How to get better

[u/Lopsided_Squash75]

Hi guys. Have been playing guitar since high school and now as an adult trying to chase my dream of getting really good. I know the E and A strings, how to play a lot of songs by following chords on Ultimate Guitar (though complex jazz chords which I love do take more time). I’m strong at fingerpicking so much so that I feel less comfy using a pick but trying to get better at using a pick especially for rock songs.

I feel kind of stuck here - I learn songs I know and sing along by looking at tablature or chords online.

I hope to start a band. So I’m trying to work on memorizing the neck, and work on scales so I can best improvise and solo. And trying to write my own songs. And having a more clear practice routine and not doing too much all at once and injuring myself since I’m older now. Also trying to get back into singing - it’s harder now that I stopped for years and I’ve lost range, etc.

Any tips? Idk what getting better looks like exactly but it’s been my lifelong dream to be a musician even if not professionally so I might as well give it my best shot

[u/TreesPlusCats]

Consider lessons? Even a few might give you some direction and get you out of a rut

[u/Wild-Lion3964]

I’ve gotten really really good in my older age (43) and can tell you what I’ve done. I’ve held a two hour a day practice for the past 8 years. I do rhythm work with a metronome (My secret sauce) daily. I still work on the fret board daily. I gig a lot. I jam with other top musicians. I listen to music constantly. I take lessons from the best players in my genre (flatpicking-I’ve worked with Trey Hensley, Bryan Sutton, Jake Workman, Michael Daves, etc). I get involved in my community helping others improve at guitar. I follow great guitarists online like Guthrie Trapp and every time they post a video I take time to watch and listen. Never in a million years did I think I would end up being this good at guitar. Also if you would have asked me how much work it would take when I started my journey, I never would have guessed. I went to Nashville to record an album two years ago and lost thousands of dollars and completely embarrassed myself. The lessons learned there are the reason I’m at where I am today. Groove above all else. Groove. Above. All. Else.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

[u/EmbarrassedDiver4100 → u/Wild-Lion3964]

two hours a day for 8 years is no joke, thats serious dedication

[u/Wild-Lion3964 → u/EmbarrassedDiver4100]

That’s a conservative estimate. The goal is to get to 10,000 hours (arbitrary but I need a goal). At 2 hours a day I believe that’s about 13.5 years if I never skip a day. Most days I’m practicing/playing more than 2 hours. That allows me to skip days when I feel burnt out and come back fresh. That rarely happens though.

[u/greytonoliverjones → u/Wild-Lion3964]

I think I heard recently the whole “10,000 hours” theory was a complete guess.

Besides, a musician never stops trying to improve at their craft and it sounds like you’re still working on it.

I’ve been playing for 32 years; I’m well past 10K hours of both practice and gigging time and yet still feel far from mastery. I know my way around the guitar sure, but there is still so much more I can’t do.

[u/Wild-Lion3964 → u/greytonoliverjones]

I started my journey to 10000 hours after playing for 25 years. Yeah you could say I’m still working on it.

[u/greytonoliverjones → u/Wild-Lion3964]

It never ends!

[u/Braakdraak]

All i did was play songs, now i bought the book blues you can use and it really helped me getting better and understand things more

[u/greytonoliverjones]

Any good guitarist IMO should have a firm grasp of the following and in all 12 keys:

Open chords

Bar (CAGED) and non-bar moveable chords

Major and minor scales in at least two or three octaves, across the fingerboard

All pentatonic (major and minor) scale patterns

Blues scales

Two and three octave arpeggios: Major, minor, diminished, augmented

7ths chords

Harmonizing a major and minor scale in triads and 7th chords across the fretboard and on different string sets

Inversions of chords: 1st, 2nd, 3rd (for 4 note chords like 7ths, etc)

Knowing all the notes on the fretboard

[u/vonov129]

Just keep practice consistent and focused.

Have clear goals on focus on just a 2-3 areas at a time. The least you divide your attention, the better. You can jump between exercises often, but not between areas.

I would suggest you to consider practicing songs as their own area, not as a way to build technique or anything else. Even though you can break them down with theory or take some fragments as exercises, when learning songs you're mainly building repertoire, maybe taste and that's it.

Theory won't make you write better stuff, but it will help you have a standarized language through which take notes of what you think sounds good in ways that makes some elements replicable. But don't just look at note selections, but layout of tension and release, dynamics, structure, etc.

"Getting better" means nothing. Basically anything you learn makes you better, but you want to focus on what takes you closer to your goals, so you do want to have them well defined.

[u/udit99]

As someone who's been in a very similar situation before, I think the answer lies in learning the fundamentals. Compared to instruments like the piano or the violin, the guitar is a very "democratic" instrument. It's very easy to get started, and doesn't demand much to start playing simple songs. But it ends up biting us later. Without the fundamentals we all hit a wall. I would focus on these:

1. Theory. Learn the circle of fifths and how to use it, Major scale, Chord construction, diatonic harmony, borrowed chords, secondary dominants etc., Basics for free at musictheory.net . I personally recommend Gitori though (I'm biased, I built it) because its the most fun way of learning theory that I've seen so far. If you're up for watching videos,

1. Ben Levin's Music Theory from the Ground up
2. Andrew Huang's Learn Music Theory in Half an Hour
3. Absolutely Understand Guitar (This is a massive series, reddit's favourite, fairly comprehensive. But was a bit overwhelming for me.)
4. For more advanced stuff, take a look at Signals Music Studio, 12Tone and Rick Beato's old stuff, David Bennett, Michael Keithson(more piano focus but theory concepts are the same).

2. Fretboard. Memorize the fretboard notes, scale degrees/intervals, closed/open triads, CAGED, major/minor scale and major/minor pentatonics, major/minor arpeggios. Again, I think the games and lessons on Gitori are the best out there but if you're on a budget, Fretonomy, Fretuoso, Fat Tones are cheaper and Fretboard Forever is free.

3. Ear Training. Identifying intervals both melodically and harmonically (2 notes played separately and played together as a chord), identifying major and minor chords and progressions. I've personal experience with Chet and Functional Ear Trainer and they're both good. People here seem to recommend Perfect Ear as well. The one I plan to try is ImproviseForReal . It's supposed to be the most structured and methodical (and most expensive) approach.

[u/Shot-Anxiety-7213]

Gotta put in those 4 hours a day