How do I get better from here?

Hey Equipboarders, there seem to be a lot of seasoned guitar players on here, so I hope you can help me out in my journey.

I'm kind of stuck on what the next major thing I could do to improve my guitar playing is.

Here is where I am currently:

• Classically trained pianist when I was young (about 7 yrs).
• Been playing guitar for 8 years or so total... but truly only practicing/improving/taking lessons for 2-3 of those years. Rest of that time is just noodling on the stuff I can play, recording, learning new songs but within my skill level.
• I have a very good ear overall and musical sense.
• In terms of chords: I feel like I'm fairly solid. I love experimenting w different voicings, that's a lot of what I do when I noodle around - just build progressions using different voicings. Pretty weak when it comes to Jazz chords.
• In terms of soloing: Blues, man. Blues. It's my comfort zone. Pentatonic, blues, I feel like I've got those down, and everything I play revolves around them. It's how I started and it's where I'm comfortable.

To give you a better idea of current skill level, I can play Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze start to finish pretty well. I also play a lot of Kings of Leon solos, like this one from the song Four Kicks.

Thing is... I think you can put most of the solos I can play into a box labeled "shit you can play when you know the pentatonic scale." What I lack is the ability to glide around the fret board effortlessly and quickly when soloing. Maybe its partly that I'm uncomfortable outside the confines of the blues scale, and partly that I need to work on my picking technique.

So, my specific asks for you guys are:

1. What should I start doing/learning/practicing that will open up the next chapter of my guitar playing (particularly soloing)?
2. Any particular youtube video series, etc that will help me with #1?

ps. Sorry it's kinda hard to articulate in a few words how "good" I currently am, so I'm happy to give more specifics if needed!

Ok, want to add something that might help with context. Actually think I've seen this video on Equipboard before, but watch the guy play the 1st minute of the video - that's exactly where I'd love to be as a player. He just glides around super effortlessly... if I practice, I can probably get to about the 0:20 second mark. After that, I feel as if there's a big gap in technique and fluidity from me to him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdjpCZ_yxkw

I'm not sure how to gauge how "good" the guy in the video actually is, but what I do know is he's better than me :) How do I get from "I can play Purple Haze" to being like this dude? What's should my next step be?

He shows off more soloing starting around 3:41

Practice is the only cure sir. There are no short cuts or express lanes.

This year, an article as posted claiming that it takes 1000 acts of a single action to translate it to muscle memory and 10,000 hours to master any series of actions. Most people don't buy this but chances are the man who has played 10,000 hours is terrific.

Hey boom762, thanks for the reply.

I shoulda figured someone would simply reply, "practice!" ;) And yes, I completely agree with you.

To clarify my original question: What resource or method would you recommend to break out of the pentatonic box? I have faith in my focus and discipline to practice - that's not the issue. The issue is I don't know what the thing is that would make a good next step to break out of the blues/pentatonic funk.

Does that make more sense?

Ok, want to add something that might help with context. Actually think I've seen this video on Equipboard before, but watch the guy play the 1st minute of the video - that's exactly where I'd love to be as a player. He just glides around super effortlessly... if I practice, I can probably get to about the 0:20 second mark. After that, I feel as if there's a big gap in technique and fluidity from me to him.

PRACTICE... you have to be playing all the time for years to be comfortable in your guitar skin

here's how you should practice: play more shows, the stage will sharpen your existing skills.... get outside your comfort zone and play music you normally wouldn't.... learn some country classics and try playing them with a chet atkins technique.... get the charts for a ton of standards from the American songbook and site read through the parts, then make them your own once you wrap your head around them (they are classics and you can fit them into any style you choose, but you gotta own them first! you will also learn a lot about songwriting from this exercise).... get a copy of the real book and find some jazz guys to jam on it with..... make yourself available to sit in with a wedding band when their guitarist is sick or busy... play more piano and bring the stuff that excites you back to the fretboard.... I like to dissect one line parts like riffs and solos and play them backwards or with inverted notes or I will often practice harmonizing by ear along with a record with a challenging guitar lead/solo or even along with the trumpet or sax on a jazz album.... find your inner Duane Allman, then lose him again and find yourself... NEVER EVER PUT YOUR GUITAR DOWN UNLESS YOU HAVE TO PEE (unless you are playing another instrument like the piano, then its okay to hang your guitar up)... if you are watching TV try to train your ear to play the chords and/or melody along with every piece of music that's on TV immediately, you will annoy people but you will train your ear, brain and hands to 'do the right things' without thinking about it... try to keep time ALL THE TIME, life has a rhythm and I am always counting time in my head to the rhythm of my day... never ever practice something you have already mastered, move on... go check out Richard Lloyd's youtube guitar lessons and go to his website for print lessons....

This is critical. Don't practice the notes, practice new ways to approach every note. Playing all the 'right' notes is just as pointless and meaningless as saying "these are the chords to that song" as if those are the only chords you can or should play under the melody line. There are definitely wrong notes and wrong chords, but there's lots of correct answers to every musical puzzle. You can decipher that but you are not going to do it meaningfully unless your approach to the part is right. Focus on the way you address the instrument until you can always command it to sound great no matter what you need to play on it.

