Knowing then what you know now.

[tdk24]

For the guys and gals that have been playing a long time or have made great strides in their playing ability over time...knowing what you know now, what are some of the things you would do differently if you could start over again. What kind of things have you learned along the way that would have helped you more when you were first starting, especially when it comes to playing lead. Were there times when you felt like you were banging your head against a wall and all of a sudden something just clicked for you? Or maybe just the way you approached something that made everything seem easier?

 

[Murch]

In terms of lead stuff, I would've pail close attention to pick angles and general technique. I recently watched through Troy Grady's Cracking the Code series (and the various offshoots that go into the real technical stuff), and it helped me fix my picking technique and speed up a lot. I'd also work on keeping my skills diverse, since I spent the first couple years with tapping being my only method of going fast).

In general, I would've worked on the basics earlier, since it took me forever to really get to the basic chords and theory, and once I did everything got a lot easier to do everything.

 

[Aion]

Wish I started studying jazz sooner. Understanding the mixture of chromaticism and phrasing has improved my writing and playing in all kinds of ways.

 

[Solodini]

Going slow, learning to think of what notes I'm playing while playing them by aiming for chord tones, then thinking of what the surrounding notes are, learning to have control and ability to count whatever rhythm I want to play, especially those involving rests which make for interesting phrasing.

 

[wizbit81]

Getting someone to show me how to hold and sit with a guitar, to avoid Tendonitis episodes from the long past, and a limit on the amount of comfortable practice I could do.

When my teacher left my school after a couple of months, I'd have demanded another instead of going it alone, he was a jazzer, the first tune I ever learned was a Kenny Burrell one, and god knows where I'd be now if I'd been playing jazz for nearly 20 years.

 

[devwil]

I've often struggled with if the way I taught myself guitar was harmful in the long run or not.

So, if I could go back in time and change one thing, I probably would have learned the instrument (and music in general) a bit more traditionally.

(Vague answer, I know.)

 

[Winspear]

Well, I started to play guitar properly perhaps 4 years ago now. The 4 years or so I'd played for before that had zero attention to technique, just playing along to MIDI tabs at full speed from the getgo etc. Obviously I would go back and play properly, learn technique, use a metronome etc.

But recently since my tastes have changed quite a lot and I've been learning theory too, something I've become more aware of is how backwards starting out with metal music has made me. I have various ideas and habits engrained in my head that make other genres genuinely hard to write in. Basic things like instrumentation, dynamics, use of various flavours, were actually very difficult to approach after years of Drums-Bass-Guitar-Maxvolume etc. Even though I've spent the majority of that time listening to progressive music, that still doesn't seem to have helped much. The intricacies of other genres really amaze me. I'd go back and relearn with piano on the side, coming into music from a classical and jazz background and attempt to ground myself in all genres. I'm having to try very hard to work backwards to becoming a rounded musician as opposed to a metal guitarist (and a bad one at that )

 

[octatoan]

^ Piano on the side you say? I'm getting a cheap keyboard to mess around with in May

 

[meteor685]

For the guys and gals that have been playing a long time or have made great strides in their playing ability over time...knowing what you know now, what are some of the things you would do differently if you could start over again. What kind of things have you learned along the way that would have helped you more when you were first starting, especially when it comes to playing lead. Were there times when you felt like you were banging your head against a wall and all of a sudden something just clicked for you? Or maybe just the way you approached something that made everything seem easier?

I wish I apporached learning guitar differently by learning the very basics of guitar, Learning good songs that are not too hard on guitar by ear not tabs, open chords, barre chords, campfire songs, porcupine tree songs, alternative songs, rock songs, blues, bends, vibrato,Metallica riffs, Iron Maiden riffs, in general I wish i tried to enjoy the guitar for a while before going to the hard stuff,

stuff I prolly shud've learned when starting guitar, not jumping into workin on endless finger exercises badly and rushing through songs i learned off gametabs.net.

 

[tdk24]

Lots of good info here. A lot of it is the same I was thinking about my early days. I started in the mid 80's, playing mostly Metallica stuff. If it wasn't like Metallica, I wanted nothing to do with it. In a way I feel it may have actually stunted my growth as a guitar player. One funny thing is, when I started playing Metallica and Iron Maiden riffs WERE the hard stuff. LOL. Not anymore. I always liked Kirks lead style but I never really worked on any of them. I guess I must have thought that in time, I would eventually know how to play leads like that, but it never happened. I really haven't played much in the last couple of years, lost my motivation I guess. But now I'm trying to get back into it. But this time around I also know I have to spend less time worrying about the gear I'm using and focus on the playing. It's easy for me to get sucked into looking for that one guitar that is going to "make" me a better player. Getting back to basics and re-developing my ear will be top priorities, not to mention the use of the metronome.

 

[Der JD]

I was 12 or 13 when I first picked up the guitar. 39 now, so that's about 27 years. However, there have been years in which I didn't play guitar at all due to various things going on in my life or focusing on other instruments (mainly bass). There's probably a million things I wish I'd done differently but I'll just rattle off the first ones that come to mind.

