This is Why You Suck at Guitar: You Don't Play Enough Songs!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 มิ.ย. 2024
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Hey guys, its Uncle Ben Eller here with a brand new episode of This is Why You Suck at Guitar! This week we're gonna be talking about the number one thing most guitar players' musical diets lack: YOU DON'T PLAY ENOUGH SONGS! Whats the point of playing music if you don't.... play music?!?!
Playing along to your favorite songs is the ultimate total body workout for our musical minds, and it develops us as players like no exercise ever can. And i'm gonna show you how, tunes i'm working on right now, give you tips on learning songs, using your ears, and having yourself a hoot AND a holler in the process!!!!
Eddie Van Halen, Guthrie Govan, Francis Bubbletrousers, and many other legends can't be wrong: The best teacher is your record player. Tune in, turn up, and play along! - เพลง
Thank you for watching This is Why You Suck at Guitar: You Don’t Play Enough Songs!!! What songs are you working on now?!
Thoroughly at home
Apparently thumping and selective thumbing at 8 trillion bpm is a little difficult. Who knew?
Ghost of Perdition.
Iron Man Black Sabbath
"Learning and playing songs is the single best thing you can do to improve yourself as a musician..." And here I've been feeling guilty and inadequate for spending so much time learning songs and not so much on scales and metronomes. This is exactly the sort of codependent affirmation I needed. 😁🎸th-cam.com/play/PLz1Jurlmso417LJLF2DMzam6Om3ssRDEP.html
Cult of Personality
“Rhett shull transition” 😂
TRADEMARK
Ha! Yea - that was fantastic! :D
LOL, so true.
I was gonna post the same thing, I laughed way too long at that.
Same here, laughed my ass off...
Every song I've ever written started as a failure to learn someone else's music.
You must be in the band Green Day!
_(Or some joke to that effect.)_
Lmao dude same. “Hmm the way I messed up this riff was pretty cool..what if I slowed it down and added a note here”
@@vu4803 yup
My originality mostly comes from that exact same failure and a short attention span for learning covers. BTW, I can't shred for shit, but I love lots of that flavor! I just do it all at half-speed!
@@j_freed can you name an example of Green Day copying a song or are you just shitting on them randomly?
This list of reasons of “why I suck at guitar” is steadily rising 😩
lmao
@@lashedandscorned LOL. Ben makes great videos. And I really do play a lot more songs than anything else. It can get really confusing trying to find a balance (songs/exercises) . My regimen includes songs I wrote, songs from other bands I like, and stuff I suck at. Practicing what you suck at usually yields the best results. Not always fun though . So I watch Ben to infuse a little something new into my practice. He’s a smart dude.🤘🏻
@@Wargasm644 Ben's shit helped me with string skipping & sweep picking. He makes some damn fine content.
The best reason for why I suck at guitar is that guitar takes coordination of both hands and fingers to create one note. each hand and finger contributes to the potential for inaccuracy in every note with multiple options to suck at every fingering, fretting, plucking, picking action creating unplanned noises, frustrating and distracting non rhythmic, unmusical crap.... the better you get... the worse it gets....
the next reason I suck at guitar is I always play over my head trying to do things I have no business doing except to try to show off for chicks...
Step-dad: mow the lawn.
Uncle Ben: play more songs.
Rock on!
I have to mow the lawn.
AND play more songs! Haha
63 years old here and I still aspire to be a rock legend. Well actually I am one just visit my bedroom sometime. Lol great wisdom Uncle Ben
Wholesome Dave
@@ahyeaman love it. Look up the band Foghat
U go for it brother! It's never too late!
Amen!
Take it easy old man
I’ve been practicing hella Ramones songs in the last month and a half or so. I know how to play power cords i practice Metallica songs and all that cool shit but man, Johnny Ramone is a different beast and their songs are so much fun i just love it.
Wise words. Never realized i was "developing my galloping technique or improving my right-hand muting", i was just jamming along with some Maiden & Metallica tunes and having fun. Nowadays, whenever i feel like improving a particular guitar technique, i just pick a song that uses that technique and try to play it as accurate as i can :)
I’m struggling to get through this, because I can’t stop laughing. That Borat voice “short and intense, like-a my wife” joke had me dying. 😂 This is fantastic!
IS NICE!
I guess I've been guitar right by accident because I always play through the whole song. Badly. Very badly. The point is to learn to play songs, not parts. No one learns to two bars of lyrics from a song. You learn the whole thing, and then mumble through the parts you don't know like a normal person.
