fyi- My setup is a Squier Bullet Strat w/ a Peavey Transtube 258EFX (using headphones).
Thanks,
Jason
Newbie - How fast to progress and feedback
COMPLETE newbie an started the core lessons track. I am wondering how fast/quickly I should progress with the lessons and wondering if there is any way to get feedback on how I am doing? Right now everything has been just about the guitar, reading tabs, etc. No real playing. Been doing just a chapter a night. Trying to take it slow and do a little each evening is my goal. My most recent lesson we just learned the C & G chords. Was hoping for explicit homework assignment kind of thing, but have not gotten any (yet). Was also wondering if there was any way to do a skype thing or something for somone to give me feedback as I progress (hopefully). Also wondering what/how I should have my amp set? I don't know anything about all of its knobs/controls.
fyi- My setup is a Squier Bullet Strat w/ a Peavey Transtube 258EFX (using headphones).
Thanks,
Jason
fyi- My setup is a Squier Bullet Strat w/ a Peavey Transtube 258EFX (using headphones).
Thanks,
Jason
# 1
Hey wilsjay.
Welcome to Guitar tricks..
Everyone has a different learning curve. Fundamentals 1 is pretty much what you need to communicate with other and your instrument. Like most skills the foundation is the most important. As you become more comfortable with the learning process here you will speed up. Not to say you won't hit speed bumps.
Takes note when thing are a bit hard to grasp ask an instructor to clarify, or post question in forum. Take note of what lesson you are on so people can pin-point where you are at. Post that with your question.
Your home work is your practice.. What ever lesson your on. Work on clarity, timing, practice practice practice..
Guitar and amp setting are totally up to you. Your taste, your music. When you get to where you are learning song and styles, you can then work on setting.
I change setting just so that repetition is less boring. I recommend not using effects for a while. At least that's what my mentor suggested to me.
Progress feedback. Post an audio or video recording to the lesson instructor or the "LISTENING FORUM"
Welcome to Guitar tricks..
Everyone has a different learning curve. Fundamentals 1 is pretty much what you need to communicate with other and your instrument. Like most skills the foundation is the most important. As you become more comfortable with the learning process here you will speed up. Not to say you won't hit speed bumps.
Takes note when thing are a bit hard to grasp ask an instructor to clarify, or post question in forum. Take note of what lesson you are on so people can pin-point where you are at. Post that with your question.
Your home work is your practice.. What ever lesson your on. Work on clarity, timing, practice practice practice..
Guitar and amp setting are totally up to you. Your taste, your music. When you get to where you are learning song and styles, you can then work on setting.
I change setting just so that repetition is less boring. I recommend not using effects for a while. At least that's what my mentor suggested to me.
Progress feedback. Post an audio or video recording to the lesson instructor or the "LISTENING FORUM"
# 2
Many thanks @compart1! No songs yet, so that is a bit why I am confused on what/how to practice. So far just been "playing" the chords over and over and practicing timing, form and muting while I do it. Did not know about the listening forum either. Thanks again, much appreciated!
# 3
Originally Posted by: wilsjayCOMPLETE newbie an started the core lessons track. I am wondering how fast/quickly I should progress with the lessons and wondering if there is any way to get feedback on how I am doing? Right now everything has been just about the guitar, reading tabs, etc. No real playing. Been doing just a chapter a night. Trying to take it slow and do a little each evening is my goal. My most recent lesson we just learned the C & G chords. Was hoping for explicit homework assignment kind of thing, but have not gotten any (yet). Was also wondering if there was any way to do a skype thing or something for somone to give me feedback as I progress (hopefully). Also wondering what/how I should have my amp set? I don't know anything about all of its knobs/controls.
fyi- My setup is a Squier Bullet Strat w/ a Peavey Transtube 258EFX (using headphones).
Thanks,
Jason
Fast and quick are relative. Stay the course on the Fundamentals course, it will pay off. When you start learning other things, you will go 'Oh, that's why they told me that.' Still, everyone has a different aptitude on the guitar so how quick it happens for you is different than it was for me (oooohhhh so many years ago, in a galaxy far, far away).
I started to learn the mandolin a year or so ago and got a DVD as a gift so I was game. I mean, the mando is tuned inverted to the guitar tuning (G, D, A, E) so I could pick up and play something right away but there are techniques to playing it. Granted, I did not need some of the stuff in the DVD but I still stuck with it to learn some of the things specific to mandolin.
As for amp settings, that is up to you but also it matters what you play as far as how you set it up.
# 4
Allow me to ramble with a bunch of opinions...
