Hit a learning Plateau on guitar

Mongo_Solo1984

Hey everyone. I play alot of guitar and have been playing for about 8 years now. dont get me wrong i'd consider myself pretty good. Slash is a big influence on me and a can play alot of his solo's just to give u and idea of my ability. But i've hit a bit of a learning plateau..i find that when improvising i play alot of the same kind of riffs and it gets frustrating. I guess i need more scope i dont know where to go..does anyone have any good sites,suggestions on what to do?
cheers.

Rigsby

This happens to me from time to time with my bass playing. You could try listening to and trying to play along to some new different music. I'd suggest humming some new riffs to yourself without the guitar. That way, muscle memory wont keep dragging you back to the same old riffs. Later, you can apply them to your playing. I also find that a few lessons from a good teacher helps to kick start my playing and get me over that temporary impasse.

Hope this was of some help.

Hockney

I'd say try to get into a whole new area. There are so many styles and tricky techniques to get your teeth into, they're practically endless.

I hit what I thought was a brick wall about 18 months ago myself. Restoring my interest in the instrument, and desire to nail something wicked are what got me through it more than anything else.

I kept interest up by buying a new guitar which meant I no longer had the excuse of my gear holding me back, and it staved off a GAS explosion. I kept my desire up by hearing some really tricky stuff and saying to myself, "Some day I'll nail that", so I got to work. (Am I Evil? solo by Diamond Head was one, Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson was the other).

I highly recommend picking up an issue of Guitar Techniques magazine (this caught my eye as it featured Cliffs Of Dover). It covers all of the major genres, gives flawless tabs, backing tracks, history/rig setups/techniques used of each artist featured along with lots of in-depth theory lessons. Cover to cover in each issue will give you easily 6 months of new challenges no problem. Maybe half the stuff in there wont suit your ear, but if a third of it does it'll keep you busy for a few months and open you up to loads of new stuff!

Mongo_Solo1984

thanks for the input guys

Fingers Mcginty

Learn off Hotel California Solo...many great ideas in here...Then try the final countdown solo...I know cheesy song but great solo.

rcaz

Why not move away from solos? You said you've learned a few Slash solos, so I guess your fairly technically proficient, why not lay off the technique-focused stuff and learn some sickening jazz chord-melody stuff or something?

Or a bit of classical? I started learning classical about a month ago, and I love it. playing bass and melody at the same time feels pretty fresh to me.

NoQuarter

Try fiddle around with different scales, if you know slashs stuff you might know the pentatonic minor scale but now find all those little colourful notes that are in between the pentatonic scale. These notes are just amazing sounding and add so much life to solos: (the grey & blue notes)








Jimmy page was the master at this and if you have a little look at these lessons for No quarter live youll get the idea: (also in C)


http://www.vanderbilly.com/videoList.aspx?st=10&vt=no%20quarter&vidte=&artistName=&sn=&cle=0,1,2,3&rc=36&en=&cadena=st=10;t=&eid=&t=1&typvs=4&p=1&category=blues_guitar



then after that try these two sites because...well...they are great.


http://www.12bar.de/

&

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/

enjoy.

Sergio

Im a member of this uk based site for a few years now and cant reccomend it highly enough.it cost a small amount but is worth it to become a full member.check it out

www.licklibrary.com

Doctor J

I'd agree with everything hockney said. Guitar playing to me has usually consited of picking up a guitar and coming up with riffs. I injured my left arm as a kid so speedy lead playing has always been impossible, so I stuck with what I was comfortable with. In the last couple of years I've been trying to expand a little, get out of my comfort zone. Part of that has been getting some instruments which force you to do something different. If you find you're falling into the same old things on a LP with humbuckers, get a Telecaster or something where you can't fall back on the same tones, where you need to do something different to get the best out of the instrument. That Guitar Techniques mag is excellent too, I've only discovered it recently but it's excellent in how it covers a lot of different styles.

What I'd also say it try not to just learn someone else's licks in a different style. Try to write your own music in that style, come up with your own voice, your own way of playing that style, rather than just sounding like Slash when playing rock, SRV when playing blues, etc.

Mickarooney

Try some different tunings, I had great fun trying to learn songs in a different tuning - you can get some great sounds too.

OK-Cancel-Apply

Lots of great advice here. I'd agree with the above post too. If you're getting somewhat tired of the sound of your guitar, try another tuning. You won't find your brain 'tuning out' or 'switching off' to the sound of it so easily. This could help you hear things in a different way. I had really light strings on my guitar once and decided to tune sharp by a half step. Playing all my usual licks in F minor and A# minor (etc..) sounded quite new to my ear.

rcaz

OK-Cancel-Apply wrote: »

Lots of great advice here. I'd agree with the above post too. If you're getting somewhat tired of the sound of your guitar, try another tuning. You won't find your brain 'tuning out' or 'switching off' to the sound of it so easily. This could help you hear things in a different way. I had really light strings on my guitar once and decided to tune sharp by a half step. Playing all my usual licks in F minor and A# minor (etc..) sounded quite new to my ear.

I think he means completely different tuning, rather than just moving standard tuning up or down. Have a look here!

Ostrich guitar! D-D-D-D-D-D! :P

OK-Cancel-Apply

El Pr0n wrote: »

I think he means completely different tuning, rather than just moving standard tuning up or down. Have a look here!

Ostrich guitar! D-D-D-D-D-D! :P

Ah yeah that's probably what he meant. I have actually tried some of those myself, but not for long because they are confusing and shyte. Plus I don't play slide

rcaz

OK-Cancel-Apply wrote: »

Ah yeah that's probably what he meant. I have actually tried some of those myself, but not for long because they are confusing and shyte. Plus I don't play slide

I don't get how trying something new with a guitar can be 'shyte'...

OK-Cancel-Apply

Kidding dude...

rcaz

OK-Cancel-Apply wrote: »

Kidding dude...

Oh right... Brilliant!

OK-Cancel-Apply

Well, not the finest witticism I ever conjured, but hey, these things just come out of one's fingers and onto the keyboard sometimes!

seachto7

off my head, I'd say listen to some different types of music. Listen to some trad even, some flamenco, bit of jazz , Frank Zappa...

With the trad stuff, the technique is hard enough, so it's almost like lead guitar in itself (jigs, reels, etc..). It will build up your tremelo picking anyways, and you might get some new scales out of it.

John Butler is a good guitar player. He uses open tunings..

Some bluegrass riffs would be good to learn on guitar turned to 10!

cosmiccreepers

Hi all, i have been playing for a good few years and am interested in blues slide guitar.

Anyone know of teachers in Dublin?