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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chast
May 5 2008, 01:22 PM
Learning Roadie
Posts: 807
Joined: 20-July 07
From: Germany
My weakness is playing guitar tongue.gif
But my main problem is probably my vibrato and that I can't pick fast :/
And I nearly have no idea about theory biggrin.gif
But these are weaknesses that just need some work.

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Daniel Robinson
May 6 2008, 03:24 PM
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Posts: 560
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From: Normal, Illinois
QUOTE (chast @ May 5 2008, 08:22 AM) *
My weakness is playing guitar tongue.gif
But my main problem is probably my vibrato and that I can't pick fast :/
And I nearly have no idea about theory biggrin.gif
But these are weaknesses that just need some work.



Chast,

I have the same weakness tongue.gif The guitar is like crack to me, if i pick it up i can't put it down. I really have to focus on things i have to get done around the house and what not so i don't spend 5 hours lost in guitar land smile.gif


As far as vibrato goes its really a preference as to what you do vibrato wise. There are so many vibrato techniques and variations on them i could write a college essay on them lol.

Me personally i have two vibrato styles that are pretty much my staples the first one is with my index finger i don't use a wrist vibrato i just shake the string with my finger back and forth i also almost always really pinch the string when i use this vibrato.

The other vibrato i use is shaking the guitar and sleightly moving my fingers back and forth. Because of the way i shake the guitar it makes my vibrato when i do this eliptic too, which adds another element to it.

As far as practicing vibrato first you need to decide on the technique your going to use for doing it. But once that is settled practice with either a metronome or a backing track...the backing track is more fun for obvious reasons. But try to time your vibrato in natural tempo's that compliment the BPM your using. You dont have to match perfectly but it makes it sound so much nicer when your close to a natural tempo. Alot of newer players i see tend to get very spastic when it comes to vibrato, and it shouldnt be spastic. Fast vibrato is not wrong nor is slow vibrato but it needs to have some kind of order to it. Unless for musical purposes your speciafically trying to sound chaotic.

Now when you say you can't pick fast are you saying that you can't AP fast...or just can't move the pick across the string quickly in general?

If its an AP problem there are several lessons here that can get you started in the right direction. If its picking in general i.e. just sounding the string. Start working on whats hanging you up. In the beginning i remember not having any consistency sounding the string with my picking. First off my hand motions were too big, and secondly my pick angle was all wrong for playing fast.

Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with picking the string with your pick parrallel with the string, if...and thats a big IF, you can get your pick touch light enough so you barely have to move to sound the string at speed. But for the most part precision of that kind is hard to come by without years and years of practice. Its far easier to angle your pick so its closer to 90 degrees to the string. This way when plucking the string with the pick the string will tend to "roll" over the string because the pick is curved on the end. The other way with the pick parallel to the string if your touch isnt super light it will "Hang" on the string making it very difficult to get a smooth picking stroke.

Music theory is just like learning math..or science, you have to study it to understand it. A good first step though in your road to theory mastery is to memorize the notes on the neck of the guitar, to know without thinking about it for example that if you fret a note on the low E string on the 7th fret that its B for example. If you learn the notes to the point you can just call them out in any order, it will make it much easier once you start to apply the theory skills you will learn as you go.

Daniel

QUOTE (TreyDeschamp @ May 5 2008, 08:25 AM) *
Great Topic!

I think my weakness is trying to play but not get mad and frustrated when I dont get something quickly. wink.gif



TreyDeschamp,

I know the frustration road you speak of all to well. There are even licks now that i have practiced for weeks and weeks that i just can't get my body to cooperate.

I find the best thing to do is when you learn a lick pattern to incorporate it into your own playing as quickly as you can. Lets say you learned a lick pattern thats meant to be played at 130BPM but you can't play it that fast. Find a backing track you can jam along with thats only like 100BPM and try using the lick in the context of that BT at that speed. I find i assimilate a certain pattern much faster if i do this rather then beating myself over the head with a metronome.

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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- - Ivan Milenkovic   I have many weaknesses, and the things I should wo...   May 5 2008, 10:19 AM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   Great topic! Alternate Picking technique for ...   May 5 2008, 12:53 PM
|- - Daniel Robinson   QUOTE (Ivan Milenkovic @ May 5 2008, 05:1...   May 6 2008, 02:41 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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- - 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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