Long Term Lesson Plan Options

[Guitar1969]

I know this has been asked before - but I want to ask again. I am really having a hard time figuring out what I should practice on GMC to become an overall good guitarist(Not necessarily one particular style yet, as I don't feel I am that far along to get specific). The existing lesson plans are specific to a particular technique or skill - such as AP), but do not have an overall roadmap for overall learning guitar all the way from beginner to intermediate covering all the necessary tools and skills, which are not style specific. I have been playing for a bit and have the basics down, but feel I have gaps in my skills that are keeping me from advancing. Although I feel I am beyond beginner, It seems like every lesson I grab(even 2 or 3 difficulties), I find it too hard, which has discouraged me to the point where I don't practice from GMC material anymore and have been looking to books and such, which shouldn't be the case. I can see wehere GMC would really benefit someone who can pinpoint a particular skill they need work on, but its hard for someone who may not know what skill they need to work on(like me).

I know I am not alone in that there are many who are beginners beyond the beginner kick off lessons who don't know where to go from there for well rounded skills. It seems like in a practice agenda there needs to be a balance of skills being learned - Like not just working on AP for your entire practicce time, but maybe offsetting it with strumming, or blues skills.

So I have spent the last 2 days searching the net for a long term lesson plan/roadmap, such as one a private instructor would use as an order of lessons to present to a student over a 2 year period. I have also tried to find a book that has a table of contents of skills to use as a guide but have not found anything.

Does anybody have anything that maybe they obtained from a prior instructor or music course, such as a Syllibus.

This is what I have so far in order:

Open Chords Major
Strumming basics - basic Rythmn
Open Minor Chords
Power Chords
Barre Chords
Palm Muting
Scales Pentatonics Minor basics
Scales Pentatonics Minor basics
Beginner Licks
Hammer Ons
Pull Offs
Slides
Theory intro
Phrasing Basics
Vibrato
Legato
Rythmn Intermediate
Extended Chords - 7ths, Aug ?? ?
??????
Arpeggios
???????

Feel Free to add or change the order - I would like to add specific lessons to help teach and reinforce these skills, but feel we need a basic structure first.

Any help with this would be appreciated, and I feel it would help others in their musical journey as well.

Thanks,
Michael

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[Roadside]

Hi Micheal,

I think your plan is okay. For the questions marks, I would suggest tapping for the first and sweep picking for the second, but as it seems this is a long way to go for you:) In my opinion you shouldn´t practice one technique, then the next, the next and so on. You shoud mix them up. Get some basic training riffs, like there are in etude lessons for each technique to get familiar with it and after you´ve done that you can try to use the technique in a song ( at least that´s what I do ). And as I said mix the techniques. If you train one technique the whole day, you´ll get bored very fast and your motivation will be blown away

I hope that was a bit of help

Cheers Tim

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[Jose Mena]

Hey man

Don't feel discouraged, remember that this is supposed to be fun, you say you are above beginner level, yet you find lessons of level 3 a challenge, that is the intent, identify why can't you play them, are you lacking vibrato, speed, practice them slower, that way they would be easier.

Now as far as a long term plan, it depends in which direction you want to go, what is your definition of a being a good guitarist, is it playing fast, is it playing nice bluesy licks, composing awesome songs. It is different for everyone.

I am positive that Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, or Carlos Santana couldn't probably play GMC lessons above level 6, however they are guitar legends, guitar heroes that have inspired all of us directly or indirectly. Each and every one of them have their unique sound, with their guitar playing they have caught the attention of listeners all around the world. They are truly guitar masters.

So before you feel discouraged, identify what being a good guitar player means to you. Remember to have fun along the way

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[Ivan Milenkovic]

@Jose

What a nice response, great one mate

@Guitar1969

Don't worry too much, you just need to practice that's all. For me, when I didn't know what to practice next, it was usually time to advance in theory knowledge. So the more I was interested in theory, the more stuff I found out, and then I could make a system of exercises that I will practice. And guess what, there are so many things you can practice, just try to see what is that you wanna play, wanna be as a guitar player, who are the guitarists you like, jamm a bit, see what king of sound you like, play with it, see what kind of moves you like, play them, and practice different combinations, and be persistent. Reward will come sooner then you think.

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[Emir Hot]

I can tell you my experience when I was a beginner.

When I started playing guitar I was learning what I liked to listen on records. I wasn't going too far at the beggining as I knew by listening what could be possible for a beginner. I started with acoustic guitar and first I learned basic chords and strumming. Many songs are written in just 3 chords so I was learning those every day. Those were mostly rock classics. The first more advanced song for me was Sweet Home Alabama There were some more complex things to think about than just strumming - like nicely picked intro and some riffs between verses. When I learned that, I was searching for more songs like that and wasn't going back to what I already knew. In every next song I found some more interesting bits and that way I contiued expanding my knowledge. A couple of years later I became interested in knowing of what I am doing on the guitar. Why some scale work over one chord and doesn't work over the other. Then I discovered modes. After that the whole sea of new things opened in front of me and I started listening to more and more bands who used modal way of writting songs. From that point things were moving much quicker and shortly after I was in a very successful band in my country. It took about 6 years to be in a band but I was ready to kick axx on stage.

The point of this story would be how I see the path from A to B. You shouldn't only learn things from GMC. This website is designed to give you good guidelines and expand your knowledge. Here you can find many useful things but of course you can look in some other sources such as books etc... You should constantly listen to music and try to learn some of your favorite songs (this doesn't apply if you are a hip-hop fan ). That will make it way more interesting than just practicing scales and techiques and not being able to use them later. For example, if you just discovered tapping and learned "Eruption" by Eddie Van Halen, come to GMC and see what other cool things can be done with tapping. There are many lessons covering tapping on this website. This is where this website comes as a really useful tool to expand your knowledge and give you many useful advices.

