Practicing, playing and jamming

[DaveO]

I am as self taught as I can be. Books, videos, watching other players. The question is how are you learning now? Are you a bedroom player, jamming with others, in a band? I don't currently have anyone to play with (except the wife, but that is a different kind of playing). Looking to hook up with local players near the same skill level. I feel a little stagnant in my playing right now and need someone to kick start me. Am I the only one who is caught on what I call the "noodle go round". Same riffs and lines over and over and over and over. I did take lessons briefly about 18 months ago but I didn't know how to get what I needed from the teacher and he couldn't pull it out of me. I am a self taught rambler too. Sorry.
Dave

[sunvalleylaw]

I can relate. My practice time is often after the kids are in bed, or just a couple minutes here or there. It is easy to play the same warm up song I ususally do, work on pieces of things here or there, and just get stuck on noodle go round as you say. I am trying to play songs that I am learning or practicing all the way through more, but sometimes it just doesn't come trying to do it alone. I hope to score a looper here soon, so I can "play with my self" more. (Don't worry Sister Mary Francis, I don't mean that way!) And have been trying to get a local friend or two to commit to playing times. However, I can't complain about my progress since starting playing regularly only in May. Having SpudSteve come over sure helped with some motivation and new ideas too. And of course, I always get lots out of my friends right here. Robert's vibrato lesson is calling my name in the next few days for sure!

[t_ross33]

I feel your pain, brother. I too am as self taught as one can be. I currently have 2 musical projects on the go, and have been concentrating on playing in a "lead-ish" capacity for about 1 yr. Before that, it was bedroom noodling (you know what I mean ).

We have been working on developing a killer songlist, so out of necessity I have been working through a pretty big catalogue by ear and by Tab (ain't the internet great). Forums like theFret have helped a lot too.

I have picked up a couple of DVDs and am hoping for the chance to work on some riffage if things ever slow down enough for me to do so.

I've been planning on attending a guitar camp for the past couple of summers, but haven't gotten around to THAT either. Check out Freddie Pelletier. His camps have been gaining in popularity and are becoming very well respected (plus it looks like a lot of fun, and it's within an hour or so drive of my house). I have never taken formal instruction for guitar, but I did take piano lessons for quite a few years as a youngster. I just need to figure out how to apply theory to the fretboard

Anyway, that's my story.

Trev

[Spudman***]

DaveO

I'm totally self taught too. What I would suggest is to pull out some records (CD's) and pick one to three tunes that you would like to know that you have never tried before.

1. You'll be concentrating on something new and it will take your mind off
your stagnation.
2. You'll be learning something new, so now you aren't really stagnant.
3. You'll be getting into another players head and out of yours.
4. New ways of trying to play what you hear will emerge, and now you'll have
new technique or licks to add to your arsenal. Once you do that
stagnation is over and you have a new skill set so to speak.
5. Repeat as necessary.

[oldguy]

I also am self-taught, but had help from "older, wiser" players who used to show me licks and grin as I struggled to form my hands around chords I wasn't used to, and I took a lot good-natured ribbing for it.
One thing I sometimes do is try to learn a lick from a record, or tablature, and then learn it up and down the fretboard in different positions, and up or down an octave. If you can play it at several fret positions and on different strings, it won't be long before you can play it in most keys.
Studying chords always seemed to help also. If I can learn all the inversions of a chord (Cmaj7, for example), then play the single notes of each, I start to see a pattern to the scale that makes up that chord. From there it's a matter of using those notes to build lead lines. But the chords come first for me. I know this isn't theory in it's proper form, but it's how I taught myself.
And no matter how much I learn, I never feel I'm close to knowing much at all. But that's what keeps me motivated (although I'm occasionally sent to the woodshed to practice by my peers).

[DaveO]

That's kind of where I am now. Tell me, show me the chords and I'm your side man. Ask me for a lead and you get a few blues licks and a quick fizzle out. Lessons sound like a good idea but time and money become a factor. Oh well.

[aeolian]

My playing is self-taught. I took about 18 months of lesson a few years ago to bone up on music theory and songwriting. Now I find it much easier to figure out songs because of that knowledge.

