I'm in a musical rut. Please help.?

Question

I've been playing guitar for about 2 years now, and I've seem to be in a rut. All of my tone sounds the same, I can't seen to understand anything about music and all I want is to learn some of the "advanced basics". How do I create my own material? How do I solo? These are the kind of things I want to try to understand. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

My gear consists of a Fender Foto flame Strat (S-S-S configuration), Boss DS-1 and DD-3 pedals and a Cry Baby. My amp is a Washburn BD25R as well. Thanks!

Answer 1

Go play with other guitarists!!! This will help your writers block. I've been playing for nine years and I go through it all the time. Playing with other guitarists gives you fresh new perspectives.

Buy a new effects pedal. This will give you fresh sounds. Tune your guitar lower or try "Drop-D" tuning. This can be a fun way to experiment.

You should try YouTube.com to find free videos on playing solos. Type "sweeping arpeggios" or "sweep picking" to learn some new stuff. It's a great resource to learn from.

As far as writing?? Start with a killer riff. Try it with a metronome (if your pedal has one) it's the tick-tock time keeping sound. This will help you keep the beat. Speed it up or slow it down. You'll get the hang of writing eventually.

Answer 2

I don't play the guitar- I want to, but at this point I only play the flute. It seems to me like you got very good, very fast, but you expected to keep getting better. That can lead to you trying to do something too hard and ending up frustrated. Go back to the basics, practice some of that, and work your way back up (quickly). It worked for me, but I guess we're different instruments so who knows.

Answer 3

to solo... learning scales or just playing along with music. you could even record yourself and solo over your main chords.

to write your own material... well, just write! or if you don't know how, playing other people's songs can give you an idea of how a song is constructed.

for inspiration.. don't force it. don't play if you don't feel like it, and don't try to sound a certain way.

Answer 4

solos aren't always scales they can be chord based (chord solos) BUDDY HOLLYS STYLE WAS HEAVYLY BASED OFF CHORDS CHUCK BERRY DOUBLE STOPS TRY DIFFERENT THINGS THE SIMPLER YOU PLAY OFTEN SOUNDS THE BEST DON'T BE SO IMPRESSED GUYS WHO CAN PLAY A THOUSAND NOTES A MINUTE VERY FEW SOUND MUSICAL OR CAN WRITE SONGS THE EXCEPTENIONS BEING GUYS LIKE EDDIE VAN HALEN RANDY RHOADS BRIAN SETZER WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THESE GUYS THEY RARELY EVER OVERPLAY