So, to make a long story short, I've been stuck in a rut for a while now. I've posted in here before which was helpful so I'm hoping I get lucky here again. Don't be tooooo harsh, but any criticism, opinions, suggestions, etc. are more than welcomed. But I must point out before you rip me to shreds , that I was playing wayyy to fast and I am a bit sloppy, thus said, enjoy!

well this is depressing...

1st 25secs good
18-20 secs – not quite hitting the right pitch on the bends ( maybe u are trying to hit inbetween tones tho)

Nice trills

Very much like the linear move up and down the fret board now and then

?try adding some arpeggios? And structure some medolic work in there too?

(like u say - Slow down too)

You know the fretboard well. I would say keep on practising, listening, and practising more and good luck! The guitar is a great instrument!

Are you playing what your fingers tell you to play, or do you hear it in your mind and play what your mind tells you to? Once you get the skills you have (and will develop) it becomes a question of deciding what to play, rather than how.

My two cents, for what they are worth - of some help I hope!

Why are you playing so fast? It's blues man, hear the rhythm in the background or whatever your playing along with? Don't double time the solo, half time it.

Then, your runs are runs, not licks. Listen to a handful of blues cats and listen to the difference, the licks are where the magic is.

Try to tell the story with less notes and more more space between them. Listen to Albert King and hear what he's doing in between the bars.

Playing the blues is as much about listening as it is playing and you need to listen more. Then, tell me the story is 5 notes with a bend rather than 20 with 10 bends. Finally, plug that thing in, Muddy Waters invented electricity, I don't want hear the string slap, I want to hear the amplifier.

Gibson9000 said:

That's my main problem. I can sing/hum a meannn blues solo, but I cant get it onto the fretboard...Usually I just let my fingers do w/e, but im trying to match what im playing to what im hearing. In time it'll come together, i hope. But thanks for the advice!

Slave2daGroove said:

I actually started listening to BB king and licks are a lot slower and a lot shorter. I would plug it in, but my webcam sucks at picking up sound and I just dont even bother.

I made a new one. I played A LOT slower, so here it is, let me know what you think!

MajesticOne89 said:

This clip is a showing a bit more restraint which is a good thing. However as the backing track progresses you start falling falling out of the groove & playing ahead of the beat. We've had the conversation about phrasing in the past. It wouldn't hurt to spend a lot more time listening and playing along to more blues recordings to get better familiar with the feel. You dont have to cram in a bunch of notes. Allow your playing some room to breathe.

If I may make a suggestion, pick up Albert King's "Live Wire Blues Power".
For single note stuff you can't get more to the point. The amount of mileage Albert could get out of just 5 notes is nothing short of amazing. Trust me on this one. Nothing flashy here, but an excellent lesson in feel & note authotity.

Major props to you for even postng the clips.There aren't a lot of folks here who would have been brave enough to open themselves up like that. ME included LOL!

kstrat said:

Co-Sign

He's saying the same thing I said and again pointing to Albert King - not BB

As far as what the sound is like on your web cam, that's just a lame excuse - the cd tou're playing with is audible. You should be as close in playing the guitar as you are to your amp. By close I mean, snuggled up in bed spooning.

Listen to what master guitarist Scott Henderson says about soloing and phrasing...this is very very important...this guy knows what he's talking about...

http://www.youtube.com/wa...re=related

Hey Majesticone89...

Props for posting your videos. In today's age where people are as likely to flame as compliment (or constructively criticize), it takes some cojones to do so.

Here are some things to think about.

Like slave said, you're playing waaaay too much in the first vid. I tell my students to develop an idea and build from that. Start with a line that's just 2-4 notes and build it up. Frank mentioned Scott Henderson. Scott had a famous quote of "Play something simple, then play it again. And if it's really cool, play it a lot". By isolating your line to just a few notes, you can concentrate more on making it musical and less on trying to play the next 18 notes.

Next, a good thing to practice is to follow the progression. You should know where the I - IV - V chords are in a 12 bar. Take one blues scale pattern and begin each phrase/idea with the root of the chord. Then when the change comes, start the next phrase/idea on the root of the new chord. While this exercise won't break any uncharted ground, it will help you sound more like you know what you are playing rather than just a bunch of runs and licks strung together.

Finally, you've got to go play with other people. Jam Tracks are ok for practice, but you'll never really grow until you start playing with other people. Get some friends together to jam, hit an open Mic night somewhere, find a guitar group in town and play.

So, keep up the work, practice hard and let's see some more videos when you're ready!

Good Luck!

MajesticOne89 said:

You've got a cool blues tone and quite a few advanced sort of licks going on. I really enjoyed these videos, thanks for posting them!

I think you should take it way back and work on your basic note production. For practice, I'd suggest taking a phrase you like and basically play it over and over for 30 minutes or even an hour - just live there so to speak and explore its nuances. I've been playing for 24 years and I still do this all the time - it's not practice, it's creating music.

Also please pay attention to your picking - I noticed you can be a little punishing on the strings! For the most part you don't need to hit them so hard.

WHOO-WEE! Great topic and good advice. I'm practicing this stuff, too--albeit on violin. . .

I seem to remember viewing a clip of you playing a while back. You're playing noticeably better and with more confidence in your fretting & picking now - nice work. If it wasn't you, then you're better than the other guy I saw So either way you're doing good.

My three comments (on the first vid)
- Too fast, but you already said that.
- Why do you randomly move your hand up and down the neck during moments when you're not playing? My inner shredder tells me that's an inefficiency in your fretting hand. I'd iron that out if possible.
- I had a lightbulb moment once when playing blues. I used to get really hung up on trying to be varied and get all over the fretboard whilst playing a blues solo. Then I had a moment of clarity whilst listening to BB King Live at the Regal - the great old blues guys only ever play about 5 notes, and don't really motor about on the fretboard. It's the SRV types that get busy on the neck, but even his stupidly fast songs like Scuttle Buttin are just simple one position pentatonic shapes. It's worth keeping that in mind I think. Try to feel what's appropriate to the song, rather than focusing on working the scales out to the fullest extent.

Wow! Thanks for all the cool advice. I've been working on slowing down and just expanding and repeating ideas like in the scott henderson video. I think it's coming along nicely. I'm having trouble with my pointer finger vibrato though, but its hard to explain over the internet so I'll have to talk to someone in person.