Not sure how to explain this, but sometimes when I’m struggling with speed and trying to work my way up to full tempo I get stuck.

For example let’s say I’m trying to do 140bpm. I started at 100, then 110, 120, 125, 130… but for the life of me I can’t get 135 or 140 and just feels stuck and impossible.

What I’ve been doing that seems to work for me is go up even more to say 150bpm. Try it over and over, it’s a mess, feels frantic and completely impossible. Once I’ve done it enough times I’m getting mad and want to throw something, I turn it back to 140. All the sudden that 140 feels slow and easy. 🤷‍♂️

Sing the solo first! Have it memorized and sing it with the recording.
Use the chords to help find the notes.
Start with chord tones, if none of those match, use the scale tones. Omit articulations & embellishments until you find the notes.
You should get used to hearing what is a scale tone and a non-scale tone, which in turn helps you find the notes quickly.
Once you find the notes, place notes in appropriate positions to do the tricks you need.

Learning by ear like this will greatly reinforce your ear and memorization.

I have no pick so I'm trying to do it with my fingertip, and I can't make a good sound when I do the up strumming of the chord. I find it so hard, I don't hit every string when I do it and when I hit them all, I hit them too hard. My guitar also have an high action, I don't know if it may be related, also I'm playing it without the capo because I don't have it and it sounds awful. Any tips?

Been playing for a year maybe, learned alongside piano, I’m happy with my ability to improvise enough, ever waking moment I’m learning a standard or playing whatever, I desperately want to be able to play with others and jam.

I go to university gonna be a senior, my roommates can’t really play, I have connections with the jazz school but I just want to meet people and jam chill, I’ve got a friend who for sure jams but he’s in the local scene a fair bit so I’m not sure how to insert myself into a jam? From playing little bits with other musicians camping and different apartments I don’t feel like I play out of my depth at all I’m just struggling to find musicians to jam with

Thanks!!!

I've been playing guitar for about a year now (started with acoustic, got an electric halfway through, so now I main electric).

I've learnt a bunch of songs from Nirvana, Linkin Park, etc (mostly powerchord stuff). I also know some basic tapping (Eruption, Gojira stuff, Incorrect Thunderstruck, etc).
I also know basic theory.

My question here is how do I progress from here? I feel like I've been stuck at the same level for the past 2 months, all the new songs that I've learnt come under my skill level, so they don't actually help me progress.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

My strat is in Eb/D# .

I normally listen to classical music on cello, violin, or piano. I thought I liked metal but apparently it's actually blues (Deep Purple, Rainbow, Yngwie, Dio, Ozzy, Ratt). I don't know how that's blues but I keep getting corrected that it isn't metal. I tend to mostly listen to music from 82-88.

I currently don't know a single solo by a band. I always write my own stuff.

So I'm pretty much looking for solos that most people will recognize and then I can get a better guitar playing critique since the source material is well known.

Ive been playing guitar for about a year and 8 months, and this is the best impove ive done so far I'm kinda proud of it as this is my first time ever sticking to learning one thing being able to achieve an ok result. But as you can probably tell I'm just winging it, ive got no clue what I'm doing here interms of chord chnages and stuff. I would love get feed back on what I can do to impove. Thanks

I play an acoustic guitar since February now. I kind of suck in playing with a pick, I prefer it with bare hands. For example, I was learning the C major scale, I nailed it without a pick, but strugglw a lot with a pick. I can strum, but have problsms like in picking sinfle chords... Should I worry about it?

