u/Classic_Grass924

I’ve been trying to write a lot of acoustic guitar music, and mainly sad folk. Hugely inspired by Noah Kahan, but also Mumford and Sons, Caamp, etc.

I recently wrote a song about how I think I am being perceived by my friends and other people. I feel like I’ve just stolen that idea from Noah Kahan’s New Perspective and Dashboard.

But also that song has a melody that ended up being quite similar to See The World by Caamp (and I hadn’t heard that song until AFTER I wrote mine)

But it feels like I’m just copying a bunch of artists and throwing something together. And it always comes out kinda cringe. Maybe because I’m new to it. Is it just me? Do yall feel this way?

I am relatively beginner. I can play open and barre chords comfortably, but transitions with barre chords need some work. Anyway I’m trying to do 3 things at the moment, kinda simultaneously:

1. Improve chord transitions while keeping time during strumming (using a metronome)
2. Learning fingerstyle (it’s been ~1 months since I started this)
3. Learning to play with a pick (been ~2 weeks, and I wanna be able to strum and also pick notes for example in solos)

The concern is, I’ll find myself spending maybe 2-3 days focused on playing with a pick, and then I feel like I’ve gone backwards with fingerstyle, or I focus more on my timing and strumming techniques and speed and then I feel I’ve gone backwards with the pick. It feels like I can’t do all 3 things together effectively.

Should I temporarily stop working on one of these things and focus on fewer things simultaneously?

CONTEXT ABOUT MY PRACTICE HABITS
I play about 30min a day on average (and I wanna spend some time playing songs I know because I find that more fun than drills),

and if it’s relevant, I know my music theory. That’s not a concern for me, I played the keyboard for 10 years and learned most important theory-related things through that.

How do you guys feel about learning / teaching online? I used to have a teacher for the keyboard and he was a really great teacher. He also taught my sister the guitar and she loves him too, great guy. But this was all in-person.

Now, I’m about 2yrs into self learning the guitar, basically cowboy chord guitarist right now. I’m trying to go to the next level (maybe finger picking / some riffs licks and solos / etc.). I’m thinking of contacting the same teacher again, but since I live in a different country now it’d have to be online.

Have you had good experiences learning online through zoom or such? You think the teacher will be able to pick up on the subtleties and small mistakes I may make?

I’m trying to write some music and I always end up defaulting to some combination of (I IV V vi and iii)

But I want to expand to more interested progressions. I have noticed that there are songs that don’t necessarily use chords that fully belong to a scale (eg. using A major in a G major scale song).

The question is - how do I know when I can stray away from the chords that belong to (for example) a major scale (so chords that are not I ii iii IV V vi vii*)?

Just to clarify - im not really asking about “garnishing” my music with maj7s and 7s and sus chords etc. etc. Because I do have an understanding of where and how to use those, but this is more about if there is any rule / framework that says, “D major sounds good in a C major scale but F# minor wouldn’t”

Example - I’ve seen GAGC be used as a chord progression but then can I just play GBGC? How do I know if I can or can’t?

Edit: realized GFGC is all in C major scale lmao so changed to GBGC in the end

I’m a beginner, been playing less than 2yrs. My first acoustic guitar sucked. The action was insanely high and holding any barre chord other than an E-shape was impossible. My new guitar has been setup well, which means I can play all types of barre chords effortlessly now, and it’s been an absolute revelation in someways.

BUT… because I’m so used to pushing down on strings super hard with my old high-action guitar, I’m doing the same here and there’s a lot of unnecessary twanging and my hammer-ons have a clear “knock” sound to them when I hit the string and fret. I’m also not particularly good at playing notes / riffs / solos right now, I’m very much at “campfire guitarist” level, and trying to expand my skills.

Any recommendations for practicing to play the strings lightly and generally making my grip lighter on the guitar? Because I usually start that and then I realise like 5min in that oh shit I’ve been holding too tightly