Becoming an advanced player

[progman]

I consider myself an intermediate level player. I am pretty good with the pentatonic scale (bluesy stuff) and I can do a little shredding (not too fast though). I am trying to become an advanced player and I am hoping I could get some ideas on how to progress. I have a few obstacles. One, I used to have a guitar teacher when I was younger (20 years ago), but I literally remember nothing about music theory. Also, I am older now and have a lot more responsibilities. I have about 30mins to 1 hour max to play per day. I am willing to take things slowly, but I would actually like to enjoy my time too.

Here was my idea for maybe the next year or so. I was thinking of working on left/right hand strength and coordination to work on speed (first few months). Then, start to work on tapping, and finally sweep arpeggios (which I cannot do for the life of me). All along, I will try to pick up some theory.

I just got Petrucci’s “Guitar Discipline” and it seems pretty helpful. I listen mostly to progressive metal so I have a lot of work to do. I do not want to
learn more using tabs from bands I like though. This method doesn’t work for me for some reason.--Thanks guys

 

[samthebrutal]

Get Guthrie Govan's Creative Guitar Books, they will open you up to all kinds of new ideas you can explore in depth later on. Excellent materials.

 

[MYGFH]

"Becoming an advanced player" has eluded me for many, many years. This year, I made a decision that I want this more than anything else. I am married, have a career, responsibilities. But I devote all of my spare time sitting on my butt attached to my guitar. Football... what's that? My wife has to beg to tear me away from playing and spend time with her. She supports me, so at least we don't fight. I found a kick-ass teacher. Now I have someone other than myself to be accountable to. Plus, JP is not going to jump out of the DVD and tell you what you're doing wrong. That is my problem. I don't know what I don't know. Good luck, hope we both make it!

 

[Solodini]

Try to work to come up with your own exercises but make sure that they're musical and sound interesting to you. If you want to still have fun then you might not be so keen on many exercises out there. If you write your own you can make sure they fit your tastes and can include various disciplines you wish to practise.
That way you practise your writing, too, which feeds into learning to improvise.

Initially you might struggle to come up with anything tasty in your half hour but try to remember the little fragments and connections you liked (without writing it all down) and try to apply those things next time you sit down to write and practise.

You can extract cool bits from other people's songs and try to put them in a new context, as well. This can make learning the song easier as you can work the tough bit without staring at the same bar of the song for 40 mins. You'll then have a bunch of new licks and phrases similar to your idols, as well.

After a while you'll have skills and a pretty tasty musical vocabulary to apply to making music you want to hear and playing it well.

Hope that helps.

 

[progman]

"Becoming an advanced player" has eluded me for many, many years. This year, I made a decision that I want this more than anything else. I am married, have a career, responsibilities. But I devote all of my spare time sitting on my butt attached to my guitar. Football... what's that? My wife has to beg to tear me away from playing and spend time with her. She supports me, so at least we don't fight. I found a kick-ass teacher. Now I have someone other than myself to be accountable to. Plus, JP is not going to jump out of the DVD and tell you what you're doing wrong. That is my problem. I don't know what I don't know. Good luck, hope we both make it!

I hear you bro. My wife is going to kill me if I play any more. Our first child was born last year which makes my new obsession a "worst possible timing ever" issue.

 

[viesczy]

Okay, I'm prolly all but twice everyone's age here as I'm 42 but along with learning the neck, the first thing my guitar instructor had me develop was my left hand and the synchronization of my hands together.

The drills he had me used for my left hand were based on each finger taking one fret and starting on each finger for a 4 note pattern. There are 96 variations if playing 4 notes per string. Easiest example 1-2-3-4. So you'd play that pattern in 1st position across the strings giong back and forth on the neck, all alternate picking. Get that lickety split quick and clean, played through a clean channel, then move on.

What I ended up doing was combining the harder drills (those starting w the 4th finger) and doing 8 notes per string so that my endurance would build up. Example 4-3-4-2-4-3-4-1. Get that lickety split quick and clean across the neck.