True
👍
Watermelon, watermelon.
@@unclerumple9287 wtf
and I've learned like 2 songs with powerchords and open chords after 2 years of playing guitar.) Somehow it feels uncomfortable to learn easy songs while you know all the mods and all the scales and stuff, but it's even more uncomfortable to learn hard songs because they're too fucking hard. So you keep on playing scales.
I hust listen to mathrock and stuff and for me it's impossible to learn it by ear, especially not knowing what is the tuning n the song, but it's nearly impossible to find tabs to something not american football.
Learning whole songs is the best exercise. From the weird intro noise, to the riff, the chords, the solo, the second solo, the outro. If you can’t do that because it’s too hard, find another song and learn it instead.
And also, Tom Petty is a great place to get better. Mike Campbell is a fantastic guitarist.
Dude, Mike is one of the most underrated players EVER!!!!
My biggest problem has always been playing infront of people even family, someone will say 'play something there on guitar', i will blank and make excuses lol Ps why does this video have any dislikes!
The trick is to start simple, even if it's just warming up with scales. Don't worry about what popular songs they want to hear, just play what you like without trying to impress.
Playing along with the radio or a random online setlist is like jamming with people you've never played with. Figure out the key, try to mimic, try to play something complimentary, take a solo! Play in tune and in time. It really helps your ears and fingers when it comes time to jam with real people (and you can tell when you jam with people that don't practice this!).
yo, this is literally a trap that i feel like i have been in for the past 10 years with guitar and I have spent the past couple months trying to get out of it by just actually learning to play some songs. This is soooooo so true and really appreciate the insight - i feel like i am falling back in love with the instrument and its because of this.
Do you ever like just go grab the chords and do the strum through and get that down, and then just try to make up your own parts instead of even copying the album? That's my vibe these days. Fake it. And then fake it slightly better.
At least it was only 10 years 😂
I'm in that place right now Connor. My life kinda fell apart 5 years ago and has only piled up way more. It's a bummer for sure, I'm just going to keep scratching and clawing my way out of this dark place I'm in till I see the light again. Hopefully people I love will stop dying on me.
@@Jeffmetal42 Been there buddy, hang tough man, life always has a way of self-correcting, I promise!
My problem is that I am a perfectionist, and unless I can play a song perfectly, it stresses me... which is why I don't play other peoples songs and stick to backing tracks :( Confidence is also a massive issue as my parents told me I was shit my whole life. I am 42 years old now, started playing at 13 and still lack confidence and skill...
"Floor it and do your best to keep up"
Michael Angelo Bateo makes a similar comparison to football players being slingshotted with an elastic band to get the feel of running faster to build speed.
Exactly right!
I met MAB at a urinal before his show at a concert years ago. He peed standing up just like mere mortals like you or me. Anyone can play a double-neck guitar, see!
@@secularZoo But did you glance to see if he had only one thing in his hand?
@@HeadbangoO to be fair the other thing probably would've been a guitar anyway
There was an Olympic softball coach (for American women's team) that used a technique like this to help players improve batting. He painted numbers on tennis balls, then shot them past the players and told them to call out the numbers. At first, it seemed impossible, but after a while everything seemed to slow down for them and they could read the numbers on the balls while they were spinning and coming at them at 200 mph! They won the gold medal that year (needless to say!)
Dude, i finally know why i suck at guitar.
This method worked for me. People ask me how I learned how to play the way that I do, and I tell them "Judas Priest" and they look at me weird. I would just put on cds and play along from track one until they were done.
One of the best videos you've ever done. As an instructor, drummer, and fake guitarist, this is everything. A perfect example of how a balanced lesson plan will get you where you want to go.
“Pull-outs” best line in the whole video. As a teacher myself, love to throw those off comments to check if students are listening. Keep up the great work.
I needed this vid. Thanks Ben!
There are so many moments of wisdom crammed into just 14 minutes. Uncle Ben is the Eckhart Tolle of guitar practice here. Gems everywhere
Yeah, Eckhart Tolle is the man! 👍
Dude.... I was just about done with trying to learn any Children of Bodom songs, because... You know... Alexi is a solo god. But the words you said about dropping out and playing rhythm instead really spoke to me...
Even then, CoB's music is so full of little things here and there it's a big task to learn/, especially on the follow the reaper album
@@Thijscube currently I'm trying Morrigan and Under Grass and Clover and even the rhythm is destroying me. 🤣
COB isn't that hard tbh
but its fun to play
Rest in peace alexi laiho🙏🤘 he was so good at songwriting and yes i also find COB songs extremely difficult
Great advice that never gets old and always bears repeating. Thanks Unkee Ben!
