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Old 03-12-2011, 11:01 AM
MrFaulconbridge MrFaulconbridge is offline
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Default Will I still get better if I am constantly trying to create new music?

I am always trying to write new fingerstyle tunes when I pick up my guitar. Is there anything wrong with this and will I still get better at guitar?

I just love finding new melodies and stuff, I don't really enjoy learning other peoples songs and I'd rather just try and write my own.

I learn some theory and do scale runs and stuff. But is learning other peoples stuff essential to progress as a guitar player? Or can I use my own stuff I create and try to add fancy techniques which will improve me?
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Old 03-12-2011, 11:10 AM
mr. beaumont mr. beaumont is offline
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Just make it a point of actually learning what you're doing...don't just view the guitar as shapes and patterns--look into what combinations of notes sound good to your ear so you can find them again and apply them to different keys.

You might consider taking other peoples songs but creating your own arrangement...this will give you the satisfaction of "doing it yourself" but also force you to learn the language of music...if you really want to get better, you need to know some of that.

With my students I stress three "non negotiables"-- fretboard knowledge, chord building, and the major scale and it's harmony. The first two are probably most important to your personal progress-- so keep doing your own thing, but take notes. When you find three notes that sound good together, find the same notes in three other places on the neck--this will open up the fretboard--the first key in getting "better."
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Old 03-12-2011, 11:36 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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There's no one right answer to this - but there are two different issues: playing guitar, and writing songs. While they are obviously connected, they are independent skills.

You will get better at guitar the more you play - simple as that. Doesn't matter what you play, as long as you are listening to what you do and modifying anything you do if necessary (ie if it doesn't sound good).

Learning other people's songs will tend to make you a better songwriter. That is, it will teach you more about how to get the effects that other songwriters get.
And the more songwriters you study, the broader your compositional skills will get. (This would be how professionals go about it. It's like learning any trade: you study the masters and copy them.)

At the moment, you may not be aware of it, but everything you compose comes from something you've heard before. All the music you've heard in your life has gone into your brain somewhere. It's just been somewhat haphazard and piecemeal, unless you've sat down to consciously learn a song. So you're inspired by others whether you realise it (or want it) or not.

The only question is how conscious you want to make the process. If you feel your own songs are good enough now, that's fine. But if you feel you get into a rut at any point - that your songs are starting to all sound the same - that's a sign your inspiration is running dry. So you need to top it up. You will need to listen to a lot more music, and start absorbing some different ideas.
Again, you may not need to sit down and work anything out note by note. Often just hearing something can set you off down an interesting new path of experimentation.

Similar things apply to guitar paying. You can teach yourself perfectly well, just by trial and error - up to a point. It's only when (or if) there comes a time where you feel you're stagnating, or have reached a plateau, or hit a wall. That's where your self-tuition has run out of gas. The same advice applies: get out and look for some new stimulation - maybe some different kind of guitar playing. Or get lessons of course.

I don't think you need to worry about it right now - as long as you feel everything is OK right now. If you hit a rock some way down the line, well you can deal with that when you get there. It's possible to teach yourself bad habits, but as long as you stay inquisitive and keep trying new things, then you will improve.

It's actually interesting that you're worried about "getting better". That's a sign that you don't think you're very good at the moment. Fact is, probably everybody feels the same way! Nobody ever feels they're as good as they're ever going to get. The mistake is to always focus yourself on some future goal, some hoped-for level of skill that you're working towards. Never do that! Long-term goals are a BAD THING. (The only real long term thing is death...) Short term goals are fine: something you can achieve today, or tomorrow. Otherwise the only worthwhile goal is to enjoy what you are doing NOW.
If you're always thinking about getting as good as some other player you've heard, you'll never be satisfied. There'll always be someone better than you. And there'll always be someone worse than you. I'm not saying you shouldn't want to improve - but you should only compare yourself with how you used to be.
"Improvement" as a musician is only about realising your own aural imagination as best as you can. You can do this from moment to moment - it's not a long term plan. However good you are technically, it should always keep pace with your imagination and understanding. It's quite common for one or the other to edge ahead occasionally - because progress is not a smooth gradient, but goes in fits and starts - but then you work on the other to help it catch up.

So you only need to decide on what aspect of your playing (or creative thinking) you are currently dissatisfied with. If there is nothing - great! Carry on. It's silly to worry that by some point in the future you won't have "improved" from where you are now.
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Old 03-12-2011, 11:48 AM
shawlie shawlie is offline
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I know what you mean - it is a lot of fun to write your own stuff. The first twenty years I played (on and off, but quite a lot) I pretty much only made up my own things.

Didn't play for a few years and came back to it, wanting to get better. So I started looking at books of tab, and trying to arrange other songs for myself. I don't know, it seems I learned more the past three years than I did in the first twenty.

Seemed like learning actual tabs/songs taught me a lot of new things I might never have thought up on my own. Forced me to actually do things I would have not done otherwise. Made me use a lot of different fingerings I would have never bothered learning for my own songs.

I am happy I did spend time learning some songs, and it gives you something to work on when you don't feel like writing one of your own, too. I still almost only write/play my own songs, but always have a few books to work on and just go through some tunes and see what they are all about.

I may not make it a point to be able to actually play them all correct, but there's a lot you can maybe learn from other people that you can use to inspire your own writing.

But of course, if you like your own stuff, why not just keep on doing that? I was just not happy with my level of playing and decided to give tabs a try.
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Old 03-12-2011, 03:55 PM
jackcooper jackcooper is offline
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I don't think there is anything wrong with that approach at all. I never started learning other folk's songs until I was in my mid twenties. My brother has played guitar for almost as long as I have, and all he does is write his own music.

The one thing I've noticed when we play together is that he has more quirks and unusual tendencies in his playing. He always says that I'm a better player, but I more often than not find myself admiring his unconventional strumming/fingerpicking style.
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Old 03-12-2011, 07:05 PM
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rick-slo rick-slo is offline
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A concern would be writing only things that are within your comfort zone and skill set. If you are already accomplished than it is not a big issue. Otherwise you should take time from writing your own music to learn songs by others, especially somewhat challenging ones, so that you pick up new things and don't begin to stagnate in a rut.
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Old 03-14-2011, 08:35 AM
Allman_Fan Allman_Fan is offline
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There may come a time when you are the only musician around and your friends want to hear something they know to have fun and sing along.

Who you gonna call . . . ghostbusters?
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