Guitar learning has plateaued... Challenging myself again?

Dave!

Hey folks,

My background is that I've been playing guitar for about 10 years now, mainly interested in playing acoustic stuff I suppose. I've got a decent understanding of music theory, though once ya start going into the church modes and jazz, you lose me! I've also been playing piano for 3 or 4 years, I'm decent at that.

After about 4/5 years of youthful exhuberance and giddiness , trying to learn new songs, practicing, playing over backing tracks, etc., I guess I just stopped! I reached a point where I was comfortable, and I could play and write some good stuff, so I just got lazy really.

Well 5 years later, and I've gotten pretty frustrated with how one-dimensional my playing has become. I tend to go back to the same keys, chord progressions, etc.

I suppose my musical goal at this point is to be able to write my own songs, and I don't think that my current range is enough for me to enable me to write anything interesting.

Is anyone else in the same situation? Or have they been? Any advice?

I'm thinking that I should go back to lessons and get some one-on-one with an experienced teacher. They'll be able to guide my development a bit more and point me in the right direction. I only really had lessons in the first couple of years, I'd benefit from more structured learning I reckon.

I'm also thinking that I should try get a band of some sort going. I've never really had an interest in playing in a band, but now I think that having someone else to write and play with would be of benefit. Plus I think 10 years of just playing by yourself is probably a bit much!

Just venting here really I guess! I think when I get paid this month I'm gonna pick up a new classical guitar, and go from there. My current acoustic is a hape of shíte with a horrible sound and too much buzzing.

Any thoughts you have, share away

Cheers

edit:

FYI, influences include... Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Guns n Roses...

stereojam77

Hey,

It seems to happen to everyone at some stage of playing. One thing I have heard that is really effective of pulling you out of a funk is to change the tuning. There are loads more than the standard E. Here's a wiki page some.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_tunings

It will really refresh you as a player and give a boost to your creativity, especially if you want to start writing your own songs. Even the oft used drop d tuning will have melodies dancing off the fret board for you! It's really about getting out of your comfort zone and pushing yourself again like you did when first learning.

Hope that helps you some bit.

Oh_Noes

This happened to me about eleven or twelve years ago after fairly intensive guitar tuiton and weekly lessons for around seven years. I would advise you not to overlook jazz as it's where everything you've learned can really all meld together and open up a lot of new doors for you.

I was in your position and basically just stopped playing for a number of years. I was however in the not-too-uncommon situation for a guitar player of not being able to read sheet music. I decided to take up a brass instrument and went to weekly music lessons where I learned how to read music. It took a while to come together, but when it did, it gave me a whole new perspective on guitar playing and again, opened up some new worlds that haven't dulled since.

So my main two bits of advice to you would be to go back and have a look at jazz and have a chat to your guitar teacher about it. Learn how to improvise through key changes and really challenge yourself. You didn't mention if you read music or not in your thread but if you can't then I would suggest you learn it. Even if it means taking up a new instrument. You won't look back.

Good luck!

Dave!

Cheers lads! I don't read music, no. Well, very basic stuff, takes me hours to decipher it though

I was actually thinking of buying a sax some time in the near future! Would be pretty cool to be able to play

rcaz

Dave! wrote: »

once ya start going into the church modes and jazz, you lose me!

This! You've already outlined a weakness, why not start there?

You sound a bit like me, in that you want to write your own music rather than play lots of really difficult music. I know there's lots and lots of new technique I could study to get my playing better and more impressive and all, but that doesn't really interest me. I started studying theory for theory's sake (as opposed to studying theory specifically to put it onto guitar), and that improved my composition and songwriting a lot.

Modes were a really big deal to me. Not because I use modes all the time or anything, and I still don't really know them that well, but just 'cause understanding that there's another system you can use to organise tonalities and intervals showed me that there can be unlimited systems, or that I can invent my own system if I want to, that while there are lots of great rules you can follow, you can break them all or swap them around as you want.

+1 on looking at jazz - those guys knew all the rules so well, how to improvise over harmonic progressions and all - and then they went so far past what used to be 'the rules'... Bitches Brew, In A Silent Way, Interstellar Space, there are so many jazz albums that don't sound like anything else ever... Have a look at some John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus... All such great stuff! And if you're into Tom Waits you should be into what some of these guys are doing :cool:

And I'd say look at classical music a lot too! Not like 18th/19th Century stuff (though a lot of that is so great!), but have a look at 20th and 21st Century stuff, when 'the rules' are so far gone that nothing matters anymore. In pop music tonality is still so important, and you get people finding other ways to push the music forward, but in classical music tonality was almost gone in the late 1800s and then completely destroyed by the 1920s or so (well of course lots of people didn't subscribe to atonality but the thinking was there). Check out Ligeti, Xenakis, Stravinsky... Xenakis was a huge deal for me, completely changed the way I think about music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVPd302yIL0

seachto7

Open Tunings all the way...........

Have a listen to some John Butler or Jeff Lang stuff. John Butler uses a lot of open C tunings with capos etc, while Jeff Lang uses a lot of DAGAD, and both of them blend acoustic and distorted sounds, which could be good to play around with..

Dave!

Cheers lads

raindog.promo

Write something on guitar, then play what you've written on the keyboard. Change it intuitively to suit the keyboard and then take that back to the fretboard Tune up/down strings where necessary. I like doing that.

Also, Check out some Nick Drake songs and tabs - Lots of different tunings and interesting techniques used there.

Enjoy what you're doing more than thinking about what you're doing.

Demeyes

I'd really suggest trying to jam with a few people and get a band going. You'll find there's a lot more than just being able to play a part, you need to be able to play it along with everyone else too! It's great fun and will definitely help you out of your rut. After a few times playing with people you'll have stuff you'll want to work on and improve and you'll learn a load too.
I think playing with other musicians will help you appreciate guitars place in music, the sound of it and how to get the most out of it.