This is such a great lesson video! Great idea and love the demos throughout, really demonstrates that point. Ben Eller inspiring for years!
I agree wholeheartedly with this; I got caught in the exercise trap for way longer than I'd like to admit. When I started focusing on getting to the point where I could play a single song all the way through, I immediately noticed a huge improvement in a lot of the same techniques that I had only been doing exercises for. Still working on perfecting my first but excited to move on to others!
Probably the first episode of the series ever where I feel comfortable about myself with the topic hahah. Playing full songs is just so much fun and it has helped me improve massively overall. Playing a solo can feel easy on it's own but it's another thing to play a whole song without mistakes. Great video Ben!
This was great. Always enjoy your videos.
One of the most valuable lessons i've seen on TH-cam. Fantastic! Something I have to tell my students all the time - learn the songs you love!! Thanks for an excellent demonstration of this :)
As an Aussie, seeing Little River Band pop up brought a tear to eye... your range of music interests never ceases to amaze, Uncle Ben!!!
Love it!!! Gotta stay diverse!
LRB were awesome.
My favorite video EVER, i tell my students the same thing, all the time.
Man the passion you put on your videos, your professionality and tbe fact you can communicate things with such an ease.. And all for free. It just amazes me, that's why I decided to support you on Patreon. Keep up!
Great advices there Uncle Ben!
Rock on man!
Guilty as charged. Thanks Uncle Ben for helping to kick me in the arse to learn and play more songs.
Perfect timing. I get really burned out of technique studies. When I came back to guitar I started playing along with a lot of music and having fun again. Great topic, great ideas. I'm glad I don't have to learn songs by scratching up my records anymore.
Thanks Ben. I needed this.
Loved this video! So resourceful I'll be coming back to this for a long time to come
Ugh. This is such a good reminder early in the new year.
I often do guitar exercises. Learn licks/riffs/song sections but i seldom learn the WHOLE song. I think it's safe to say that it isn't the same thing to learn a section as it is to learn the whole thing.
I need to do fix this. I've been thinking that this year my musical goal is to put together a "youtube" worthy song play-through. Whether it's a cover or original. Just the whole thing. End to end.
Thanks Uncle Ben!
Satch Boogie is my all time fav by Joey Satch.
A very encouraging video. Thanks a lot Ben :)
Started doing this about a year ago. Play something i know on YT, play along to warm up, then let YT algo decide what i play next, just let it auto play, and i play along as best i can. Sometimes drop back into something i know and do that for about an hour 3 times a week. It's the most fun i've had with guitar since i started 20 years ago. Up to that point, it was always, "oh look, here's that same alternative solo from Sweet Child, that i know back to back"
Yup ...the best thing that ever happened to my guitar playing was joining the School of Rock , I went from taking lessons and not knowing what to do with it to playing live shows with a band on stage for 300 friends and family in 6 months and we did nothing but learn how to play songs from intro to outro, bridges and solo’s , my playing increased 10 fold in 6 months . Now I’m trying to learn how to improvise on my own and jam with backing tracks ...it’s definitely a challenge for me without learning scales and triads and some theory behind and understanding the fret board.....any tips are welcome....thanks
Its crazy how learning new songs actually just subconsciously affects your musicality. I've been working on the sweet child o mine solo, and after some improvisation, I noticed I played a little differently than before without me even thinking about it.
Well worded wisdom. Thanks Ben for all you do for the guitar community. You are an inspiration to us all.
Great thinking Ben! Thanks for the content.
Damn Unc, I woke up today thinking this exact thing and I open up TH-cam to see this video. WTF. The Gods are giving me big hints. I usually just noodle with the pentatonic scale and the last song I played in its entirety, fuhhhhh... its been ages. Thanks for the nudge and absolutely enjoy your humor and videos.
This is awesome! This is how I learned.... And I'm still trying to learn!
30 years ago, I was playing along to Iron Maiden and Metallica (and dodging the solos like a trooper). And back in the day, when I knew less about chord construction and shapes further up the neck and couldn't figure out how stairway was played... Suddenly it's really easy now. Cool video, nice to know I'm not alone in doing it this way (I did learn some theory along the way too....) \m/
This was super inspiring I needed this more than you know!
Perfect advice in the perfect time, thanks tio 🙏
I'm almost the wrong way round, I play and learn songs all the time and rarely sit down and practice exercises. I'm learning some Twilightning now and it's getting me better at sweeps which I don't really practice on their own.