Compart1 has it right...practice is the homework. Ya' go through the lesson and practice until ya' get it right. At least, that's the way I think it should be done. A rule of thumb I picked up 'somewhere' is; practice until you can play what you're working on three times in a row, at speed, with no mistakes. If you really want to ensure that you've got it down pat apply the rule of thumb without looking at the fretboard. Then, however quick that is, move on to the next lesson. But...
That may be/can be overly strict. IMO, it's not that some lessons are less important and deserving of solid performance, it's that somewhere down the line one will run into something that one just can't 'get.' At some point the decision has to be made to move on and maybe come back later. Figuring out if you're at that point can be difficult...I personally hate to give up and have spent a lot of time on individual lessons, riffs, awkward chords...whatever. But once or twice I 'moved on.'
Again IMO, one thing is for sure. 'Things' will slow down as you progress through the lessons because the lessons will become more challenging. I don't think the schedule of "a chapter a night" is going to hold. Or, to put it another way, there's no way I can do a chapter a night. Which leads to the subject of how to practice and how to practice correctly/efficiently. A "little each evening" is good, a set amount of time is far better. How much depends on the individual's situation and motivation (read; prioritization). My strongly held personal opinion is the bare minimum is an half-hour, five days a week...but one should really find a way to practice [U]much[/U] more than that...say it altogether now...IMO. :D
A lot of my opinions here -- I'd like to see others'.
Compart1 has it right...practice is the homework. Ya' go through the lesson and practice until ya' get it right. At least, that's the way I think it should be done. A rule of thumb I picked up 'somewhere' is; practice until you can play what you're working on three times in a row, at speed, with no mistakes. If you really want to ensure that you've got it down pat apply the rule of thumb without looking at the fretboard. Then, however quick that is, move on to the next lesson. But...
That may be/can be overly strict. IMO, it's not that some lessons are less important and deserving of solid performance, it's that somewhere down the line one will run into something that one just can't 'get.' At some point the decision has to be made to move on and maybe come back later. Figuring out if you're at that point can be difficult...I personally hate to give up and have spent a lot of time on individual lessons, riffs, awkward chords...whatever. But once or twice I 'moved on.'
Again IMO, one thing is for sure. 'Things' will slow down as you progress through the lessons because the lessons will become more challenging. I don't think the schedule of "a chapter a night" is going to hold. Or, to put it another way, there's no way I can do a chapter a night. Which leads to the subject of how to practice and how to practice correctly/efficiently. A "little each evening" is good, a set amount of time is far better. How much depends on the individual's situation and motivation (read; prioritization). My strongly held personal opinion is the bare minimum is an half-hour, five days a week...but one should really find a way to practice [U]much[/U] more than that...say it altogether now...IMO. :D
A lot of my opinions here -- I'd like to see others'.
"It takes a lot of devotion and work, or maybe I should say play, because if you love it, that's what it amounts to. I haven't found any shortcuts, and I've been looking for a long time."
-- Chet Atkins
-- Chet Atkins
# 5
Thanks Jeff and John. I appreciate others feedback! @John - totally agree. Doing the chapter a night kind of thing now b/c so far, haven't really done anything other than parts of guitar, posture, etc. and not really any playing yet. Finally hit first lesson where we were playing and did the first C, G chords. I stopped and have not moved on (don't laugh), and have been playing those over and over working on changing between the two w/ muting and finger position (mainly trying not to let my index finger on C chord hit the other strings).
# 6
Just throwing this out.
Guitar lessons are not like video games, once you’ve completed it you’re done and you’re ready for the next level. Just because your brain has read/seen the lesson, it does not mean the muscles in your arms and hands have learned them. A lesson is not “learned” until your muscles know them. So yea, it can take a while to “learn” a new lesson.
Kind of like taking a lesson to learn to play a C chord. I’m sure you can follow along and force your fingers on the strings and even kind of make most of the strings ring as they should. So you have made a C chord, but the lesson is not learned until someone can walk up to you and say, play a C and you can just grab it, strum it and it sounds correct. No squeaks, no buzzing. At that point your muscles have learned the lesson, not until.
When I started I was given 3 chords a week to learn, if I had not perfected one of the chords by the next week, I was only given 2 new chords, so I could continue to learn the chord from last week, I had not perfected. C, F and Bm kicked my butt for a couple weeks, but I finally got them. Then I got 3 chord songs I knew from the radio to learn, from there things grew. I was forced to have a good base and to be able to strum the chords before I got songs to play.
