Another question

[nataservant]

Yes I posted this somewhere else...

How long has everyone been playing guitar/bass/drums/whatever and what was the hardest thing to learn? What things (exercises, ideas) did you do to overcome the things that were difficult.


I've been playing for almost 10 years and I still can't get a grip on sweeping...

*update - I have practicing sweeping for 2 days non stop and I will have it down by the end of the year :Smug:

 

[USMC0341]

I've been playing bass since 1985 or so. I play guitar as well but I'm a much better bassist than a guitarist. Right hand finger speed has always been one of my strengths, and being a huge Steve Harris and Cliff Burton fan, to this day I am constantly working my right hand in different patterns and excercises to get faster. Being that I have smaller hand, I've always had to work hard at getting my left hand faster and able to do runs up and down the neck, so that's something that I try to work on as much as possible. The HARDEST thing for me, is understanding theory. I have a good grasp of the fundamentals, but sometimes I get lost in modes and the relationships between everything. I can pretty much play anything I set my mind to (within reason - I know my limitations), but actually understanding some of the more advanced theory is where I start having trouble. Nothing hard work can't fix...

 

[Cervantes]

I play guitar for over 6 years now. I have troubles with sweep picking, pinched harmonics (still not perfect). I practice whole year on those but it seems not to improve.

 

[nataservant]

It took me a long ass time to get pinch harmonics down. You have to find the right place on the string to do them. I usually get them between the neck and middle pick ups the best. Just screw around in that area and when you find a sweet spot you'll know. As for sweeping I'm working at that now and it's a bitch.

 

[Heavenscent]

I play guitar seriously for about 4 years, and I don't really have trouble in getting goo pinch harmonics. Isolated. I have trouble in putting them in music, ur just a simple riff.
For the rest I mostly practice scales, arpeggio's and picking speed. Currently I'm practicing Sonata Arctica's Wolf & Raven for speedpractice, which doesn't have very difficult riffs, but is fucking fast.

 

[Cervantes]

Well, that what I meant, like i can do piched harmonics but i have to search for the right place and that takes some time but when you play it in a riff you have no time.

 

[Enmity]

Played guitar for 6 years (only about 3 seriously though). The hardest thing I've had to deal with was writing and playing solos. My ears play tricks on me when I solo and make me think I'm playing something wrong or out of key.

Played bass for a year and the problem I'm hitting right now is really building up consistancy / speed on my attacking hand. I do a ton of drills but the progress has been very slow on bass. Playing bass has really strengthened up my fretting hand on guitar though.

 

[AmirH]

bass- 6 years. Started on a stand up, couldn't afford to buy one so I bought an electric. I'm not too serious with bass, but I'm pretty good. Probably better then at guitar. Playing slap with any real speed(32nd notes seem impossible) is a bit of problem for me.

guitar- 4 years. I'm not the greatest technical guitarist. I was always more interested in writing then practicing other peoples music. Problems I have- I can't "shred" very fast at all, sweeping(obviously) can also be a problem. Still, I love guitar to death and would pick it over bass anyday.

 

[Nefarious_]

I played bass about 4 years now. I'm in the process of learning finger tapping. I can do it pretty well with my left hand, my right is still a little weak. I need to develop independance in each hand too. I think I just need to work on coordination in general

 

[nataservant]

Once you get tapping down, it turns into a breeze. I just practiced with a few easy taps and then moved them around the neck a bit and changed the way I tapped them from this:
high e -> -----T19--15--12----T19--15--12----
to this:
high e -> -----T19--12--15----T19--12--15----

Those are just some easy ones that I first learned and if you just practice them for a week or so they start to come easy. I can't really do any advanced tapping because when I got down the basics I realized they arent used way to much and the basic ones are enough for me.

 

[MFJ]

Been playing Guitar for about 7 years... bass for about four... and I started the drums about a year ago. Getting some V-Drums soon!

 

[Break Zero]

Guitar for 4 years
Bass for 1 year
Drums for 1 year

The hardest thing is figuring out applying theory to guitar