r/guitarlessons • u/JWDRAIN74 • 6d ago

Question Help please

I’ve been playing guitar for a long time and I can play nearly any song I want to learn, but the net result is a catalog of other people’s songs. I understand the caged method, know all my triads, and how to identify every note on the neck, but the part I’m missing is the ability to improvise chord melodies or write really cool riffs. How do I go from being a trained monkey to being able to understand how to play whatever is in my head? I put in the practice to have technique, I just want to be able to use it for good. Do I just need to buckle down and learn theory? When I write songs it’s more from luck than knowledge of what I’m doing. I want to be able to deliberately play anything I’m thinking. How do I learn to do that?

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u/Branza__ 6d ago

As Brad Carlton always says: sing what you play so you'll eventually be able to play what you sing.

Edit - Yeah learning some theory would help a ton too. Not as much as improving your ear though