Then get diabolic, add string skipping. 4-3 on the 1st string 4-2 on 3rd string. 4-3 on the 1st string and 4-1 on the 3rd string. Repeat the patter for 2nd and 4th, 3rd and 5th, and then 4th and 6th. Repeat going from bass to treble.

I knew music from learning organ as a child (started when I was 4 on my dad's Hammond B3 and took lessons till I was 10ish), so my instructor was first about getting my hands trained to play guitar, then he was all into bebop and later jazz. So after my hands were sync-ed it was Parker, Coltrane and Davis. All of which I didn't/couldn't "hear" after at least half a decade of classical music, and what I did "hear" hurt my musical ear! No Bachian logic!

I can throw up that pattern list if you want.

Derek

 

[progman]

Okay, I'm prolly all but twice everyone's age here as I'm 42 but along with learning the neck, the first thing my guitar instructor had me develop was my left hand and the synchronization of my hands together.

The drills he had me used for my left hand were based on each finger taking one fret and starting on each finger for a 4 note pattern. There are 96 variations if playing 4 notes per string. Easiest example 1-2-3-4. So you'd play that pattern in 1st position across the strings giong back and forth on the neck, all alternate picking. Get that lickety split quick and clean, played through a clean channel, then move on.

What I ended up doing was combining the harder drills (those starting w the 4th finger) and doing 8 notes per string so that my endurance would build up. Example 4-3-4-2-4-3-4-1. Get that lickety split quick and clean across the neck.

Then get diabolic, add string skipping. 4-3 on the 1st string 4-2 on 3rd string. 4-3 on the 1st string and 4-1 on the 3rd string. Repeat the patter for 2nd and 4th, 3rd and 5th, and then 4th and 6th. Repeat going from bass to treble.

I knew music from learning organ as a child (started when I was 4 on my dad's Hammond B3 and took lessons till I was 10ish), so my instructor was first about getting my hands trained to play guitar, then he was all into bebop and later jazz. So after my hands were sync-ed it was Parker, Coltrane and Davis. All of which I didn't/couldn't "hear" after at least half a decade of classical music, and what I did "hear" hurt my musical ear! No Bachian logic!

I can throw up that pattern list if you want.

Derek

Yea, just like what my guitar teacher had me start doing right before I quit lessons. I took them for about 3 years almost 20 years ago. Stuff like, "starting with the first position"...

1-2-3-4 up and down the neck
4-3-2-1 up and down
1-4-2-3 etc etc

All alternate picking. Not the most interesting stuff, but probably gets the job done. I should have stuck with it. I am thinking about starting lessons again. Maybe something like 1/2 hour every other week due to time constraints.

 

[Solodini]

You can use those same mechanics but across a couple of strings to make it more musical.

 

[Maniacal]

Or just do them with scales and arpeggios and work on 2 things at the same time.

Chromatic exercises are next to pointless if you ask me, especially for "advanced" guitar players. Why work on 1234 at high speed when you can work on jazz/blues/shred licks at high speed instead? These are things you will eventually apply to improvising and writing.

Also, even groupings per string are not a technical issue for most on guitar. Odd groupings are. Work on those instead.

 

[Solodini]

Yeah, sorry, scalar patterns were what I was implying: you can pick and choose notes for each finger across a couple of strings and form patterns with those in ways which are more musical. You'll be able to cover most tonalities, depending on which sets of fingerings you choose.

For instance, a major 3rd would be out of reach if your first finger is on the tonic, but if you make the middle finger the one which frets the tonic then the major 3rd can be reached by the first finger on the next string. Apologies if that's obvious but many people seem mentally fixed in boxes of first finger on the tonic.

 

[progman]

I am glad some people think that the 1-2-3-4 stuff isn't the greatest because it is pretty boring. Some of the Petrucci DVD stuff is like this and some of it is more fun. So basically you guys think I should just work on learning some new scales/arpeggios for alternate picking and use a metronome? I am sticking with alternate and legato for know. Maybe a little string skipping arpeggio stuff too. Actually my legato is better cuz I don't have to be so left/right hand coordinated. My right is a little slow. I am actually left handed and was forced as a child to play right. I don't know if or how much that is effecting me now.