1. Right hand technique/picking- just recently I feel like I'm coming to terms with my right hand technique. Very early on I should have focused on things like how to hold the pick, angles of attacking the strings, economy of motion, alternate picking, simple strumming, etc.

2. Knowing the notes on the fretboard- years went by where I didn't know the notes well. I could always figure it out, but it took a few seconds. You should be able to name them instantly without thinking about it.

3. Starting with the basics, the groundwork, especially rhythm- wish I'd spent more time with the basics, especially rhythm. I ignored teaching materials because I had more interest in lead and was eager to play songs beyond the basic level. Wish I had spent more time on things like strumming, blues, and early rock. Knowing the fundamentals of blues/early rock is like having the foundation. Metal, fusion, prog, etc. should have come later after the foundation was built. Many times I feel like I'm learning things backwards.

4. Focus on quality of practice- there are probably years worth of time that my practice was simply playing songs I already knew. Sure, I enjoyed playing those songs and got damn good at them but I didn't really progress because I wasn't challenging myself or learning anything new.

5. Focus on one thing at a time- I wanted be good at it all- several different styles/genres and several different instruments. I'd work on something for a while, interest would wane, and move on to something else. The end result is that I never got really good at any one thing. Wish I'd been more disciplined to stick with one thing until I got fairly good at it before moving on.

6. Learn the standard way of progressing through theory- learning theory has always been important to me, but I went about it all wrong. For example, scales...all the books start with major scales and pentatonics and then move on to minor and the modes. I went straight for minor and the modes because the stuff I was playing didn't really use major and pentatonics. What ended up happening is that I thought of everything in terms of how it relates to the Aeolian mode. Again, I found myself learning backwards.

7. Quit fussing so much with gear!- I guarantee you I've spent more hours fussing/tweaking with my tone than I have improving my chops. The funny thing is, improving your ability automatically betters your tone. Wish I had understood that early on.


Luckily, now I find I'm in a better frame of mind and am more on the right course. Unfortunately, the speed of learning decreases with age. Hopefully, by the time I die, I'll feel satisfied with my ability!

 

[Humbuck]

Interesting question.

My response has nothing to do with technique or learning to play better.

I wouldn't have wasted time going to college to obtain a safe career, then spend 10 years working in it. I would've just stuck to music/bands and not divide my time.

And I would've gone into heavy equipment operating right out of high school for employment.

 

[JohnIce]

I would've spent less time learning and more time doing Less time looking up theory in advance and more time trying to figure it out for myself first. Also less time learning to be versatile and good and more time narrowing it down and focusing on my most profound artistic direction. It was there all along, I just pushed it aside for a few years while trying to be best in class playing Steely Dan or Dream Theater tunes in music school. I think I succeeded, but I don't see how it's helping me be a better songwriter today

 

[bostjan]

Hmm…I think I kept a pretty good pace at learning, and practiced a fair amount.

The only thing that really comes to mind would be listening to more ecclectic music back then. I used to be pretty locked into hard rock and metal, and didn't really start listening much to anything experimental or ethnic until college.

Not at all that I'm a good player - I just don't really see how I could have done things much better than I had.

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

Maybe not so direct, but I wish I had gotten involved in music earlier and been informed of non-traditional education options. I feel that my time was wasted in middle school and high school, being very bored in classes that did not engage me and hanging out with friends who haven't gone anywhere with their lives since that time. It wasn't until I was in college and actually working on something that I enjoyed that I began taking responsibility for my life. I know some people who did individual study and got out of grade school as early as 13 years old. One of them had a bachelor's degree in marine biology by the time she was 17, and prior to that she was in a very similar situation to yours truly. Can you imagine what it would be like to start building your career, your life's work, as a teen? Sure beats piddling around in the kiddie pool for years and years.

 

[AugmentedFourth]

Singing while playing. I think that, originally, I just thought that training one's voice was for if you intended to sing as part of compositions or as a serious instrument. So since I don't listen to a lot of vocal music and don't particularly like my singing voice, here I am now wishing I started singing along earlier, even if I never plan on writing a song with vocals in it.

 

[Gregory Frus]

Interesting question.

My response has nothing to do with technique or learning to play better.

I wouldn't have wasted time going to college to obtain a safe career, then spend 10 years working in it. I would've just stuck to music/bands and not divide my time.

And I would've gone into heavy equipment operating right out of high school for employment.

Yep...same here.

 

[JoeyW]

Singing while playing. I think that, originally, I just thought that training one's voice was for if you intended to sing as part of compositions or as a serious instrument. So since I don't listen to a lot of vocal music and don't particularly like my singing voice, here I am now wishing I started singing along earlier, even if I never plan on writing a song with vocals in it.

+1 this has been probably the most useful thing I've added to my everyday playing in recent years

 

[yingmin]

I did so many things completely wrong when I was starting out, and my playing suffered for it for a long time. I wish that I'd focused more on improvising and composition than just learning other people's songs and occasionally shitting out something of my own. I wish I'd learned piano young, because it's such a useful compositional tool. I wish I'd started playing guitar at the age I actually started playing flute.

 

[Neilzord]

I wish I'd learnt theory when I first started!