk of the last year, and particularly this summer, I have felt frustrated about my progress, or lack thereof, in playing. I have played regularly for a little over three years now. But I feel a bit stuck, and that I am not making good progress, even in improving old bad habits that were identified. Right now, I even feel that my basic rhythm playing on strum-a-long songs (American Pie, etc.) is not as clean as I want it. I seem to be finding fault with all aspects of my playing right now.

The reasons or excuses: I have not had as much playing or practice time, due to an increase in work, and the fact that we have been doing work on our own remodel because we are bringing my mother in law in to live with us due to oncoming dementia issues. She is doing much better living with us, but it is hard to see. And yes, I do get along with her. She is an amazing woman who lived through German occupation of her town near the German/Netherlands border, and emigrated to the states back in the 50's.

But back on topic, usually when I have played over the last months, I am often pretty tired from long days, and just play a few things from the same group of songs I have worked on for a while. I have taken on new projects, including the jazz oriented arrangements of "Over the Rainbow" and "Wonderful World" that I play with my Dad while he plays sax, but I have felt that my chording has been not as clean as I like there, and that I want to be doing something a bit more interesting when I am playing rhythm.

I had to reduce, and then stop, taking individual lessons this last year. I have had a few where my instructor helped my figure out my arrangement on the songs to play with my Dad, but other than that I have been on my own. I think at this stage in my playing, that has contributed to the stall I feel. That, and I have not had much opportunity to play with others since basically last fall.

My plan to break the doldrums? I have started from scratch on Mark Wein's Foundations book and his on line lessons. At first, that has seemed frustrating, because it points out bad habits that formed when i basically forced my first instructor to start teaching me Neil Young songs instead of tracking his lesson plans. I think my right hand rhythm issues can be traced back to that time, because I learned to play the song in time, but was doing weird stuff with my strumming hand rather than just moving it in time. Also, I have fretting hand bad habits, like letting my thumb drift off too far toward the neck, and letting my elbow come in to the body, especially on certain chords. Open C is an example of one where I start to let my elbow drift in.

But starting back on the basic foundations in the Foundations book, and really trying to break these habits (which my instructors did point out, btw), by learning more efficient techniques, will help me move forward. I have kept adding knowledge and understanding over the last year, and can play and know a lot of cool chords, progressions, etc., so it is not all grim. I bet that if I can improve my foundational techniques, I will be using this knowledge better soon enough. I think when I started, I wanted to be "good" sooner than I could reasonably get there, and tried to "skip chapters" in my development. In skiing, which I coach at a high level, I have often gone back to basics, both with my students and in my own skiing. We often say that if you are not standing properly on your equipment and skiing from a strong platform, you cannot hope to make strong, efficient moves, and carve, jump etc. in good balance. I am betting it is the same with guitar.

Well, enough whining. I just needed to share this with my guitar friends so that I could accept where I am in guitar right now, and commit to moving forward.

Thanks for letting me vent! If any of you have suggestions or words of wisdom/encouragement for me, I would sure welcome them.

Yours in fretterhood,

Steve

[otaypanky***]

How long have you been playing Steve?

[sunvalleylaw]

I first picked up a guitar in around '01 or '02, but only plunked around, then put it away for a couple years. I started playing regularly and trying to improve, and starting lessons, in Spring, '06.

[t_ross33]

I hear ya! Family and work can really cut into a guy's "me-and-my-guitar" time Although my own playing has progressed greatly due to the fact that I have a band with fairly regular gigs - a couple things I do when it feels like things are getting stale are:

1) put on a CD and play along, not necessarily note-for-note, but to get a feel for the groove/timing, chord arrangements etc. I'll also noodle my own riffs and leads over top
2) pick up my acoustic, or a borrowed mandolin, or a banjo or lapsteel.... anything to spice things up a bit

Most of my playing is done without specific goals in mind. That can be a good or a bad thing I guess, but that way I put no pressure on myself and just soak up the vibe and feel of what I'm doing. Even if it's for a few minutes before dinner/yardwork/picking up and dropping off kids etc. Kick back and just enjoy

