I really need some advice.

[oldhippiegal]

Originally Posted by Bern

I would look into your general right/left hand coordination. Is your right hand playing consistently the same strings ? When you play do you look at your fretting hand, your picking hand or at the tab ? You need to identify where the weak spot is and work it out.

This. You might need to memorize the tabs for a phrase, then not look at them and stare at your left hand. You might need to get video of someone else playing it and stare at that and then mimic it.

Depending on your musical background, for a beginner, it can take many days or even a few months to learn a long blues solo.

+1 on sticking with a much more simple riff, just a couple measures long, get that one down, then move on to something that's four measures long but simple.

Learning six cowboy chords and the simplest bass-strum quarter-note pattern is quite easy and might make us think at the beginning that this is an easy instrument. It is not. It takes more hours to become mediocre at it than non-guitarists could ever guess.

[KTS]

I was told some real good advice a few years back. Practice the song as slow as you need to stay in time and speed up slowly this will improve your the memory in your hand and less errors down the road. While this may seem hard at first it will make it to where it is more productive faster. Also try not to stop when you miss a note or strike a note incorrectly. It helped me progress to the next level and it might help you.

[Mtn Man]

Originally Posted by Bern

I appreciate your analogy, however I have a problem with it.
Sharpening a blade is a singular repetitive non-accumulative event. Whereas accumulating knowledge in regards to playing the guitar is very different in that it becomes a big volume of acquired skills, not to mention the theoretical aspects of it as well. Basically, if you were to read an encyclopedia, after a few pages, you would not remember what was on page one, unless you read it over and over again or you have a photographic memory, which, I think, is unlikely.
I must say, of course, if it works for you as you said, keep on doing what you do.
A little side note...Tiger Woods is still working on his golf swing every day.

None of that disagrees with anything I said. Did you read the entire post?

[jersey]

Hey Brantley nothing to worry about, it's all part of the learning process. There's already a lot of good advice here so all I'll say is this: give yourself time. Understand that learning these skills takes months and years of practice, not days and weeks. It might seem counterintuitive, but sometimes when I'm frustrated with my playing I'll put the guitar down for a couple days. This can help you regain your composure and patience. Be persistent and over the long run you'll see improvement.

[Ryler]

I've been playing for 5 years and I still have trouble playing songs through without blowing it here and there. I started late (46), which doesn't help, but nonetheless, I think the difficulty of guitar isn't appreciated.

Forgive the imperfections, because if you don't, frustration will inhibit the learning process. Tell us a little about what surprises you in your skill development. What are you grateful for?

[cedarkoa599]

Originally Posted by Brantley

I've been practicing my guitar on and off for about 5 months, but lately something clicked with me and I have been practicing many hours this past week. Sometimes 4 hours a day, but I get extremely frustrated because I can't play a single tab without screwing up, I practice over and over again but with no success. Here is a couple examples of some easy things I've been trying to learn today.

E|-----------3---------------3--------------5-------------------------|
B|-------------3---------------3--------------3-----------------------|
G|-------0---------------0---------------2------0-------0-----0-------|
D|-----0---0-----------0---0-----------0---0------0---0-----0-------0-|
A|---------------0-2-3------------------------------3-----2-----0h2---|
E|---3---------------------------0-3-2--------------------------------|

This is an intro riff, it's incredibly easy and I'd suggest that an amateur player would catch on quite fast. But the the past hour and 15 minutes I still cant get this short riff down.

This is a solo from Pink Floyds 'Wish you were here' song.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
------------3------5-------3------------------------------------------------|
---2 / 4---------------4----------4p 2p 0 ----------------------------------|
-------------------------------------------0---------------0-0--------------|
--------------------------------------------------------/2------------------|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------|


--3 / 5-----5 / 3-----------------------------------------------------------|
--3 / 5-----5 / 3-------3 / 5-----5 / 3------------3 / 5-----5 / 3----------|
------------------------2 / 4-----4 / 2 p 0--------2 / 4-----4 / 2 p 0---0--|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------|


---------------------------(------------------------------------------------|
-------------3---5----------5p3-----3---------)---3--5------)---------------|
---2 / 4-------4------------------4---2------4-------------4---2------------|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------|


----------------------------)--(--------------------------------------------|
---------------3---5-------5----5---3---5------------)--(-------------------|
----2 / 4------4---------------------------2------4----(4)----2-----------|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

This was one of the first songs I wanted to learn, I've practiced this well over a couple hundred times. I would use it as my warm up, and everything. But I still can't play it perfectly! I'll admit this song is **** easy too, but I still can't get it.

