Yep I'm new!! I would love to get some pointers!

[rockdoc34]

Hi everyone!

Thanks for having me!

I’m a 57 year old guy that Loves guitars! In fact I build electrics as a hobby in my small shop in Wisconsin. Now I also sort of collect a few guitars and amps.

I first picked up a guitar back in my college days in the early 80’s. Wow those were the days!! I played with bass and tinkered with a classical for a couple of years then completely dropped it for over 30 years. I began playing again in about 2019 and haven’t put it down since.

I’ve never had a formal lesson but have come pretty far with the help of youtube. I would love to find someone willing to take me on as a student but we just don’t have a decent instructor within 50 miles. Maybe skype or something similar is the way to go.

I consider myself almost intermediate. I understand much about scales and chords. Chromatic Major/minor scale, pentatonic, a little about modes, etc. Getting a good grasp of chord shapes (7ths etc.) and understand how the caged system works.

I really enjoy the music I grew up with in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s mostly… everything from Zepplin to Metallica, Ratt, Scorps, Van Halen, you know what I mean… The good stuff… lol.

I’ve watched most of the pick slanting series on here and really gained some insight to my picking hand. My BIGGEST challenge right now is hand synchronization. It seems as if my fretting hand just cant keep up!!
If there is anyone that can point me in the right direction I would be so appreciative.

[bradejensen]

@rockdoc34

My BIGGEST challenge right now is hand synchronization.

Nothing wrong with playing with a slightly slower smoother tempo as you work out the rhythmical sync of the hands for a few days. Swing tempo seems to help me gain the left hand dexterity pretty quickly in a few days for newer licks that I learn, kind of bursting in and out of the swing. Using this kind of burst concept, or you really don’t have to burst. I think the more you play guitar the quicker you will be able to burst through a new phrase. But it is really not necessary for 1 or 2 days to burst, just swing it to let the fretting hand develop that quickness between 2 note burst chunks along with getting it to sync with the picking. You dont really have to learn this lick or worry with picking motions or anything it is just to show you going from swing to burst. also remember to swing off the starting point as well so you develop the other 2 note chunks in a fast setting, in soundslice they call this scottish swing.

2 note scale speed practice trick

[rockdoc34]

That looks like it might be useful. I’ll be picking up the guitar to practice a few things soon. I always love having something new to try.

[Moje]

Hi there, welcome aboard!
Interesting, I had the same experience; a few weeks back ran across CtC, figured out what my right hand was actually doing and suddenly the left hand couldn’t keep up. So far two things have helped with that:

First, metronomes are great but I find it really useful to accelerate/decelerate. First with just tremolo, then small chunks.

Second, rhythmic permutations: if you take a six note chunk and play it in fours the accents are displaced, for me that helps with coordination. I only find this useful with straightforward things like the “pop tarts” lick, the law of diminishing returns kicks in pretty fast. Anyway hope you enjoy the forum, cheers.

[rockdoc34]

Ahh thanks for the tip. I’ve never been too strict with metronome use but I’d better get used to the idea. I’ll try some pop tarts this afternoon! Always appreciate anything that might point me in the right direction! Any other licks that you would recommend exercising?

[joebegly]

@rockdoc34 welcome!

I always point people to these excellent posts when they complain of fretting hand speed limits:

Efficient Digital Cycles

I have been preparing a post about the left hand postures and fretting strategies I use in my playing, after reading through the following thread: That promised post is still in preparation, and I will present it when I’m satisfied with it. In preparing that post, I watched through several instructional videos and CTC interviews again. While re-watching Shawn Lane’s Power Licks for the first time in a while, I realized something about his fretting sequences that I felt was extremely interes…

The Fastest Lane - Video Lessons on Efficient Fretting Mechanics in Shawn Lane's "Power Licks"

It was suggested by our moderator @tommo that I come up with a title that more clearly reflected the content of my posts so they may be found more easily in future and which which may draw some more attention. The title I’ve come up with feels like clickbait to me, but I think it serves those ends specifically. I hope the content merits the lofty title. I present a series of videos on the concept of Efficient Digital Cycles, which is a principle I’ve discovered which underlies most of Shawn Lan…

Videos on fretting principles

On @tommo’s recommendation I’ve decided to re-post this video from my book thread to the Show and Tell category, so that it might be viewed by more of the community. This video introduces an important gripping concept that to my knowledge, has not been discussed in depth in previously available guitar instruction. [Grip] If there are questions about this concept I will answer them here. I intend to make short videos highlighting some things I look for when studying a player’s fret…

It’s a dense read/watch but there’s a wealth of knowledge in there.

It’s also highly recommended to film your playing (featuring what you’re struggling with) and post it to a thread with Technique Critique as the category. You’ll be sure to get some good feedback from the community.

[rockdoc34]

Im trying to rig up some sort of camera so I can do some recording… no mega mags available for now I guess… Im going to watch some Shawn Lane and see what I see…

[joebegly]

@rockdoc34

Im going to watch some Shawn Lane and see what I see…

The main summary on his left hand (from the posts I linked) is that his fastest playing always featured him fretting in continuous cycles of either index, middle, ring OR index, middle, pinky. The reverse of those is fine too, and he used them. The idea is this gives each finger the maximum time to get ready to play again and avoids the inherently weak combo of ring/pinky.

[rockdoc34]

I’m definitely understanding that 3 notes per string is going to get me going the fastest. Now that I’m really paying attention, I dont do a lot of I, M, R cycles. It doesn’t feel comfortable to me. I find myself doing more I, R, Pinky instead. I have some reasonable pinky strength but I can see how this can slow me down just a little… I’m also realizing that I have miles and miles go to to even come close to reaching my goals. Frustrating to say the least.

My 2 note per string pentatonics really need improvement as well. I can do fairly quick scale sequences with multiple notes per string but when I attempt just strictly 2 notes then change strings, again 2 notes and change etc. from top to bottom or visa versa I really seem to be lacking.

Im getting closer to rigging up a phone to my guitar to record video. Trying to find something I can 3d print maybe…