Topic: guitar lessons

WOOHOO! I start again today! I got out when I was in high school, just due to lack of time with all of the extra curricular activities I did. Well, for whatever reason I think I got better as I worked on my own. Then i plateaued and have been playing the same blues licks and runs over and over and over for about 3 years now. I called up a local blues player, and I start lessons with him today at noon so I can work on some new stuff... very excited!

Block inlay Gibson ES-335, 50th anniversary American Strat, '61 RI White SG, '62 RI Relic Strat, Replica Korina Flying V, Gold Tone Paul Beard Resonator,  '58 Les Paul RI, American Highway 1 Fender Strat, Breedlove Acoustic, Stonetree Joe Bonamassa Custom, HIWATT Lead 100R, Reeves Custom 30.

Re: guitar lessons

Good for you and good luck!

Let us know how you progress.

Re: guitar lessons

I bet even Joe gets a little material to practice new riffs and things every now and then.

Re: guitar lessons

AD3THREE wrote:

I bet even Joe gets a little material to practice new riffs and things every now and then.

Of course, but I also think that Joe played so much especially in his young  years that he has enough licks in mind for a whole life cool

Here are my tabbed songs by "Smokin' Joe": http://www.jbonamassa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=7236
I LIKE MUSIC! big_smile big_smile big_smile

Re: guitar lessons

first lesson went really well... I went in for a 30 minute lesson and after the gear talk started I ended up being there for an hour and a half. He said that he was very impressed with my playing, and it really meant a lot coming from someone with a masters degree and 30 plus years of experience. Almost all of my playing uses the pentatonic minor scale so we worked on incorporating the pentatonic major scale in with it... it was a little odd because it just didnt sound right to my ears but I left already getting the hang of it. It will be good to expand my playing horizons a bit, and I hope that it opens all sorts of doors in the music biz.

Logan

Block inlay Gibson ES-335, 50th anniversary American Strat, '61 RI White SG, '62 RI Relic Strat, Replica Korina Flying V, Gold Tone Paul Beard Resonator,  '58 Les Paul RI, American Highway 1 Fender Strat, Breedlove Acoustic, Stonetree Joe Bonamassa Custom, HIWATT Lead 100R, Reeves Custom 30.

6 (edited by stratpaulguy86 2009-09-28 06:35:30)

Re: guitar lessons

That's cool man!  It's always exciting when you start to notice yourself breaking out of a skill level plateau.  When I start playing the same licks ad nauseum or sound too much like one guy I'll find inspiration somewhere else.  Here are some things that have worked for me in improving my playing:

1) Ditch the pick.  Establishing an advanced control over fingerpicking will add a lot of things to the "same old licks" that a pick cannot give you.  Most of the greats use their fingers to a great extent.

2) Lose some strings.  When I break a string, a lot of times I'll still play the guitar for a while to get out of my comfort zone.  Try playing fast runs and chords with a few strings missing!  It's eye opening to see what you can do with less "wiggle room" and the option of playing scales in a conventional way.  I like to sometime take the A or D string off along with a skinny string such as the B or high E.

3) Using less distortion.  Sometimes I like to just plug straight into a clean Fender amp and see how much I can do with just a guitar.  We can get so enamoured with effects, distortion, and delay that it takes away from the actual playing. I have been really trying to get the most out of just the guitar lately.

4) Try adding some Classical, Middle Eastern, Country, or Jazz licks into your playing.  Sometimes I like to listen to guys like Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, Brad Paisley, Derek Trucks/Jimmy Page (for the Indian flavored stuff), Jeff Beck, and Eric Johnson for their unique takes on the bluesier stuff.  Listening to the more conventional guys is great, but I like adding some "spice" to the same old blues pentatonic runs.

5) (What you are doing currently) Learn from people you admire.  I love the way my old man approaches the guitar and I try to take as much from him every time I hear him play.  He hangs in the pocket well and knows when to push it.  Sometimes I feel like I'm always in "GO GO GO" mode.  The older/more experienced guys always do this better than the younger gunslingers.

Anyways, I would love to hear your playing man.  Good luck honing those chops.  Speaking of which mine are getting kind of rusty lately (moving into my new home)...time to hit the woodshed! big_smile

'67 and '74 Fender Twin Reverbs, '74 Marshall 1987 lead mkII, Metro Superlead 100. Pedals from TC Electronic, Ibanez, Dunlop, BK Butler, Electro-Harmonix, Fulltone, Maestro/Gibson, Loopmaster switching, VoodooLab, Boss. Gibson and Fender guitars, Dimarzio pickups.