Can some of you guitar pro's give me some advice? I repeat the same mistakes over and over, I try to slow it down, I try to relax more but nothing works. It's like I'm extremely uncoordinated, BUT I WILL NOT GIVE UP!! I would definetely appreciate some help, thanks

Do you know your notes on your guitar? Did you learn them string by string?
If not maybe that would help?
Nobody's perfect! Maybe you are trying too hard?

[roadbiker]

Originally Posted by kydave

Ignore the tab, listen with your ears & use the Force.

Big + on this advice. I can't even remember if tabs were around when I started playing, so I prefer notation and my ears.

What song is this anyway?
Jim

[Tuxcat]

There is some very good advice here that I won't repeat, but I disagree with Mr. Emmanuel's approach. If you feel that playing music is only a set of physical skills, then endless repetition with good technique will get you there. I don't feel that music is only in your hands. It's not a machine, it's a musical instrument. SRV said, "Some people think they're just pieces of wood." Don't be one of those people

If you repeat anything enough times, the life will disappear out of it and it will be reduced to a mechanical process with no soul at all. I don't think that's a good way to approach music. Do you have to practice something over and over? Sure! We all do that. But I don't think it's wise to take any single part of the collection of things that is music and work on only that one thing.

My advice is to work on something else for a while. That could be an hour, or a day, or a week. Let your mind rest from this one single thing and then come back at it fresh. You might be surprised how much progress you can make during that break. Taking a break doesn't mean you're giving up.

If you are determined to read TAB a lot, you will probably want to work on your sight reading skills so that you can make the connection in your brain between the numbers and your fingers. But like I tell all my students, to really make the music you must reach a point where you don't need to look at anything. Music is not a visual art, yet most of the musicians I meet act like their eyes are the only things they use to play it. Once you get a song memorized, your ears will guide you a lot more accurately than you may think is possible.

A BIG +1 about using The Force. If you don't feel it, it's not music.

Lastly, don't freak out about mistakes. If you make the same mistake over and over, obviously that's a spot you need to work on. But as Monk said, "The piano ain't got no wrong notes." We only say something is a mistake because it doesn't match what's written down. Doing something different can be the key to a whole new perspective on a phrase or a chord or the mood of a song. Always keep your ears and your mind open to whatever sounds are coming from your instrument while you play. I say that I don't write music, I discover it hiding in that place where my brain and guitar are on the same wavelength that I have nothing at all to do with

It will get easier. Someday. At least that's what they keep telling me...

[electrablue]

Originally Posted by Landru

Do you have an instructor? That would be my first recommendo. A teacher is there to help answer your questions and give you answers you can use. Next, learn to read music, not tab. Why? Why not? It's what "pros" do.

Have fun, and best of fortune.

Ditto on that advice . . .

[815C]

When I was learning, one thing that hung me up was that I was trying to play the tune up to speed - and I couldn't. I would make mistakes again and again and I erroneously thought that if I kept doing this, that eventually I would get it right.

What I didn't realize was that I was burning those mistakes into my muscle memory - doing them over and over again I was training my hands to make the mistakes.

When I learned to practice in SLOW MOTION with my hands totally RELAXED, I made great strides in improving my playing.

Play it SLOW and PERFECT and eventually you will be able to play it fast and perfect.

If you can't play it slow, you certainly won't be able to play it fast.

Keep it up - we all hit frustration when learning to play.

[rick-slo]

If you are having trouble the break it down into parts. Even a short intro can be practiced one measure at a time if need be. I usually learn something by dividing it up. I practice slow and fast, slow and fast as each tempo reveals things about the piece as to what is required (fingering, note durations, possible fatique levels, etc). Glue the parts together as you are able. Polishing a piece usually involves a few divisions and reassembles to get it right.