What Are Your Weaknesses
Daniel Robinson
May 5 2008, 07:48 AM
Instructor
Posts: 560
Joined: 22-March 08
From: Normal, Illinois
Everyone always wants to be the best they can be, but as humans we tend to play to our strengths and ignore our weaknesses.

The same holds true for guitar playing, do you know what your weaknesses are as a player? I would assume most of you know where you are weak in your playing.

I would ask you all.

What are your weak spots in your playing and what can we do to help you overcome them?

Some weaknesses are relatively simple to correct, some are very difficult but until we admit to what we have to work on we will continue to ignore them and our goal of mastering the instrument will become very difficult and frustrating.


I will go first and tell you all that my legato technique is not what it should be, i tend to use my picking skills as a crutch in alot of circumstances. Don't get me wrong i can play legato but its not as smooth as i would like it to be so i have set aside time in my practicing schedule to really get down and dirty to put this problem area to rest.

I have started working on just strengthening my fingers doing trills and hammer on drills, to facilitate this i have also put 12's on my second guitar so i have to work harder to acheive the legato sound in the end i think i will make my fingers alot stronger. Even the last few days i have done this i have seen remarkable increase in finger strength.

Daniel

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Ivan Milenkovic
May 5 2008, 10:19 AM
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Joined: 20-November 07
From: Belgrade, Serbia
I have many weaknesses, and the things I should work more on atm are harmony constructions.

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Daniel Robinson
May 6 2008, 02:41 PM
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Posts: 560
Joined: 22-March 08
From: Normal, Illinois
QUOTE (Ivan Milenkovic @ May 5 2008, 05:19 AM) *
I have many weaknesses, and the things I should work more on atm are harmony constructions.



This is something that alot of guitarists struggle with later in their development, myself included. Its when you start realizing you need to really get into the nuts and bolts of the theory aspect.


My friend and I have been working together on solving this slowly over time, what we are doing is finding actual music scores for symphonies, and analyzing the intricate web of harmonies that are taking place between all the instruments.

When you start to see the patterns in this way it becomes much easier to create those harmonies on a single instrument because you start to develop a sense of the intervals involved and how they interact with the other instruments your playing with.


My recommendation is to try it and see what you can get out of it.

Daniel

QUOTE (Andrew Cockburn @ May 5 2008, 07:53 AM) *
Great topic!

Alternate Picking technique for me - cleanliness and speed. My legato is reasonable and has improved a lot over the last year as I find it comes very naturally, and I practice it to the detriment of AP. With AP it is purely about practice time and discipline for me - I believe I have the mechanics right but I am skimping on the time and effort needed to build up speed in a smooth and controlled fashion!




This comes back to the intital reason i started this post, we tend to ignore where we are weak. My friend always tells me you make time for whats important to you and the rest falls by the wayside.

My advice in your particular case is try mixing up your legato with AP riffs...as an example lets say your doing a 3nps pattern across three strings. Play legato on the first two string and AP the last string. This has several things going for it.

First your working on AP while still maintaining your legato technique, your also opening up the possiblity of a different rhythmic sound to your phrasing.

And at the same time your starting to work on the basics of hybrid picking. Try this approach and see what you can come up with.

Daniel

QUOTE (iainsteward @ May 5 2008, 08:00 AM) *
This is a great topic, thanks Daniel!!

I have a few weaknesses in my playing that no matter how hard I try I cannot put right, the first is fast runs, if for example I am playing a 3nps sequence, I can play it very well up to a certain speed, then I just freeze and my fingers go into meltdown......I try going over and over it with a metronome at a slow speed, then try building up but it is taking me FOREVER to develop the speed I want, my goal in life is to play a few Malmsteen classics note for note perfect, but I am barely able to play them at anywhere near the right speed, its so frustrating!!

Secondly, a mixture of techniques....tapping and legato!! Not combining them, its just that the same problem arises with both techniques, I try and do them.....and playing slow, fine and sounding very clean!! When I speed them up it sounds sloppy and I can often hit wrong notes when tapping!!

The speed problem is the most boggling and annoying!! I can play slower stuff perfectly, and with good phrasing and vibrato then once I get up to a difficult speed I just cant seem to do it, I seem to get lost, and no matter how much practice speed is still elusive!!!

Any tips or help would be GREATLY appreciated!!
Thanks,
Iain!!


Iain,

I certainly agree with how boggling the speed aspect is. Its something i still struggle with. What i have found though in breaking it down it comes down to a few key things. First off i find that in alot of ways the speed issue especially with Alternate picking comes down to a sync issue between left and right hand and not 1 or the other. For instance i can easily pick 32nd notes at 150bpm if i am just on an open string not fretting any notes.

