Just Playing vs Playing Well

TerryH

Blues Newbie
I’m gradually working through BBG and enjoying the process. It’s obvious that a lot of thought went into constructing this course. I haven’t quite got onto barre chords, which I’m actually looking forward to trying to master.
However, some songs, Hideaway Blues in particular seem to require a really gigantic effort of concentration to play through without making any mistakes. What bothers me is that I seem to have hit a sort of skill plateau. I must have practiced it thousands of times and I still find the B7 chord a bit hit and miss. I’m not giving myself any kind of time limit. I’ll take as long as it takes, but if I find something as relatively easy as this, difficult, what’s it going to be like when I get to the really hard stuff on BGU? Am I alone in this or is it just another hurdle to get over. It would be good to hear other people's experiences.
 

Elio

Student Of The Blues
I’m gradually working through BBG and enjoying the process. It’s obvious that a lot of thought went into constructing this course. I haven’t quite got onto barre chords, which I’m actually looking forward to trying to master.
However, some songs, Hideaway Blues in particular seem to require a really gigantic effort of concentration to play through without making any mistakes. What bothers me is that I seem to have hit a sort of skill plateau. I must have practiced it thousands of times and I still find the B7 chord a bit hit and miss. I’m not giving myself any kind of time limit. I’ll take as long as it takes, but if I find something as relatively easy as this, difficult, what’s it going to be like when I get to the really hard stuff on BGU? Am I alone in this or is it just another hurdle to get over. It would be good to hear other people's experiences.

Learning the B7 chord is a particular challenge. What worked for me was simply fingering it over and over again as slowly as needed to get it right.  You don't even really need to strum it, other than to make sure your fingering is correct.  After a while, you will figure out which finger needs to get into position first in order for the rest of the chord to come together. Over time, it will get there and at some point it just clicks and you will hit it the first time, every time. As exciting as that will be, the next hard chord will be the same challenge, but what you will find is that each time you are faced with a challenge you will master them more quickly and easily and with more confidence. 

To answer your questions you are not alone, and the hard stuff falls into place eventually. ...followed by more hard stuff.   :)
 

Silicon Valley Tom

It makes me happpy to play The Blues!
I have been playing guitar since I was 10 and will be 73 in a few days.  I play a dozen instruments and enjoy them all.  Basic technique is so important and I would suggest doing simple exercises for a few minutes each day before you learn new material or play for fun.  Try sessions with barre chords, and other types of chords.  Do a bit of research to find out what exists and how to improve your technique.  You have power chords (two strings normally), three, four, five and six string variations. 

Keep it simple and learn what you need based upon your interest.  A good teacher can help but be careful!  I suggest that 85% of so called music teachers are incompetent.  Look for one who can show you what you want to learn. 

A good teacher should point you in the right direction. You will get to a point when you will be your own teacher.  Some things in music are more fun than others and you will find what you like and how you like to play it.  What I enjoy is playing the type of music I like, and playing for others. 

I like to tell the story about a professional Zither player I met in San Francisco, about 45 years ago.  He was 80 and played for a living.  He was in a music store that professional musicians enjoyed and went to when their instrument needed help.  He said that he had just retired from playing professionally, “and now I am going to learn how to play the Zither”!  The man had supported himself all his life with his Zither.  You are never too old to learn and you never know it all!        :)

Tom
 

Silicon Valley Tom

It makes me happpy to play The Blues!
It regards to the B7 chord, try a simple exercise by using the I, IV and V chords.  Here is an example based upon that combination.


1. B7 – E7 – F7

2. E7 – A7 – B7

3. F7 – B7 – C7

Play the chords at different positions of the neck.  Use a Blues 12 bar framework.  Use full and partial chords.  The concept is to play something that is useful and develop the ability to change chords quickly and in time.  Use a metronome or tap your foot, or count out loud while you play. 

Tom
 

Momantai

Red nose, red guitar
You are definitely not alone  [smiley=thumbsup.gif]
Some things are easy but others seem to take ages. I think everyone struggles at some point. Just don't push to hard. Practice the problem a few minutes, but then go do something fun. It's all about PLAYING not WORKING.....
 

Rick23

Blues Newbie
Hideaway Blues has been a particular stuggle for me as well. Most of the other lessons in BBG were challenging at first, but within a week or two I was getting them down enough to play through them. Still practice all of them though. Hideaway was like hitting a wall. I would get the first part down, move to the next part, and then the beginning was gone. Get back and work on the beginning and lose the middle. Finally got to the end and no matter how much I tried, I couldn't seem to get the last few bars memorized. Finally, I just moved on, started working on the next few lessons. Every day I went back on Hideaway for just a couple of minutes. About 3 weeks ago, I went in, sat down and played it through. Not in time, mind you, but I got thru the whole thing. Now I am still working on the timing, but I can play it. I feel like I had a huge break thru, and now I am confident that if I keep at it, I will get there, maybe not as soon as I would like, but soon enough. Keep at it, don't let it get you down. Its all about the journey, make it a fun ride!
 

Annie

On my way
Terry,
Don't feel bad about your progress. I am doing BBG too and I am hit and miss with the B7 chord too. I just play and if I get it great if not maybe next time. It is a hand full. I am guessing it will come with time. I've heard if you get a song down 85% then it's OK to move on. My advice is to not get hung up waiting for perfection. We all make mistakes, take a listen to some of mine.
Annie
 

TerryH

Blues Newbie
Thanks for the suggestions and encouragement guys. Maybe I was being a bit hard on myself. I guess there are going a lot of plateaux along this journey and I had better get used to it! The important thing is I still want to keep picking up the guitar and playing it.
 

artyman

Fareham UK
Not sure what chord shape you are using for B7 I assume E0 A2 D1 G2 B0 e2, I remember when I first learnt this shape it was tricky, now I just don't even think about it so don't worry. An alternative voicing is to bar the highest four strings then fret e5, slide that shape down two frets for A7.
 

TerryH

Blues Newbie
The chord shape that is used for B7 throughout BBG, before barre chords are introduced at the end of the course is E0 (not played) A2 D1 G2 B0 E2. The difficulty for me is not muting D1 with either of the fingers on A2 and G2. The answer seems to be a whole combination of things: Keeping the guitar really steady (I must invest in a strap), lowering my wrist, and really precise and light fretting. It’s that precision that is so difficult. Hence hit and miss.

In “Mary’s Little Lamb” played at full speed when all the strings have to ring out as separate notes it’s very challenging. However, there is progress. The hits are slowly catching up with the misses.
 

jmin

Student Of The Blues
Terry, Just an FYI...been playing for 50+ years and still think that the B7 (shape your playing) is one of the hardest chords there is! If I don't play it for a few weeks, I STILL stumble over it!!! It really is just as repetition thing, as are most guitar playing issues.
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
We all hit plateaus at all levels. Chords, soloing...
Plenty of great advice here. If you try all this and still have issues, just PM me and I'll tell you what works for me (may or may not work for you).
Nothin works better than practice.
 

TerryH

Blues Newbie
Thanks again guys.
There has been some real improvement over the last couple of weeks. Not exactly an Ah ha moment, but just slowly getting better at it. The precision is slowly coming. I was definitely pressing down much too hard on the strings. The solution? As ever, practice.

I could just rush through this course and go out and buy BGU, but I want to give myself a good foundation first so that I can enjoy it. With barre chords looming on the horizon in the final lessons, I may be here for quite a while yet.
 
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