Thanks so much for all your replies.
I had a really good think over the weekend, and have come up with a sorta plan.
I decided the one area I had never explored to my satisfaction was advanced theory. I wouldn't ever say I was in a position where I was able to improvise over any chord sequence using modes, or even simple blues.
Mind you, I was never in a situation where I was asked to, but meh.
So I figured that what I would do, is use the Guitar Grimoires, and maybe you guys could suggest any other approaches, but I figured if I start by re-appraising myself of modal theory and then start to learn every scale, I can practice all scales, modes, pentatonics with a metronome, and chops will just have to build in the background.
I will also be learning all chords - I skimmed through every piece of guitar literature I could and found an interesting piece on Eric Gales, who plays the guitar upside down and left-handed, and can by virtue of this, and the fact he uses the thumb to fret over the top of the neck, can achieve some very interesting chord voicings which might normally be considered unreachable.
I am favoured with quite long fingers, so I am able to make the stretches that his playing fashion dictates and although I have always struggled with the thumb-over-the-neck thing, preferring to substitute a stretch, I am going to make this a point of my "new technique".
Also I can really concentrate on a nice vibrato and bend style, while my speed and accuracy "grows back".
Finally I had a think about it and I decided that as my lyrical ideas are usually pretty cheesy, I would just translate these into melody lines for the guitar, so that instead of thinking technically, I would be thinking with a vocal style when writing the lead lines.
Great to hear from you Steve - I am sure I will pick up the classical guitar one day, but not today.
So Eric is somebody new for me to listen to, and there are some other ideas above. I'm going to try & tread a new path with respect to influences rather than delve back into Vai and neoclassicism.
Thank you Jemsite! I look forward to getting back into the community and helping out where I can, the support is much appreciated.
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Oh and PS richard1973. GAS is a kinda necessary part of my life, I source and test all the stuff for the studio when I can. So I just found an Orange Tiny Terror and although its pretty damn loud for the house even at 7w, with that and my Cornford Harlequin which I am revalving, I should be able to build some nice home tones. The Tiny Terror has a real Brit sound which I am looking forward to appropriating as I rebuild my "voice". I have a
Jem BRMR on the way, and I placed an order with Ernie at ET for a Universe PAW replica, which should arrive April next year. Hopefully by that point I will have the chops to use it, and I can start developing out my chord voicings to 7 strings, with the thumb as a 5th finger!