I can also hammer on and pull off 32nd notes at 150bpm on a 3 note pattern with just my left hand. When i tried to do both it fell apart. I started to realize that it was indeed a sync problem and not a picking or fretting problem.


The other aspect of the speed issue is there seems to be a space at least for me in AP skills at a certain range of BPM.

For the longest time when trying to play 16th note triplets for example at 120 to 125 or so BPM i just couldnt get any kind of consistency....lower BPM i had no difficulty with. Nor with playing 32nd notes at that speed. At first i just thought it was my ears playing tricks on me but i actually recorded myself at 120BPM playing alternate picking licks at 32nd notes and slowed it down and listened for inconsistencies but there wasnt any.

So why was it falling apart at 120bpm with 16th note trips?


I then realized the problem had to do with the syncing between left and right hand, but the sync issue was being caused by my picking hand. I realized that when i was playing the 16th note triplets at that speed i was using more arm motion to pick with then wrist action like when i play faster.

Once i realized what was happening i started to physically watch myself when playing with a metronome at that speed and made sure my picking angle and wrist use was consistent thru the speed ranges i could play.

Perhaps the same is occuring for you. Without actually seeing you play the difficulty your having is hard to judge but take the time on your own to really analyze what is actually happening when you have that "Meltdown" zone.

I think i can safely say that when you reach a certain speed your either tensing up too much so force yourself to relax, or....you are altering something as you approach that speed threshold.

If you find out what the trouble is let us know you can probably help someone else here having the exact same trouble.


Daniel

QUOTE (Trond Vold @ May 5 2008, 08:17 AM) *
One of my many weaknesses is that i'm completely and utterly useless with the whammy bar. I just cant operate that thing without it sounding drunk smile.gif

Another one that annoys me is that i cant do sweep-tappings without making a bunch of unwanted noise. Well, my sweeping in general could use some work.



As far as either of your problems are concerned i have little advice to give, i completely ignore the whammy bar. The only reason i don't use a hardtail guitar is because i find bending is easier on a guitar with a whammy because the springs will give enough so you don't have to push as hard to reach the pitch you want.

My advice on this particular area would be to take que's from people who use the whammy bar with a great deal of precision and try to emulate what you hear.

A good place to start imo is with someone like Kiko Loureiro from Angra, he has some excellent whammy usage.

Check out this vid, especially the center section of this song is some really awesome whammy work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQL2cLE7HpA...feature=related


As far as string noise well....its all a matter of just getting tighter, especially for you Trond. Your rhythm and lead skills are very clean so its just a matter of working it out i guess.


