How important is playing along the song?
 

I'm a newb and I can play a few songs but there are various pauses and mistakes each time I play. My former instructor advised me to play along the songs, played back at lower speeds. I find this somewhat cumbersome. What do you guys suggest for streamlining your playing?

Depends somewhat on the tune. In general break up the tune into sections (normally from beginning of piece onward) and work each section up to a reasonable tempo and reasonably error free. Then move on to the next section.

Most pieces can be learned faster then you might first think because there are various repetitions throughout most pieces of picking patterns and rhythms.

As you work on it you will identify spots where you are more likely to make an error and with a finer focus then available you can make repairs.

Playing along with the songs is fine but if you are new to the guitar getting these pauses is normal and will iron themselves out in time.

Some advice. If you can discipline yourself really work on parts that are hindering you at any one time. It is the quickest way to progress and it can be a waste of time playing parts you can play over and over.

Ultimately, if you are determined you can put it all together and usually by that time you are sick of the song - lol. But there is something satisfying and worthwhile in being able to play a complete song from start to finish.

It is true that in time you spot the same old chord progressions so it gets easier. But also refining your playing and learning new chords and licks etc etc will keep you going.

I may be different than others but my playing really improved when I decided to really learn some theory, the notes on the neck and key signatures etc. I’m probably intermediate myself but I constantly learn more and more.

Believe me if you are a bit savvy with practice you will surprise yourself.

I also improved greatly when I became really accurate with finger placement and overall technique.

But really work diligently on areas you are weak and it will suddenly happen.

Expect time to let it sink in. New players give up far too easy and if only they knew how long it can take advanced players to nail unfamiliar material it will give you confidence.

Everyone is different.
If you want to sound exactly like the recording,
then yes, try to learn and play it note for note.
Strive to play at exactly the same tempo if it is important to you.
It has never been for me.
While all of my covers sound close, they are still just my version of someone else song.
I also like to slow acoustic songs down quite a bit and a 3 min song can easily last 5 min for me.

I have been pretty happy with the Transcribe software I purchased a couple months back. I am sure I hardly scratch the surface of what it can do, but I use it as a looper and a slow downer. You can mark sections of a recording out and save them as separate files. There is a slow downer built into some versions of Windows Media player, but having the ability to slow down and loop and save particular sections makes learning a lot easier, IMO.

It depends on what you want.

If you just want to play your version of a song that sounds as close or as far from the original as you want it to, then don't worry about playing along.

If you want others to play along with you, then having a consistent sense of timing is important, for example, if the song is 4/4 timing, then play 4 beats in each measure, if you play 3 beats in some measures and 4 beats in others, it will be quite the challenge for other musicians to play along with you. It may sound just fine (or just awful) that way but that's a different topic.

If you want others to play and sing along with you, then playing along to the original starts to come into it's own.

Amazing Slow Downer is another tool that is excellent for learning to play along with a recorded version of a song. Used by many here.

I agree with the various slowdowner recommendations. My preference is for Transcribe (because of all the other stuff it does), but for practising playing along ASD is just as good. You can set a loop to gradually speed up.

Also, make sure you practice those parts of the song where you pause or make mistakes. Don't practise the whole song every time! Practise what you can't do, not what you can do.

Then - when you can play the whole song at a reasonable speed with no mistakes or breaks... keep playing it. Getting it all right is just the first stage. You have to carry on until you can't get it wrong. That's when it starts to become "music", and not just a set of notes in a particular order. That's when you start to enjoy it and are able to add expression, make it your own.

YouTube can slow down to 1/4 speed. YouTube in a Chrome browser with the free "Looper" extension can loop between 2 time points.

Playing with good time is what separates the guitar players from the guitar owners.

So however you do it, do it. Metronome works too, but I find that more boring than playing along with a recording.

Drumgenius leans "jazz" but it's an outstanding app with plenty of rock/pop/world beats too. Something to consider.

I learned guitar in the days without digital technology and videos. Having a record player and figuring out songs while trying to play along was the main way of learning in those days. That involved a lot of lifting the needle up and and down and was a tedious process, but it was good to rely on your own ears instead of on someone else's interpretation of a song.

Playing along with the song will help maintain your 'momentum'. It will force you not to stop even if you make mistakes.

Repetition, repetition and repetition will, eventually, eliminate those mistakes. Twenty back to back repetitions with no mistakes makes you a studio grade musician...

Very well said.

Hey guys thanks for your responses. I particularly liked rick-slo and Mojo21's answers. I think it's important to get the techniques down and avoid the temptation to play the song from the begining to end each time and focus more on the challenging parts.

Here are some of the things that are holding me back.

Buzzing when fretting with my pinky. Same for chords with 2 fingers next to each other.

When pulling two strings together, my fingers go too far away and cause a delay.

Hitting a string with my thumb and the one next to it with my index finger feels awkward.

Delay when going to the same fret on the next string.

Alternating right hand fingers on the same string.

Many of chord transitions, still.

And ooh, barre chords.

Timing and keeping momentum is important too like Sonics and Mr beaumont mentioned. I still am not so good at that even on the piano. Maybe I should start using a metronome.

@merlin666 I still can't play by the ear but I badly want to learn.

As has been said, divide it up. Of particular importance to me were the toughest parts of songs when I was learning. I'd focus on them and get them fluid before moving on to the next piece. That method tends to put the song on a downhill run. Example: I refused to play Paul Simon's The Boxer until I could nail the intro. The rest of the song was a simple alternating cadence but that signature intro was not to be ignored and I didn't. Turns out he didn't write/play that bit on the original recording but that was/is irrelevant.