Over the last 6 months I have been meeting once a week and playing with a few other people. We had a drummer but she decided to stop for a while, so we are now just 2 guitars and a bass. I find that by playing with other people I've developed a better understanding of the fretboard since you start to learn to think on your feet while you're jamming. Another thing that I noticed a positive development is that one of the other guys will start playing a song he knows and now I have to figure out what key and where on the fretboard on the fly. This is really good training. We also bring in a couple of songs each and then learn to play them as a band.

I don't know how large of a town in NC you are, but I met these people I'm jamming with through craigslist. They are all amateurs who want to play for fun, although we have talked about going to an open jam if we get some of our songs tight enough. Foremost is that playing this way is fun.

[Hogfullofblues]

I'm in the same kind of funk at the moment. Self taught (I should fire the teacher) and still not a year under my belt. Seemed like I was racing along there for a while, but ran out of gas (not GAS, still got plenty of that). Lots of great clips and BTs posted recently, but when I tried my hand at them, well same old same old.
Trying something new has been a great motivator and teacher for me, but I guess I forgot that. So thanks for all the excellent suggestions. Been real busy lately, but think I'll get on the new thing bus this weekend and see if I can get back on the track.

[Plank_Spanker]

"Noodle go round"..................................I like that term!

I'm self taught and I've been in that boat more times than I can remember in the years that I've been playing. It happens to every guitar player.

Spudman offers excellent advice. You can have a ball jamming to some of your favorite CD's, and you might even accidentally learn a lick or two.

The best way off of the noodle go round is to jam with other players, but that's not always as easy to set up as it sounds.

You might also try to play stuff completely off of your beaten path. Cater to a "guilty indulgence". Mine is funk, and it usually kick starts me back into the groove again.

[Robert****]

My suggestion is to try and transcribe some cool licks and notes from some player you like. Try and reuse the same ideas over a different song after that.

I am self-taught too.

[sunvalleylaw]

"Noodle go round"..................................I like that term!

I'm self taught and I've been in that boat more times than I can remember in the years that I've been playing. It happens to every guitar player.

Spudman offers excellent advice. You can have a ball jamming to some of your favorite CD's, and you might even accidentally learn a lick or two.

The best way off of the noodle go round is to jam with other players, but that's not always as easy to set up as it sounds.

You might also try to play stuff completely off of your beaten path. Cater to a "guilty indulgence". Mine is funk, and it usually kick starts me back into the groove again.

Having Spud come over and play really opened my eyes to how it would help to have a regular jam partner. I have been trying, but my friends that play are all Dads too and our jam time is a bit far down on the priority list. Hard to get anyone to commmit. Therefore, I just bought a jam partner with the used looper that is coming. I am sure that will help! I have been trying to play melodies I know or hear in different places on the neck and that seems to help. Plank, I like that idea of playing something really different. I am going to pull out my old Earth Wind and Fire (Pre-disco EWF) and see what I hear, and maybe also some old reggae/ska stuff. Thanks guys!

[r_a_smith3530]

Here's a thought. Go out and find an open mic night or 2 at local establishments. Getting together with different players is a good way to gain new insights and pick up some new ideas. Even Hendrix used this method (when he broke away from Experience and started hangin' with Billy Cox and Buddy Miles) when The Experience started stagnating.

If you play rock, show up at a jazz club. That will force you to look at things differently.

Good luck!

[DaveO]

I would love to try an open mic night but I have gotten so lazy that I probably need a few weeks of prep time. Oh the shame of it

[Katastrophe]

I would love to try an open mic night but I have gotten so lazy that I probably need a few weeks of prep time. Oh the shame of it

Nah... A good open mic night will have players of all levels, ablilties and styles. Pick a group and ask to sit in. You'll have a blast, and learn something in the process.

One of our local establishments (which, sadly, is now out of business) used to have open mic on Thursdays. I ended up on stage playing songs I'd never played, with musicians I'd never met before that time. I learned tons in those jams about laying back and having fun, and also which lead phrasing in my somewhat limited bag of tricks the audience responded to. An enthusiastic crowd will give you a nice adrenaline rush at the end that can make you want to practice more, too!

Oh, and I'm largely self taught, too, but I did take a couple of years of lessons from two amazing guitar teachers in the early 90s.