Same
My greatest year of improvement was the year that I spent jamming with other people on an almost daily basis. If you want to learn a language you have to speak it with others.
Some of the best advice I have heard!! Thanks!
Excellent advice. Thanks, Uncle Ben!
Billy Sheehan preaches this as well. When I went to a bass clinic of his he said the most important thing to do as a musician was to learn great songs.
That's the most important thing, but Billy also says you need to break down the technical weaknesses in your playing and work through them, as well… He's very analytical on a micro level as well as seeing the big picture on a song or working level.
That Little River Band song was sounding nice!
Man, I didn't know how much I needed this video! Thank you!!
Awesome video, highly inspiring, thank you Uncle Ben!
There was a period where I practiced scales 4-6 hours a day for a few months and I don’t miss it at all lol. I’ve gotten way better, way faster by covering songs and just writing my own material and having fun
same here- well still use scales and exercises to warm up but I don't spend more than 20-30 minutes using them as starter exercise than move to songs. Works better that way and after 30 minutes my hands are warmed up.
You are 100% right. I picked it back up after a 20 year hiatus when my father passed 3 years ago. I basically started from the beginning again and got tired of messing with a structured practice routine and just started trying to keep up with the songs and artists themselves and it has been better than anything else Ive tried. It forces you to get better or else you will wallow in lameness.
Glad I found your channel man.
Thank you for watching, keep shredding!
Thanks uncle Ben! This was the video I really needed to see right now
Great video thanks, this is exactly what I was looking for. :)
Positioning the tele like that in the outro.. You knew what you where doing. What a freaking neck that is! All that aside, very important video. I wish people teaching higher up in the music education system would take "playing songs" more seriously. Great stuff Ben!
Hahaha like I’m NOT gonna show that neck off!!!
"your step mom... talks in her sleep" - nice.
Aye, that one was a beaut
Hilarious
I needed this video, you reignited the passion in me again, thanks uncle Ben :)
You are so right UB, thanks for the reminder.
This is by far my biggest weakness. Playing near 4 years now and I spend so much time trying to get into theory but someone asks me to play country roads I look at them like they've got 2 heads 🤣
I'm actually in a major rut right now.
I did master "Aiming High" from Accept. That's fun to play.
Help Uncle Ben!!!
Simply fantastic, Ben. Thank you.
Great video Ben!
1000% This, I've only been playing a little under 2 years, but my picking hand and sense of timing has improved more in the past couple of months since I started learning Sylosis and Trivium songs and actually playing along to them than it has by doing anything else.
same here- learning classic metal songs really builds these key skills on guitar and more fun learning process as well!
Same here, i have been playing for about 2 years aswell, when i started to spend hours learning songs i like it has improved my playing a lot
This. I needed to hear this. I've been stuck in metronome hell for too long. Thinking I needed to focus solely on exercises to be able to play holy wars cleanly... Instead of.. ahem...playing holy wars. Thanks as always UB for the great help!
Get some!!!!!
i like those moments when i’m noodling around and stumble into a riff/progression. I then spend the rest of the day learning the song.
So glad I stumbled upon this video. Great message. I definitely need to get back to learning and playing songs. Thx!
Scales, chord building , triplet techniques etc , are all ingreidients , the flavour is how you combine them into a fine meal you can cook your friends mom for breakfast , good enough she'll invite you back for dinner !
What did she do to merit that kind of treatment?
You’re headed into step dad territory there 😂🤣
100 truth...I learned by playing along and learning how to play whole albums like merciful fate...iron maiden and other non metal bands. Soloing was just a brief part of the song
LOVE IT! I've been teaching this way FOREVER.
Very wise words and very intelligent teaching. Nice vid 🤘🏻
I always felt like every song I learn needs to be practiced to perfection. I'd spend so much time in specific parts that at some point I'd lose all interest in continuing to practice. Most of the songs always have one or more parts that kept me from advancing. I guess I'm made to clean toilets and pick up the trash.
Been doing this with Bolt Thrower and Death lately. Been seeing way more improvement this way than just trying to to learn the tabs alone
Learning something from the Human album has been on my todo list forever...
@@overthoughtmusik772 I've been working on Crystal Mountain and Without Judgement. On the Bolt Thrower side, Salvo, Anti-Tank, and (the one that's really warping my brain) The Killchain.
