All Self Learners...

[strykerxd]

Firstly, im a self learner on guitar due to the fact that i do not have the funds for lessons and by learning on the internet i can do it at my own pace.

However, recently im finding progress in terms of my theory knowledge and guitar playing reaching a snail's pace.

Have any of you self learners experienced this before? How do u overcome it?
What did u do to boost/improve ur guitar playing n the whole? Care to share?
Opinions and self experiences much appreciated!

 

[bReakOuT!]

Totally in the same situtation as you.Was learning from justinguitar.com - all the Open chords (E,D,A,Em,Dm,Am,G,C...).But then after awhile,stopped following the lessons' progression(what with *insert no.* of weeks of practise before moving on,blah,blah,blah),got really bored after learning all the Open chords.
So I moved on to learning songs through tabs.Found this a better way of discovering the FORCES OF GUITAR MAGIC.For eg.I just learnt barre chords from a MUSE song.
It works something like this:
You try and learn a song by a band you really like,you gain interest.When you're stuck somewhere in that song,your interest will make you want to investigate further.Then,you will learn something new from there!
BTW,I suggest you still go back to your theory every once in awhile.Then when you're bored again,go learn another song,etc.

 

[Maiden]

firstly you need to nail down basics. websites and youtube especially will help you and as for motivation, play songs that you like. that will certainly motivate you especially after watching all the live videos of your favourite bands.

 

[DeathCubeK]

To me, this is the greatest guitar learning website of all time

http://www.zentao.com/guitar/guitar-lessons.html

Only started getting a little harder when he added in musical theory. But if you really want to be good in music as well as guitar this guy's got it.

 

[hifi_killer]

self learning is no doubt the slower way to learn compared to taking lessons.

But that doesnt mean its bad, you'll develop your own style, your own way of playing the guitar. And it will be more rewarding

For a self-learner, i would suggest an emphasis on developing your hearing ability - learning to play by ear and improvise, rather than the usual technical aspects.

 

[Gene]

I started with the acoustic with the open chords fingering etc. This strengthens the fingers and basically memorized the G and E key because it's the most common key for singing along. I think the hardest thing for me at that time was the strumming patterns. After which i can play strum and sing along to most songs.

learning to read tabs helps immensely too but i think you probably overcame that.

Scales came after that when i started the electric.

 

[daslasher375]

Hi guys, I'm also a self learner. Well in my opinion we all start fast and progress successfully then reach this comfortable stage where you think you play well but not as well as other ppl (that's how i feel) where u see in youtube doing licks then you can't make it happen to yourself. To me that's the source of motivation. Then I start browsing through other vids that are somewhat easier and sounds pretty amazing.

That's how i boost up my skills. Those easy licks you can compile from youtube from the blues licks to rock n' roll, hard rock then maybe metal. It's always good to learn directly from basics and then learn all the possible techniques you can apply to your guitar e.g les pauls or guitars with whammy bars, floating trem and so on. And always get some inspiration from the famous guitarists out there, set a genre suitable for yourself then go for it.
Rock n' roll guys!! \m/

 

[strykerxd]

Well thx for all the input guys. But Daslasher got my situation spot on. I can play stuff like intros for Seek n Destroy, Enter Sandman, Master of Puppets n Purple haze. But these songs dont seem like someone who has self learnt for 7 months should play. Maybe i have a lack of talent. I am very eager to play in gigs and experience the underground gig scene. i believe there are self learners out there who have transitioned from practicing at home to gigging successfully.

My next Qn, How long did u guys take? Very interested to know to compare my "progress" generally.

Btw, im very interested in genres like blues, metal n post-hardcore which has spawned countless legends in each field. Being legends, their music, i believe, will not be easy to learn to play. Therefore, this is the root of my problem: The music i like is not easy on the fingers. Can anyone enlighten me?

 

[Superlocian]

I started as a self learner when I was 14, all for the same reasons mentioned. You can get good by being self taught but the problem for me was that you'll reach a point even if you know the theory that no matter what you try you find yourself not improving. That's probably because the better you get the harder it is to improve.

Then I went abroad to study music from one of those music colleges I'd rather not mention not knowing what to expect. After learning the harmony theory I realized that those are just the rules. How to manipulate them to make your music is ALL YOU and that no school can teach you that. You can learn the theory from a text book so long as you understand but how to play, is all you.

However, the more serious guitar student should 'understudy' under another, better musician. Believe it or not, that's a better way to learn music rather than going to a school. A school can only teach you a syllabus, but being understudy you'll absorb things which outside of school. In fact, that's the way musicians learnt in the past i.e. Beethoven understudied under Hydyn, Miles Davis understudied under Charlie Parker etc.

 

[DeathCubeK]

Btw, im very interested in genres like blues, metal n post-hardcore which has spawned countless legends in each field. Being legends, their music, i believe, will not be easy to learn to play. Therefore, this is the root of my problem: The music i like is not easy on the fingers. Can anyone enlighten me?

Firstly, if I can go back in time, I will screw learning songs and practice my scales and fingering daily. That was one of the reasons why I started progressing pretty slowly, because I felt that I had to learn my favourite songs. It cannot be further from the truth. You want to be good, I say practice about 80% of your time on scales and chords and everything in between, and only later apply the rest of your time learning a song.