 

[Maniacal]

Yes.

Work on the following at the same time:

Modes of major, melodic minor, harmonic minor.

Root and inversions of the common arpeggios.

Subdivisions: Don't just play 16ths and triplets, play quintuplets, swing, septuplets.

Groupings: When playing triplets, don't limit yourself to 3 nps patterns of 3. Work on 2,3,4,5,6,7 note sequences to ANY subdivision. This will do wonders for your timing and give you creative ways to play lines other than the classic Gilbert sequences.

From a technical standpoint, work on efficiency of motion and endurance. Get these 2 aspects of picking down and THEN concern yourself with speed. This applies to picking and legato.

1 2 3 4 is okay for beginners to get used to using all 4 fingers, but that is about it. The Petrucci stuff is fine, but it's very primitive. There are plenty of other things to work on, like I mentioned above.

I will get more hate than I need to if I don't also mention this: Play music. Be musical.

However it is hard to be musical with scales and sequences when you can't play them well and your vibrato sucks, so I would focus on nailing all those things before being too concerned about being musical. Neg reps coming my way!

 

[Solodini]

And don't forget that rests are also a valid choice in those rhythmic exercises. They create a bit more interest for your ears and brain. They'll force you to be even more in control of when you play.

 

[Maniacal]

That's right. So you could practice playing scales using 16th notes, a sequence of 4 and a spacing of 5.

1--------2--------3------ < beats

-----------------4-5-X- etc
-------3-X-5-7---------
-3-5-7--------------------

 

[progman]

Some of the technical terms you guys are using I am not aware of but I am willing to look everything up. I notice you guys both instruct. I think that it is real cool that you guys give advice for free. I know its good business and it helps you to get more students, but still. Gods honest true guys, how limiting is Skype when giving lessons?

 

[Maniacal]

Skype is fine, as long as the connection is good. I have given a few lessons recently that were next to impossible due to lag. It can also be frustrating at times when you want to correct technique and can't just move the students hands etc.

I am not trying to push anything to sell onto you. I have no copies of my second book left anyway.

 

[Solodini]

As Maniacal said. It's not suitable for playing together but for taking turns to demonstrate something then play it back it works fine, most of the time.

 

[celticelk]

Since we're talking about advanced playing here, a query: I've been seeing lots of recommendations to work on the modes of harmonic and melodic minor as well as the diatonic modes. How often do the rest of you actually *use* those modes? I can see productive uses for Phrygian Dominant, Lydian Dominant, and Altered, and that's about it. (Of course, I'm not a Holdsworth fan, so maybe those of you who are have different contextual info that makes those scales useful....)

 

[Dirtdog]

I just want to say that sometimes it's easier to work on the modes away from the guitar. What I mean by that is just going over the harmonized chord scales for the different modes by saying them out loud to yourself as your driving or whatever or saying the scale or mode formula.
Or even what notes are in g major or g mixolydian etc
it cuts down the time you will need when at your guitar if you can do the non playing stuff away from it and then when you get to the guitar you can implement it much faster and make better use of your time like actually fingering patterns or chord patterns rather than thinking about what chord comes next and the pattern.
I do it everyday when I'm driving by starting with major chord scale the. Lydian and mixolydian then I do the same with the minor modes then harmonic minor and melodic minor
And them spew out chord progressions like I vi ii I etc

 

[wespaul]

There's tons of technique stuff you can do, and some have already suggested some stuff. I would recommend getting into chord-tone soloing, which breaks down what chords are being played, how they're constructed, and how hitting chord tones while soloing can really make your solos come alive (instead of just running blues scales all over everything). I've found that this really helps players (who are stuck in a rut) connect the dots between music theory and actually applying it in their own playing. And the great thing about it is you can apply this knowledge to just about any style. The technique stuff you're wanting to develop will also pair nicely with this new approach as well.

I recommend this book or this book (although this one is more jazz-oriented).