Playing along

I am a real beginner, this is week two on guitar fundamentals I have been taking with Lisa McCormick (awesome!). The problem I have run into is I find that I am doing really well learning reading and playing tablature. The bad thing is when I try playing along it becomes very difficult to keep up. Somehow lose focus or something. Have been practicing all of the material over and seem to be pretty good playing independently, having said that somehow when the music starts I cannot keep up, wait Til the beginning and never really can keep it together. it is becoming very frustrating to not get past this, any suggestions? Is there something I should be practicing to get better at this? At advice would be great thanks

Do a vocal count-in and phantom strums to get on time before playing starts

Okay, have had a little better luck today, tried that, it does help, I think I go blank and am trying to focus on the moment and not try to think to much ahead, guess more practice may help thanks for input

Originally Posted by: michellejohnston1963I am a real beginner, this is week two on guitar fundamentals I have been taking with Lisa McCormick (awesome!). The problem I have run into is I find that I am doing really well learning reading and playing tablature. The bad thing is when I try playing along it becomes very difficult to keep up. Somehow lose focus or something. Have been practicing all of the material over and seem to be pretty good playing independently, having said that somehow when the music starts I cannot keep up, wait Til the beginning and never really can keep it together. it is becoming very frustrating to not get past this, any suggestions? Is there something I should be practicing to get better at this? At advice would be great thanks

LOL..I feel the same way. I get flustered playing with the band!! My girlfriend asked if I got intimidated. I said, ""By what?? I'm playing to a screen!" I still do get flustered though. you are not alone!

I would suggest a couple things.

First, start training your ear and ability to keep time with a metronome (you can use the Guitar Tricks one or there are plenty of metronome apps). Once you get used to playing with a raw "click track" it'll be easier to play along with songs.

Secondly, start with just root notes or root chords when you pay along with a track and don't worry so much about the full tab.

How long have you been playing? I know it takes some time to develop the comfort to play along. Several months to a year isn't unusual.

Hope this helps.

One of the things that I love about GT as compared to Jamplay is that there is a backing track for many of the lessons. Even those where you are just learning beginner stuff. On the other hand, it is frustrating using them in the beginning. It's almost like you are suddenly on stage performing in front of people and you freeze. Without a backing track, you are free to be out of time and make mistakes. However, that's not music. I have found that if I can't jump into the track right away, I just make sure that I know all the notes, chords, and timing. Also, I make sure that I can play as fast as the track. With that background, you should not be overwhelmed with the tracks.
With all that said, using the backing tracks on GT makes you feel, at a very early stage in your playing, that you can play music. What an incentive.

Originally Posted by: Guitar Tricks AdminI would suggest a couple things.

First, start training your ear and ability to keep time with a metronome (you can use the Guitar Tricks one or there are plenty of metronome apps). Once you get used to playing with a raw "click track" it'll be easier to play along with songs.

Secondly, start with just root notes or root chords when you pay along with a track and don't worry so much about the full tab.

How long have you been playing? I know it takes some time to develop the comfort to play along. Several months to a year isn't unusual.

Hope this helps.

I definantly agree with the admin on this one. Especially about the metronome exercise. When I started out playing along to songs I learned from tablature in the beginning, sometimes I'd have to take a step back for a moment and just play along to the drum beat or a metronome set to the same pace. I suppose the transition from just hearing your guitar to hearing 4 or five others playing along can sometimes jumble focus. Stay consistent and you'll have it down packed in no time

Download the free program called "Audacity". By yourself a "slow downer software. I love Riff Station. I do this routine with all the services--Jamplay, Guitar Tricks and True Fire because they all have stuff that I'm not up to speed with. Use Audacity to record whatever is playing. Double click on the recording wave. In the file menu picj export selected. You then give it a name and an MP3 is produced. Load the MP3 into your slow downer. As you get better at this you figure out how to edit out extraneous nonsense. Play it at slow speed in loop form. Pause your Guitar Tricks lesson so you can concentrate on mastering the lick or strumming pattern or w/e. Pay close attention to the documentation and try to do it yourself before you try to play it with the slowed down. The more you do it, the better you get at this. Increase speeds by 15%. Before long you'll be playing at speed and you'll also realize that you're not dependent on Guitar Tricks limitation. As long as you get to where you need to be to proceed, it's no one's concern how you've innovated to be able to maintain your level of readiness. It sounds like a lot but it's key and worth the effort. Good luck.

I have the same problem on some of the play along jams; their to fast. Every teacher say's to start slow and work your way up to speed. Lessons should have the option to download the play along track, then use programs such as Song Surgeon or Amazing Slow Downer to slow down the tempo to the speed you can keep up with and then start speeding it up. With Song Surgeon you can add a click-in before the it starts playing. Without the count-in its already a few seconds into the play along before I can get my hands back on the guitar from the mouse. Both programs also loop sections and repeat them over & over. Great learning tool.

Another option would be for GT themselves to make sure all play along tracks have a count-in, slow down features, and looping of sections.

The GT lessons are great as is, but everything can be improved upon. For example, GT should require all teachers to use a standard lesson template for their lessons. This would make every lesson format exactly the same.