Lead Chops

[MonstersOfTheMidway]

the best teachers ive seen wont teach you anything of what you want to play. nothing.

If "the best teachers" are doing as you say, then perhaps you and others haven't really found the best teachers.

I'm not trying to discredit your point of view (quite honestly, I've, too, have seen the exact thing you're talking about). I only ever found one teacher who asked me the one question which guided my instruction: what do you want to play? Very few teachers/instructors ask such questions, but also very few students know what to ask their teachers/instructors. Any hesitation/indecision by the student is almost always an invitation by the teacher to take over and start making decisions for the student on what he/she should be learning.

It's not easy finding the right teacher for private instruction, and not every person needs a teacher/instructor. But if the student has a very specific goal in mind, finding the right teacher may pay off.

however, they will teach you the skills to figure the songs out that you want to learn.
if your going to a teacher to learn songs one might as well stay home. your going for all the wrong reasons.

If, as you say, the point of certain kinds of instruction is to learn songs, then I agree that it's better to stay home & learn on your own. A variety of books, magazines, and online videos will probably be fast, cheaper, and perhaps more effective learning than spending time, money, and effort of going to a teacher (e.g. you can learn at your own pace; review material when, where, & how often you want, etc.

For any instruction to have tangible, lasting, and valuable benefits, the student needs to clearly communicate a specific goal to the instructor so that instructor can effectively guide the student.

 

[ricksdisconnected]

For any instruction to have tangible, lasting, and valuable benefits, the student needs to clearly communicate a specific goal to the instructor so that instructor can effectively guide the student.

wouldnt this be kinda like walking onto a college campus and telling the professor what you want him to teach you
rather than the professor outlining his curriculum and the student deciding if he wants to learn what the instructor
is teaching? same with walking into a dojo or any other class of instruction.

no ive known some very good instructors. i dont name drop but you would at least heard of a few of them
i guarantee it.

i keep rereading your post above to make mine more effective and its hard to reply because i dont think we are
disagreeing with each other very much lol. at least not enough to say we even have different views.

but as long as are we talking about good teachers we gotta talk about good students as well.
i was a shit student lol. all i wanted to do was jam man. was convinced they werent teaching me the right shit
because i knew what i wanted to learn and what didnt appeal to me because i just knew i didnt need it to jam, or sound good,
or to impress others, or make me happy, or bring in the chics. lol Gawd i was so damn dumb. i just wouldnt listen and
like a lot of others i still see and hear or read from today i knew i could teach myself. lol
i guess as in a lot of things we are where we are today because of decisions we made yesterday, both on the good
and bad. sad thing is it take us yrs to figure that out.

 

[ricksdisconnected]

always something positive from you in every post.

 

[ricksdisconnected]

are you implying there is a negative element to homosexuality?

my my, no need to be nasty.

nope. there is however a negative element to you though.
in all your negativity try to take time and see how you might
be positive on the forum here. right now everybody reading can
see how your trying to bait a bad response and make yet another
good thread a bad situation and bring negativity to our forum.

i use to be like you but didnt realize it. i got a great opportunity
to take some time off from the forum and in that time i took a deep
look at myself. i changed the way i did things on here. started to want
to be a positive member and not a jackass. i still have my moments but
its no longer my life style.

best advice i can give is for you to take a long look at yourself. see what it is
thats making you such a unhappy person in your personal life. work
on those things and you will soon become much happier and that too will reflect
on your forum life and everybody will notice your efforts and you will be well on
your way to being a positive member of the forum.

 

[Dogs of Doom]

are you implying there is a negative element to homosexuality?

my my, no need to be nasty.

nope. there is however a negative element to you though.
in all your negativity try to take time and see how you might
be positive on the forum here. right now everybody reading can
see how your trying to bait a bad response and make yet another
good thread a bad situation and bring negativity to our forum.

i use to be like you but didnt realize it. i got a great opportunity
to take some time off from the forum and in that time i took a deep
look at myself. i changed the way i did things on here. started to want
to be a positive member and not a jackass. i still have my moments but
its no longer my life style.

best advice i can give is for you to take a long look at yourself. see what it is
thats making you such a unhappy person in your personal life. work
on those things and you will soon become much happier and that too will reflect
on your forum life and everybody will notice your efforts and you will be well on
your way to being a positive member of the forum.

ok, this saga is done...

 

[Matthews Guitars]

To me, the 12 bar/pentatonic/blues thing has been so monumentally overdone that I would never miss it if I never heard another 12 bar progression again for the rest of my life. It is the deepest and narrowest of ruts. It's trite, it's boring, and I need something more out of music than that.

Most players don't even try to spice it up with the standard chord substitutions. For the I chord, sub III or VI. For the IV, sub the VII. The V is sacred, no subs for that.

