Being good yet horrible at guitar

  • Thread starter Thread starter BigGuitars
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I feel you. I was so good as a teenager and into my early twenties. At some point it was like I hit a wall, and started reverting. I can't play anything like I could in my youth. I still write music, play in bands, but I don't really get better. I just hack away at it and have fun, but I don't get caught up in trying to achieve a certain level. Just write music you enjoy. If's unfortunate that some of us weren't born savants, but that's how life goes. I have a good friend who picked up guitar over the Covid pandemic and he's already sweeping all over the place and throwing me away. He sang in bands before, but had no actual musical training before in life. He's early 30s, I think. Some people just have the fucking genes for it.
 
At my ‘best’ I had very, very good ‘mechanics.’ There wasn’t much that I could not learn and copy convincingly in the early 90s in my cover band. I had played piano and sax growing up, so I understood theory pretty well. And I literally practiced chops / scales 3-4 hrs a day. My absolute shortfall was zero originality / creativity / songwriting ability. And zero vocal ability. I was ‘outed’ early in the music industry. And the older I get, the more clunky my chops have become no matter how much I try to woodshed. But I absolutely LOVE the feel of the guitar across my lap and the sound of the interaction of glass, iron, and wood bellowing out of a straight front 4x12. Now I play for sanity. And I wouldn’t give it up for anything!!!
 
Well..since you've basically completely claimed you're useless on the guitar, well I bet you are
with that attitude.
What you practice is far more important then just pick it up to wank for hours convincing yourself
that somebody somewhere will dig what your noodling.
There's a big difference between practice and
rehearsal.
For me, it's listening to music with PRECISION
that fuels them growth spurts.
Like a f'n beanstalk.
Stay far away from clips and dude's with the gnarliest modded Marshall's demo'ing the days away..
That crap rubbs off on you and can effect your direction resulting in embarrassment.
Who the hell really wants to listen to that?
Barfly's would rather put your tip money's
in the damn jukebox.
Might as well jerk each other off.
 
Know what you should do man? Write a shitty songs ep. Take the pressure off and just have fun. You can have the band thing that you rollercoaster through trying to get better, but allow yourself to 'suck' on another just for fun project.
 
If you haven't already find some dudes to jam with, most likely you will realize you are much better than you think or it will force you to get better. As for writing songs I like to take an opening riff of someone notable and rework everything after it. it's a great exercise to experiment around with chord choice and timing.
 
tjnx said:
Know what you should do man? Write a shitty songs ep.
Click to expand...

John Lennon would say the same thing. You gotta write a number of shitty songs
to learn what you're doing wrong - and then you improve on those things.
 
I think I can play good. Know ton of songs. Can sing. But being great at guitar? Not a chance. Really happy with my limited skills
 
Cool thread with some great comments! But the OP's first sentence threw me off. Seems like musical ability is a combination of many things, not just genetics. Like how dedicated are you to practicing and approaching the instrument with structured learning. I aspire to be more dedicated, as I'm sure many of us do, but at the same time I'm not hard on myself when I spend time pursuing other interests. Like everything in life, people fall on a wide spectrum of how inspired they are by guitar and in turn how much effort they want to put into it.

For me, the awesome thing about guitar is that I can maintain a decent level of proficiency and still get so much out of it in return. It's just as much about the experience of a cranked tube amp through a full stack as it is about skillful songwriting and creating art that appeals to others. Sometimes Madison Square Bedroom is all that's needed to get in the zone!
 
I’m fairly musically inclined. My mom is a great singer/player. I grew up listening to her. I pick up instruments really quickly, however I also plateua technically fairly quickly. I get to the point where I can play what I need to just to get by and then just stop progressing. Songwriting and composition is actually much easier for me than the actual tecnique side of it. Possibly because it just interests me more.
 
17-21
Baddest guitarist in Merrimack Valley
21-30
Raising family time - not much guitar.
30-58
Alcoholism. Never played once without first having a couple drinks.
Then after the third or fourth every damn thing you play sounds amazing.

December 14, 2018 - First day of sobriety

Didn't pick up a guitar for an entire month. Was terrified that it wouldn't
be fun anymore or that I would find out how much I really sucked.

Well, it was still fun playing but WOW!!!! did I suck. Stuck in all the worst
ruts and my tightness and rhythm had gone completely to shit.

Took about a year but back to feeling good about my chops and I'm always
having a complete blast playing these days.



TL;DR,
I was good.
Then I sucked.
I think I'm good again.
 
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311splawndude said:
Congrats on your sobriety. That date was my 50th birthday.
Click to expand...

We're about 8-9 years apart.

I was 15 for Zeppelin, Sabbath, Yes, early Rush
You were 15 around 1983 - the start of the golden age of first post EVH super shredders
who also knew how to hold down King Kong grooves (Nuno) and play with melody (Vitto).

One thing I've noticed around here is how a vast majority have the amazing right hands for rhythm.
I skipped both punk and thrash so I can't play like that to save my life.
Can pick super fast for soloing but the kind of stuff you guys can do just blows my mind.
 
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Alright.
The cat's out of the bag.
Everything is a blues riff.
Even these down-tuned structures are
double-bottom heavy blues riffs sprinkled
with mixolydian tendencies....
Now go listen to some shit and report back
your findings.


Today's song...Slipknot "Eyeless"
There's a BEEFY turaround riff in that
motherf*cker.
RIP Joey, so much love for you man.
 
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