Proper lead guitar practice


Slashycoco
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Joined: 09/09/18
Posts: 3
Slashycoco
Registered User
Joined: 09/09/18
Posts: 3
10/01/2018 6:17 pm

Hello everyone!

I need help with regards to the core training specifically blues and rock. I am aiming to be able to play a solo or improvise on licks so I practice on the two courses as I really like both genres. I really practice the licks and try to understand what I can(root note, repetition, rhythm). However when its time to improvise on the lick and play together with Anders Mouridsen, I just can'tseem to keep up. So I move on to the next lick that he is going to teach without being able to really jam and improvise on the lick. I then try to improvise on all the licks that i have learned but I fail.

My question is, should I keep learning new concepts and licks? Or should I stick to one lesson/lick until I am comfortable with it?


# 1
ChristopherSchlegel
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Joined: 08/09/05
Posts: 8,328
ChristopherSchlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Joined: 08/09/05
Posts: 8,328
10/02/2018 3:33 pm

Hey, there! Glad you are working through the courses. Anders does a great job teaching all those skills & concepts.

Originally Posted by: Slashycoco

I really practice the licks and try to understand what I can(root note, repetition, rhythm). However when its time to improvise on the lick and play together with Anders Mouridsen, I just can'tseem to keep up.[/quote][p]Stop right there! :)

You can always go forward in the course to see what the next idea is. That's fun & exciting! But you should never consider yourself done with any lesson, until you completely undestand the idea being taught or until you can actually do the skill or technique in real time with the music.

So you've kind of answered your own question here.

Originally Posted by: Slashycoco

So I move on to the next lick that he is going to teach without being able to really jam and improvise on the lick. I then try to improvise on all the licks that i have learned but I fail.

[p]That's because you haven't really mastered the idea yet. You aren't done with a lesson until you've mastered it. Until you are competent at the skill.

[quote=Slashycoco]

My question is, should I keep learning new concepts and licks? Or should I stick to one lesson/lick until I am comfortable with it?

You can do a balance of both. It's fun to see what's next! But make time to go back over previous material until you done with it. Until it's second nature.

Most of this simply comes down to repetitious practice. Putting in the time to play the licks, chords, ideas, until they become automated in your mind & fingers. There is simply no substitute for practice.

So, you should some time aside in your practice routine to stop watching new lessons & just focus on playing the one you really need to work on. And then turn the computer off & just play those ideas to keep complete focus on one particular idea, lick, skill.

Hope that helps! Please ask more if necessary. Best of success with the courses & improvising.


Christopher Schlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor

Christopher Schlegel Lesson Directory
# 2
JeffS65
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Joined: 10/07/08
Posts: 1,602
JeffS65
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Joined: 10/07/08
Posts: 1,602
10/08/2018 7:07 pm
Originally Posted by: Slashycoco

Hello everyone!

I need help with regards to the core training specifically blues and rock. I am aiming to be able to play a solo or improvise on licks so I practice on the two courses as I really like both genres. I really practice the licks and try to understand what I can(root note, repetition, rhythm). However when its time to improvise on the lick and play together with Anders Mouridsen, I just can'tseem to keep up. So I move on to the next lick that he is going to teach without being able to really jam and improvise on the lick. I then try to improvise on all the licks that i have learned but I fail.

My question is, should I keep learning new concepts and licks? Or should I stick to one lesson/lick until I am comfortable with it?

Also adding to the thread; learn songs and play along with them.

So many players skipped learning songs just for the sake of learning them (like I did) and completely miss out on the benefit of just learning playing along. You realize things like how these artists built themes by using licks and riffs.

It's like a vocabulary.; you don't speak in random freeform jazz improvisation, why would you play that way? You learn speech and patterns in order to communicate in a way people understand. Music is the same way. When you learn songs, it's a bit like mimicing your parents when you were a baby, you learn the 'language'.

You also see themes and ideas and how they are developed. Which, when looking to improvise, helps.

I am not a master improvisor because I spent many years being lazy and only learning songs when I needed to (like when I played in a band)...Mistake.


# 3
Slashycoco
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Joined: 09/09/18
Posts: 3
Slashycoco
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Joined: 09/09/18
Posts: 3
10/17/2018 4:10 am

Thanks to both of you! By reading your comments I realized this wasn't going to happen overnight.

I have tried learning new songs like I got the blues, and welcome to the jungle. It has really sparked my motivation and focus to learn the guitar once again.

Its's fun using the concepts that I have already learned.


# 4
ChristopherSchlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Joined: 08/09/05
Posts: 8,328
ChristopherSchlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Joined: 08/09/05
Posts: 8,328
10/17/2018 3:24 pm

You're welcome for replies!

Originally Posted by: SlashycocoBy reading your comments I realized this wasn't going to happen overnight.

That's exactly the right attitude. :) Just keep practicing & you will get there.

Glad to hear you are motivated & having fun with the guitar!


Christopher Schlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor

Christopher Schlegel Lesson Directory
# 5
JeffS65
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Joined: 10/07/08
Posts: 1,602
JeffS65
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Joined: 10/07/08
Posts: 1,602
10/18/2018 6:35 pm
Originally Posted by: Slashycoco

Thanks to both of you! By reading your comments I realized this wasn't going to happen overnight.

I have tried learning new songs like I got the blues, and welcome to the jungle. It has really sparked my motivation and focus to learn the guitar once again.

Its's fun using the concepts that I have already learned.

Awesome! Enjoy.


# 6
KeithTankMcRae
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Joined: 12/06/18
Posts: 2
KeithTankMcRae
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Joined: 12/06/18
Posts: 2
12/06/2018 6:58 pm

honestly one of the best things you can do with practicing new concepts is close to what you're doing.[br][br]We're often very wired to thing "keep trying it until it's right" but honestly I've found that with a lot of new phrases and whatnot, the mind needs time to wrap itself around the processes of everything, so spending say five to ten minutes on one riff or phrase, capping it at that, and moving on to your next drill or phrase and repeating the process consistently over a few days will make you make much faster overall progress than say spending an hour or even twenty minutes on a phrase.

There seems to be this cutoff point where the mind just doesn't want to make additional progress on something that day, but will make more the next day, kind of like lifting weights for example (where at a certain point, you're just wasting energy and not building muscle). So, attacking multiple different concepts at once is actually gonna make faster development, if that makes any sense. There's also the added benefit that if you're only giving something five to ten minutes, you tend to work much harder on it than if you gave it twenty minutes to an hour, and it's a lot more fun.


# 7

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