So, your Am progression, Am Dm Em, could instead be played as C or F, G, Em.

As for learning, you don't start out with kids in first grade going up to the teacher and telling teacher what to teach them today. It doesn't work like that.

Now, musically, it's fine and even necessary to establish a general path for learning. If your goal is rock guitar, a teacher that wants to start you out on nylon string classical and Bach compositions right after mastering "Mary Blew Her Little Lamb" is probably not going to be satifactory. Nor would you want to have a teacher that insists on teaching you ukelele and mandolin instead of guitar. But if you have the right teacher, he'll give you the building blocks and fundamentals in a way that relates to the direction you want to go in. You'll need to learn the simple stuff and there are enough simple rock songs to go around that even your first lesson should be learning a simple rock song.

For example, a new student who's paying attention and has normal coordination should be playing Rock The Nation in one lesson...maybe two. And how many other songs use that same basic riff with a different strumming pattern? Sounds like part of everybody's second most hated riff, Smoke on the Water, doesn't it? It's also "I'm Free" by The Who. What else?

 

[CigarsnGuitars]

Hi All, I'm looking for suggestions to improve my lead playing. How do you guys go about besides scales and exercises. Would you recommend paying an instructor, something like yousician (not doing yousician), watching youtube specific videos for certain technique ie sweep picking, fret board tapping etc. or a combination of the above? I've been playing for about 15 years now but looking to take my playing to the next level. Mainly interested in 80s shred, slash/gilmourish leads, and some blues licks.

Thanks for your suggestions!

One thing that is a pitfall of most guitar players is they may have 5 or so licks they have down pretty good in their bag of tricks and they spend their entire practice time playing those same 5 licks over and over. At the end of an hour they feel like progress has been made, and to some extent, it has. Next practice time the same thing. Next practice time the same thing and so on and on and on. You’ve got those 5 licks down so well you can play them with your feet. Problem is you’ve made no progress beyond the 5 licks and all of your solos sound the same. Get some tabs of some favorite songs and learn them note for note, especially solos. Before there were a great deal of tabs available, I learned "Reeling In The Years" note for note just by listening to the recording. Tabs will give you a visual reference as you begin to develop your ear. Don’t get down on yourself as you work through this or any of the excellent suggestions on here. Guitar is and will always be a work in progress. Good luck!

 

[obx351]

Hi All, I'm looking for suggestions to improve my lead playing. How do you guys go about besides scales and exercises. Would you recommend paying an instructor, something like yousician (not doing yousician), watching youtube specific videos for certain technique ie sweep picking, fret board tapping etc. or a combination of the above? I've been playing for about 15 years now but looking to take my playing to the next level. Mainly interested in 80s shred, slash/gilmourish leads, and some blues licks.

Thanks for your suggestions!

About 10+ years ago I was in the same boat. I actually quit and played drums for 10 or 11 years. My wife got me back into it and set up jam sessions with some folks from her band and friends. Long story short I starting playing all the time, learning the scales in each key up and down the neck and I played over my favorite songs. The biggest improvements or came when I jammed with friends. That also helped me figure out what I needed to work on. The other thing it did for me was to get me out of my comfort zone. Jamming out really helped my confidence and made me focus on playing verses not messing up. Much like real estate guitar playing is all about, practice practice practice....

 

[gsgtrman]

As someone who teaches classical and rock guitar for a living, I would suggest taking just a lesson or two (or maybe more..) with someone who has a similar background. Classical players tend to be more aware about the physical approach to the guitar, ie posture, hand positioning, the way the guitar comes to the body, etc. A small adjustment in the way your hands approach the instrument can make a HUGE difference, and that is hard to teach on YouTube.. I will walk around my students to get a good view of every angle and then physically adjust their hand, arm and shoulder positions.
Also, try to totally relax as much as you can while you play. Tension slows the muscles down. Effortless effort..

 

[Roymandiver]

Hi All, I'm looking for suggestions to improve my lead playing. How do you guys go about besides scales and exercises. Would you recommend paying an instructor, something like yousician (not doing yousician), watching youtube specific videos for certain technique ie sweep picking, fret board tapping etc. or a combination of the above? I've been playing for about 15 years now but looking to take my playing to the next level. Mainly interested in 80s shred, sl
Thanks for your suggestions!

Find a classical guitar teacher at a music school. That will teach you so many skills and playing positions. I no longer use picks that can slow you down. You will learn music theory as well and reading music.

 

[Roymandiver]

As someone who teaches classical and rock guitar for a living, I would suggest taking just a lesson or two (or maybe more..) with someone who has a similar background. Classical players tend to be more aware about the physical approach to the guitar, ie posture, hand positioning, the way the guitar comes to the body, etc. A small adjustment in the way your hands approach the instrument can make a HUGE difference, and that is hard to teach on YouTube.. I will walk around my students to get a good view of every angle and then physically adjust their hand, arm and shoulder positions.
Also, try to totally relax as much as you can while you play. Tension slows the muscles down. Effortless effort..

