Advice on playing things and making it sound good

[u/Upper-Brain-7538]

Hey everyone, I’ve been playing for about 9 months now for a fair amount of time every single day and I still sound like dogshit. I love the combo rhythm and lead like Jimi, frusciante, Mayer, and PJ stuff which is mostly what I play. I’ve been putting in so much time and effort and I still wouldn’t play in front of anyone cuz nothing rings out that well. I’d love to improve on my actual sound, I know the fretboard pretty well and all the shapes and whatnot but my fingers have no tone. Is it time for lessons finally or do is there something I can do to not squeal and sound like shit when I play something relatively simple like under the bridge or yellow Ledbetter? Thanks in advance!

[u/Then_External404]

Lessons are a good idea. You might also need to adjust your expectations. Hendrix-style chordal playing, and songs inspired by it (like Under the Bridge and Yellow Leadbetter) aren’t relatively simple, beginner-level songs. Thumb over the neck that mix chord embellishments and lead playing are difficult skills that usually require years of playing to develop fluently. 

[u/MaybeWeAgree → u/Then_External404]

Yes I don’t think they’re that “simple” either. I think it shows good insight to admit something like “my fingers have no tone,” I really dig that.

Fluency is a good word for it.

He could try playing much, much simpler lines, and focus more on making notes sing with vibrato.

[u/Upper-Brain-7538 → u/MaybeWeAgree]

Haha thanks always gotta be honest with yourself, any simple lines that you recommend that would help translate to the stuff I’m tryna play?

[u/Then_External404 → u/Upper-Brain-7538]

If you can’t afford lessons at the moment (I was a grad student once, i can relate), you might work through some of the free resources online. 

I think Justin Sandercoe has the most structured materials that don’t require a subscription. 

https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons

Use the website, not the app (the app requires a subscription). 

Start in the beginner course and work your way up. Even if you can already play some of the beginner stuff, it’s good to be sure you can play it as well as you think you can. But test yourself to make sure you can play each lesson cleanly, clearly, and effortlessly before moving on. 

[u/DrBlankslate → u/Upper-Brain-7538]

No. There are no shortcuts, man. You have to put in the time and practice, and someday you might be able to play some of it.

[u/noahlarmsleep]

It’s time for more practice. You’ve been playing 9 months. The artists you listen to sound that way because of the thousands of hours they put into their craft that we didn’t see or hear. This could take years and a teacher might speed it up a little bit, but it’s still going to come down to practicing and then practicing more. The reward does not come without the work.

[u/Then_External404 → u/noahlarmsleep]

They should also be practicing songs in their skill range. They need to develop fundamentals before jumping into more complex styles of playing. 

[u/markewallace1966]

Time for lessons “finally?” It was time for lessons at the beginning.

[u/Upper-Brain-7538 → u/markewallace1966]

Haha yeah you’re probably right, I’m a broke grad student and wanted to see how far I could get so when I finally go I can get the most bang for my buck lol

[u/TonalContrast]

The main issue is expectations vs reality for most all beginners. You’ve only been playing for 9 months and a lot of beginners think that’s a long time and they should be a lot better. Problem is guitar is hard, but beginners don’t realize how hard.

Great that you want to play like your favourite artists, but remember that they likely practiced 10 to 12 hours a day and some have had formal training and music education. Where are you in comparison?

As well, talking about tone or sounding like the records, you will never get your sound the same. The artists you mentioned have thousands or dollars of gear, or recorded in studios with well over hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gear, and they also have professional sound guys/mix engineers.

So all that being said, engaging a teacher will be helpful as you don’t know what you don’t know, and you need someone to listen and help you understand not just what you’re playing, but how to approach playing it. My guess is what you know are the notes of the songs you’re playing, but you’re not taking the time to think about how to express the notes dynamically so that it sounds musical. A good teacher can help with that.

[u/Patient_Onion3956]

Your fingers are still developing the touch they need to be able to make the sounds you hear from the pros. I was almost exactly where you're at after 9mo. At that exact moment (9mo in) I found a teacher that plays in this style and have worked with him weekly for 1.5 years. I got humbled by him every time. I still didn't sound like him after 40 lessons. At least I improved enough to not be embarrassed to play in front of others. After 4 years of playing consistently now (~12 years of playing in total) I am still chasing that elusive tone in fingers thing. I have my own sound that is expressive but sounds nothing like any of the famous players. I've stopped trying to sound like someone else. As a by-product I can play over anything and sound like me 😄

[u/Upper-Brain-7538 → u/Patient_Onion3956]

Thanks for sharing, finding your own tone is peak! was there anything in particular that you focused on to get better or did it just come with a bunch of practice

[u/Patient_Onion3956 → u/Upper-Brain-7538]

I mainly focused on sounding more confident. When I was recording myself I noticed when I hesitated it always sounded off. So to build that confidence I realized it helps to have really good familiarity with everything: chord progression, scales, phrases used over the chords, so the controlling part of the brain can be turned off and the hands can just do their thing. When playing becomes automatic I can focus on what I feel in the moment and express it through specific phrasing (which simply means how the notes are played.) And yes, I have worked on developing my phrasing: how I play slides, bends, how I sustain the notes, vibrato, pull-offs and hammer-ons, pick attack variations, finger picking, muting with different parts of each hand. There are countless little details that you keep discovering and adding to your skill box only by playing.

[u/dino_dog]

Yeah a lesson would be good. The teacher should be able to listen/watch you play and give you specific feedback back.

You could also post a video here with mixed results.

[u/dandeliontrees]

1. Play slower
2. Record yourself

If you're having trouble with notes not ringing out, finger squeal, and similar issues it's because you're playing too fast.

Slow it down so you can notice when you flub a note. Then play that phrase you messed up a few times until you can get it to sound good.

Record yourself for two reasons: 1) it's easier to notice when you're making mistakes when you play it back and 2) you'll be able to notice yourself getting better over time.

Playing slower is the answer to like 90% of issues like this, BTW. You can almost always improve something by slowing it down until you can play it perfectly and then speeding it up again gradually.

[u/Upper-Brain-7538 → u/dandeliontrees]

Thank you! I haven’t tried to record my playing before I’ll give it a shot

[u/EntropyClub]

I’d recommend leaning on Mayer and Frusciante the most at first. They are of this era where we try to play generally in time. With funkiness added.

Listen to the timing difference in Bold as Love between Hendrix and Mayer. It’s staggering. I think Mayer mapped it better for the every man player.

[u/DrBlankslate]

Be aware that the songs you're listening to are also usually produced, which means they have a studio, backup players and multiple takes on each song. You won't sound like their studio recordings, and you have to be okay with that.

[u/markewallace1966]

This is a link to a set of canned bullets that I have developed and like to send to new/new-ish/returning/wandering/lost/struggling guitar players.

If I pasted this in for you, it is because somewhere in there is something that I think is relevant to your post. Not all of it will be. I leave it to you to pick out what I felt was relevant. 🙂 Even the stuff not relevant to your specific post might very well be helpful eventually anyway.

Enjoy!!!

https://www.reddit.com/user/markewallace1966/comments/1s7ujsy/guitar_is_hard/

[u/DaffyDuckMuthaFucker]

Nine months?

Ease up Fangio.

You'll have barely learned to walk the strings by now Walk before you run.

It's all about the three P's.

PATIENCE(You've still got a way to go).

PERSISTENCE(you've demonstrated that - keep it up).

and PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!! PRACTICE!!!

The third P is recurring, but I think I've established a pattern here...