#197848 by
Kramerguy
Fri Dec 14, 2012 2:41 pm
Hi Brendan! Welcome aboard-
I'm a pretty blunt person, so don't take anything personally! here's my critique.
It's clear that you are somewhere between beginner and intermediate. I'd guess you've been playing guitar roughly 3, maybe 4-5 years depending on your learning curve. It sounds like you are leaning into jam-band style of playing.
I heard some mistakes, finger flubs, etc.. which isn't a concern, you will get better with that over time. What else I noticed though is that your chording and timing are both pretty off. There's tons of free online metronomes, you can hop on a number of websites and play them directly, control the bpm, etc.. and you should start practicing with one.
They say playing with others is the best way to get better, but that doesn't necessarily mean you should go join a band.. it means exactly what it says- find another guitarist or even a bassist, and learn how to play with them.. there are shortfalls to that as well, for instance, if that person also has timing issues, you will inherit them, which is why playing with a metronome (and also play along with recorded songs) is so important.
When you do join a band, you will find that even if you personally have perfect timing, the band will not. You read/hear a lot of musicians talking about this magic "groove" they fall into when playing with others, and how important that is, but what it more or less comes down to is how well your timing and his/their timing synchronize together. This is something that can and will always improve as you get to know each other musically.
Regarding your chording.. you need help. Learn all the major and minor chords, learn bar chords, and work on strumming.. stick with 4/4 timing to start with, there's literally dozens if not hundreds of strumming patterns in that timing, and using a metronome while working out strumming will go miles in helping you pass the audition process when trying to get into a band. Once you get decent timing with strumming, then work on picking indicidual strings within chords.
As others mention, stop with the busywork, lets chords ring and breathe. Learn some ballad songs and how to use vibrato and enunciation using your fingers. Start small, learn easy stuff. Play along (and record yourself playing along) with backing tracks. listen for how stiff you sound, or how off your timing is when you listen back.
Post stuff here and ask for advice. A lot of times you will get some scathing feedback. It's a fact of life, don't ever let it get to you, other than to motivate you to do better.
There's a lot more to coach you on, but understand you aren't ready to be writing music (based on your demos), so take a step back, post 2-3 songs at a time, take down all the fluff. You may have some good licks or ideas in there, but you need to learn to walk before you can run.
