What/Who has helped you learning most!!

[Sybo]

This being another year of being sucky, i have been giving thought on things/people that have made a HUGE difference in my learning/playing. Covid has given me more practice time, but my most APPRECIATED is someone who has become a friend, welcomed me into their home, shared sooooo much with me, and truly have been "Special" to me. Jake T, Thank you my friend....sincerely, thank you Sir!!! It was this awesome forum that allowed our paths to cross..

Thanks for having faith in me!!!!

 

[jak3af3r]

Keep up the good work!

 

[veinbuster]

Lifetime, probably Tom Greene. His books are demanding, and I didn’t try to learn it all, but I worked through it and have a much bigger menu of transitions to choose from.

More recently some composers I was afraid of before have stretched my vocabulary: Paganini and Beethoven in particular.

 

[bodia]

I haven't taken advantage of all of the down time during the last year. Probably the year I have played the least amount in guitar since I got my first back in '84. I suck!

 

[Serious Poo]

Phil Keaggy taught me to sing my notes. Best advice I ever got, it’s improved my playing more than any other single thing. You have to hear them, feel them, be them, before you can play them with any sort of emotion or authority.

 

[CandidPicker]

My former local mentor and good friend, Burt Teague. Burt was an accomplished jazz/blues/rock/funk guitarist who toured regularly the Connecticut/lower Massachusetts circuit. His knowledge of guitar was professional, and he owned his own basement recording studio from which he made ADAT master tapes for interested folks.

Burt was a genuinely kind-hearted man who was brought up in the southern US. His respectful ways earned him many friends and few enemies during his lifetime.

Burt took me under his wing a few weeks after I began visiting one of his regular local tour stops. It was possible for me to parlay setting up his house bands' PA gear into guitar lessons for about a year until Burt didn't have the time anymore for lessons.

Although there was much more I would have like to have learned, Burt taught me some of the songs that he and his house band played as part of their setlist at our local venue. Learning these songs helped me be part of a growing following among his fans during open-mic jams, though truthfully, my role in this was indeed minimal. Credit goes to Burt for being the good-natured friend who cared enough to lend a hand when others would have charged ridiculous money for lessons.

Burt's career ended when his diet/health disrupted his ability to play well. Although I don't know where Burt is today, the memory of him will always be a part of my life.

 

[Robert J Ubry]

Time , lots of practice time. Pick it up whenever you are doing nothing else. Watching TV? Have that axe in your lap and be pickin'. Also jamming with friends.

 

[rbert0005]

Sybo, you’re spoiled ;-)

By the way, I did it again, twice.

Bob

 

[Sybo]

Bob, Bob, what are they gonna do with us........? Twice!! I mean cmon...............SPILL!!!

 

[Wyldelyfe]

Watching YouTube videos and my guitar teacher.
I went to a teacher for my first five years. After that, good YouTube lessons helped me a lot. Studying stuff like John Mayer songs have also been immensely helpful for my progress as a guitarist.

 

[László]

I mastered guitar in one day. I don't know what took you guys so long!

"Dude, it took you a frickin' whole day just to learn to put the strap on."

"That's not true. It only took me a couple of hours to learn to put the strap on."

"It took you a couple of hours just to figure out where the strap buttons are. Plus (a) you still have to fiddle with straps because you're a moron, and (b) you STILL suck at guitar after all these many decades. You've never mastered the instrument."

"OK! Then I've mastered taking the guitar out of the case, polishing the guitar, and putting it back in the case."

 

[Alnus Rubra]

I mastered guitar in one day. I don't know what took you guys so long!

"Dude, it took you a frickin' whole day just to learn to put the strap on."

"That's not true. It only took me a couple of hours to learn to put the strap on."

"It took you a couple of hours just to figure out where the strap buttons are. Plus (a) you still have to fiddle with straps because you're a moron, and (b) you STILL suck at guitar after all these many decades. You've never mastered the instrument."

"OK! Then I've mastered taking the guitar out of the case, polishing the guitar, and putting it back in the case."

Les said “strap on” giggle!

“Why is that funny?”

“Well you know!”

“No!!” “Well?!”

“If I have to explain it.....”

 

[László]

Les said “strap on” giggle!

“Why is that funny?”

“Well you know!”

“No!!” “Well?!”

“If I have to explain it.....”

Clearly I've been using the wrong kind of strap.

 

[11top]

Other band mates.

 

[Fram]

I second 11 top, the other guitarist in my band and a good friend, has inspired me to be better, he is an awesome player and always nudges me out of my “rhythm guitar” comfort zone when he gets the chance.

