I think I have hit a wall and need some guidance

Hello all guitarists, musicians and campfire players,

I have been playing guitar for 10 months and for the same time i have had premium membership on this website and like it very much, i never even held guitar before in my life before 10 months ago and so have been learning and practising every day on my own, i havent skipped a single day for which i am proud of, but i am equally worried that i am not as progressing as I should and probably have hit a wall now and would like to ask for a small help, if I may.

To kind of understand where i am in terms of skill or experience I am going to try to describe what i have done and what i am struggling with and what i am comfortable with. I have done the basic justin guitar courses, I have done guitar fundamentals 1 and 2 on this website as well as blues 1 and rock 1. I never had face to face lessons or a guitar teacher. Important to note that just like in school or work, i think i have already forgotten like 30% of the stuff that i am not using daily or very often.

I know my notes on the low E string, I know open chords, power chords, barre chords, I am using techniques like alternate picking, chugging, palm muting, have learned some harmonics and pinch harmonics as well as hammer on, pull offs, slides, bends etc., i know like 3 pentatonic shapes and some strumming patterns, although I mostly try to learn lead parts, playing notes and slow solos. I am mostly interested and enjoy rock, metal and some slower blues.

There is so much stuff that I have either forgot or dont know how and where to learn and how to put it all together so it makes logical sense, I think i am missing some essential music theory or a path to follow, as I dont know where to go from here? I can pick a song i like and spend few evenings learning and i can play it to a point where its recognizeable and fun and then I pick another one, but i am not learning much apart from practising playing.

I guess some topics that are unexplored for me and I would like to focus on in 2022 are :

1. triads, how to understand them and what they are, how are they formed? Where can I learn this?

2. keys and chords and scales over chords, how do i identify the key to play in and how to learn what chords and scales to use in this sense? Is there a lesson or course on this?

3. how to move freely around the neck? How to interchangeably use different pentatonic and major scales and move around the neck so it sounds good? How to learn to improvise?

[br]4. different modes, Ionian, Dorian, Myxolydian etc. do i need them? Should I learn them? Where? or is it too soon for me?

I presume i need to set like a progression path and go from there, i am a very systematic and linear person, although i am dedicated and practice every day, i am not fast learner and i get easily lost when i try to learn bits and pieces and jump from segment to segment and its not in order, i guess i dont know what to learn now or what to focus on.

Thank in advance for any suggestion, help or guidance on this, much appreciated!

Radim

Congrats on finishing GF1 & 2 & some style courses!

Originally Posted by: Beo420I know my notes on the low E string[/quote]

Learn the notes on the other strings. The D string is the same as the E but the musical alphabet letter notes are 2 frets higher. Again on the B string but 3 frets higher than the D. the high E is the same as the low E.

Learn the notes on the A string, then you can use the octave method to get the notes 2 frets higher on the G string.

Done!

Originally Posted by: Beo420I think i am missing some essential music theory or a path to follow, as I dont know where to go from here?[/quote]

This collection of tutorials covers music theory.

https://www.guitartricks.com/collection/music-theory

Originally Posted by: Beo4201. triads, how to understand them and what they are, how are they formed? Where can I learn this?[/quote]

This collection of tutorials will show you all possible triads & inversions across the fretboard.

https://www.guitartricks.com/collection/triads-and-inversions

[quote=Beo420]2. keys and chords and scales over chords, how do i identify the key to play in and how to learn what chords and scales to use in this sense? Is there a lesson or course on this?

This collection of tutorials will show you how to improvise.

https://www.guitartricks.com/collection/learning-to-improvise

[quote=Beo420]3. how to move freely around the neck? How to interchangeably use different pentatonic and major scales and move around the neck so it sounds good? How to learn to improvise?

Learn to cover the fretboard with scale degrees. Start with Series 1 which covers one octave patterns. Series 2 expands the idea to 2 octaves.

https://www.guitartricks.com/search.php?search=%22scale+patterns+series%22

Individual tutorial links:

Major Scale Patterns 1

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=453

Major Scale Patterns 2

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2643

Minor Scale Patterns 1

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=887

Minor Scale Patterns 2

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2646

Pentatonic Scales

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=296

Pentatonic Major

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=722

Pentatonic Minor

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=185

Learn a vocabulary of licks to play using all those scales.

https://www.guitartricks.com/collection/Bread-and-Butter-Butter-Blues-Licks

The improvisation collection above will help you connect all the pieces.

[br][quote=Beo420]4. different modes, Ionian, Dorian, Myxolydian etc. do i need them? Should I learn them? Where? or is it too soon for me?

