r/guitarlessons

I am following the lessons from Justin Guitar, but I can’t get my third finger up under the other two. Even pushing it there with my right hand doesn’t work. Is this just a matter of practicing or is there something else I can do?

Might seem like a dumb question, but is there something similar to the CAGED system for minor chords? Or is the CAGED system still used for minor chords? Everywhere I ask I get like a yes/no answer, but maybe someone could explain better.

I came up in the 80s alongside the tablature revolution. It was a godsend to me as a young kid who loved music and just wanted to learn his favorite songs.

Along with tabs, I availed myself of the Star Licks videos and other resources. Rik Emmett's Star Lick video was integral to the guitar player I am today.

In the 80s, tabs were very hard to come by. For most stuff, you needed to use your ear to figure it out. But today, you seldom run across tunes that you can't find chords for online or order folios for.

For 90% of players who just want to learn songs they like and play in their room, that's great. But for people who want to get beyond the intermediary plateau, it can be a problem.

Tab is color-by-numbers. It can get you close to something similar to the original, but it doesn't teach you anything. In fact, it can stop you from engaging your ear or learning anything at all. It's a shortcut, which for many is fine.

I have so many students who have played for years and can rip some incredible little solo licks, but they don't understand how they work. How to play them in other keys. Or how to incorporate a similar idea in something without copying it.

If your goal is to be a good player/improviser, tab can be helpful. But you need to put in some work.

Did you just learn a cool pentatonic lick? Cool. Learn it in different positions and different registers. Figure out how it's being used against the chord progression. Is it over the 4 chord? Does it use outside notes or chromaticism? What is it about the rhythm that works?

I see tab given as a panacea for a lot of problems in the sub, and used wisely, it's a great tool. But the better you get at examining what's happening in the tab, the less reliant on it you will become.

My number one suggestion for every student from the jump is this. Make tab the last stop. Not the first. Figure out what you can on your own, and then fill the holes in with tabs. And when you use a tab, go beyond it. Ask "Why does it work and what other contexts could I use a similar idea?"

85% percent of players can learn the solo to Hotel California or Panama of they commit to learning it. Intermediate players stop there.

the keys, guitar, and horns all are just so tasteful, i get the licks are a lot of cbromatisism and arpeggios, but how can i follow the chords and play like that?

I've always just wanted to play stuff that sounds like the unlovables and sonic youth on my guitar but I've never had much sense of direction, been learning on an old acoustic guitar with a terrible teacher playing songs I don't care about. Am I actually learning important stuff and should I keep going or is this not for me

I have learned major/minor scales, modes, triads, and arpeggios. The problem is my improvised solos don’t sound as musical as I’d like them to be. I’m wondering if it’s because I haven’t taken the time to learn a ton of other solos and incorporated them into mine.

Hi fingertstyle noob here, i curious about what makes you say "hmm thats an interesting arrangement" or "that was cool and not boring at all".

Is the constant chord changes? the vocal melody changing fretboard positions? the constant bass notes? 🤔

My picking is definitely behind my fretting hand skill-wise. I can alternate pick at about up to 140 bpm, but sometimes when I play riffs I find myself missing strings, etc. Doesn’t happen constantly, but doesn’t sound great live. What exercises can I do to improve my picking? I want to be able to hit the correct strings effortlessly.

After about 10ish months of playing I finally felt comfortable enough to give properly learning solos a try, but I've come across the issue that I cant do pull offs fast enough or consistently, would this just be a matter of practicing it at slower speeds or something else?

(Also just looking for general advice too anything that helps)

I’m currently working on learning triads, and I’m wondering if there are any apps or websites that visualize the triads of two chords at the same time on the fretboard.

Most tools I’ve found let you display the triads (often separated into root position, 1st inversion, and 2nd inversion) for a single chord. That’s useful for practicing the triad shapes (which I’m getting the hang of now), but what I’m really interested in is understanding how nearby triads relate when moving from one chord to another. Having to swap back and forth between visualizing each chord’s triads when I’m practicing and analyzing is time- and mental-load-consuming.

For example, if I’m playing a progression like C → Dm (or more generally I → ii in any key), I’d like to see the available triads for both chords together so I can explore which shapes are physically close and start developing an intuition for smooth transitions.
I’m not looking for a chord dictionary or a full voice-leading analysis. Just a way to visualize the triads of two chords simultaneously, ideally in a way that isn’t tied to one inversion at a time.

Does anything like this exist? Thanks!

Recently I've noticed a habit I've had that is now causing problems: resting my palm against the back of the guitar neck. When I do that rather than resting the back of the guitar neck against the pad of my thumb it takes me much longer to move around the fret board than when I rest the neck against my thumb. So now I'm having to overwrite the palm rest habit with the thumb rest habit so I can get to the next chord or note faster.
What bad habits have you noticed in your playing and what are you replacing them with?

Been playing for a while now and I know at least the basic theory and concepts, my scales, and Ive got no problem playing things.

My problem I think is not being able to use those tools for actually making music. I recently decided to learn some licks for vocab and then play that over a track, but when I actually started doing that I somehow forget how to play. I try to limit myself to a couple notes, and I still cant do it. Its like the part of my brain responsible for the music just dies and all thats left is my muscle memory.

Basically I lose the ability to think musically when I touch the strings. Because of that I cant do anything beyond playing existing songs. Its very frustrating and I might just give up on it.

I set the flair to question since im looking for advice about this

I dont know what it is when I try to play a barre chord it just doesnt work for me, Ive had teachers try to help me and Ive watched hours of videos on it, is there anything hidden that I could be missing or is there just a chance that my hands can't barre?

Edit: I also forgot to mention that my fingers are slightly curved halfway up my fingers if that makes any difference

I've been playing with snarling dogs forever and sadly they don't go up to 2.0. I keep seeing a lot of fellow metalcore fans say they use a 2mm pick. Any brands you'd recommend?

Any tips and exercises to improve timing. I dont know why but I really struggle to count and play at the same time. Like ill count myself in, tapping my foot, and somewhere while im doing the riff things get muddled and asynchronous in my head and I struggle to keep the count and keep everything on the respective beats. Any advice would be helpful.

I never felt fluid playing guitar after playing for so long, I kept making the same mistakes and i never got familiar with the fretboard. I need help, please tell me what I need to do.

i've been trying to learn electric guitar for a bit but i haven't been consistent at all. my sister is getting drum lessons so i feel inspired to try more consistently, but i just can't comprehend how to fret properly. i try to watch youtube videos on people teaching basic chord progressions, but my hands never feel natural and the sound is almost never right, and i never retain what i learn. my sister keeps asking me if i've done anything yet and i always have to say no because i'm too shit to even pick it up. i've been trying to find videos but it's just been fruitless. i need some advice.