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Insaneteacher

First off, i know there are threads about guitar playing, but i have a specific sort of question that i want to ask.

anyway, i've been playing guitar for about a year and a half. i play some blues and some jazzy/jamband kind of stuff i guess you could say.

i play with my buddy who is just beginning to learn guitar (he plays rhythm like chords and i play lead).

i know basic modes (Mixolydian, Ionian, Aeloian) harmonic major and harmonic minor scales, i understand basic chord theory and i think my soloing and harmonizing is pretty good.

anyway my question is where do i go from here? how do i bridge the gap from intermediate to advanced?

i'm still young, but am honestly considering playing guitar for a career. i know it's every 15 year old's dream to be a rock star, but i honestly think i could do it. i just need a little direction you know?

i would post this at a guitar forum or something more suited to the topic but i find the people at most guitar forums i frequent aren't nearly as friendly or informative as most of the members here. i hope there's a musician or two out there who can give me a little direction, thank you!

also, if anyone knows how i could put an MP3 somewhere out on the web for people to listen to that would be great because i can't figure that out for the life of me.

__________________

I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out,
Who killed the kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me

 

BruceDoh

Hey, I have only been playing guitar for around 2, 2.5 years, but I can tell you one thing you need, is a competant guitar teacher that is able to assess where you need to go with your playing. Aside from that... you pretty much just need to learn theory, and listen to music... Fuse the 2 together, and you will start creating the music that you like...

As for uploading songs, you can use Soundclick.com to upload for free.

Check mine out here: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...?bandID=433200

Most of those are pretty awful recordings

__________________
Canadian Indie Rock Band

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Here and There Band

Coolguy

Nice, Bruce! You should put that in the original songs/cover songs thread I made.

IT, wish I could offer better advice than practice more!

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Insaneteacher

I appreciate the advice Bruce, and Coolguy, no worries, it was a pretty vague question anyway. i've considered taking lessons in the past but it just doesn't seem right to me. i think at this point i will purchase a few good books on music theory (any suggestions?) and really sit down and get into them. music theory to me is a difficult subject to learn but i really would like to be able to compose my own music and play original tunes with my friends, instead of just grateful dead covers (i can play a mean Franklin's Tower ) anyway, thanks again for the advice!

erik000

You sound like you know what you're doing. I would say just keep playing, jam with lots of different people, listen to more recordings of what you wanna play, and just go for it. Maybe even take a few theory classes, if your school offers it. I took AP theory senior year and it's great. I've been playing the violin for years now, mostly country, jazz, bluegrass, and some surf rock (random!). My main focus is Irish fiddling though. For those who don't know, fiddle and violin are the SAME instrument, different styles. Now I'm studying Irish music at a university in Ireland, and I got here just by jamming everyday and listening- the key to all music. To become a better musician, you've got to 'wake your ears up.' I'm finally learning that now.

If you practice an hour a day, you'll be amazed in a year's time, and I practice 3 hours a day.

__________________
...it makes me sing, every puff that I breathe on herbs and leaves, to ease the world...

"Ceolta si na cruinne bheith a siorchur i m'chluasa."

 

needgreen

the easiest way to get better is to play with other players that are better than you

innervision311

I don't even know how long I've been playing guitar now...probably around five to seven years.

I too used to think, "What is it that I'm lacking?" I can tell you, at least from my experience, is that you're lacking the ability to play with your heart instead of your head.

I've never known any music theory or had any instruction at all. I've trained myself to play completely by ear. When I jam with people I have no problem playing along and coming up with complementary riffs and what not.

But when I used to play I used to try to find out what everbody else was playing so I could be in the same scale and all that junk. Now I just play without thinking. I just let my fingers do the work and go along for the ride.

The only reason I can do that though is because of the way I taught myself to play. I just learn songs by other bands from all different genres so ingrained in me are scales from reggae songs, metal riffs, and of course psychedelic abstract guitar sounds. I know a lot of different songs and because of that my fingers have a memory to them. "If I'm playing this then I know the next note is this, and the next one is this." and so on and so on.

For about three years everything I played sounded like a rip off of the bands I was listening to but if you do it for long enough you learn how to express exactly what you're feeling in your heart without even thinking about it for a second. What sounds good becomes second nature and then you focus on the emotion and attitude of the music. Everything else follows.

And my last bit of advice is don't quit your day job. Put everything you've got into music but don't let it make you broke and homeless. If you make good music people will listen on some level. To a musician all that should matter is that your song meant something to a single person.

needgreen

i have played guitar for about 40 years. did the band thing in the 60s and 70s. lots of fun. not that i want to stirr up a lot of contraversy, but as far as the comment above " as long as 1 person enjoys it", that is okay if you are only playing for 1 person. a guitar player we used to have told me the exact same thing. my question to him was what about the other couple of hundred people that walked out? to me, you have to entertain the majority of the people. you have to play the music they like. if you should write a song they enjoy, that is great. you should play it. you have to play the crowd.
as for getting better, as i stated before, go out on a limb to find better musicians than yourself. playing with them for a couple of hours is better than practicing yourself for a week.
another way, if you are playing with other musicians right now, play live as much as possible. you get better 10 times faster than playing in a basement.
i dont know about your area, but there are lots of open stages where i live that you can try your music out.
good luck.

DrGonzoDXM

i've been playing for about 3 years now and i've become a relatively experienced muscician by playing with my church band. The best way to become a good muscician is to play with a full band as much as you can.
Knowing scales and riffs is good, but having no sense of rhythm or the ability to play with other muscicians will really inhibit your playing.

I started out a complete novice, knowing about 6 chords when i started playing with this group. A year and a half later, i'm far more advanced than I could have imagined. Also, playing in front of 100 people every weekend really convinces you to get good, FAST.

Additionally, music theory is extremely abstract and difficult to learn. A music teacher will aid your progress. I started taking guitar lessons about 4 months ago and even though I was pretty decent when i started, I improved a lot.

also- work on your ear. having a good ear really helps in playing with other people and by yourself.

and smoke a lot of ganja.

PanteraCFH0420

I think this is a VERY accurate statement. While seemingly intimidating, playing with more advanced guitarists in turn caused me to have tremendous progress in my playing. It came naturally as it was, but this really gave me a step in the right direction..

www.myspace.com/renrisner


or

www.myspace.com/lightofdecember

one is my personal page and the other is my band, Light of December's page.

Not any examples of my solos, but still some clips of some good original tunes, as well as one of me singing/playing an original.