What you didn't know that held you back

[Fatfinger McGee]

Do half as much, twice as well. Silence and well-timed space is music too.

Slow down until it sounds good.

Practice is a learned skill. There's a big difference between playing guitar every day and practicing guitar every day.

Like most things, you'll learn a lot faster practicing with someone else than you will by yourself.

[Su_H.]

Proper right hand technique.

I just thought that my sheer will and determination was going to do it for me. Boy, was I wrong.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by rllink

I hope this fits, the lack of a teacher. For a long time I was teaching myself and it was going okay, but painfully slow. I would spend an inordinate amount of time wading through the internet trying to figure out how to do something and a month later when I finally figured it out I would be mentally exhausted. I started one on one lessons in September and it is so much easier to just ask him and he shows me. I spend a lot more time practicing and playing and a lot less time stumbling around in the dark. What used to take me months to learn takes a week now. I think the absence of guidance and having that resource held me back. I wish I had gotten a teacher a long time ago.

I'll echo this, to some extent at least.

I taught myself, but I wouldn't say my progress was "painfully slow". It was painful - on the fingertips, because my cheap first guitar had a terrible action, and it took me a while to work out how to fix it (hacksawing down the nut slots ). But I progressed as fast as my fingertips allowed.

Of course, this was long before the internet! I figured everything out from:
(a) a tutor book (not a great one);
(b) songbooks (I could read notation);
(c) records (with the help of a 2-speed tape deck);
and (d) friends who could play a little better than me (I joined their band).

Those four things taught me everything I needed to know about theory, songwriting, improvisation, fingerstyle technique, and so on. (I should probably add that I read some theory books too, but they didnt teach me anything useful that I hadn't already learned from the songs.)

I would also record myself and listen back, although I wasn't a very critical listener in those days. (Listening to those old tapes many years later, I'm appalled by how bad some of it is...)

Where a teacher came in - and this is where I agree with the above - was over 30 years after I'd begun playing. I'd been gigging bands for nearly that long, in various different styles - folk, blues, rock, jazz, etc) - only as an amateur, but earning a little on the side. But I'd decided to take a jazz performance diploma, and a couple of one-on-one lessons were required.
The teacher (a pro musician who was actually a friend of mine) spotted straight away an issue I had, that I was kind of aware of but hadn't really addressed before, or considered that important (I thought I was handling it OK).

It was that I didn't play with enough positive attack. I didn't play like I meant it. I had a kind of detached attitude, too laid back. I knew one was supposed to be relaxed, not tense in any way, but it is possible to be too relaxed! I knew from videos of my playing that I looked I didn't care too much about it. I could play OK, but I didn't really put myself into it.
So the first thing he got me to do was to sit properly. Sit - and hold the instrument - like you're about to deliver something really important.

The second thing was a technical exercise: play a scale with fret hand only. IOW, play with hammer-ons and pull-offs alone, no picking, and play in time. (Ideally to a metronome.)
The effect of this exercise was extraordinary. After I'd done the left-hand only exercise for a while, and brought the picking hand back in, suddenly my playing sounded positive and strong. The timing and tone were both crisp and clear. I sounded like I meant it.

So it took a teacher to (a) observe what my issue was, and (b) suggest a simple solution.

[Gitfiddlemann]

The second thing was a technical exercise: play a scale with fret hand only. IOW, play with hammer-ons and pull-offs alone, no picking, and play in time. (Ideally to a metronome.)

I heartily second that one, and luckily for me I learned it years ago while taking lessons.
Definitely great for timing. What I also found is that it really helps to strengthen the hand in a good way, i.e. it promotes dexterity and accuracy of fretting. Also for me, keeping the pinky from being too unruly and straying too far from the fretboard.
I found it worked best on all 5 two octave diatonic major scale forms. (G, A, C, D, F). It's in the lower part of the fretboard too (2nd and 1st positions), so it's arguably a good warm-up/stretching exercise as well.
So yeah, definitely a good one! (Thanks for the reminder JonPR! )

[rwhitney]

Lack of ear training and true proficiency on an instrument were probably the biggest setbacks for me. Also not knowing how much work and commitment, at least initially, went into the music I admired.

[Fatfinger McGee]

Originally Posted by JonPR

The second thing was a technical exercise: play a scale with fret hand only. IOW, play with hammer-ons and pull-offs alone, no picking, and play in time. (Ideally to a metronome.)

So it took a teacher to (a) observe what my issue was, and (b) suggest a simple solution.

Just tried it. My timing stinks, my pull-offs are barely audible, and my fretting hand is worn out after only a short time. I love it! Thanks for the insight into a glaring weakness.

[Andyrondack]

Originally Posted by rwhitney

Lack of ear training and true proficiency on an instrument were probably the biggest setbacks for me. Also not knowing how much work and commitment, at least initially, went into the music I admired.

This is probably the bigest thing that held me back, wish I'd known better as a kid to just tell the grown ups to get lost when they said people who played by ear were not 'proper' musicians.