I hope you didn't get bored with this story. Just my experience how I progressed over the years.

Emir

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[Guitar1969]

Hey man

Don't feel discouraged, remember that this is supposed to be fun, you say you are above beginner level, yet you find lessons of level 3 a challenge, that is the intent, identify why can't you play them, are you lacking vibrato, speed, practice them slower, that way they would be easier.

Now as far as a long term plan, it depends in which direction you want to go, what is your definition of a being a good guitarist, is it playing fast, is it playing nice bluesy licks, composing awesome songs. It is different for everyone.

I am positive that Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, or Carlos Santana couldn't probably play GMC lessons above level 6, however they are guitar legends, guitar heroes that have inspired all of us directly or indirectly. Each and every one of them have their unique sound, with their guitar playing they have caught the attention of listeners all around the world. They are truly guitar masters.

So before you feel discouraged, identify what being a good guitar player means to you. Remember to have fun along the way

I appreciate all of the responses - I think what is hanging me up is my interpretation of what is a good guitar player. I need to remember that this is a hobby for me, so I shouldn't stress so much about progressing fast. I think my problem is I equate being a good guitarist to being like a studio musician who can play a multitude of styles, but realistically it will never happen My biggest problem is I lose interest really quickly in the video lessons, to the point where I quit half way. I have never been good at learning something such as a solo note for note(I must be A D D) - I start with good intentions, but then start noodling around with the same feel, but then it ultimately goes back to my old limited style that I am trying to expand. I'm not sure if what I am saying makes sense.

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[Ivan Milenkovic]

This makes sense, I feel the same way sometimes, and often, often I felt like I wasn't progressing. At some times I wasn't progressing at all. I also don't like to learn solos note by note. It is important how much you practice and love playing the guitar, that's all that matters. Just be persistent and practice that's all. Believe that in a year or two you will be a great player, and if you want it badly and be serious about it, it will come true. It sounds cheesy but this is how it works, there are no secrets to it.

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[Gus]

, so I shouldn't stress so much about progressing fast. I think my problem is I equate being a good guitarist to being like a studio musician who can play a multitude of styles, but realistically it will never happen .

May I say you are totally right about the first phrase and totally wrong about the last one?

Yes you should not stress about progressing fast. There are always times we progress quickly and times we stay on a plateau. But most important is not to stop. To keep the motivation. So if you are not motivated by classes right now, try something else, like learning more songs.

About the last phrase however you are wrong. I use to think I would never learn electric guitar and solo. Because of it, I just stayed in a plateau for six long years , playing only chords and strumming. Well, I am going more and more into electric and soling, and I will go pro. Now I am sure.
So be sure you will be what you think is a good guitarist. But just don´t be so hard on yourself if you feel it is far away.

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This post has been edited by Gus: Aug 28 2008, 01:47 AM

[Jose Mena]

Yes man, play easy fun songs that you like, this is part of playing guitar too, then move on to harder songs, this probably wont get you bored, because you are playing things that you really like.

I have 2 brothers, both of them are musicians, one of them plays strictly rhythm guitar, some bass and percussion, but he is not a virtuoso, however he is an excelent singer/songwriter, he is not interested in becoming Paul Gilbert, rather he admires John Mraz and Jack Johnson. And enjoys playing so much that his to him considers him a great guitarist/musician.

My other brother on the other just plays guitar and he is a virtuoso, he composes music, but in a more agressive style, and that is fun to him, and he is also considered a great guitarist/musician.

They enjoy what they do and that makes them great. You just need to determine what excites you the most, and what encourages you to play.

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[Guitar1969]

May I say you are totally right about the first phrase and totally wrong about the last one?

Yes you should not stress about progressing fast. There are always times we progress quickly and times we stay on a plateau. But most important is not to stop. To keep the motivation. So if you are not motivated by classes right now, try something else, like learning more songs.

About the last phrase however you are wrong. I use to think I would never learn electric guitar and solo. Because of it, I just stayed in a plateau for six long years , playing only chords and strumming. Well, I am going more and more into electric and soling, and I will go pro. Now I am sure.
So be sure you will be what you think is a good guitarist. But just don´t be so hard on yourself if you feel it is far away.

I appreciate the encouraging words, but what I meant by the last phrase is I need to be realistic in my goals considering my circumstances. I am 38, with 3 young kids, and own my own insurance agency, so I don't think I have the time or the mindset to ghet to advanced at this stage of my life; I picked up the guitar 7 years ago(After playing drums for 20+ years). I do wish I started playing the guitar earlier in life. Not using it as an excuse in any way, but learning guitar seems to be much more challenging at my age, especially considering the limited amount of practice time I can find - maybe 1 hour late at night if I am lucky. I play live once a month for kids at our church(rock style worship)

What's got me in trouble, is the opposite. For those first 6 years, I learned the basics(limited chords and strumming), and then spent most of my time just playing songs without trying to improve my technique(and messing too much with effects), so about 6 months ago I made a conscieous effort to not play songs too much for the time being and work on improving my technique - unfortunately, my practice is out of balance now(Not having much fun) so I need to find a happy medium between the 2.

I am sure I have improved in those 6 months, but really haven't applied my improvements. What I am trying now is to introduce a completely new style(Funk) along with my pentatonics, that I can apply some to Rock - Hopefully better strumming techniques.

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