Most importantly, always try to be the worst player in the room so that you can learn just by listening. In fact, even if you are playing with guys who are not great, make sure you listen, listen, listen and ask questions if they do something you never woulda thought of.

Also, that guy isn't doing anything difficult. He just has a real diverse style, well developed touch, blah blah blah.... play more, I am sure all that guy did for 10 years was play. That's how I wound up with good touch, an encyclopedic repertoire of techniques and a fluid an effortless quality to my playing even when a piece is particularly demanding. Just play all the time and don't be afraid to play shit you don't think you will do well, just get on it and muddle your way through.... then play it again, like Sam.... if you truly love to play the guitar then I feel improving your skills shouldn't ever be a chore.... its just going to happen because you are playing all the time

If all your riffs sound the same, it means you are only listening to one major genre. You need to listen to guitar heavy bands that you don't normally listen to. Every Slayer song nearly has a tri-tone in it, making them all sound like they could be the same song. If a person only listened to Slayer, their art would be limited to sounding like Slayer.

What kind of music do you listen to and play now?

Try writing your solos out for the next year instead of improvising with your limited muscle memory of scales other than pentatonics (if those are what your hand knows those are what your hand will play.... I still fall into certain things when I improvise if I let myself be lazy).... in fact, write your solos on piano, then learn them on guitar. Write out 3 solos every time you need a solo. One that is based on the melody, one that is 'in the style of' a guitarist you wouldn't normally copy but who might really add to the mood of the song if he were around to play the solo for you, then write a 3rd wildcard that is all about flash, creates a brand new melodic theme and isn't about serving the song so much as changing the song through your solo.... also, when you set out to write these 3 solos you should sit down and say to yourself "the mood my solo should express is ________ " Then get busy setting that mood in the first bar or two.

when you sit down to come up with a solo also try reharmonizing the chords, then base your solo on that.... either sub some new chords that change the mood or omit the roots and 5ths from majors and minors and add some extensions, get way out there and then springboard off that alternate universe rhythm part. So the song is in Bminor? You don't have to play your solo across Bm pentatonic od Dmaj pentatonic. If you can't come up with anything in your imagination reimagine the whole song to open up those doors to the paths less travelled. You will be discovering what jazz guys call guide tones and these guide tones will get you where you want to go if you have enough theory internalized to use them. take the whole piece to the outer limits, then bring the guitar lead and solo back from the other side and plop it into the arrangement you started with. Eventually you will be able to do this in 1 step and these ways of playing will become part of your improvisation technique.

The fact that your O.P. broke soloing and chords into two separate categories is a red flag. Here's what you need to do (and I apologize if it's already been said; I only glossed over the previous posts):

Think of all possible notes you can play in a song as being part of a "note pool," consisting of our own "holy trinity" of Scales + Chords + Arpeggios. There is no such thing as "lead player" and "rhythm player" or "soloing vs chords." Many of the best solos contain chords, and many of the best rhythm tracks contain melody lines.

So the next time you are practicing a chord progression, try connecting each chord with the scale tones in-between. Or, instead of playing the chord progression, play them as arpeggios. Adding arpeggios and skipping across the strings is an excellent way to open up your playing. Add some passing tones (scale tones, voice leading) and next thing you know you've got a really decent solo happening.

Finally, don't forget the only difference between Pentatonic (5-tones) and Major or Minor or other Septatonic scales (7-tones) is just two notes ... so if you can add some "passing tones" into your pentatonic licks then you're halfway there already.

The fact that your O.P. broke soloing and chords into two separate categories is a red flag. Here's what you need to do (and I apologize if it's already been said; I only glossed over the previous posts):

as a guy who does joe pass chord melody a lot and incorporates it into ALL my playing in every style, I cannot agree more... I think you raised great points.... I got into chord melody by combining a tendency as a kid to try arpeggiating everything with my SRV/pianist tendency to play simple 'bass lines' on my wound strings while doing 'rhythm parts'... being a big band guy as a tween, teen and college student made chord melody a no-brainer leap, and it has informed all my playing, because good chord melody often requires a lot of reharmonization to be able to get the voicings that allow effortless melodic phrases to spin out of those chords... and as you get really advanced being able to revoice or reharmonize a song will help you shift the mood when you want to... harmony is just mood, atmosphere

Finally, don't forget the only difference between Pentatonic (5-tones) and Major or Minor or other Septatonic scales (7-tones) is just two notes ... so if you can add some "passing tones" into your pentatonic licks then you're halfway there already.

good point there... I never even think about what scale and mode to select anymore, like the joker, "I just DO things".... 5 tones? 6 tones, 7 tones.... WHOLE TONE?! whatever

By the way Nick, even though I was hard timing you in that strings thread, I really like you and what you have to say. Man after my own black, guitarist's heart. I am loving the sketch with your band based on "so what" you posted to soundcloud... one of my favorite tunes to listen to or play. Do you like Grant Green?