[ZMAN]

Steve. Sometimes going back to the beginning can make you realize you are not as bad off as you think. I went back to my Blues you can Use Cd and it was like nursery rhymes. I quickly realized that I was not as bad as I thought.
I started playing in the 60s yes the 60s not my 60s THE 60s. I played off and on for about a year and a half and never really got anywhere. As you said no time for guitar as life got in the way for about 30 years. Then as I approached early retirement I knew I needed a couple of hobbies I already had my Muscle car restoration hobby so guitars were next. In around 1996 I bought a small fender Champ amp and a MIM Strat. I now had lots of time to practice and I feel very comfortable playing along with most of my favourite artists. I only play at home and I only play for myself and whoever is within hearing distance of my music room. I too felt this way over the last couple of months and I have no excuses. I have time and a wonderful collection of guitars and amps to choose from. All are set up exactly to my tastes so they are really easy to play. What is my problem? Well as you mentioned, my 82 year old father, my son who is restarting another career, and a reno on my fathers home are taking a lot of my time. Plus two new Grandsons. Now hockey has started again for two hours Monday and Friday mornings. I guess life is getting in the way again.
I am sure I will get more time when the snow flies and we are forced indoors, but I know how you feel.
What I am finidng also is that I am not listening to music as much either. I find that my moods are much brighter when I do, so that is also something I will work on. Finding new backing tracks would help also.
All I can say is that you are not the only one with this issue. We should form a support group and work through this! LOL

[Spudman***]

[kiteman]

I'm wondering about that elbow to body thing. I play with my elbow close to my body but when I move my elbow away I feel a strain. Was that a bad habit?

It may be that I'm getting old but anyway, I'm sure we all have our slumps when it comes to guitars and life.

[Plank_Spanker]

Steve,

I have 30 plus years of playing under my belt, and I STILL feel the way you do at times...................no clear direction or way ahead............it's very frustrating.

My go to solution has been to take a break for a few days (or longer) when this hits. Come back to it when the urge and hunger hits you and it's fun. It's worked for me every time.

Don't push yourself too hard. When you take a true look back, you'll be amazed at your progress.

[mrmudcat]

I agree with plank brother.Take a break for awhile get a new instructional video that is beyond your confort zone and when ready tackle it........you will feel good after learning something outside your safe parameters.If that fails jam some blues atleast 21 days straight


We all run low on creative juices brother.Do you write songs ,maybe write some diddy's and later put music to it!!!

[sunvalleylaw]

I am not sure what you are saying? Go get some nuts? Protect my nuts? Attack like an Ewok? LOL!

Thanks guys, for the encouragement. I spent all day again on the house, with the exception of a break for a bike ride to get clear the head and get some exercise, so no real playing time today. I will likely try to play some tonight, but not worry about it, or where I am too much. Basically take it less seriously and have fun with it. I will spend some time with the Foundations lessons each week, as I do believe that for me, spending some time on basics and technique will make it more fun and satisfying to me in the long run. When I have some time, I will see if I can find some guys to play with too, because that helps me forget about being hypercritical and just keep playing to keep up with the others. And mostly, I will remember it should be fun.

Writing a song, maybe a humorous blues, is a good idea too. That way, putting some music to it later won't be a big deal. I can just go with a basic blues progression. Thanks guys!

[Algonquin]

Most of my playing is done without specific goals in mind. That can be a good or a bad thing I guess, but that way I put no pressure on myself and just soak up the vibe and feel of what I'm doing. Even if it's for a few minutes before dinner/yardwork/picking up and dropping off kids etc. Kick back and just enjoy

I think Trev's practice regime is similar to mine. I don't practice anything in particular all that often, but I do noodle endlessly trying different things. Eventually an idea springs from the noodling that sparks my interest and I try to work it into a song I'm developing, or into a cover I'm practising. I don't have a schedule to be at a certain level within a certain time, and like you... do tend to fall behind when work becomes overwhelming.

