[kjgam1]

Hi all

Just wondering if anyone had any ideas regarding approach to practice. Do you think it's best to just stick with what you know you want to play? For example, I know i want to play fingerstyle blues and slide, plus some celtic stuff. I'm wondering then should I solely concentrate on this or try and brach out and become more of an all rounder so to speak. I've practiced lots of barre chords and lead in the past but I never use them so I think what's the point? May as well try and get better at what i want to do.

If anyone has any ideas/opinions/tips on this, thanks in advance.

Ken.

[allthumbs]

Those 3 styles will give you a good base for learning any other style of music. It would be more feel than technical ability. That ragtime piece in beginneres lessons is a good example. Learning jazz chords can add a lot to your existing playing styles but, takes alot of study. Play what feels good to you no matter what style. Heavy metal is mostly power 5th chords and believe it or not classical to a large extent so there is overlapping between styles. The more you know the better but if it ain't fun,don't do it.For instance, I would be very unhappy if I had to play Don Messer's Jubilie country style, it makes me cringe and I would never use it. Just my opinion.
allthumbs

[Spyder F16]

It is pretty much difficult to learn every style in a lifetime... so i'd say just go with the style you want.

[Kirk Lorange]

Hi kjgam1.

You will find, the more you play, that all styles of music keep using those same twelve notes and using underlying structures that fit certain molds ... the difference in style becomes more a question of feel, rhythm etc. So in that sense, just keep plugging away at learning as many tunes as you can and make an effort to analyze them all as you go. Every element of every song you will ever play can be classified according to its relationship to the whole ... that may sound opaque and mysterious to you right now, but it's true.

Practice what you like to play, but always take care to try new things. My dad was a great example of the opposite: I taught him "Forbidden Games" once and he learned it note for note and could play it perfectly, but he only ever learned that one piece. He had no idea about anything else.

As you practice (I prefer to simply see it as 'playing'), make sure you pull yourself up any time you flub something. Any little smudge on the overall sound should be investigated and corrected. There's nothing more harmful than to keep playing the same mistakes over and over. If you can hear something's not working right, fix it, change the whole way you attack it if necessary.