 

[Black-Viper75]

This may be a long write up, so I apologize beforehand, but it's been a long guitar journey for me. I bought my first guitar in '87 and have been pretty much self taught. Living in Greece since 1988 I couldn't find a guitar teacher to teach me hard rock and heavy metal. My source of guitar knowledge in the late 80s and early 90s became expensive imports Guitar World magazine.

I stopped playing for about 15 years because of life and got back into guitar 2 years ago.

In June 2019 i was fortunate to have the first major guitar camp in Europe happen at the hotel I work at. Gus G's Guitar Weekend Apocalypse

. I was able to get those days off and purchase my ticket to attend my first ever guitar camp. It was an amazing experience and I met a lot of musicians who became new friends from all over Europe. The instructors Gus G, Andy James, Nick Johnston and Mike Dawes were all inspiring and made my hunger for guitar knowledge grow even more.

I decided I wanted to finally learn theory and get more serious about my playing. But I couldn't commit to lessons due to work and very little free time (pre pandemic). I joined Nick Johnston's Homework project for a year. Each week Nick would send out a lesson with a video and tabs to subscribers to work on at their own pace for about 6 euros a month. Nick Johnston also released 2 instructional videos which also helped me with theory, phrasing and melody (Intuition and Theory Primer).

Now at 46 I'm in my best guitar form ever and only getting better.

 

[Kmonk]

I am self taught on guitar, bass and keys. I've learned a lot by listening to different styles of music. I've also learned a lot from several people who are very close to me. The first, was my mother. She always had music playing in the house when I was growing up. She liked all styles of music. In the 1970s she saw Elvis, Frank Sinatra and Alice Copper. She also saw The Rolling Stones on the Steel Wheels tour. She loved music and would often come to see my band play.

The second person who helped my was my friend Dave. We met in the 8th grade and even though my family moved after my freshman year of high school, Dave and I stayed in touch and played in several bands together. He taught me how to learn by ear, how to listen to music and break down the parts. I have been doing music for television for about 15 years and Dave is now working with me on writing and recording. He likes to say that "the student has become the teacher".

The third person is my friend Sean. He is an Associate Dean at Berklee. He and I have been writing, recording and touring together for 20 years. He has helped me to learn about recording and about music theory. We met when the band he was in was looking for a bass player. My mother knew the band's manager and told him about me. I ended up getting the gig and Sean and I became close friends and business partners.

I have been very fortunate to have these three people in my life. I may not be playing music if it wasn't for them.

 

[GuitarAddict]

Old skool, listening to CDs, learning stuff I liked. I had a Technics CD play with an AB loop function which I more or less wore out.
Later on when doing my acoustic gigs I was one of the first to use a loop pedal, which replaced the AB loop on the CD player and could even slow stuff down. Playing acoustic gigs solo is a great way to improve. I used the looper on a couple of tracks, but the majority was just me, playing stuff like GnRs or Bon Jovi and singing, with no place to hide the mistakes it soon makes them very few and far between. Also makes playing in a band seem easy when you have other instruments playing.
That brings me to playing with great musicians and those that are a level above you, that really brought my playing along. Playing in front of an audience at a decent volume. Nothing like that to tidy up sloppy playing like unmuted strings or poor dynamics. It’s so different from playing alone in your safe practice space at low volume.
I took a couple of lessons when I first picked up a guitar about 40 years ago from a couple of different teachers but unfortunately they seemed more keen on showing off their awesome shredding abilities rather than teaching which just demoralised me further early on, which is why I learnt a lot of stuff on my own.
One of the biggest things I wanted was to learn loads and loads of songs from mainly rock and blues.
I had a Learn Rhythm Guitar book by Burt Weedon I think it was. That was a very good foundation as well.
Having got back into playing in the last couple of years after ill health prevented me from gigging and I realised playing at home for my own pleasure is better than not playing at all I have signed up to an online masterclass which is better than I thought it would be and I have learnt a couple of techniques and riffs that I have been able to take over to the solos of my favourite songs giving them a fresh sound.
sorry for the muddled post but this kind of came out of my jumbled brain straight onto the page without me planning it out.
Just play something new everyday, be it a new chord or a new riff or learn a new scale in a different position but just play, and don’t forget to warm up, tendonitis is a *****!

 

[vchizzle]

Playing in bands probably taught me the most.

 

[BrianC]

get a looper - lay down a solid track and practice soloing.