Modes of the Major Scale

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=370

Practicing Major Modes

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=770

Practicing Minor Modes

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2630

That should keep your guitar practice schedule busy for 2022. :) Hope this helps. Please ask more if necessary. Best of success!

Originally Posted by: ChristopherSchlegel

That should keep your guitar practice schedule busy for 2022. :) Hope this helps. Please ask more if necessary. Best of success!

Thank you so much Chris for this awesome reply, thats more than i expected and could wish for, I am glad all those parts are on this website already, as i mentioned its kind of hard to set a route if you dont know what to learn at what phase down the road but understandably there is no path set in stone for learning guitar as people like different stuff and take different approach and genres so now I have a ton of stuff to go through and keep me busy in 2022! [br]Thanks!

It has taken me 21 months to get to where you are at. Give yourself more credit I think you are indeed a fast learner. When dots begin to connect I have to remind myself that it's a small victory and one day all the dots will connect.

You have accomplished a lot in 10 months and I think you are very smart to spend some time on theory. It's theory that pulls everything together and things begin making sense and gives your playing a sense of purpose. Getting to understand keys and how chords and scales fit together will be a game changer for you.

Sounds like you are very structured which is great and very important. Relax, take in your accomplishments as they stand. Retention is no big deal. I forget stuff all the time, but once I need whatever I forgot about and spend some time on it, things comes back quickly.

Good luck and have fun with it.

Progress for me rarely comes in a steady flow, but more like a step function. Maybe it is the way I study. I will often work on (struggle on :-)) four or five songs at a time. For the longest time it will seem taht nothing is coming together. Suddenly, all of them will click all at once. And, I know it sounds weird, but often I will show the most improvement after coming back from an extended break of days, or even weeks. You would think that I would regress a bit and have to re-learn, but often it is the opposite. So...if you are stuck, try taking a break. Your guitar, lessons and songs will be there waiting for you.

As others have said I don't think you are a slow learner. You've done as much in 10 months as I've done in 30 years (with lots of big multi-year gaps unfortunately!)[br][br]One thing I've come to realize, which I feel for me is the biggest thing that has held me back all these years, is that I don't really know how to apply all the things I've learned outside of the lessons/practice tunes/songs where I originally learned them. Which I think is a big factor for why I've forgotten so much of what I've learned.[br][br]So one of my big goals for this year is that whenever I learn a new thing I have to try and apply it outside of the context where I learned it. For me so far this is mostly using various backing tracks with simple but interesting chord progressions, and then trying to apply the things I know to that backing track. It's sort of improvisation, but not just improvising solos, but chord voicings, rhythm, riffs, licks, fills, arpeggios etc.[br][br]I actually find this way harder than just learning the skills in the first place. It forces you to make decisions and adapt.

Originally Posted by: martin.bayly

As others have said I don't think you are a slow learner. You've done as much in 10 months as I've done in 30 years (with lots of big multi-year gaps unfortunately!)[br][br]One thing I've come to realize, which I feel for me is the biggest thing that has held me back all these years, is that I don't really know how to apply all the things I've learned outside of the lessons/practice tunes/songs where I originally learned them. Which I think is a big factor for why I've forgotten so much of what I've learned.[br][br]So one of my big goals for this year is that whenever I learn a new thing I have to try and apply it outside of the context where I learned it. For me so far this is mostly using various backing tracks with simple but interesting chord progressions, and then trying to apply the things I know to that backing track. It's sort of improvisation, but not just improvising solos, but chord voicings, rhythm, riffs, licks, fills, arpeggios etc.[br][br]I actually find this way harder than just learning the skills in the first place. It forces you to make decisions and adapt.

Thank you and all others for kind comments, i really appreciate it. I think what you said I can quite relate to myself, as I rarely use chords, licks or techniques from one song to another, but it does happen, when i feel like it would fit and sound nice, but i should use it way more often and thats why i think i miss the theory to know what scale and chord progression is played and immediately add the fills and licks that are on the same scale in same key and you can keep on going jamming and it sounds great. Ive been using similar thing to warm up practice, playing home sweet alabama and keep adding fills and parts and improvising in between the main verse, arpeggiate it, then strum it, then add a fill or lick and few bends and so on. I would like to be able to do t his anywhere on the neck and in every key, but i dont have the knowledge yet :)

Originally Posted by: Beo420

Thank you so much Chris for this awesome reply, thats more than i expected and could wish for, I am glad all those parts are on this website already

Best of success!