What do you wish you would’ve done differently?

[Brandon7s]

Have you ever heard of "A.C.E. Guitar Method"? It has an entire section devoted to learning the fretboard note/interval relationships, and starts by covering simple octaves. It's the best, most easily-grasped, method of explaining this stuff I've ever come across. It's free to download, but the author asks that it not be shared, so all you'd have to do if you want it, is a Google search, and it should come up.

I'll take a look. I've been brute forcing it with an app named Fretonomy (both on my iPad and my Andoid phone) when I'm not at my guitar and that has worked pretty well for learning the note names decently well; however, I've found that simply practicing 7th chord arpeggios while saying the name and the interval has been great for internalizing it.

I tend to think of chords/triads/arpeggios through the lense of CAGED. Meaning, CAGED provides the landmarks that I use to navigate the fretboard. I'll look into A.C.E method, I'm always interested in seeing if another POV would be of value for me.

 

[Sascha Franck]

however, I've found that simply practicing 7th chord arpeggios while saying the name and the interval has been great for internalizing it.

This.
Well, not necessarily exactly this, but all memorizing and what not IMO is pretty much pointless without practical exposure.

There's lots of ways to skin this cat, but all of the efficient ones include very little printed (or displayed) stuff but a lot of practically applied DIY things.
Example: Play a C triad, root position, D. G, B strings. Proceed with the inversions (same set of strings). Good? Kinda. But that's the stuff which you'd also see on paper. But now create a Cmin triad out of each of them. For that to happen, you need to know where in the chord the E note is located because that's the one you need to lower by a halfstep (hence to Eb) to get a Cmin triad. Now we're talking, because your brain is actively forced to do some work instead of just memorizing some shapes. You can proceed from there. Add a drone C bass note, then replace the C in your triad with a Bb to get to a C7 chord. Or a Cmin7. Now replace the 5th (G) with a 6th (A) to get a C6. Or Cmin6. Or even C13 (in case you also replaced the root C with the seventh Bb).
This is one method to learn note positions pretty quickly. Or rather "degree positions", as the guitar lends to relative functional positions rather than to absolute shapes (which is what, say, a piano is based around).

 

[GTR37]

Oh man great question
So many things I could say
Practice more with a metronome , learn to play a bit cleaner , muting techniques but I think the one thing I would say to young me
Is surround yourself with players that are better than you are or songwriters that are better than you are

 

[Byrdman]

If I could go back, the first thing I would have done differently once I knew basic chords and song structure is play with other musicians in a band. I started playing with some other guys about 4-6 months ago and I have learned more and have become a much better guitarist faster than I ever have before. It seems the more I learn, the faster I can learn new stuff in the realm of rock music. Obviously, jazz, classical, etc is not included in this, but maybe one day I would consider learning some other styles that I would have never considered before now.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I'll look into A.C.E method

I do the Fuzzy A.C.E. method which is play whatever, wherever and whenever you want. I will not be CAGED.

 

[FuzzyAce]

If I could go back, the first thing I would have done differently once I knew basic chords and song structure is play with other musicians in a band. I started playing with some other guys about 4-6 months ago and I have learned more and have become a much better guitarist faster than I ever have before. It seems the more I learn, the faster I can learn new stuff in the realm of rock music. Obviously, jazz, classical, etc is not included in this, but maybe one day I would consider learning some other styles that I would have never considered before now.

Yep, there is no substitute playing with other people. It definitely was a big step for me early on. I started in a trio a little over 2 years after I began playing. Luckily I was a fast learner and you had to learn ways to fill up space. The other guitarist and I would switch bass duties so I had to learn bass in a relatively short amount of time too. The best training is just "doing" more times than not.

 

[la szum]

Hear, hear on the playing with others. I was fortunate that when I started to play in my teens
I had fellow friends and people I knew who played. We would "jam," and that "being in a band"
thing has always mattered more to me than most other things when it comes to music.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Absolutely. I took lessons from 14-17. My teacher was great, but he let me direct the lessons too much. So instead of like, actually learning to be good at guitar I wasted countless lessons having him tab out stupid songs for me that I never learned anyways

 

[TSJMajesty]

the more I learn, the faster I can learn new stuff in the realm of rock music

Exact reason I'm working on my technique the way I am.

 

[JasonE]

Knowing what I know now, I would have found a good teacher when I hit my first plateau once I could play songs with other musicians. I could have cut a lot of years of struggling and not understanding what I was doing off. I kicked myself for a number of years once I finally did it and connected the dots. It really improved my playing and gave me a ton of confidence.