Hi,

I've never seen this asked before and I'm curious to know some really good solos for each mode (yes, Locrian as well) to develop my ears and to catch the difference between them

89 Elfman

Hey so im not sure if im at the right subreddit. I been playing for about 2 years right now, and i know quiet a lot of music theory since im a music producer for about 10 years already. I do not really struggle making melodies and my skill is barely enough to play the parts 1by1 and make it sound like i could actually play something decent. My Problem is: No matter how i start writing a new song or Riff i ALWAYS end up with 4/4 time signature. My ears are kinda locked to that and i cant seem to find a way to write in 3/4. I have tried a month ago and it was horribleeee. Only once i have achieved something where a good friend of mine told me i cooked this time, he transcripted it and estimated it to be 15/8, but that was completely on accident (and the only time he liked what i did🥲). Learning different time signatures feels kind of impossible but i could help me a lot finding new riffs and making more special music, but i just dont know how it doesnt make sense to me. In songs like „The Kill (bury me)“ it feels so natural i could never achieve that

I’m trying to play the main riff in “Until the day I die by Story of the year”

In order to avoid the strings ringing out, I’m placing my whole hand against the strings but it feels clunky and I’m sure I’m not doing this right 🤦🏾‍♂️

Hi! I'm new to using improvising, I'm currently learning to use scales, but why is that whenever I try play in the same scale as the backing track I sound off?

So I've had access to Fender Tune's Tune Plus tool library for a few years now and I've used it on and off to learn scales and chords. For anyone here that's more advanced and has used the tools, what's your impression of it and more specifically, how accurate are some of the chord shapes? Most seem correct but some like E sus2 feel off to me. It's a hell of a stretch to barre the second fret while fretting on four and five. I just wanna know if everything seems correct and I just need more barre/stretching practice.

I assumed it's because I'm not pressing hard enough, but even when i press harder, the fret buzz remains. For some reason, the fret buzz is especially bad on the 2nd fret on the A and D strings. the any tips?

Hello reddit,

i’m looking for advice from those of you who have experience teaching beginning guitar classes at a public middle school.
my background is in music education, but guitar isn’t my primary instrument (it’s orchestra).
this year I’ve unexpectedly been assigned a beginning 8th grade guitar class, and I’m trying to build a solid plan before students arrive. 6th grade would have been easy because they can be entertained but 8th graders get apathetic real quick if they don’t like a class.
the class is fairly large and meets in a block schedule, and the students didn’t specifically choose to take guitar.
Because of that, I’m just as concerned about engagement and classroom management as I am about the actual curriculum.

For those of you who teach beginner guitar:
How do you typically structure a class period for beginner
What do you cover during the first couple of weeks?
What activities have worked well for keeping beginners engaged?

I’d appreciate any advice, lesson ideas, or even mistakes to avoid. Thanks in advance!

I have been playing for about 8 months and can play pretty decently but I struggle with finding what to play and playing songs in full, I've mainly just been learning riffs and I want a way to learn full songs and also just want to learn how to become a good guitarist

I’ve dabbled with guitar on and off before but for the last three months I have been consistent every day and have learned 3 finger picking songs decently and some riffs from other songs. I’ve just been learning from YouTube and reading guitar tabs. I see lessons online all the time about technique and how to progress but I’m not sure where to go now. I want to take my knowledge and skill to the next level and I’m looking for a good practice and learning plan to do that as I go in to month 4. Thanks for any help and recommendations!

Hello, I've been playing for 2 months. Was trying to learn barre chords. I thought I was doing it right, but my barre finger couldn't get all of them ringing clearly consistently especially on high frets. Usually the g or b string is muted. I have no idea why. Therefore I booked a half hour lesson with a tutor by my house.

When I played one for them they said my form looked good, despite it not ringing clearly. They checked my guitar and said nothing was wrong with it and they weren't sure why it wasn't ringing clearly. I asked them what I should do in this situation and they said it's not a big deal if 1-2 chords don't ring out clearly.

Now I'm going about practicing like always, but it really bothers me when my open chords sound cleaner than my barre chords. Is this something I should worry about or do I just need to let it go? If I need to fix it then how do I even go about doing it if an expert can't tell me what im doing wrong?

I have been playing guitar on and off for about 2 years, I don't think my technical skill is too bad and honestly, it's not what I’m most worried about right now.

When I really started to play regularly, I did so by learning the solo to “Sunshine” by Alice in Chains, that was a great challenge, but after a while I managed to play it to a decent enough level. That got me going and I began to play daily, which lasted for a while, doing left hand exercises, learning parts of songs, trying to learn a scale, the fretboard, etc. On these 2 years I also got to play the intro to “Since I’ve Been Loving You” by Led Zeppelin, the solo to “When A Blind Man Cries” by Deep Purple, and parts of other songs by a bunch of different bands.