Re: guitar lessons

cool! Thanks Stratpaulguy... I'll try some of that stuff... my Les Paul is missing a high E string at the moment so i'll fiddle around with that tomorrow when i practice. All those tips sounds really cool and I look forward to trying them out. Someday I'll get a video up, I've never played in front of a group that was larger than just a few of my friends... I tend to panic and forget what i'm doing and end up sounding like a newb. i need to figure out how to block all that out.


Logan

Block inlay Gibson ES-335, 50th anniversary American Strat, '61 RI White SG, '62 RI Relic Strat, Replica Korina Flying V, Gold Tone Paul Beard Resonator,  '58 Les Paul RI, American Highway 1 Fender Strat, Breedlove Acoustic, Stonetree Joe Bonamassa Custom, HIWATT Lead 100R, Reeves Custom 30.

Re: guitar lessons

For me, I have always gained lots of great lick ideas, concepts, vocabulary and inspiration from instructional DVD's.  I highly recommend these three titles for guitarists regardless of genre.

Don Mock- "The Blues from Rock to Jazz"
Carl Verheyen- "Intervalic Rock"
Scott Henderson- "Melodic Phrasing"

Re: guitar lessons

Thanks Vette! I'll have to check those out.


Logan

Block inlay Gibson ES-335, 50th anniversary American Strat, '61 RI White SG, '62 RI Relic Strat, Replica Korina Flying V, Gold Tone Paul Beard Resonator,  '58 Les Paul RI, American Highway 1 Fender Strat, Breedlove Acoustic, Stonetree Joe Bonamassa Custom, HIWATT Lead 100R, Reeves Custom 30.

Re: guitar lessons

Yeah, all 3 of those DVDs are EXCELLENT!

    cool


    Here's some ideas you may like:

    http://www.jbonamassa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=11048

    The new Lessons you're taking, sound like fun. It's always very cool when you find a good fit with an Instructor!
    Congratulations.

Early 80's 1957 U.S. Vintage Reissue Stratocaster (Surf Green)-Warmouth Soloist  Pearly Gates Neck, Pearly Gates Bridge- Larrivee D-03 (Mahogany/ Spruce)
Carmen Ghia Head- Marshall 112 Cab W/G12H 30  or  Custom 4 X 6v6 Head  or  Budda Twinmaster Plus Head-Traynor 212 Cab w/Eminence Texas Heats. 
Mo'D-Eternity-Blues Pro- Timmy-BYOC Chorus/Vibrato- TC SCF- Korg DT 10 Pedal Tuner

Re: guitar lessons

Logo33 wrote:

cool! Thanks Stratpaulguy... I'll try some of that stuff... my Les Paul is missing a high E string at the moment so i'll fiddle around with that tomorrow when i practice. All those tips sounds really cool and I look forward to trying them out. Someday I'll get a video up, I've never played in front of a group that was larger than just a few of my friends... I tend to panic and forget what i'm doing and end up sounding like a newb. i need to figure out how to block all that out.


Logan

Haha I know the feeling Logan.  I use to get really shaky but I actually find that I play better in front of people now.  It's all psychological and goes away with time.  The more you play in front of people the less you'll get nervous.  Once I realized that 99% of people think you are amazing if you can play Blink 182 or Nirvana songs, the nerves went away! hmm

'67 and '74 Fender Twin Reverbs, '74 Marshall 1987 lead mkII, Metro Superlead 100. Pedals from TC Electronic, Ibanez, Dunlop, BK Butler, Electro-Harmonix, Fulltone, Maestro/Gibson, Loopmaster switching, VoodooLab, Boss. Gibson and Fender guitars, Dimarzio pickups.

Re: guitar lessons

ah thats funny around my home town if you don't play whats consider rock now days your playing country.  I just can't picture Jimi Hendrix and Cream in a straw hat!  Now if you travel an hour to Ashville NC you find the biggest bunch of music lovers around Blue Grass is like Metallica up there and it like that for anything you play.  Plus the vibe of the people are all "Experienced" if you will so its always a pleasure to play in Ashville Hippie capital of north carolina and #2 on the map for homosexuals... San Fransico still has them beat in that area.

Re: guitar lessons

Glad the lesson went well Logan. I have just signed up for some "Blues/Rock" lessons myself. I used to play years ago but gave up for about 15 years. This year I picked the guitar up again, but I find that I am stuck just playing the same things over and over. I'm hoping the lessons will give me a kick start. 'Discovering' players like JB has certainly helped.

I was never very good so hopefully I will see some improvement. I always wanted to go straight from Beginner to EVH 'Eruption' and got frustrated when I couldn't smile

Budda I will work my way through your lessons too - looks interesting.