guitar lessons/sell guitar

kind of putting the cart before the horse there. you will only develop speed and soloing by knowing your scales backwards and forwards. it will take years of practice to really get good. and as someone who has been playing for 20 years, imo, the very first thing you should learn are your chords. i always advise people who want to learn to start off on acoustic and to learn your chords and how to stay in time. alot of people can play all the notes in the world, but they have horrible rhythm so they are lousy guitarists - it takes two hands to play guitar!

no offense, but if that is your attitude you should just stick to guitar hero.

 

what solo did you learn? and, what solos are you wanting to learn? i assume you are talking about learning someone else's solos...cause without knowledge in chords and scales...your solo-ing will be a trainwreck. speed is something that comes with lots of practice of playing chords and scales. there are a lot exercises that can improve finger speed and coordination...but that is only a part of solo-ing. then, there is the type of picking. you sound like you wanna be a sweep picker and, for that, you need to learn arpeggios.

 

Hey, I know you. Didn't we fire you from the band back in '76?

Seriously though, if you're willing to give up the guitar because you can't find a teacher to only teach speed/soloing, well, you're heart really isn't in it and I doubt you'll have the gumption to continue the lessons.

But, if I can offer a bit of advice in 3 words: Minor Pentatonic Scale. It's only a five note scale and it will give you endless opportunity to jam with most everybody. It's not the end-all scale but it's a great start for soloing.

Once you got the scale, youtube is your next friend. There are backing tracks EVERYWHERE. I've spent hours just improvising over them.

If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

 

I swear Guitar Hero has completely ruined music, and any kind of desire to learn fundamentals of music in kids today. Nobody wants to put in the time and effort to learn scales, positions, reading, etc. Now, everybody just wants to be the next Slash or Buckethead without putting in all the years and hard work those guys did. In order to get better at solos, you HAVE to get your fundamentals down. The whole IDEA of a solo is that you're showing off how insanely gifted you are at navigating on a guitar, and putting your own flare on the music. Just being able to regurgitate what someone else has done seems so.....pointless. Where's the creativity? Where's the feeling behind it?

Either way, if I were you, I would take the time to learn the scales, learn how to read the music, learn all the different nuances of playing the guitar.....the joy you will get from being able to do all those things will FAR outweigh your ability to be able to play one or two solos that someone else has done.

 

Gotta learn those chords man, fundamentals are key.


I was a big Guitar Hero guy too, but now I play my Acoustic every day.

 

I say give up... and by that I mean I'll take your guitar if your heart ain't in it.

 

I'm sure there's an auto-tune equivalent for guitar out there

 

i finally bought my own acoustic guitar in oct of last year and I'm just now trying to learn the chords and do all the scale exercises. It's not easy. I don't think my hands are made for playing the guitar

I LOVEEE my guitar and i wish i already knew how to play so i can make my own music haha but damn, it takes LOTS of practice. I hope i get better at it soon cause my hands don't seem to be cooperating with me.

 

LOL...you should have seen Leslie West's fingers of Mountain. Back in their hayday Leslie had the fattest, stubiest fingers I've ever seen that graced a fretboard.

Don't worry, you'll get it.

 

you have to learn your chords dude. Thats not evena question.

And most solos are based on scales like the pentatonic blue and stuff.

Its not as much of a hassle as you think it is.

 

I have huge hands, big sausage-like fingers, yet I manage to play pretty well.

 

jerry bear was missing a finger on his right hand and still did fine!

no offense, but if you feel that way than you really have no business playing guitar. learning the basics shouldnt make you go " ". it should be fun!

played it once and i did suck. but i suck at video games in general. it took me about 20 games to get over 30k on robot unicorn attack!

personally, i only now feel like i am actually getting good, and ive been playing for 20 years. my grandpa, who passed away a couple years ago, forgot more than i still know. in his later years he would only pick up his guitar maybe once a year and even though he was shaky and a bit sloppy, he could still do stuff that was beyond me as far as chord augmentations/variations. that doesnt just come magically - it takes years and years of practice and playing. im 35 and its going to take me a few more decades to get to his level.

maybe you know someone else who is interested in learning? if so, yall get together and just start playing - thats the best way to learn. when i started there were like 3 of us who all got into guitar at the same time. at first we just sat around strumming E and Eminor for a couple hours at a time. as we learned other chords we incorporated that into what we did. then we learned how to 'stick' parts together and create 'songs'.

i knew kids growing up when i started playing who went and got and electric guitars and took lessons at the local music store. they could play the latest green day or pearl jam song, but if you wanted to just sit down and do some simple improv jamming they were clueless. they didnt know how to play w/ other people and usually had poor rhythm (right hand). these are the people who generally did not stick w/ the guitar for more than a year or so.

 

I used to think it was all in the hands. I mean...look at most of the pros out there and they have these big hands and long fingers. I will say...it doesn't hurt to have big hands with nice, long slender fingers. If you have that, then you are already ahead of the curve imo. However, for people with smaller hands, the choice of neck on your guitar can have an impact. So, it's important to learn about neck shapes and play many guitars to find the best fit for you and your hands.

But, playing guitar is an awkward thing to begin with. The comfort only comes from practice and playing. I'm convinced that pretty much anyone can shred on guitar given the dedication to the craft. We've all seen the kids with small hands shredding on guitar. You can't just sit back and blame it on the hands for your shortcomings. Believe me...I would very much like to do that given where I'm at in my guitar playing. But, there are times where stuff you couldn't do well early on becomes easier with practice. Practice is what makes perfect in the end. But, it's what you practice as well. People who practice their way through all the boring fundamentals and evolve their playing and timing are going to fare much better in the end to people who just practice whatever. If you are going to spend the time, then you would want to practice to lessons that will yield a positive outcome. Choosing those lessons isn't a trivial thing...because they are everywhere.

Therefore, I think anyone can shred on guitar given they put whatever is necessary into the instrument to get to that point. As much as we all would like to jump into stuff like Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" straight away, it's just not realistic. But, you can certainly learn parts of it and keep practicing those parts while getting better and faster at playing it.

While an important part of guitar playing is playing stuff others have written, it's really about what you learn on the instrument and how you unlock your own style along the way. You will likely end up being influenced by plenty out there...but just mimicking someone else is no style at all.

I admit that I play guitar mainly as a hobby and stress reliever. And, I like to learn songs and stuff by ear and tab for my favorite artists. I also like to try to improvise and play over those same songs to add another layer to the song. I've dabbled in some recording but mostly just laying down songs I've learned. I've definitely developed some decent coordination and speed along the way. But, unless you have a natural talent on guitar (which some people do...like Alex Lifeson plays mainly by emotion and feel when coming up with new stuff...and just whatever he plays tends to work and make perfect musical sense), your best bet is to learn the fundamentals and evolve your knowledge through learning and practice...versus going down the road of just learning songs from your favorite artists. But, a lot of famous bands started out just playing tunes from their favorite bands and evolved from there. So, it's not unheard of. I think it works out much better if you are always playing with a band. That is when the creative juices can flow for original stuff...once playing covers gets old.