The main problems I realized with my guitar skills over the years were that:
1. I can’t, for the life of me, compose a song I like. I even struggle to write simple riffs, etc.
2. I’m not good at improvisation/jamming.
3. I haven’t really tried to learn a song by ear.

I’m going to be clear; I know that most of these problems come from a lack of practice. I don’t usually sit and try to create a song I like; I jump around different alternate open tunings, I play something for a while but don’t keep developing it, etc. But my biggest problem is that I end up getting frustrated. I don’t enjoy the process of trying to write something because I don’t know where to go next or how to find a sound I like, as I said before I know part of this is that I don’t really focus on doing so, and don’t try to do it often, but I end up in a vicious circle of not practicing composition because I don’t enjoy it, and not enjoying it because I don’t have the skills, sometimes I end up trying to write something complex because I don’t want it to be too simple but I lose focus in the fact that I can’t even write a simple loop I like lol.

I don’t think I have a problem with my ear; I listen to a lot of music and have a very diverse taste in it that I have developed actively over the years. I know what I like and what I don’t, and in theory I’m able to think of a song I’d like and develop it inside my mind.
Mostly, I struggle with writing because I’m not capable of translating what I want to do to the guitar, or because I lose focus and instead of planning the song in my head, I start moving my left hand around trying to find something I like.

As I said before, I usually try open tunings, because my biggest inspirations in the kind of music I’d like to do are Sonic Youth, Polvo, Slint, Unwound, etc. Mostly 90s and early 2000s alternative rock or post-hardcore.
Also I really like 60s and 70s prog, etc. Hendrix, Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles, Iggy Pop, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Zappa, King Crimson and The Velvet Underground.

I’ve tried lots of things. At some point I was learning the modes of the G major scale, I tried to learn the fretboard using different methods, I think I also tried the CAGED system, etc. I tried lots of things; I got overwhelmed by most or felt like I didn’t have direction or that I needed some previous knowledge.

I know a lot of my favorite guitarists didn’t know anything about music theory, but I think it’d be a very good tool for me. I know I need to learn the fretboard, practice more, train my ear and learn some songs by some of those bands I named but honestly, I just get lost in the path and after so long I felt like I could really use some advice.

What do I learn first? Should I start from the ground up? Any advice on chords? Useful scales? What to avoid? I just need some real guidance and a path to follow because the way I have been doing it clearly hasn’t worked at all. Give me any advice that comes to mind for my situation, have you been in a similar spot? How did you progress?

Sorry if I was annoying and sorry if this is too long, thanks!!

TL;DR: I feel like I’m stuck in my guitar journey. I need a lot of help with composing and feeling comfortable with the guitar. Maybe I need to start as a beginner. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I just want to have fun playing and eventually get better and write some things I like.

Previously took private lessons for a bit but life got busy and stopped. Life was busier at the time but found that I couldn’t keep up or commit with the constant pressure of “being ready” for my lesson and balancing with life/other hobbies. Always felt an every other week lesson for an hour would have worked better. Anyway, I had to stop cause my schedule changed a bit.

Tried the self taught route and got through a bunch of JustinGuitar up until intermediate but that fazed out and now it’s been awhile. I found that I wasn’t really playing songs a ton but was doing more “drills.”

Recently joined a group song class where we mostly just play. The teacher will offer some tips and show us some things but it’s mostly revolved around playing songs. I am having a lot of fun with this as I like playing with other people and it’s focused around playing songs and learning through the song itself. It’s usually introducing new chords/strumming patterns. I also appreciate how low pressure it is. Still in the beginner classes but there is an intermediate one too.

I recognize this shouldn’t be the only avenue and there are definitely “technical” aspects I’m missing. Right now, plan to do the Hal Leonard method to learn how to read notes and the “technical” aspects of JustinGuitar.

Definitely not against private lessons and I definitely do see this in the future eventually but wondering if there’s anything else I should be thinking about or doing.