Name one concept or "AHA!" moment that transformed your playing....

Mark Wein

Mark Wein

Grand Poobah
Staff member
One biggie for me was the realization that I'd get the sounds I was hearing in my head if I focused on chord tones more than scales when improvising.
 
Another one was that I wasn't playing "into" the guitar hard enough to sound compelling. Not overplaying but actually putting as much as I could into every note.
 
2 not the same but related aha's: single note flat picking fiddle tunes in time for developing right hand timing, and similarly, learning to play funk rhythms in time. Both right hand rhythm concepts that made me feel like "Oh, that is how that is supposed to be."
 
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I found a Stefan Grossman book with a transcription to an Elizabeth Cotton song and learned it note for note. Prior to that I'd always played with a pick.
 
When I was over-concentrating instead of letting it flow naturally. I first approached "Butterfly" from Jason Mraz and "Billy Jean" from Michael Jackson and didn't think I'd be able to play the chord changes, keep the time, and sing the words without the whole thing train wrecking...

The slow, methodical, practice helped with my fingers remembering the chord shapes, but then it was taking all of that and putting in the pocket... let the song play without over thinking it. That makes room for the brain to concentrate on lyrics and groove.
 
The first one was diatonic harmony and how scales, chord tones and standard chord movement worked. This helped me to understand how all of it interconnects with each other.

The second was chord tones and arpeggios. The long road of focusing on chord tones rather than just modal playing opened up my playing a lot.

Add in right handed rhythms and left hand dependence and independance

Well it is a struggle but currently it is voice leading and the application of the diminished scale (m-M version) and pentatonic up a half-step over dominant chords. The struggle of minimal movement from the most important voices from chord to chord. For the scale, how each tone leads from one note in a chord to the resolution of the next chord.
 
For me it was figuring out how to smooth out the string tensions across the guitar...

And also making my own custom picks (HUGE!)... Liquid plastic and Wood... Custom shapes, thickness, matericals....

Both of the above can make a HUGE difference in how well my guitars sound and play.
 
baimun said:
When I was over-concentrating instead of letting it flow naturally. I first approached "Butterfly" from Jason Mraz and "Billy Jean" from Michael Jackson and didn't think I'd be able to play the chord changes, keep the time, and sing the words without the whole thing train wrecking...

The slow, methodical, practice helped with my fingers remembering the chord shapes, but then it was taking all of that and putting in the pocket... let the song play without over thinking it. That makes room for the brain to concentrate on lyrics and groove.
Click to expand...

This is my most important "aha" moment, too. What's funny is that when I started playing drums, I got a drum teacher (had a couple before I settled on the last one). It was my drum teacher that constantly reminded me not to over think everything. Being from a science background, it was hard for me to do, but once I felt it flow without thinking about each thing, I began making that transition. Being self taught on the guitar, it took me a little longer to understand how to do that on the guitar, be when it happens it's magical.

The other aha moment was when I realized that I could only get better with copious amounts of practice, because I am not a tremendously gifted guitarist. Who knew? :grin:
 
No Aha moment..certainly not like some of the above comments. Probably the biggest thing to move me along was my wife. I playing acoustic for years just strumming chords and after we got married I stopped playing regularly for a while. A few years after my Mom died I started playing again since she gave me my first guitar. I thought I had played something pretty well and asked my wife what she thought. Her response "I don't know everything you play sounds the same to me" was the aha moment that I needed to get some lessons. I bought an electric and started taking lessons.

That will show her to be honest...before that I had 2 guitars both acoustic the 6 and 12 strings. After that I have 5 3 electrics, 2 amps and a few pedals...and she hates clutter

:rim:
 
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