Help! Why is it...

PunkKitty

PunkKitty

Horny bag of electric meat
Why is it that I don't have a problem playing lead lines on bass but I struggle with it on guitar?

I'm a fairly competent bassist. I can pick up melodies and rhythms easily. I have no trouble finding my way up and down the neck on a bass. I usually play finger style. But I can use a pick with no problems and I'm teaching myself slap bass.

But with guitar I struggle to play stupid pentatonic licks. I can't seem to break out of that habit. I struggle with chords, melody, leads, etc. There is some sort of mental disconnect. I just don't get it.
 
I feel the same way. I can play simple little blues cliches but anything complex, and music theory, pretty much goes in one ear and out the other. One reason I’m focused on sitar now is because it’s all built from a system of rhythmic patterns played up and down on one string rather than playing horizontally across a lot of strings.
 
Same here. Bass lines are not that big a deal,guitar solos I noodle around the pentatonic box
 
DFB said:
A little of both in my case.
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What is it in guitar that hinders the creativity that comes more easily with bass?
Are the 2 extra strings causing you option anxiety?
Maybe adapting jp_nyc's sitar approach would help. Limit yourself to improvise on 1 string only fro several choruses of a 12 bar blues, a chord vamp, ii-V's, etc. and see if it help.
Then try other limitations, like a few frets on 2 or 3 strings. If you find cool licks there figure out how to play them in other areas of the fretboard.
 
Worth a shot. I really think I need lessons to help me think and play out of my usual routine.

I just got an old acoustic from a friend, and it is helping a bit.
 
jp_nyc said:
I feel the same way. I can play simple little blues cliches but anything complex, and music theory, pretty much goes in one ear and out the other. One reason I’m focused on sitar now is because it’s all built from a system of rhythmic patterns played up and down on one string rather than playing horizontally across a lot of strings.
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You're going to learn a lot by breaking out of the "patterns" that we rely on with guitar.
By playing up and down a string on sitar it will force you to learn the fretboard and not rely on patterns.
I'm in the same boat. I'm a competent enough player but like most people I learned by memorizing patterns. Not too long ago I started taking lessons from a Berklee guy and one of the first things he started to try to get me to do was learn the notes and not patterns.
It's tough, I won't lie. But I'm trying. And I'm getting better at it.
I'm finding that I'm becoming more able to play all over the neck with less thinking about patterns. I've got a long way to go but it is getting easier.
 
smurfco said:
Do Mark's CAGED thing. It helped me tremendously with the same exact issue.
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Do you feel that it helped with note recognition? I've dabbled with the CAGED system, and I know it is effective but isn't it just memorizing more patterns?

I personally want to know where particular notes are without having to rely on "the octave method" or something similar.
That said, I still use patterns a LOT...it's how I learned and I'm not against using them.
 
gtrjunior said:
isn't it just memorizing more patterns?
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It is and it isn't. @Mark Wein can probably explain it better than I can but the CAGED patterns are the starting point. But the cool thing about it is that you see how all the different positions work up the neck and connect with each other. I can tell you that after a few months of working with it the "pattern" aspect of it starts to fall away and I don't find myself thinking about it too much.

As far as note naming goes there is a super cool iPad app called Fret Tester that Mark turned me on to. It's $1.99 and I've been using it for a week and I'm already getting better at being able to sight-name the fretboard notes.
 
Cool! I'll check out that app.
As far as the pattern/note naming thing, for example: in the major scale modes, I know the seven scale patterns and can make musical things happen(usually...lol). But just knowing the patterns doesn't help with being able to "target" certain notes as the chord progression changes.
I suppose, like you said, it comes with time and practice. I've been playing along t YouTube backing tracks and it helps. But ultimately I'd like to just KNOW where everything I'm looking for IS.
 
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