Enjoy playing for what it is, a great hobby! :

[kiteman]

Yea, it's a fun hobby. :

I'm not into learning much songs as I like to jam. I image that I'm on the stage (on tour really lol) and put myself on the line on improvising. Make up a song on the spot, solo or take off on a song. I can't think about chords or scales while playing but intervals and ears. I'm learning from my mistakes and improve on em'.

Some times ago I bought a 3 volume white pages. I thought I was going to learn some songs or check out the chords but then I wasn't interested. I wanted to jam and forget about theory for the moment. It is slow going but I'm using my ears and I noticed that I'm getting pretty good at it. I don't have absolute pitch recognition but hear more of relationships and I'm hearing impaired.

So far I made 2 songs (and working on a 3rd), a medley, and extended some covers. All that after months of jammin'.

I pretend I'm a rock star so I gotta make myself one. Rock on. :

[FusedGrooves]

Hi Steve,

For what its worth mate, as well as taking up the suggestion above to play along/doodle with your favourite CD I would HIGHLY recommend buying yourself a 'Looper/Loop station' like the Boss RC-2 or something similar for starters.

I'm self taught and spent alot of time on the same old boring songs or scales and got very bored with it all. My chordal playing wasn't that great cause I found it hard to listen to my rubbish playing and improve so I started learning scales but found it hard to put them into practice unless I had a rythm player handy to play the chords. With a Loop station you can record the songs you know (or make up new originals) against a drum beat to get your timing better, I can't believe JUST HOW much better my timing is now VS Pre Looper. Now I can play 100% clean/dry alone and actually sound pretty good (in my own humble opinon but certainly a million times better pre looper)

You can lay down a track of, for example Dm only, and play scales that fit over that, then record another loop with just the D chord and use Major scales over the top. Then move to using say a 2 chord progression to practice scales/playing against different rhythms

Record a 12 bar blues pattern (or any song really) and jam away to your hearts content. Living in a musically backwards town I find it very hard to find willing/reliable ppl to jam with and having the loop station is like having the whole band at your fingertips ANYTIME you chose.

My personal belief NOW is that a 'beginners' guitar pack should come standard with a loop station......

The RC-2 is pretty basic/cheap but will do most things easily. I upgraded to the RC-50 to enable exportation of my originals now I'm over 100 loops/songs and can also import MP3s etc to play with, slow them down to learn by ear how they are played......I cannot RAVE ENOUGH about owning a loop station even just for practice sake.

If ya do go that route I wanna hear all about your thoughts on it!!

[sunvalleylaw]

Thanks FG. As it turns out, I already have a RC20XL looper. It is likely underused, and I have typically just recorded songs or a few bits of my own playing of songs in to play along with. I need to use it more, and record my own stuff with the drum/click settings more. I do also play along with songs, and now that I have a practice area with my iMac in it hooked to some old but decent computer speakers that go louder than the bose ones in the iMac itself, I can play along with a huge number of songs. But again, due to being moved out of our house all summer due to remodel, those capabilities have been underused of late as well. Good thoughts from everyone, and with a renewed focus on basics and making sure my timing and fundamental technique is decent, I will be back in the swing in no time. In fact, playing tonight with my strat was world's better than last night on my acoustic, when the frustration kind of came to a head. I have to re-string that acoustic and probably play it a bit more. But the strat felt good tonight!

[SuperSwede]

I am not sure what you are saying? Go get some nuts? Protect my nuts? Attack like an Ewok? LOL!

Young Padawan, you have much to learn. That picture says everything that you ever need to know about guitar playing.

Steve, we all have our guitar related ups and downs, some caused by lack of time and some of lack of interest... the guitar will always be there for you and sometimes its good to take a break to be able to return with revitalized interest and new fresh ideas..

