Critique Please (Blues)

Despite my user name... I am not a guitarwiz and this video may prove it, but guitarwiz sounds better than guitarapprentice. :cool:

I've always thought of myself as a hard rock 'N' metal type guy... I can play a few of my favorite rock / metal songs, but when it comes to improve all my stuff sounds bluesy. :confused:

That being said. I've decided to focus my attention on playing the blues. :)

I've learned more on this site in the past two months that I've been a full member than I have in the past 30 yrs. being a self taught wanna be. :o
I still need "A LOT" of practice, and maybe some day...If I can get rid of some of these kids...I can get to it. ;)

Some of my weak points might be not knowing the notes on the fretboard and lack of technique. I am trying though and I'll never give up. ;)

As for the critique...be brutally honest. I don't have any feelings so you can't hurt them. :p

I would just like to know what the random person thinks about my playing and where I need to focus my attention to improve myself. :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hKfOmIAiRM
(stupid dog)

Thanks for sharing.

Some of your strong points:
- you do a good job sliding into certain notes. I know this may seem simple, but to get it to sound good takes a little while
- you have a pretty decent sense of timing. When it comes to improvising over a backing track, the notes you don't play are just as important and you seem fairly patient which is a good trait
- Your bends are pretty good! But no matter how much we improve, we all still have room to grow when it comes to bending. So don't stop working on them.

Some things you could work on:
- I noticed sometimes your vibrato comes from you moving your finger from side to side. I haven't seen too many people use that technique especially on an electric guitar. I would start getting used to going up or down (but remember to always start and go back to the root note unless you're ending the note on a bend)
- Use more legato. Hammer ons and pull offs make blues licks sound a lot smoother and it's usually easier to play faster that way (not that you should necessarily play faster. that's up to you).
- If you haven't already, memorize the blues and pentatonic (both major and minor) scales so you can feel comfortable coming up with different phrasings.


You said you're a rock/metal fan. Have you ever heard of the book Rock Discipline by John Petrucci? It has some really great advice, music, and exercises that I think can help any guitarist. His Wild Stringdom book is also really good.

Originally Posted by: bbzswa777Thanks for sharing.

Some of your strong points:
- you do a good job sliding into certain notes. I know this may seem simple, but to get it to sound good takes a little while
- you have a pretty decent sense of timing. When it comes to improvising over a backing track, the notes you don't play are just as important and you seem fairly patient which is a good trait
- Your bends are pretty good! But no matter how much we improve, we all still have room to grow when it comes to bending. So don't stop working on them.

Some things you could work on:
- I noticed sometimes your vibrato comes from you moving your finger from side to side. I haven't seen too many people use that technique especially on an electric guitar. I would start getting used to going up or down (but remember to always start and go back to the root note unless you're ending the note on a bend)
- Use more legato. Hammer ons and pull offs make blues licks sound a lot smoother and it's usually easier to play faster that way (not that you should necessarily play faster. that's up to you).
- If you haven't already, memorize the blues and pentatonic (both major and minor) scales so you can feel comfortable coming up with different phrasings.


You said you're a rock/metal fan. Have you ever heard of the book Rock Discipline by John Petrucci? It has some really great advice, music, and exercises that I think can help any guitarist. His Wild Stringdom book is also really good.

Thanks for the tips!

That's what I love about this site. After doing it wrong for so many years I'm starting to realize what some of my bad habits are, and how to fix them.

My whole life I've pretty much concentrated on playing rhythm. I would stick to simple songs using two finger barre chords. Every now and then a song would require me to throw down a couple of licks here and there, but I've never really sat down to learn the solos. (Main reason being that bunch of bananas at the end of my hand that I call fingers.)

The only songs I can play the lead for are: Free - Alright Now and Mountain - Mississippi Queen, so actually sitting down and learning a scale is still new to me.

I have been working on the Am blues scale. I seem to be stuck using the one pattern and a couple of boxes that I've learned in the lessons. I feel that not knowing the note names are slowing me down some. I do know where all the "A's" are now, so that's a start. It still takes me around 4 min. to complete the fretboard trainer, but I do get them all right.

As for Rock Discipline by John Petrucci...I actually own the VHS copy. I've never got to spend much time with it due to life, but it might be a good idea to get it transferred to DVD or buy a new copy.

I will make a conscious effort to work on my vibrato. That's one of the downfalls of being self taught...you don't know if it's right or wrong.

Thanks again.

You do have some good elements of playing on this. I think what I noticed is some of the notes were not the right note and sounded a bit sour. There was some nice legato things at the beginning. Honestly, I would work on keeping in key. I don't want to make this sound overly harsh as it's not intended to be but, some notes just didn't work. That all comes in time and tuning up the ear.

Keep in mind though, when you bend a note, a good rule of thumb is to bend it to another note in the scale.

For example; You're noodling on the high E. Pentatonic, Major A and the High E would be fretted >1 - 3 4<...So, say you want to bend that '3' (3rd finger/7th fret)...Practice this > Play the '4' note (the 4th finger/8th fret). Just play it like that. No bend or vibrato. Just hit the note on the 8th fret. Then, practice bending your '3' note until it sounds like the same note as the '4'.

The trick is to bend in key. Get used to bending in key. While you can sometimes find ways that bending out of key might work, learning to bend in key is a great and powerful tool to good soloing.

Also, you may be playing in the right right key but the wrong note. Some notes work better as passing notes than notes you should stop on.

The last thing is to hear the modulation in the rhythm key and follow it.

Just a couple of things. I hope you don't take these as criticisms as you have a pretty good start but, as you start digging in, getting in to some of the good habits will be very helpful.