Absolutely.

 

[Sacalait]

I agree with most everyone. Especially practice. In my world, that part's been tough. I'm easily bored sitting down by myself with a guitar and doing repetitious scales. But it's necessary. I'd say make practice "fun". Like with a dedicated band that wants to play all the time. If you don't have that luxury then maybe a looper so you can create while you practice. Something I'm gonna do after a long time as a guitarist...

 

[Oddvar R]

Remember: You can't play what you can't hear. Ear training is number one goal.

 

[junk notes]

Learning music all pitfalls in the same hole, that is why Theory can be that shovel to get you out of, or at least theory can help you build that ladder getting you out and moving onward to newer discoveries.
It is like cooking ;-) Andres Segovia was his own student/teacher because of music theory. Same with
Allan Holdsworth barely read, just applied his theory. (wow!) Powerful tool if you are ready and have a desire to move forward with the big boys.

Beyond TAB, If anyone here is in a rut, and needs a little help in understanding, start a thread, and I will try and answer so you can understand and actually apply what you just read (where most students have issue with). Some students are reluctant and actually afraid - of what? I do not know.
I use the number system because most students think that notes look like chemistry, and is in fact, mathematics.

 

[Bewlay]

I would say learn solos. I reckon I've learned most from copying solos from players and songs I liked and also having to do 'homework' when playing with cover and tribute bands. Work 'em out, note for note. It can be time consuming getting them under your fingers but once they start coming together, it's very satisfying.
It gives you an insight into a player's style too.
After that, you'll find the licks come back to you when improvising but mixed up slightly with other licks you know, then you can develop your own style.
It's like having a vocabulary that you can use in different ways.
Any improvising instrumentalist will likely work this way or similar at some point, jazz players have a repertoire of standards and they'll learn the arpeggios for each chord change and also analyze solos of players they like.
It's easy to slow down a solo these days with software and YouTube....which makes learning an awful lot easier.

Since you mentioned Slash, I think he's a great player to work out. He has some lovely solos that incorporate melody, arpeggios, feel and some fast lines too.
Also, as others have said, playing with others and recording yourself playing and listening back is invaluable

 

[SlyStrat]

YouTube is my teacher. No lessons or music theory. And I jam along with live stuff most of the time.
When I hear a lick that I like I learn it or something close to it. I keep learning licks and start stringing them together to make a "sentence". I'll add them together. I want my solos to tell a story. Been working on this for years. Its gotten easier for me to compose my own licks. I use lots of vibrato and bends. Fast licks mixed with slow and sustained notes. My main influence is Robin Trower. But I have Cream and Kossoff in me too.

 

[chromeboy]

Practice is good and lots of it. Lessons are good also but, why pay for less s when thee are so many free ones on YouTube. I would consider myself in the same catagory as you. Been playing for over 40 years now and have been told my playing is a cross between Michael Schenker and Neil Schon. So, many pentatonics. I play what many would say is in the box but I do drift in and out of it a lot. I don't know theory and did have a teacher a long time ago. What he said about my of playing was that I had a natural feel for playing. He said feeling isn't you can teach. There are many great players who know all the modes, all the scales but many of them sound at least to my ear, very mechanical. Playing with feeling and emotion sounds different. I use lots of bends and vibrato using only my fingers and not a whammy bar. I can play fast and do know some sweep arpeggios but it's knowing when to use them is what's important otherwise it gets old real fast.

 

[Strings6]

Hi All, I'm looking for suggestions to improve my lead playing. How do you guys go about besides scales and exercises. Would you recommend paying an instructor, something like yousician (not doing yousician), watching youtube specific videos for certain technique ie sweep picking, fret board tapping etc. or a combination of the above? I've been playing for about 15 years now but looking to take my playing to the next level. Mainly interested in 80s shred, slash/gilmourish leads, and some blues licks.

Thanks for your suggestions!

I personally would take one on one lessons with somebody better than you at a local music store or something. I’ve been playing for 15 years myself and 13 years consecutively and I am now taking lessons once again. I found a guy in a music store who is better than I am, and he is charging me $20 per lesson and I get three lessons per month for the price of two so $40 a month for three lessons.
I hope it helps. Good luck! Rock on!!!
Mike

 

[And(he)yplayed]

People here have covered a lot of good advice. I like the advice of singing with the guitar. Once your fingers works and you know the notes, you need to be able to use what you know to 'sing' with the guitar. Has anyone mentioned to keep listening to music? If you're not playing, have some rockin' tunes on!!! Good luck!!!

 

[ricksdisconnected]

I agree with most everyone.