I’m all over the place

[lovgren]

The only downside with being a well-rounded guitarist is that you'll probably see people with far less "experience" than you have, playing live or being able to do something better than you can. The reason is, that's what they set out to do and they focused on it.

However... in the long run, your breadth of experience might make you a better guitarist 10 years from now than they will be. It's easier to plateau or get stuck in a rut when you're single-tracked.

I'm much like you. If you can appreciate your breadth over depth, it's a perfectly valid path. I've become a very well-rounded player although a master of nothing. I play live twice/week in a variety of settings. My music theory and fretboard knowledge are quite good. My general technique is pretty good. And I can jam with other players if they just give me the key of the song or a few chords. I have a well-rounded knowledge and facility with the instrument. But again, I'm not the best at anything. I find the guitar very enjoyable and a constant challenge my way, vs the one-track plan. But I do sometimes get envious of the one-track players.

My instructor says there's a difference between a guitar player and a guitarist. I think you're on the guitarist track.

[Bain]

This is very late , I forgot about this thread so engrossed in my learning I suppose , to all I would like to thank you ,for your thoughts and inspirational idias , I have really progressed since this thread and it was all down to you guys .i have not become a bettter player but have more understanding of music .
Thanks

[Steadfastly]

Originally Posted by Bain

This is very late , I forgot about this thread so engrossed in my learning I suppose , to all I would like to thank you ,for your thoughts and inspirational idias , I have really progressed since this thread and it was all down to you guys .i have not become a bettter player but have more understanding of music .
Thanks

And do you now have some songs you can play?

[lowrider]

Bain, I suggest you start with Toby Walker's beginner fingerstyle lessons;

https://www.tobywalkerslessons.com/

Toby post's here. He's a massively talented musician, very good teacher, and a really nice guy. You can find him giving advice in the Play and Write pages of this forum. You can also find him on YouTube. His beginner lessons teach you technique by teaching you songs. You learn a song then you progress to a more difficult song and you can learn a lot.

Now, you say that you don't like the way your voice sounds with the guitar. Go take singing lessons with a voice coach. It doesn't take long. I took lessons for 5 months every week. Now nobody is going to say that I have a great voice, but when I open my mouth, I know what is coming out.

And again I recommend that you play with others. Find a jam group and you will learn something every time you play with them. This is so much more fun when you play with others.

[bluesfreek]

When it comes to learning an instrument the most important thing is time on the instrument. No amount of "study" will take the place of time on the instrument.
Just keep playing...no matter what you will improve. Best of luck!

[Bain]

STEADFASTLY.... afew but nothing that is hitting the soul or proud off...

LOWRIDER.. checked it out . wow that man can play loved that

BLUESFREAK'...thank man that helps

[raduray]

May I suggest David Hamburger's Fingerstyle Blues Handbook I on TrueFire. I've been playing just over one year and for the first year I was like you, all over the place. A few months ago I found this course and have stuck with it. I'm halfway through and have three short pieces that I like and have mastered. David's a good teacher, the progression is very gradual, and the left hand fingering is fairly easy to play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8hB7Kf1Enc

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by Bain

.i have not become a bettter player but have more understanding of music .

Bain, I think the time has come to get rid of all those musical instruction books and join a band.

Seriously. That's where the learning curve takes off.

[Steadfastly]

Originally Posted by Bain

STEADFASTLY.... afew but nothing that is hitting the soul or proud off...

Well, that is still good. You are making progress and progress is good!

[Pitar]

Originally Posted by Bain

Hi I’m a new player, so I have been learning on my own for about a year, really not finished a song yet so busy just learning the chords , metronome , fretboard, etc know what I mean , fingerstyle is what I’m about I don’t like strumming at all mainly because I hate my voice when I sing to the chords, I can’t seem to get it all together , I can play the barrr chords easily enough, so I think I keep jumping from song to song , and not really finishing them off,
I feel I need to learn everything but I feel I am learning nothing as far as music is conserned , now I have found DADGAD tuning and I want to try that , it ia all driving me crazy , HOW do I slow down ......... I seem to be spiralling out of control , and not getting anywhere .......... any suggestion would be a great help guys....
Love to you all(

It will all fall together at some point and because you are "all over the place" you're taking a comprehensive approach. It may not seem planned but that's all it isn't. It's pragmatically okay. I was the same way. I started with finger picking and remained a finger picker. My claim to staying that course was I could make a lot more music picking with 5 picks (fingers) versus only one.

I learned bits of songs / instrumentals and various picking styles and patterns with no particular set of goals to discipline myself to. I wasn't so much interested in learning anything all the way through as I was learning to play complex parts of pieces I enjoyed.

I invented myself as I went about learning by creating originals from the skills that developed from listening to published music. Within a year I found I could render some pretty complex tunes, whether published or my own originals, and then went about learning to sing fluidly with my picking. That took a few more months to coordinate seamlessly.

It was about that time when playing something completely through, with respect to the mood and focus the original artist seemed to have embodied in the song, became important to convey. The music itself had finally taken precedence over simply learning to play guitar. This is about when I felt I'd reached a level of accomplishment.

[Joe Beamish]

Originally Posted by bufflehead

Bain, I think the time has come to get rid of all those musical instruction books and join a band.



Seriously. That's where the learning curve takes off.

I agree. And if you join a band (or start a duo, or whatever) you will learn songs, presumably songs that interest you a lot. This a good foundation to build your lessons on, whether it’s discovering a bunch of finger style moves in open G in standard tuning, or blues licks in open E. Same applies to any tuning. Learn some clichés and play around with them.

You can learn a lot by copying songs by players you most admire, especially by learning their arrangements and messing around with them and making up your own ideas based on those arrangements.

[sterling]

So I suffer from the same problem! I am always looking for some instant gratification, you know something I can learn and play right away that's recognizable and cool. I don't mind putting in the work to learn songs but I get bored and frustrated easily. For me I either practice or play. If I am going to practice then I sit down ready to work, I focus on the task at hand thats not to say I don't get side tracked and play something different but I always go back to my original plan for the session.

[The Bard Rocks]

You can fingerpick any song you can strum to - it may or may not fit well, but it can certainly be done.

There are many ways to get to Point B from Point A and you've started down many of the paths. Some are more direct than others, but as long as you enjoy the journey, who's to complain?

But I like to think of learning most anything as building blocks. You learn addition before subtraction, and those before division. All of them before algebra... Layers are added to the onion as it grows.

Playing with others can be a huge help - and it's fun. For one thing, you will be forced to at least strum through the entire song.

[Bain]

You know guys I would love to play with others , but unfortunately, nobody I know plays any instruments not even a pencil flute . Which would still work for me . This started out as a hobby 2 years now I think anyway, it has turned out to be more than that, it has become something I need , want desire, and I am loving the journey the only let down so far is I can’t share it with anyone , not that is mattters too much, but you know ..............

[SprintBob]

Since I first posted on this thread last year, I believe my focus is evolving towards more focus on fingerstyle and it seems I am now making more progress than ever.

This might help. I play difficult sections of a song I am learning extremely slow until I have accuracy and muscle memory and then I establish the fastest tempo I can play the section(s) with a metronome to establish a “baseline”. As soon as I can play the entire song accurately and in time (no matter how slow it is), that is the point where I can start trying to play the song more musically.