@@r3ngokuking That rules, I love BT too. Talk about good music to learn to keep your skills up....death metal
@@overthoughtmusik772 honestly, one of my favorite trem picking "benchmarks" is desperately trying to keep pace with Lashed to the Slave Stick lol. Nothing like a blistering 200 bpm to tell you you're still nowhere close.
BT rules, check out Frozen Soul from Texas, theyre our Texan Bolt Thrower. TXDM REPRESENT
I seriously appreciate the amount of knowledge and insight in these videos.
Uncle Ben, your delivery, humor, and knowledge are a gift to youtube! Thanks
Bold of you to asume I was wearing clothes in the first place.
Oh damn, my bad!!!!
well played sir.
I'd say that two other things that are overlooked but *definitely* contribute heavily to your enjoyment of learning guitar (especially leads) are as follows:
If your guitar can stay in tune. I cannot stress how frustrating this was for me starting out and wanting to learn Dave Mustaine solos. Your guitar going out of tune with any old bend is easily the biggest deterrent to actually practicing and improving lead skills. If your guitar is absolutely unable to stay in tune to save its life then send it to a luthier to get it looked at, upgrade some parts or - sadly - find a new one.
If you're happy with your guitar tone. This is tricky since a lot of people start off with not a lot of money and probably have cheaper gear or don't know any better. But trust me, if you're getting into it definitely do your best to buy some good gear cause if you can make your crappy guitar playing sound *amazing* it'll only make you wanna keep going.
Thanks Ben you made my Guitar day!
The advice in this video is gold, Ben. Thanks!
Feel like you're right on the money. Feel I'm caught in this Music theory / mindless scale trap
My best friend told me he would kneel before me if I could play the entire lead of a certain instrumental song.
There's no tabs or videos so I had to write everything by ear.
I'm struggling with it since 2-3 years and practising almost every day but at the same time I love doing it since I'm learning a lot.
I also want to see my best friend kneel before me.
Amazing video! Your content is always amazing, but this one is really good. Being a teacher (not music related) myself I’ll use some content of this video to share and inspire my students.
Man, this channel is very very good! Great advice in this video. Thanks.
Benadryl Cumpersnitch : *exists
Yingyang Milkshake : allow me to introduce myself
🤣🤣🤣
My problem is once I learn a song then I don’t want to play it anymore.
Got the Same Problem
I know, maybe it's just boredom of playing the same stuff over and over. That's what keeps me from practicing most of the time. That or just laziness in general.
It's like: "I don't lack the passion for playing, I just get bored when it becomes routine".
@@Cthulhu_Awaken always learn new styles- country, jazz, etc. I'm 60 and go back and forth between genres even though I'm a rocker from way back. P.S. jazz chords are hard as Hell but good to learn
Then play it Reggae Style, or Bossa Nova.
I find a challenge. Something that is above my very modest ability, but that I know will make me proud if I learn it.
Then if I learn it, I think “If I can play it, it can’t be as impressive as I thought”
Damn Ben. I needed to hear this tonight. Thanks for posting!
You are awsome , so true. Ive shown this video to many of my friends an seen it many times.Cheers from Mexico.
I heard that guy Yingyang Milkshake was offered some donuts when he was touring with Pantera and he got pissed, he said he could buy his own donuts
It makes me wonder...
What kind of donuts it was? What was the icing or toppings? And how big it is? Especially the scale between the dough and the hole.
Is that potato donuts with shoestromming as the toppings? No wonder he get offended.
Bet they weren't Krispy Kreme. Gotta set the bar high.
Yea, dude "don't fu**in like donuts!"
Although Ying-Yang's last name is pronounced Mei-Ku-Sake.
It's Japanese and means 'no songwriting writing skills.'
@@j_freed lol
"If you're being drug behind a car you'll run faster than you ever have in your life." Hot coffee, right through my nose. Thanks a lot, uncle Ben. Actually, age wise you're more like cousin Ben.
I love your videos, awesome teacher. great philosophy behind being a musician. I've really started to learn more old school, and learn my favourite tracks by using my ear and its so much more fun than staring at TAB.
Definitely one of your best videos such great points with your humor mixed in
"Your step-mom..."
Me: uh-oh..
"... talks in her sleep"
Me: THANK GOD! IT'S NOT WHAT I HAD IN MIND!!
This is the main way I learned how to play guitar. I actually lack the ability to really improvise and don't know many scales but I learned by doing and playing guitar that was hard like Anthrax, and 6 years later I can play almost anything. Except sweep picking. Fuck sweep picking LMAO
Great video! And yay Arc!
Thanks as always!!! Uncle Ben