[FusedGrooves]

Thanks FG. As it turns out, I already have a RC20XL looper. It is likely underused, and I have typically just recorded songs or a few bits of my own playing of songs in to play along with. I need to use it more, and record my own stuff with the drum/click settings more. I do also play along with songs, and now that I have a practice area with my iMac in it hooked to some old but decent computer speakers that go louder than the bose ones in the iMac itself, I can play along with a huge number of songs. But again, due to being moved out of our house all summer due to remodel, those capabilities have been underused of late as well. Good thoughts from everyone, and with a renewed focus on basics and making sure my timing and fundamental technique is decent, I will be back in the swing in no time. In fact, playing tonight with my strat was world's better than last night on my acoustic, when the frustration kind of came to a head. I have to re-string that acoustic and probably play it a bit more. But the strat felt good tonight!

Ahhh good stuff mate, sounds like time is your biggest enemy atm!

I know you can't really plug an MP3 player into the RC-2, can you with the RC-20? I can with the RC-50 so am able to use the guitar amp to play the MP3s a touch louder though I don't use this function much as the stereo in the shed is plently loud enough with good speakers/sub and the guitar amps/speakers don't really play the range required for the MP3s to sound any good...not bad for practice though.........

Just quietly, how good are loop stations...!!! Wish I'd bought one years ago.... :

[deeaa*]

What I do, is I always just make songs.

Nothing is easier than making a new song on guitar. Just toss in a bunch of chords, start with whatever, say G, and change it some or pick it without certain notes or add an extra note that sounds good, line up other chords and/or make up your own chords until you have a nice original sounding chord progression. Just don't think where it's going, only worry about how the progression works with each others. There you have a song, should take all of five minutes. The more complex you make it, the easier it is to make it...if you try to make simple songs...that is hard, they all end up sounding just like some existing songs - the more complex the easier it is to make original stuff.

Now how does that help with being stalled? Well now that you have this strange piece of music, you need to come up with a second guitar/licks/solos over it, and if you didn't care what you put there except they sound nice together, it's gonna force you to come up with entirely new scales and variations and melodies, and entice strange riffs and such out of you.

For me the problem is more that whenever I pick up the guitar, I come up with a song or two, and then I have to record some of it, and that takes all the time available for a while...which is why I NEVER practice any guitar playing, or have ever had time or so to learn any music other people have made - I've always been so full of my own ideas there's no time for anything else. NOt that it is necessarily a good thing always, or makes me a good musician, LOL.

But anyway, that's how I've always done it.

[Lev]

My advice Steve as everyone else has said is hang in there, take a break for a few days and focus on what you do well rather than trying to find fault. If at all possible see if you can get together with some other like minded guitarists in your area to just jam. Playing with others can really bring your playing on leaps and bounds. Taking some group lessons rather than individual lessons can help build up contacts with folks at a similar level to yourself.

Also regarding your strumming issues, try putting on your favorite CD, mute the strings on your guitar with your left hand and play the muted strings rhythmically with your strumming hand. Use up and down strokes and approach the guitar like a percussion instrument, keeping time with the music, don't over think it, just flow with the rhythm of the song. Don't hold the pick too hard and make sure there's no tension in your hand/arm.

Try that for a few days and then go back to playing chords, you should find that your right hand has improved somewhat.

[deeaa*]

Yeah, Lev, like you said...besides, rhythm guitar IS a percussion instrument, huh?

Back in the day I sold off my Takamine 12-string I had played simple CCR and Grateful Dead on for years, and had no acoustic for a few years...I noticed my rhythm chops became quite a lot worse when I never played acoustics.

I bought a 6-string acoustic and at first my rhythm playing along with singing stuttered, but a few hours of singing and playing and I was back on the right track.

So yeah, I think for rhythm issues and building 'groove' the best thing to do is play songs you know inside and out, don't have to look at the fretboard, just hack away at some old CCR one-chord song like Born On The Bayou or something, sing along with it and just think of your playing as percussive. Then it's just a matter of applying the same grooving rhytmicality to electric as well.