Daniel

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Posts in this topic
- Daniel Robinson   What Are Your Weaknesses   May 5 2008, 07:48 AM
- - kyldeee   I also have some problems with legato, and also sw...   May 5 2008, 08:28 AM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (kyldeee @ May 5 2008, 03:28 AM) I ...   May 5 2008, 08:31 AM
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- - kyldeee   QUOTE (Daniel Robinson @ May 5 2008, 08:3...   May 5 2008, 08:37 AM
- - Daniel Robinson   Maybe this advice can help you, without knowing ex...   May 5 2008, 09:07 AM
- - kyldeee   QUOTE (Daniel Robinson @ May 5 2008, 09:0...   May 5 2008, 09:10 AM
- - superize   I feel that my waekness lies in my legato and espa...   May 5 2008, 10:16 AM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (superize @ May 5 2008, 05:16 AM) I...   May 6 2008, 01:47 PM
|- - superize   QUOTE (Daniel Robinson @ May 6 2008, 02:4...   May 6 2008, 02:55 PM
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|- - Andrew Cockburn   Great topic! Alternate Picking technique for ...   May 5 2008, 12:53 PM
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- - iainsteward   This is a great topic, thanks Daniel!! I ...   May 5 2008, 01:00 PM
- - Trond Vold   One of my many weaknesses is that i'm complete...   May 5 2008, 01:17 PM
|- - Hammerin Hank   QUOTE (Trond Vold @ May 5 2008, 08:17 AM)...   May 19 2008, 08:45 PM
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- - chast   My weakness is playing guitar But my main problem...   May 5 2008, 01:22 PM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (chast @ May 5 2008, 08:22 AM) My w...   May 6 2008, 03:24 PM
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- - TreyDeschamp   Great Topic! I think my weakness is trying to...   May 5 2008, 01:25 PM
- - PlayAllDay   Oh dear - I don't have any weaknessess at all....   May 5 2008, 03:50 PM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (PlayAllDay @ May 5 2008, 10:50 AM)...   May 6 2008, 04:48 PM
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- - rokchik   Fantastic topic Daniel As for my weaknesses well...   May 5 2008, 04:17 PM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   QUOTE (rokchik @ May 5 2008, 11:17 AM) Fa...   May 5 2008, 06:27 PM
|- - rokchik   QUOTE (Andrew Cockburn @ May 5 2008, 02:2...   May 5 2008, 09:26 PM
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- - ZakkWylde   I have extreme rythm problems because I can't ...   May 5 2008, 04:27 PM
- - USAMAN   Endurance in downward picking...If I try to play m...   May 5 2008, 04:32 PM
- - Canis   I have a lot of weaknesses... But if I were to pic...   May 5 2008, 04:39 PM
- - audiopaal   I think I'm pretty average in most things, and...   May 5 2008, 04:59 PM
- - Siggum   Got many weaknesess, for example fast alternate pi...   May 5 2008, 05:18 PM
|- - Muris Varajic   Probably note choice...million dollars question I ...   May 6 2008, 03:29 PM
||- - OrganisedConfusion   QUOTE (Muris Varajic @ May 6 2008, 03:29 ...   May 6 2008, 03:31 PM
||- - Pizzoaro   I have a lot "unfinished" practice L...   Jun 29 2008, 11:44 PM
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|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (Siggum @ May 5 2008, 12:18 PM) Got...   May 6 2008, 05:10 PM
|- - kjutte   My weakness is not having enough time to practise ...   Jun 29 2008, 08:33 PM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (kjutte @ Jun 29 2008, 03:33 PM) My...   Jul 6 2008, 01:45 PM
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- - Zizi Top   i think i have a lot of weakness when i go to vaca...   May 5 2008, 06:39 PM
- - DeepRoots   Hmm..weaknesses... I'd say my sweeping has go...   May 5 2008, 09:31 PM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (DeepRoots @ May 5 2008, 04:31 PM) ...   May 7 2008, 05:43 PM
|- - DeepRoots   Daniel, i'm seeing some of the best one-on-one...   May 7 2008, 05:43 PM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (DeepRoots @ May 7 2008, 12:43 PM) ...   May 9 2008, 12:52 AM
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- - Nick325   i would say my sweeping, 5 string more than 3 stri...   May 5 2008, 09:37 PM
- - Gus   Sweep picking, definitely... I gave it more than ...   May 6 2008, 01:50 AM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (Gus @ May 5 2008, 08:50 PM) Sweep ...   May 7 2008, 06:14 PM
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- - Outlaw2112   Playing in front of people... I can play stuff per...   May 6 2008, 01:53 AM
- - The Uncreator   8 finger tapping, I have never progressed so slowl...   May 6 2008, 02:06 AM
|- - audiopaal   QUOTE (The Uncreator @ May 6 2008, 03:06 ...   May 6 2008, 07:41 AM
|- - DeepRoots   QUOTE (audiopaal @ May 6 2008, 07:41 AM) ...   May 6 2008, 07:46 AM
|- - audiopaal   QUOTE (DeepRoots @ May 6 2008, 08:46 AM) ...   May 6 2008, 08:08 AM
|- - DeepRoots   QUOTE (audiopaal @ May 6 2008, 08:08 AM) ...   May 6 2008, 08:22 AM
|- - Gus   QUOTE (audiopaal @ May 6 2008, 09:08 AM) ...   May 6 2008, 10:52 PM
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- - fatb0t   SWEEPING and legato are my weaknesses.... ---- For...   May 6 2008, 02:37 AM
