Share your real world experience on adding complexity early in your learning curve

[Gs33]

This is a difficult question to explain... as short as I can... What is,are the actual timeline, potholes, breakthrough strategies when you begin to add chord, triad, doublestop enhancements to single note melody lines?

The lessons out there have good advice where to find those variations, but from there it seems like a huge leap to them actually sounding ok. Is it just a matter of more months, more years? Or are there ways to practice smoothing their use into the mix?

How did you break down the challenge? Thanks.

[Bob from Brooklyn]

Don’t overthink things. Play what you like to the best of your abilities as often as you can and keep it fun.

[soups]

I plan to do that eventually

[truckgoodbar]

I agree with Bob from B. Don't get frustrated and keep playing and trying to learn. It's a lot of motor memory and with enough repetition, you will have success. Just got to do the work.

[L50EF15]

I began playing about 40 years ago. I taught myself by reading Guitar Player magazine every month for 15 years and by playing along with recordings of all kinds of music. I started playing just as I discovered first jazz and then Prog rock. So the first stuff I played along with was cassette dubs of my Dad’s copy of Barney Kessel with the Poll Winners; Coltrane’s Giant Steps; the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s Countdown: Time In Outer Space; Wes Montgomery’s A Day In The Life; and my own copies of stuff like Close to The Edge by Yes and Unorthodox Behavior by Brand X. I got into Al DiMeola, Emily Remler, and John McLaughlin shortly thereafter.

I just chased the melody wherever it went, from instrument to instrument, and figured out how to fit double stops for rudimentary rhythm parts. I also used to do this six hours a day on average (the joys of college life…). I also built up my chordal vocabulary (Larry Coryell’s and Rik Emmitt’s columns in Guitar Player were essential for this). I should add that as a college freshman, just out of curiosity, I took the music major freshman theory course, which was and is invaluable to me. In fact, I still have the textbook, “Music In Theory and Practice,” by Bruce C. Benward.

That all was certainly an inefficient and kind of brute force approach to learning the instrument: I had a taste of theory a year before I got going in earnest. But doing it that way worked for me.

[Guitars44me]

Timing IS everything. Haha

And it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing….

Get busy with a metronome part of your daily practice

Have FUN and if it sounds good it IS GOOD

Paul

[Pickcity]

It will take the remainder of your life to get where you want, and you will never quite get there. That’s the joy of it, though. Even the greatest of the great are still learning, and they became great because they have never truly felt like they are “there” and have nothing more to learn. No, the best are still learning too.

Get with other musicians and play with them as often as possible. YT helps but it is not the same. Play along with albums too. This will improve timing and the feel of playing with a band.

Learn music theory. I know, many good players know very little about theory, and guitar is unique as it probably requires less knowledge of theory than most instruments, but that does not make it irrelevant. Learning music theory on guitar should be taught by a guitar player. Yes, a pianist can teach a guitar player how to read and interpret sheet music, but on a guitar there are so many positions for doing the same thing, it makes it different. I recommend, at least, SOME music theory.

Never give up. Make a recording of yourself and don’t watch it for one year. One year from today make another. Compare them. This will give you a clear example of your improvement. You probably won’t notice doing it day by day. This will motivate you to do the same thing in another year, and so on.

Good luck!

[Gs33]

Sounds like my wall of sound is going to be a picket fence for a while. Back to it.

[Charlie Bernstein]

Originally Posted by Gs33

This is a difficult question to explain... as short as I can... What is,are the actual timeline, potholes, breakthrough strategies when you begin to add chord, triad, doublestop enhancements to single note melody lines?

The lessons out there have good advice where to find those variations, but from there it seems like a huge leap to them actually sounding ok. Is it just a matter of more months, more years? Or are there ways to practice smoothing their use into the mix?

How did you break down the challenge? Thanks.

There is no timeline. There are no potholes. The only breakthrough strategy is the simple, time-honored three-step process: woodshed, woodshed, woodshed.

Triads are just chords. Learn them. If you can master an F chord, it's all downhill from there.

As for sounding okay, the best advice I've seen was in a friend's how-to-play-banjo book. On page eight, there was a box at the bottom of the page that said:

Question: How do I get that fast, clean sound? Answer on page 24.

On page 24 there was a box that said:

Answer: Practice!

[Charlie Bernstein]

Originally Posted by Bob from Brooklyn

Don’t overthink things. Play what you like to the best of your abilities as often as you can and keep it fun.

Bottle that!

[L50EF15]

Originally Posted by Pickcity

It will take the remainder of your life to get where you want, and you will never quite get there. That’s the joy of it, though. Even the greatest of the great are still learning, and they became great because they have never truly felt like they are “there” and have nothing more to learn. No, the best are still learning too.

There is an outstanding book dealing with exactly this concept:

https://www.zenguitar.com/

[Bluenose]

What I'd say to a neophyte is learn all types of scales but also learn and practice arpeggios because the goal is to have a map of the notes on the fretboard in your head and arpeggios will get you all over the fretboard.

[TheGITM]

In my early experiences I found that I would hit hit a wall. I'd practice, practice, practice and the hard stuff just felt... hard. It just didn't seem like I was getting better. Then, one day something would just 'click' and things I'd been struggling with would seem easy/easier. The 'advances' came in spurts and seemingly out of nowhere. I'd struggle... struggle... struggle... then... NOT struggle.

That's why the conventional wisdom is to practice, practice, practice. You keep putting in the work even when it doesn't feel like you're making progress. It just takes time and repetition.

I found that the early improvements were pretty massive. Gradually over time, the pattern got shorter. I'd try something new, and it didn't take quite as much practice to get better. If I had to throw out a number, I'd suggest that 2-3 years of constant practice are the hardest years, but the biggest gains. After that, the gains come quicker, but they are smaller.

[islandguitar]

Lots of great thoughts and advice here!

One item I would add, and I know a few here I highly respect who practice taking time to really listen to other artists and styles of guitar music. In some respects this could be seen as a part of the "muscle memory" we all talk about with practice.....but on another level with ear training for your brain and creative thoughts and approach. When I do this I will hear a note or phrase, a hammer on, or slide, a chord, a key change or bridge that I wasn't anticipating and begin to explore doing that in some things I'm working on. On one hand you pick apart the smallest "stuff" and on the other you appreciate the entire soundscape of the piece you're listening to and how it comes together.

Hopefully this all keeps it fun, as others have stated....then you want more...and more.....and....!!

[Guitars44me]

Write some songs. Steal from the ones you are learning.
Visit open tunings.
“Honey, I need another guitar for different tunings!”
Take up harmonica in the rack.
Slide guitar.
Are you singing?

These all add complexity without needing to learn single note leads! Which rarely sound good by yourself, anyway

Have fun

Paul