Love playing guitar and singing, mostly just chords, thereās a few ātrickierā songs that Iāve worked through with finger-picking.
But I just feel like I canāt be bothered with exercises in scales and rhythm and think it holds me back.
Has anyone else just skipped the exercises and feel like theyāre a competent guitarist? Any YouTubers I should check out?
In a way I think itās made harder by being āintermediateā as itās difficult to see where to go next.
In my experience you need a goal to force progress. Ie. Play on a stage / play infront of someone.
Yeah, I think having a goal of learning songs of a certain difficulty level, and be able to play them in front of an audience is a good motivator for improvement.
Iāve been on the hunt for a good open-mic night near me, surprisingly few in Sydney. :(
Actually coming back to the thread to share my own experienceā¦ is that I havenāt played guitar for around the past 10 years, since I started college. I still have all my gear, and just this week I picked it back up, and it felt so good to play again. But most of my muscle memory and finger strenght is gone and I donāt remember how to play most songs that I played back in the day. I spent most of my teenage years playing a couple hours a day, but now I feel like a beginner again. So, Iāll say, try doing some exercises as warmups, then go practice the songs that you want to play. At least thatās what I plan on doing.
Hey, so I think Iām fairly competent- always lots to learn but Iām happy to give you tips. Hereās my channel so you can see my style (self confessed slash fanboy)
https://youtube.com/shorts/ZebJjCpEddo?feature=share
Never did a scale or tutorial, always by ear like the āgreatsā because I was told learning any other way would impact me. Please let me know whatever questions you have and Iām happy to either answer here or do a video call!
I have a lot of videos up there so see if you want to move in that direction.
Thanks
I like finding songs that I like that make me exercise in ways that would normally be boring. For example, chromatic exercises are super boring, but Iām learning Mike Sternās Chromazone, and it makes technical practice fun.
Learn more songs. Learn songs you wouldnāt normally learn. Learn songs that arenāt meant to be played on guitar. A.B.C. ā Always. Be. Learningnewsongs.
Exercises, scales, rhythm, timing, practice, et al can definitely be holding you back. It might help to view those ābuilding blocksā as aspects you can work on that limit your playing less. For me, practicing these things allows me to think LESS about scales, timing, etc by increasing my muscle memory and confidence, which allows me to focus on the music itself and get lost therein when Iām playing.
To use some ambiguous terms, you can hit every note ārightā, but thatās a very small part of what make music āgoodā-- thatās more about hips moving and heads bobbing.
Follow JustinGuitar heāll make sure you know all the basic through intermediate things you should know, all for free. He will then point you towards some intermediate stuff you can explore that requires payment but you can go to YouTube for that if you want. He will set you up with enough basic guitar theory to self-study what you need next.
Most importantly, figure out what your goals are and plan accordingly.
I asked this same question to a local guitar legend and he told me ādrink more beer.ā