Oh thanks man! Much appreciated :) Yeah, that Soundcloud track is actually a sampler of a bunch of our recordings, which I use to book gigs. On our first album, I wrote a song called "Count Your Blessings" and halfway through the song I arranged that quote from "So What" to introduce the piano solo. The tempo and mood just felt right, you know. When I was making the sampler, I just cut straight into the "So What" bit and then after some piano jam, cut to a different track. Just trying to showcase some of the things we do.

Grant Green, Jr. lives here in Atlanta and plays often. I've actually never seen him, crazy as that sounds, because I'm always gigging myself. But I know the drummer and pianist who play with him. I am most definitely a fan of Grant Green (sr.) but did not really listen to him until college, by which time I was already well on my way to developing my own playing style and likes/dislikes. I am definitely a fan of Green's work, and his guitar tone (for Jazz) but I can't say he's one of my big influences. But I would recommend him to any guitar student. Same with Wes Montgomery. I don't think his playing was technically amazing, but it's extremely tasteful and I know it was influential at the time ("Wes Coast Blues," for example). Kurt Rosenwinkle (sp?) is the kind of Jazz guitar I listen to lately.

I just mention grant green because he covered "so what" -- as far as Wes? I have a warm place in my heart for Wes's understated cool. His playing turned me on to a new way to make use of octaves at a critical time in my music education as well as the idea that only the melody has to be a sacred when you are covering a famous song. He isn't the best from a purely technical standpoint, but he sure influenced all of us and to me deserves the same iconic status as Charlie, Django, Les, Chet and the british blues rock 'gods.'

I was actually a real Lee Ritenour guy coming up, but I outgrew that phase.

Yeah man! Les Paul, famous as he was, is probably still underrated as a guitar PLAYER... I haven't looked at a list of "top guitarists" in a long time, but Les should be near the top. That dude was unbelievable. Chet, too. Those guys reinvented guitar playing a lot more than Jimi Hendrix (uh oh, blaspheme?), Clapton, and Page combined. I may be doing in a slightly different direction here than what you were thinking, but I get what you're saying :)

This is a good thread. To starguitar's point, do any of you guys have recommendations for good lessons on YouTube? I think that would actually be really interesting to see, what the community thinks are some great channels or individual videos to improve your chops.

Might make an interesting article too, if we were able to compile that!

I'll start with one I like - not quite a proper lesson video, but the series Guitar Moves is good (on the Noisey channel), in that the artists go into their own style and technique a bit, and you're able to watch them move on the fretboard and practice the same licks they're showing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJDUHq2mJx0

It depends on what you are looking for. To know about techniques you are unaware of, you would need to come across them.

For example, you may be into Metal and want to learn how to play Cemetary Gates by Pantera. You can find a few good channels where they walk you through, explain the process, and post tablature on screen while they go through the notes. In the process, they will mention "You need to do a pinch harmonic on the 3rd fret of A and Divebomb the rest of the note."

From here, you could ask "What is a pinch harmonic?". You'd likely have to look up a video on how to pinch harmonic and then another to learn how Dimebag divebombs.

YouTube is a great resource, but it's so large you need to have a specific thing you are looking for. Even if someone said "I want to learn just the basics of guitar". You could find 1000 videos on just that, but the videos that are going to be the most useful to you are the ones that play the music you want to play and discuss the techniques those genres use in detail.

This thread has made me decide to post in the "Whatever you like" thread :)

YouTube is a great resource, but it's so large you need to have a specific thing you are looking for. Even if someone said "I want to learn just the basics of guitar". You could find 1000 videos on just that, but the videos that are going to be the most useful to you are the ones that play the music you want to play and discuss the techniques those genres use in detail.

Great point! Ok, I'm going to go with what starguitar originally asked. What are some good YouTube resources for the intermediate guitar player who wants to improve their soloing technique?

Also completely agree with nickgrooves and jimmarchi1 above on this --> "The fact that your O.P. broke soloing and chords into two separate categories is a red flag"

If someone is wanting to just train in noodling/blues solo/rock solo, I would say to look for economical picking methods, tremolo picking, and learning a few different scales.

If someone is wanting to just train in noodling/blues solo/rock solo, I would say to look for economical picking methods, tremolo picking, and learning a few different scales.

agreed, if you just want to be able to do some non-blues bar band riffin' then learning all 3 of the 7 tone minors and leanring to incorporate them with the pentatonics you already use regularly is a decent place to start.... work on your circular picking and using your fingers, tremolo picking will be helpful too, work on alternate string stuff like arpeggios and double stops/octaves that are played on strings that aren't next to eachother... practice breaking up your phrases in interesting ways too, slash doesn't do anything too interesting tonally, but if you listen to the order in which he plays those notes its pretty creative, plenty of 2 steps forward, 1 step back kinda walk-ups/downs.... work on taking what you already do and playing it less straight

you will sound more polished for sure, but will you be an effortless guitarist who can just pick the thing up and blow minds with your noodling? no