The above is not the best way for everyone, but for me it worked well. I was not trying to remember where each finger had to go and what chord to play next, I just had to see or remember the chord I needed to play and my fingers would go where I needed them to. This is a HUGH STEP, being able to think of a chord and play at ringing as it should before moving on.
Simple Math:
Time spent = How fast you learn.
That’s the math, no need to talk more about that.
How you spend that time best can be argued for hours. For me working on something hard for 3 days, then taking 3 days off from it, practicing other things before coming back to it helps. I think my mind works on the problem in the back ground as I do other things, because often when I come back from the break, I have improved or can play what I had worked on. I have had to do this 3 day cycle may times for some things.
Take the time to except the small things you learn along the way and value them. “Learn to value small steps you make” I say a general rule is it takes a new guitar play 6 months of hard practice to become good enough for others close to them to want to listen to them play. It can take a year or more for strangers to want to listen.
This site has everything needed to help you become a great guitar player if you remember the simple math. This is a life journey you are starting, so it has to take a long time. Where you find yourself in 5 years is up to you.
Wildwoman1313 has a few different articles in the Newsletters Articles area on the site that any new instrument player can gain from. Below is a link that may help you as much as anything else you ever read, about becoming a better guitar player.
http://www.guitartricks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37902
Guitar lessons are not like video games, once you’ve completed it you’re done and you’re ready for the next level. Just because your brain has read/seen the lesson, it does not mean the muscles in your arms and hands have learned them. A lesson is not “learned” until your muscles know them. So yea, it can take a while to “learn” a new lesson.
Kind of like taking a lesson to learn to play a C chord. I’m sure you can follow along and force your fingers on the strings and even kind of make most of the strings ring as they should. So you have made a C chord, but the lesson is not learned until someone can walk up to you and say, play a C and you can just grab it, strum it and it sounds correct. No squeaks, no buzzing. At that point your muscles have learned the lesson, not until.
When I started I was given 3 chords a week to learn, if I had not perfected one of the chords by the next week, I was only given 2 new chords, so I could continue to learn the chord from last week, I had not perfected. C, F and Bm kicked my butt for a couple weeks, but I finally got them. Then I got 3 chord songs I knew from the radio to learn, from there things grew. I was forced to have a good base and to be able to strum the chords before I got songs to play.
The above is not the best way for everyone, but for me it worked well. I was not trying to remember where each finger had to go and what chord to play next, I just had to see or remember the chord I needed to play and my fingers would go where I needed them to. This is a HUGH STEP, being able to think of a chord and play at ringing as it should before moving on.
Simple Math:
Time spent = How fast you learn.
That’s the math, no need to talk more about that.
How you spend that time best can be argued for hours. For me working on something hard for 3 days, then taking 3 days off from it, practicing other things before coming back to it helps. I think my mind works on the problem in the back ground as I do other things, because often when I come back from the break, I have improved or can play what I had worked on. I have had to do this 3 day cycle may times for some things.
Take the time to except the small things you learn along the way and value them. “Learn to value small steps you make” I say a general rule is it takes a new guitar play 6 months of hard practice to become good enough for others close to them to want to listen to them play. It can take a year or more for strangers to want to listen.
This site has everything needed to help you become a great guitar player if you remember the simple math. This is a life journey you are starting, so it has to take a long time. Where you find yourself in 5 years is up to you.
Wildwoman1313 has a few different articles in the Newsletters Articles area on the site that any new instrument player can gain from. Below is a link that may help you as much as anything else you ever read, about becoming a better guitar player.
http://www.guitartricks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37902
# 7
Originally Posted by: wilsjayCOMPLETE newbie an started the core lessons track. I am wondering how fast/quickly I should progress with the lessons and wondering if there is any way to get feedback on how I am doing? Right now everything has been just about the guitar, reading tabs, etc. No real playing. Been doing just a chapter a night. Trying to take it slow and do a little each evening is my goal. My most recent lesson we just learned the C & G chords. Was hoping for explicit homework assignment kind of thing, but have not gotten any (yet). Was also wondering if there was any way to do a skype thing or something for somone to give me feedback as I progress (hopefully). Also wondering what/how I should have my amp set? I don't know anything about all of its knobs/controls.
fyi- My setup is a Squier Bullet Strat w/ a Peavey Transtube 258EFX (using headphones).
Thanks,
Jason
welcome i would say take your time and it seems that you are so thats good...u got good feedback.i just wanted to tell you if u want skype lessons there out there for $80 an hour ..look up steve stine he is an amazing teacher.and he will give u a bunch of work to keep u busy for a month ....good luck
# 8