Insert preachy meme. But seriously, why are you reading this, you should be practicing.
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I see the OP changed the original post, so the context in which I gave my answer has changed. I agree that asking 'occasionally' what you want to work on in the context of a long term plan is not the sign of a bad teacher.
The bottom line is that he is not happy with his progress and instead of going to his teacher he's asking a bunch of strangers with unknown qualifications what he should be doing. To me there are enough signs that IMHO he needs to find a new teacher.
You will learn more by learning a whole song then just improvising with every song you hear on Pandora. Pick one song and learn it front to back, after that's done pick another and do the same, while still playing the one you know...repeat process a hundred times. You will learn more that way than just endless noodling and practicing scales by themselves.I knew that was going to be the first reply
I want to keep having fun and if someone asks me if I want to play along with them I want to be able to. Last weekend at my friend's house he asked if I wanted to play and I declined cuz I didn't know what to do.
I've spent a lot of time practicing but the reality is even with practice you've only been gifted so much. They talk about 10,000 hours of work, but you still work with your set of gifts. In my case I have been fortunate to play with groups for 40 years. You only have to reach the bar in the particular songs. It's great to be able to play a Wooten lick, or be able to slap the heck out of the bass, but a particular song can stand only so much bass. I work on taste and timing and feel and perhaps one or two things that really enhance a song. If you watch You Tube too long and see all those seven-year-old virtuosos, you'll get depressed real fast. Find a band...
LOL
I agree. The content of the original post looks a lot different to more recent statements.
I started 13 years ago at 40 and am having a blast. I suggest you not focus on any particular "destination", but enjoy the ride. The only thing I promised myself was to commit to 30-60 mins/day 6 days/week and get a little better from one month to the next. The rate of improvement didn't matter,and I enjoyed the practice. Happy thumpin'.
I'd only add that maybe you should focus more on chords than scales at the moment. Not trying to be condescending but do you know what that tab you posted on the first page was? Could you tell what chord the guitar is most likely playing during that run? I started learning in a scale based way back when I first started playing. Nothing really clicked for me until I started looking at song based on the chords and key rather than the scales because I was thinking...backwards.
Don't get me wrong, scales have a place and it is an important one but I would've much rather learned chords and basic theory first. Just being able to understand what a I, IV, V in E gives you an advantage.
EDIT: Another thing I do is practice until I'm utterly sick of it. Once I feel burnt out, I'll learn a few new tunes to break it up.
Don't get me wrong, scales have a place and it is an important one but I would've much rather learned chords and basic theory first. Just being able to understand what a I, IV, V in E gives you an advantage.
EDIT: Another thing I do is practice until I'm utterly sick of it. Once I feel burnt out, I'll learn a few new tunes to break it up.
This is the next leap for you - you are spending a lot of time on your rudiments, note is time to apply them and play with other people.I knew that was going to be the first reply
I want to keep having fun and if someone asks me if I want to play along with them I want to be able to. Last weekend at my friend's house he asked if I wanted to play and I declined cuz I didn't know what to do.
Beyond just the challenge itself, playing with people who are more experienced forces you to hustle to keep up and will definitely ramp up your progress in sorry order!
I agree 100% with all of the above, and this was basically my point in my post at the start of the thread. For all we know, the OP has not even worked on knowing where all the notes on the fretboard are. These type of things should have at least been touched upon in the lessons the OP has had to date.
My apologies if the above assumptions are wrong. If my assumptions are indeed correct, then the advice given throughout this thread to.. find another teacher... are valid IMO.
Regarding chord tones and scales :
Chord Tones Are Primary | Bass Chord Patterns | StudyBass
7 lessons is nothing. 100 hours is nothing, especially if half of it is undisciplined farting around.
I suggest your instructor needs to be driving you to a develop well-rounded, foundational skills, not merely asking you what songs you want to learn. You can do that by yourself. He or she may be a great player but not a very good teacher.
At your stage, you should know the notes at various positions on the neck, how to pluck and finger notes, major and minor scales and note numbers, chords within those scales and how to read the notes in first position (from a music staff, not tabs). And maybe by now you can play a 1-5 pattern over 12-bar blues.
I recommend you find an old-school instructor who will teach you those foundational things rather than songs you want to play.
Stick with it. You're just beginning. As was said, just 9,900 hours to go.
I suggest your instructor needs to be driving you to a develop well-rounded, foundational skills, not merely asking you what songs you want to learn. You can do that by yourself. He or she may be a great player but not a very good teacher.
At your stage, you should know the notes at various positions on the neck, how to pluck and finger notes, major and minor scales and note numbers, chords within those scales and how to read the notes in first position (from a music staff, not tabs). And maybe by now you can play a 1-5 pattern over 12-bar blues.
I recommend you find an old-school instructor who will teach you those foundational things rather than songs you want to play.
Stick with it. You're just beginning. As was said, just 9,900 hours to go.
If you haven't defined goals for yourself then practice is futile. You can play for the rest of your life and not be satisfied. Start there.
Your not putting enough time into practice, you are practicing less than 1 hr a day, your teacher is there to guide you and show you what things you need to work on and show you what you are doing right and wrong. He should give a practice schedule and assess your goals,do you want to be a virtuoso or just be able to play songs well. My suggestion is study 1 hour on rudiments,1 hour listening and playing along to what songs you want to learn to play, 1hr just practicing riffs and finger exercises , each week as you progress I would try to add more time, Jimi Hendrix was rareley seen without a guitar in his hands , if you want to be really good you have to put in the time, when I was 12 I would practice exercices my teacher showed me before I went to school after school listen and play along ,at night I would work on my Mel Bay bass books.
I think today's teachers are afraid of losing students by making learn in an orderly fashion. My teacher never asked what I wanted to learn when I started as a teenager. He taught me how to read and I went through the Mel Bay book until we hit the end. He then started me on Storch Hrabe etudes. He showed me Silly Putty by Stanley and would play some real cool stuff each week so I can see why I needed to continue lessons.
I made the word "sometimes" bold. That's not changing the original post. I was pointing out my poor wording.All the advise is much appreciated. My first order of business is playing with others (not well, but playing none the less). I know it's been buried after 180 posts but I do practice as much as my day and my wrist will allow. Although I can probably put in more time on the weekends.
LOL, at the teacher needing my income. He took me on as a favor. He's a very busy guy.
Again, I have no designs on becoming a paid musician. I want to enjoy myself and not embarrass anyone in the process.
Cheers and Happy Holiday weekend!!!
