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Posted by: Tryton Jun 4 2008, 07:29 AM

I'm a new to GMC, I love the video lessons that I've been practicing.

But here's my question, Back in the day when I was in school no one ever taught me how to study.....and
unfortunately I suffered for that.

Now I'm back to being a sponge (student) and want to make the most from this website to improve my playing, can anyone give me some tips how to get the most out of all the resources at my disposal. i.e. HOW TO STUDY

I don't want to be a music store guitar hero, with all the cool licks..

I want to become a better overall musician, a better guitar player, and express myself with my music in ways I've never been able to before. I can see it's all here I'm just looking for some tips use it to my best advantage.

Thanks

Posted by: Fsgdjv Jun 4 2008, 07:31 AM

I''m not an expert when it comes to this since I'm very unstructured, but kris made this lesson about how to practice guitar: http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/how-to-practice-guitar.htm

Posted by: blindwillie Jun 4 2008, 07:58 AM

That's a hard one because different people learn in different ways.
You need to practise how to learn really. It takes some time before understand what works for you.
A good teacher can help you on your way by inspiring you and gently direct you into a way that fits you.

It's a shame that school focus on shoving raw data into still playful minds instead of teaching why and how to learn and explore and prepare kids for a life as independent, thinking beings.

/edit: LOL. I better clarify that the last part was a general reflexion, not aimed at you.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Jun 4 2008, 11:54 AM

Also check out Practice agendas (http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?automodule=blog) of other people..Might give you some ideas/guidelines..

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 4 2008, 01:23 PM

I agree with blindwillie, you have to find the way it works best for you. We simply do not know how much you do know and what you don't know so we can't really tell you how to study. The most general and logical approach to studying is to slowly discover what are you weaknesses and learn how to overcome them.

So let your big general goal is to be an overall good player. It can mean a lot of different to different people right? So you have to find what it means to you? What type of music do you like? What do you already know on the guitar, do you know theory and how much? Take a guitar and play it a little - can you see something that you would like to play better than you already do?

So all these things makes you analyze your current situation and work your way up. Take it slowly, remember guitar learning is for life! So a big progress is made only with a lot of hard work invested in it over long periods of time. If you can answer the questions above here on the topic we can maybe help you confirm your answers and suggest a work path that will produce the best results for you. In the end it is up to you to work on it.

Posted by: Matt_00 Jun 4 2008, 02:10 PM

Tryton said:

Expression is something I have always been lacking, I started playing guitar as I see it now for all the wrong reasons..(Chicks) LOL. After years of playing in cover bands etc. I never really connected with my instrument, I always knew I had lots of technique and ability but was always missing something.
I have learned more about my ability here in the last few months than I have ever learned in the last 20 years of playing other peoples music.
David Walliman put up an amazing lesson on blues phrasing, whether or not Blues appeals to you this is one of the best explanations of phrasing and communicating with your instrument I have ever heard.
David said:


One of the other things he said during the lesson was how using tone, vibrato etc. to express yourself through the music is just like speaking with someone and expressing your mood etc. with your voice. Makes perfect sense but it never occured to me to think about it this way.
My son of 12 years old has a lot of diffuculty expressing himself verbaly but he is amazing at expressing himself with guitar...I have used this connection to explain to my son how his use of verbal tone, (primarily yelling and sometimes sounding disrespectfull allthough he is not) and I have to tell you it has made an amazing difference when he put the two of these together.

Check out the lesson here
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/blues-phrasing

The only other thing I can add is flip through the lessons find a few that appeal to you and incorporate them into your daily routine, I have 4 or 5 from different instructors with very different styles that I use daily, combining these and improvising with them I am for the very first time starting to understand who I am as a guitarist and musician and where I would like to see myself 6 months, a year from now etc.

Good luck in your pursuits dude, you will not find a better place than GMC to help you on your journey.

Posted by: Tryton Jun 4 2008, 08:52 PM

I am self taught.
I don't have any theory behind me.

I love the music of Paul Gilbert, George Lynch, Dream Theater, Micheal Schenker, Alice in Chains...
So I guess I go from Super Technical players to Gritty Blues based Players.

But you've got me thinking (which is good and I thank you)

A. I need some Theory Training
B. My Technic needs work
C. My song writting is weak

All good starting point for searching out Lessons.. Maybe I had my answer all along I just need the kick in the
pants to put it all together. Any other suggestions would be helpful.

and again THANK YOU very much...!!!

Posted by: FrankW Jun 4 2008, 11:42 PM

The fact that you have the desire to become a better musician goes a long way in aiding you in your development. Playing guitar is a whole lot more fun than doing math homework, right? I agree with Fsgdjv that you should check out Kris' lesson on how to practice. I don't know your age, but if you're a young guy, I would take advantage of the time you have, and put in as many hours per day as you can. Life has a way of becoming more complicated as you get older, with responsibilities like work and family, etc. That stuff takes away from the time you can spend honing your skills. If only I could go back in time...

Posted by: Nemanja Filipovic Jun 5 2008, 06:08 AM

This is truth,you are in a good position already.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 5 2008, 10:24 PM

That's exactly what I'm talking about - you had the answer all along, just need to work on it. It's that simple!

A: I suggest reading Andrew's theory lessons here on GMC
B: There is a lot of technics on the guitar, first figure out priorities. FOr example, Alternate picking is something that is very common in use, so let that be a priority to you. Also if you fancy other techniques liek strumming, sweeping, tapping, whammy use, legato, economy picking etc ther work out priorities as well and start making a practice schedule.
C: You can check out my songwriting lesson on GMC, just search for it. You can find some interesting concepts about songwriting and theory applied in general. WIth songwriting try to analyze first songs from other favorite musicians and bands. FOr example intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus could be one formula. Then try to make a song byt putting together all this parts.