advice please!

[xklusivly4u]

I have been playing on and off for years but my skills are not improving. I practice scales and soon after I forget. Try to play songs but I couldn’t finish long solo e.g Sweet child o mind. I can only play slow and short solos. Would very much appreciated if you can give me some advise where to start.

thanks

[MelodyMan]

Originally Posted by xklusivly4u

I have been playing on and off for years but my skills are not improving. I practice scales and soon after I forget. Try to play songs but I couldn’t finish long solo e.g Sweet child o mind. I can only play slow and short solos. Would very much appreciated if you can give me some advise where to start.

thanks

Don't play on and off - if you really want to be good at something, you need to commit to it. Play everyday and try to play for at least an hour everyday. You won't be able to build any momentum or remember what you've been practicing if you play on and off, and your muscle memory for what things feel like on the guitar will be very poor.

[xklusivly4u]

Originally Posted by MelodyMan

Don't play on and off - if you really want to be good at something, you need to commit to it. Play everyday and try to play for at least an hour everyday. You won't be able to build any momentum or remember what you've been practicing if you play on and off, and your muscle memory for what things feel like on the guitar will be very poor.

yeah recent a few months back, I have been playing almost everyday.

[MelodyMan]

Good! Then you just need to be patient - it'll come. Figure out what areas you want to improve in - music theory, ear training, improv/writing, right hand technique, left hand technique etc. and make a schedule. Allot a certain amount of time for each area - then you can be sure that your practice times are balanced and beneficial.

Good luck - it's one of the most rewarding things to realize that you're improving!

[Eco]

Get some lessons from a reputable teacher, they will be able to guide you into a good practice routine pretty quickly if you have trouble learning.

[MelodyMan]

Originally Posted by Eco

Get some lessons from a reputable teacher, they will be able to guide you into a good practice routine pretty quickly if you have trouble learning.

I second that - a lot of people try to go the "self-taught" route, but they end up floundering around, unsure of where to begin or what direction to go in - a teacher will help you with that.

[xklusivly4u]

Thanks for your tips guys.

How do you guys learn solo? Find out cords and scales first before you read notes?

I read tabs, listen to music and my hand just can’t play it. It is a bit hard for me to go for lessons due to my job.

[MelodyMan]

Originally Posted by xklusivly4u

Thanks for your tips guys.

How do you guys learn solo? Find out cords and scales first before you read notes?

I read tabs, listen to music and my hand just can’t play it. It is a bit hard for me to go for lessons due to my job.

Yes, I would learn about chords and scales before really delving into lead work. If you have a really good understanding of chord structure and what scales can be played over what chords and such, when you do lead work it will be so much better...as opposed to just guessing.

Your hands will get there - just take it SLOW.

[wallie!]

Originally Posted by xklusivly4u

Thanks for your tips guys.

How do you guys learn solo? Find out cords and scales first before you read notes?

I read tabs, listen to music and my hand just can’t play it. It is a bit hard for me to go for lessons due to my job.

It would be really good for you to know what key the song is in, it might pay off to practice improvising. If you send me a PM I can send you some good beginners backing tracks, but if you can improvise you can throw in your own solos instead of the stock ones.

Perhaps instead of focusing on the solo as a whole, just break it into manageable parts (such as breaking it into licks). I usually break the solos I need to learn into 2 sections:
- The parts that won't require much work, they might be slow or just familiar runs, usually 'fillers' in-between all the fast stuff.
- The parts that require a lot of work, for instance im learning memories by satriani so this section involves all the legato, the short sweeping sections. For these fast bits all you need is a lot of time, and a metronome. Set it at a low pace, then work your way up maybe over the course of the month.

Also have a look around on the net for some exercises that involve the techniques required in the solo. Often some parts (say for instance a difficult legato run) are just modified from a simpler idea. If you want some exercises for legato or alternate picking just let me know and ill write you out a couple of them that i found handy.

breaking the solo into manageable pieces might be a good place to begin.

[xklusivly4u]

Originally Posted by wallie!

It would be really good for you to know what key the song is in, it might pay off to practice improvising. If you send me a PM I can send you some good beginners backing tracks, but if you can improvise you can throw in your own solos instead of the stock ones.

Perhaps instead of focusing on the solo as a whole, just break it into manageable parts (such as breaking it into licks). I usually break the solos I need to learn into 2 sections:
- The parts that won't require much work, they might be slow or just familiar runs, usually 'fillers' in-between all the fast stuff.
- The parts that require a lot of work, for instance im learning memories by satriani so this section involves all the legato, the short sweeping sections. For these fast bits all you need is a lot of time, and a metronome. Set it at a low pace, then work your way up maybe over the course of the month.

Also have a look around on the net for some exercises that involve the techniques required in the solo. Often some parts (say for instance a difficult legato run) are just modified from a simpler idea. If you want some exercises for legato or alternate picking just let me know and ill write you out a couple of them that i found handy.

breaking the solo into manageable pieces might be a good place to begin.

thanks a lot guys. breaking the solo into pieces is very good idea.

[Aziza]

A good advice by my dad that helped me a lot, was also putting something aside, playing something else and then trying the first thing again some days or a week later. It's not always the right method, but if a solo is much too fast or to difficult for you, you often don't improve on it, if you play it everyday some hours and you get frustrated. Then you should leave it for a while and search for something, with a similar technique. That helps very often to get on with the solo you actually wanted to play...