h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I feel kind of stuck in a rut where my guitar playing is concerned at the moment. I have been having guitar lessons and my teacher gave me a grade 5 piece to do called Spanish Romance. It’s not that I can’t play it (there are some bits in it I need to work on admittedly) I just really don’t like the piece. I find it boring to play, if you know what I mean. What can I do to explain this to my guitar teacher, or do I just persevere with it? (he must have given it to me for a reason, I think he wants me to get my clawhammer technique sorted)

Every week I turn up and because I haven’t been concentrating on a particular piece, I’ve just been looking at certain weaknesses in my playing, like some bar chords I have trouble with, or fingerstyle technique, it is then difficult to find stuff to work on in the lesson. I feel like I’m going round in circles because the stuff I want to play is too technically complicated for me at the moment, but I can’t find a piece in the middle ground that holds my attention and will still let me get to where I need to be, if that makes sense.

I have been trying different stuff, altered tunings and things and have found them really handy. Eg, I have been working on a blues lick that I like. It is from the song Duncan and Brady, by Martin Simpson (on youtube here : http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gRnSTCHgqs8) but it was clear when I first took this to the lesson my guitar teacher felt I was getting ahead of myself, and it would be better to shelve it for the time being. Unfortunately I can’t help that I take bits and pieces from songs I like to learn stuff, and don’t always learn a whole song.

I took some advice from acoustic magazine and wrote down all the songs I can play completely and a separate list for the stuff I am working on. I couldn’t help noticing that there is a huge gulf between the stuff I’m suddenly interested in and working on and the stuff I can already play, both in genre terms and technique.

I don't know if it's because I'm still getting used to having lessons (taught myself for six years so old habits die hard) and working at a different pace or what.

Any thoughts anyone?

Kaz.

If it's the same Spanish Romance I used to play as a kid, I love it! But I guess there are hundreds of thousands Spanish Romances, so the probabilty that we talk about the same one is rather minuscule.

Well, this is kinda shot in the dark now, but I think I had the same problem as you, when I started to play guitar. And I still have it, almost 20 years later. This problem, I guess, was also the main reason why I made a break of some 7-8 years. I couldn't really get into the classical, technical stuff and I never played a piece to the end. Some of the pieces my teacher offered me I found boring, others - too complicated. So a broke it off. Started accidentally again few years ago. This time with more passion and rather positive attitude. I was rather surprised to find out, that I was able to sit behind the guitar for much longer than before. I played regularly everyday and I made quite a good progress. Everything came natural to me. And guess what also happened, I wasn't able to finish a single piece? Just not interested in, I guess. Every time I saw that I got successfully through a tough bit, I was happy with it and didn't make any further. This was particularly the case with Libertango and Stairway to Heaven (the arpeggio version ). Beautiful stuff! I absolutely recommend.

After some time I decided not to make a big deal out of it and enjoy the situation as it is. I thought it through and reached the following conclusion.

I am not a good guitarist and most probably never will be, because I get easily surprised and subsequently satisfied with the results. i know a few things and that's enough. Real musicians are able to play until they reach perfection in every ascpect, even if the piece is not their taste. They continue out of respect for music.

I also respect it, but as a listener, who peaks every now and then in the kitchen to see how magic is done. After all no one should own music, right!

So my advice as a layman for you is to let things flow naturally. If you find satisfation in sitting for hours playing, then do so. It is most likely to become a respected guitarist. In this your teacher must know how to get you motivated. A few curious stories about Al Di Meola or Ritchie Blackmore may have the expected result. I remember that my teacher once played a Rutchenica for me in 7/16 on the guitar. Unfortunatelly I was too young to appreciate it. Now I have a friend, who plays perfectly Ode an die Freude in the same meter. Creeps me out! It sounds terrific! My point is, sometimes the experiments and improvisation makes you like doing music more. Still you have to do scales! That's inevitable! But you need to mix things up a bit.

thanks very much! it's nice to know I'm not on my own with this. I mean, my added problem (depending on what you think) is that my ear is better than my tab reading so I can sit and work out stuff for hours with a cd player but struggle with a bit of tab (I don't know whether visual strain has anything to do with this I have the same problem with ordinary sheet music, I play piano too). So consequently, the stuff I do learn I can't write down as a reference accurately, which is a pain in the arse for my guitar teacher!

I have taken the advice of the aforementioned maestro and "done something different" but I can't help feeling if it would be better for me to go back to good ol' standard tuning and really work on "knowing the fretboard" before I go any further.

Some races do not need notes at all, but that haven't hinder them from being geniuses.

Plenty of examples out there. By the way, seems to me that you have very strict teacher.

I don't think he's strict really. I have a feeling he just doesn't want me to get down when I find I've started a piece and then "can't do it". Anyway, I tried to crack Spanish romance again but there's a simple reason why I can't get past the first 16 bars- my handspan's not big enough, so have resigned myself to the beginning. At least now I can say to my teacher I have really tried.

As for other things, I think I may have a plan. I found a piece that's quite simple that I've realised I could use as a base to learn some new techniques so I'm going to try and work it out a bit myself (a bit of homework!) and bring that to my next guitar lesson. Hopefully then I will be on the road to new things!