 

[PLX]

Bought pallets of Sylvania 6CA7's and stashed them in a climate-controlled storage locker.

 

[GTR37]

Knowing what I know now, I would have found a good teacher when I hit my first plateau once I could play songs with other musicians. I could have cut a lot of years of struggling and not understanding what I was doing off. I kicked myself for a number of years once I finally did it and connected the dots. It really improved my playing and gave me a ton of confidence.

100% and I am still learning
There are some really good online instructors and when you watch how they teach it you just go damnit it’s really that simple ,
See everyone know the pentatonic box but we spend so much time vertically ascending and descending
When I started to learn how to connect the boxes horizontally and connect the patterns that helped a ton
And also these 3 notes per string patterns as you connect the boxes you can cover the whole neck fast
That to me I wish I had learned way earlier and like other not just learned a few bars of a solo etc

 

[TSJMajesty]

I wish I'd have bought a really great, high-gain amp long ago, then practiced keeping my notes separated...., rolling my fingers, keeping strings muted, all the things that seem to take a lot more effort today, to "fix."

And played more arpeggios, instead of linear shit.

 

[duzie]

I still struggle with fretting and picking harder than necessary.
This is my current struggle to work on.
Wishing I had done things differently doesn’t change anything lol

 

[HomespunEffects]

Back in the 1990s I tried out for a pretty popular band in Pittsburgh, The Frampton Brothers. My good bud Bill Haller was the drummer and he suggested me. I always wanted to be in a band with him because he was simply an amazing drummer. I learned 4 of their songs and auditioned. They threw in a cover song to see if I could play it. Cat Scratch Fever. I nailed it and they gave me the job. They said, “this is your new job, we don’t want you having a day job. Wherever you work, tell them you quit.”

I was poor as hell and had a loan that needed to be paid off. So I didn’t take the gig. I kept my stupid job at a gas station instead. I regret that more and more every day. I’d definitely go back and kick my own stupid butt and then tell myself to go for the gig.

 

[maguchi]

Are there things you wish you would have focused on more? Focused on less?

If you could go back to the day you first picked up the instrument what advice would you give yourself?

Coulda learned to read music earlier and memorized the notes on the fretboard earlier on the guitar. Shoulda worked more on developing technique early on rather than just learning songs. Woulda learned theory and harmony earlier so I could construct my own solos on the fly rather than just copying licks and solos of well known guitar players.

 

[JasonE]

100% and I am still learning
There are some really good online instructors and when you watch how they teach it you just go damnit it’s really that simple ,
See everyone know the pentatonic box but we spend so much time vertically ascending and descending
When I started to learn how to connect the boxes horizontally and connect the patterns that helped a ton
And also these 3 notes per string patterns as you connect the boxes you can cover the whole neck fast
That to me I wish I had learned way earlier and like other not just learned a few bars of a solo etc

There was no public use internet or any of the online stuff available back when I learned. That came much, much later. If I had access to what we have today back then, you would never have been able to get me out of the bedroom. I would have been permanently planted there in front of a computer with a guitar in my hands.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Back in the 1990s I tried out for a pretty popular band in Pittsburgh, The Frampton Brothers. My good bud Bill Haller was the drummer and he suggested me. I always wanted to be in a band with him because he was simply an amazing drummer. I learned 4 of their songs and auditioned. They threw in a cover song to see if I could play it. Cat Scratch Fever. I nailed it and they gave me the job. They said, “this is your new job, we don’t want you having a day job. Wherever you work, tell them you quit.”

I was poor as hell and had a loan that needed to be paid off. So I didn’t take the gig. I kept my stupid job at a gas station instead. I regret that more and more every day. I’d definitely go back and kick my own stupid butt and then tell myself to go for the gig.

Hey man, you made the decision you thought was right at the time. The future is unpredictable. How we adjust and adapt is where it's at. No regerts. Everyday's a fresh start.






or you screwed up royally? Who knows?


jk!!! lol

 

[Warmart]

Absolutely zero point in being sad about something in the past, there ain't shit you can do about it now.

Unless it's something with a way to fix now, in those rare occasions.

The usefulness of this thread is helping peeps that are just starting out, I 'spose?

 

[HomespunEffects]

Hey man, you made the decision you thought was right at the time. The future is unpredictable. How we adjust and adapt is where it's at. No regerts. Everyday's a fresh start.






or you screwed up royally? Who knows?


jk!!! lol

Danke, bro.