I’ve found in the last year or so that being comfortable with learning songs/riffs that feel like they’re way beyond my current skill level has leveled up my playing significantly.
If a super cool but crazy difficult riff is at 200bpm, I’ll just learn how its played at 100bpm; burn that into my muscle memory and then slowly work on speeding it up. I might only get to 180bpm but now I know how this crazy riff works and crazy riffs often have creative techniques or interesting chord voicings so I pick up a ton of new stuff along the way.
If I could recommend anything for the intermediate guitarist its to aim for stuff that you think is out of your league and don’t worry about playing it at 100% speed. Just absorb the experience you get learning advanced stuff and you’ll get to use it in your own music or slingshot your way to a higher level of playing without making it into a slog through endless exercises.
Play with others. Finding a community of friends who accept your challenges and want to see you succeed will turbo charge your ability. Also you get live feedback and each “performance” is pressure to practice towards.
I once had a teacher ask me “you know how to get better?”
“I know, practice, practice, practice”
“No. Perform, Perform, Perform”
Even just at an open mic or a jam. Hell, my favorite open mics were in Chicago dive bars where someone was singing out of tune on 3 chords- so long as there is friends, drink, and music, you’ll be just fine.
Play anyway indeed.
I’ve found in the last year or so that being comfortable with learning songs/riffs that feel like they’re way beyond my current skill level has leveled up my playing significantly.
If a super cool but crazy difficult riff is at 200bpm, I’ll just learn how its played at 100bpm; burn that into my muscle memory and then slowly work on speeding it up. I might only get to 180bpm but now I know how this crazy riff works and crazy riffs often have creative techniques or interesting chord voicings so I pick up a ton of new stuff along the way.
If I could recommend anything for the intermediate guitarist its to aim for stuff that you think is out of your league and don’t worry about playing it at 100% speed. Just absorb the experience you get learning advanced stuff and you’ll get to use it in your own music or slingshot your way to a higher level of playing without making it into a slog through endless exercises.
As a teacher and performer I would also add:
Play with others. Finding a community of friends who accept your challenges and want to see you succeed will turbo charge your ability. Also you get live feedback and each “performance” is pressure to practice towards.
I once had a teacher ask me “you know how to get better?”
“I know, practice, practice, practice”
“No. Perform, Perform, Perform”
Even just at an open mic or a jam. Hell, my favorite open mics were in Chicago dive bars where someone was singing out of tune on 3 chords- so long as there is friends, drink, and music, you’ll be just fine.