- - Nemanja Filipovic   Great topic Daniel.My weakness is that I don't...   May 6 2008, 01:53 PM
- - OrganisedConfusion   I'm just superb all across the board My weak...   May 6 2008, 02:57 PM
- - Canis   Wow, thanks a lot Daniel   May 6 2008, 04:49 PM
- - rokchik   Thank you very much Daniel for your response Ama...   May 6 2008, 08:41 PM
- - ActiveX   Strumming; nice simple strumming on the acoustic.....   May 6 2008, 09:00 PM
- - Nobody   Well my main weakness is playing an other guitaris...   May 6 2008, 09:14 PM
- - PlayAllDay   Thanks very much for all the points you metion in ...   May 7 2008, 12:57 AM
- - Nobody   PAD, actually there are some very good lessons on ...   May 7 2008, 03:02 PM
|- - PlayAllDay   QUOTE (Nobody @ May 7 2008, 11:02 PM) PAD...   May 7 2008, 03:54 PM
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- - Alex87   my weakness on the guitar is picking. some days ar...   May 7 2008, 03:06 PM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (Alex87 @ May 7 2008, 10:06 AM) my ...   May 7 2008, 06:20 PM
|- - Alex87   QUOTE (Daniel Robinson @ May 7 2008, 07:2...   May 18 2008, 05:33 PM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (Alex87 @ May 18 2008, 12:33 PM) Hi...   May 20 2008, 09:29 AM
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- - Siggum   Thanks alot for your answer Daniel, that was some ...   May 7 2008, 06:15 PM
- - coffeeman   My weakness is definitely timing. When I play with...   May 7 2008, 06:43 PM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (coffeeman @ May 7 2008, 01:43 PM) ...   May 9 2008, 01:54 AM
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- - besip   My weakness is playing over metronom actualy i...   May 7 2008, 06:56 PM
- - Andrew Cockburn   This is a great thread, and at Rokchik's sugge...   May 7 2008, 11:17 PM
- - Nick325   thanks for the advice daniel   May 7 2008, 11:25 PM
- - shellshock1911   Total lack of creativity or ability in writing mus...   May 8 2008, 10:11 PM
- - Stevie·Ray·Vaughn   Well Im becoming more and more happy with my writi...   May 8 2008, 10:12 PM
|- - shellshock1911   QUOTE (Stevie·Ray·Vaughn @ May 8 2008, 10...   May 8 2008, 10:19 PM
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- - Sam Hook   Downstroke picking is my main weakness at the mome...   May 8 2008, 10:26 PM
- - Eat-Sleep-andJam   Weaknesses. Well Ive always had a good vibrato, ...   May 9 2008, 01:04 AM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (Eat-Sleep-andJam @ May 8 200...   May 9 2008, 02:29 AM
|- - Eat-Sleep-andJam   QUOTE (Daniel Robinson @ May 8 2008, 05:2...   May 9 2008, 02:48 AM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (Eat-Sleep-andJam @ May 8 200...   May 10 2008, 08:43 AM
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- - audiopaal   Thanks a lot for the reply Daniel, and for doing t...   May 9 2008, 01:05 AM
- - FrankW   My main weakness is that I am lazy as hell.   May 13 2008, 12:45 AM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (FrankW @ May 12 2008, 07:45 PM) My...   May 14 2008, 12:55 PM
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- - besip   and couple more mine Weaknesses i'm all ready ...   May 13 2008, 06:24 AM
- - mattacuk   My distinct lack of Chordal knowledge! Some...   May 13 2008, 06:05 PM
- - at lights end   i can't play long AP runs. my hands seem to go...   May 18 2008, 05:39 PM
- - Outlaw2112   women....   May 18 2008, 05:44 PM
- - jacmoe   Excellent topic, Daniel! My weakness is tha...   Jun 13 2008, 09:12 PM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (jacmoe @ Jun 13 2008, 04:12 PM) Ex...   Jun 26 2008, 07:32 AM
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- - TreyDeschamp   I cant seem to make things up. of course i dont kn...   Jun 13 2008, 09:24 PM
- - Matt23   My main weakness is my pinky speed. It's stopp...   Jun 13 2008, 09:51 PM
- - Eat-Sleep-andJam   Another one of mine, Sticking to learning somethin...   Jun 13 2008, 09:55 PM
- - Gitarrero   My weakness is speed when playing solos. I`ve ...   Jun 27 2008, 09:16 AM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (Gitarrero @ Jun 27 2008, 04:16 AM)...   Jun 29 2008, 07:23 PM
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- - Mark.   My weakness is probably my picking hand dexterty, ...   Jun 29 2008, 09:26 PM
- - besip   NO.1 Theory!!!!!!! ...   Jun 29 2008, 11:13 PM
- - vintageplaya666   I have a few weeknesses. My little finger needs m...   Jun 29 2008, 11:38 PM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (vintageplaya666 @ Jun 29 2008, 06...   Jul 6 2008, 02:39 PM
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- - SonofDestiny   My weakness is definately speed. Alternate picking...   Jun 30 2008, 09:11 AM
- - Lithuanian   Motivation... Sadly...   Jul 2 2008, 07:25 PM
- - Jesse   ... my hand synch definately:D My left hand is jus...   Jul 6 2008, 01:49 PM
- - Canis   My number one weakness now, is that I'm on hol...   Jul 6 2008, 01:53 PM
- - Rated Htr   Well, I have areas where I have less trainning, bu...   Jul 8 2008, 06:56 AM
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