I've really hit a wall in my guitar playing, what do I do???

Question

I've been playing for over a year now, and technuiqe wise, I think I'm doing great. For what I can play, I play really well, and everyone says it sounds awesome.

But, my problem is, I'm stuck. I can play some songs, and I can play them pretty good. But that's all I can do. I couldn't even tell you what key I'm in or what chords I'm playing 90% of the time. I've never had any musical background or teacher, so I don't know anything really about music theory. For the past few months, besides picking up on some new songs a little bit, I haven't done much at all. I kinda hit a wall.

So I want to ask, did this happen to you? Do you know what I should do or try? And do you think I can make it past this barrier to be able to learn more things and really broaden my horizon? Tell me some about what you did on your guitar journey!

Anyways, I know that's kind of alot, but any answer at all would be great, it's driving me up the wall!

Thanks

Answer 1

haha this reminds me of when i started playing guitar. i had no musical background when i started off, too. but the thing that you should definitely study are your chords. start off with the basic open chords, then move on to your more complicated bar chords and like 7 chords. make sure you memorize them, and i suggest you learn to play scales. you can find them on various sites dedicated to guitarists like you. good luck!

Answer 2

find your muse

Answer 3

Your a perfect example of what I try to tell people all the time !!!!!!! If you don't have a teacher or start from the beginning with a teacher or lessons on the Internet this is how you end up !!!!!!!!  People start out just playing a few chords that someone has shown them, but most can't play a complete song, or know what key it's in, or even know the songs time signature. Most that come to me for lessons tell me they can play but not one of them can play a complete song, all they seem to know are a few barres to songs like Smoke on the Water, Stairway to Heaven, and a few others, I'm sure you know because they all seem know the same songs. No one today wants to read music notation, they think that tab is the answer to learning the guitar quickly....and after a while they find out that that's no so.....If I were you I'd start over, learn to play correctly, fingers perpendicular to the fingerboard, thumb in the middle of the back of the neck, know your strings, scales, and chords, and practice daily !!!! Your already have a head start, I'm sure that you have the callouses necessary to be able to play without pain. I try everyday to tell people start out correctly so that you don't have to start over again, no one wants to do that, but now you see what happens if you don't !!!!!!!!!  Try to find a teacher , call around and get estimates on cost, they do vary greatly. Another thing that you can do is take lessons from the Internet, there are hundreds of them out there, I'm not crazy about the free sites, there not very complete, with the exception of two, I'll give you a few at the end to check out !!!!!!! See what you think of these ;

http://www.billbrutal.com/

http://www.justinguitar.com/

http://www.guitarchordsmagic.com/

http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/

http://www.learn-to-play-guitar-online.i...

http://www.8notes.com/                 click on the guitar

http://www.learntoplayguitar.net/

http://www.guitartutor.com/

http://www.jamplay.com/      this site has six free lessons

http://www.worldguitar.com/

http://www.fretplay.com/

http://www.guitarnoise.com/

http://www.chordie.com/

http://www.supersonic.net/

http://www.guitar.about.com/

http://www.guitarlessonworld.com/

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/

http://www.cyberfret.com/

http://www.fret2fret.com/

Free sites;

http://www.dirk.meineke.free.fr/

http://www.freebasicguitar.com/

http://www.learnhowtoplayguitar.com

http://www.abclearnguitar.com/

I hope that you find something above that helps you to get started correctly......reading music notation is not as hard as you think....if you would have done this from the beginning I know that you'd be a lot further then you are now..... I have students who have been playing for six months and can play fingerstyle songs like the Beatles Yesterday, Canon, Dust in the Wind......Check out youtube, type in Peo Kindgren plays Yesterday by the Beatles, this is played as it is written in a book called The Very Best Of Fingerstyle Guitar, by Hal Leonard, very easy to play, I even had a three month student playing that, thats because she started out reading music and playing correctly.....this song looks hard but it isn't, in the book it's written in music notation, chords, and tab.....As soon as the student knows a few scales and chords in the first position they can easily play this song.....well good luck to you, and I hope people listen to what your saying, because I've been trying to tell this to them for years.....some have as many as four years playing and still are wondering why they can't play well !!!!!!!!!

Answer 4

"I couldn't even tell you what key I'm in or what chords I'm playing 90% of the time. I've never had any musical background or teacher, so I don't know anything really about music theory."

That, right there, should answer your own question.  Reading music and understanding theory will knock down that wall.

Answer 5

Buy a book and read it when you aren't playing.

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Gu...

- about $15

Learn what makes a chord and why, not just where you hold your fingers.  Learn keys and chord progressions.  Learn some scales.        Soon patterns and improv.

Some things wont make sense right away, but you will bounce between the book and your guitar and it will click.   Going back and reading previous chapters will make even more things fit into place.  - learning this isnt linear, its a big picture and everything is connected so re-reading the book is a plus.

Get this one too, its only 5 bucks.   http://www.amazon.com/Leonard-Pocket-Mus...

It's one thing to play tabs, its another to play your guitar.    Just $20 for these two books will send you well on your way...

Answer 6

Learn to read music and play classical music and hymns on your guitar. If this sounds uninspiring, search youtube for Jerryc's Canon Rock. Amazing classical piece by Pachelbel, an amazing song on the guitar.

Seriously, try it out. I'm doing it on my bass, so why not?

Answer 7

This has happened many times over my playing career.  Take a month off!  It works every time.