What's Your Skill Level

[strumsalot]

I guess I'm somewhere between really sucks and just bad. I'm OK with that, because when I play, the stress and cares of this world disappear for a while. Scales...what are those?

One day I'd like to play the music in my head without thinking about it.:rockon:

 

[KrisH]

It depends on which instrument I'm using. Electric bass is and has always been my main instrument, and I'd guess I'm somewhere at an advanced-intermediate/pro level. I'm fairly good at sight reading, even though I haven't really needed to do it for decades, and know my fretboard over all three octaves. (ok, the last fret on the G string only plays e-flat, but if I bend that note just right . . .). Anyway, I played professionally full and part time for 22 years -- and then set it aside for almost a decade. A funny thing: when the slap-and-pop technique started becoming popular in the mid-80s or so, I struggled with it. When I picked up the instrument again, it has come so much easier. (Maybe sobriety has something to do with that??) And because I spent so much time playing pop/top 40 music, I missed out on what many of the bass virtuosoes were doing -- like soloing with taps and harmonics. So I still have lots to learn, but I feel confident enough in my ability that I could hold my own with most other bassists out there. On the upright bass it's less so, simply because I came back to that instrument after a much longer hiatus.

The guitar is different, maybe an advanced beginner. I don't know the fretboard as well -- that B string throws me often. I know lots of alternate chord fingerings, but not much in the way of theory. I couldn't tell a "mixolydian" from a "mxyzptlk." My breakthrough moment was when I learned pattern picking on the acoustic. I can play and sing songs like Alice's Restaurant, Blackbird, some Jethro Tull acoustic tunes, lots of Niel Young, Beatles etc. But I don't yet feel good enough to play them out, even at an open mic. My confidence in my guitar playing ability is not at the same level as my bass playing.

And on the fiddle? Rank beginner!!! I can play a few tunes, but I'm mainly working on how to keep it from sounding like a catfight!

 

[street music]

I still consider myself in a beginner stage, I can play some slow stuff if I have the tab close by. I can play several riffs, and many chords. My best is playing the blues . I won't consider myself intermediate until I can play up to speed on a fast rock song. I try to keep it fun and switch from one guitar to another just to vary the whole practice.

 

[Cal]

Great thread Strummy... and lots of good info about existing Fretters for us newbs, thanks. :AOK:

About a month ago, my neighbor saw me doing some yard work outside and came over to talk to me. She asked me if I was learning to play the electric guitar .... guess my amp was louder than I thought

She went on to say that she has noticed my recent playing was better than when I first started......uke:

So I guess my skill level is somewhere between not having the neighbors call the cops for disturbing the peace and having someone who does not play guitar being able to recognize that I am playing the guitar and not torturing my cats......R

GG, I just love that post, thanks.


Speaking personally, I reckon I'm on about the second rung of the beginner's ladder.
Thing is, when I look skyward I can't actually see the END of that ladder.
But never mind, I AM moving upward and I AM enjoying it.

Happy playing everyone!

 

[mrmudcat]

Always learning..............the road goes on forever..............

 

[PAPPY]

Man it's lonesome down here in the bottom of this pit all alone.

 

[piebaldpython]

Skill Level

Hey PAPPY, I'm right down with ya brother!! :bravo: I know different ways of doing major/minor/seventh chords, strumming patterns, where a decent amount of notes are. I just lack the time I need to PRACTICE to get better!! So, like my golf game, I can keep IT in play, just way more strokes than I want. The GOOD thing is that I realize the reason that I'm not better is TIME.

 

[serries 10]

im also so in the middle. I've been wanting to learn a metal scale

 

[JJ Gross]

Hard question to answer.
If you say you're good, people thing you're full of yourself.
Say you suck and many people believe you.

You decide:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=324570055
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandid=805504
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dirty+ernie+band

Cheers,
- JJ

 

[just strum]

Now that I'm taking lessons I started thinking maybe I could answer this differently. Although the lessons have had good results and I'm better than I was when I started the thread, I'm not sure where I am at on the road that I travel. Maybe a new category - Improved Beginner.

Maybe I will let down my macho image and pull over at a GAS station and find out where I am.

 

[mark wein]

Maybe I will let down my macho image and pull over at a GAS station and find out where I am.

 

[warren0728]

hey strum...glad you revived this thread....lots of new members here that i think will enjoy reading this thread (and adding to it).

i'll believe that macho bit when i see it!! :rotflmao:

i agree that now that i am taking lessons i think my skill level is going to increase. i have a lesson tomorrow and i am going to talk to my instructor because i think he assumes i am better than i am. we have been working mainly on scales and improvisation (which i told him i wanted to learn) but i think i want to back up and also work on chord progressions and such in different keys so maybe i can lay down some rhtym tracks and then improvise leads over them.

I chose samba pa ti by santana as my first lead song to learn and it is definitely harder than i thought!!

so right now i am a learning beginner!

ww :greenguitar:

 

[peachhead]

Wow, this has been an interesting read. No wonder I like it here so much- so much knowledge in one place is a rare find. And yes, I do think y'all are too hard on yourselves for the most part- I've listened to a lot of clips and have enjoyed them immensely.

I've only been doing this for several months, lessons for the last month (and already on my 2nd instructor ) but I think the potential is there. Scales are coming along nicely. I believe I have a good ear and good timing and that helps. I just have a couple of songs I'm learning (Melissa and the old standby, Heart of Gold) but they are getting better each time I practice. I think my biggest weakness is impatience with myself, wanting to be better than I am and realizing that it takes practice and time.

All of y'all are a lot more inspiration than you think you are to me and, I'm sure, to a lot of others here. Keep it up! :AOK:

 

[pes_laul]

Lately I have been teaching my two friends how to play and I think I have become better while teaching them.

 

[Algonquin]

OK, maybe stretching it a bit, but I'd probably classify myself as an intermediate recreational player. Anything I play that sounds remotely good requires a lot of repetitive practice. Like anything in this world, you get out what you put into something. I truly love playing guitar (again), and I appreciate the support and inspiration that comes from a site like this one.

I've been writing a few riffs and jingles lately that I'd like to record as songs... nothing elaborate, but something I'd like to post anyway.

Cheers,

 

[hubberjub]

I'm really not much of a guitar player. I just enjoy it. I feel that I reached my peak when I was in high school. Now I just play for fun. That is all that's important.

 

[Carlström]

I'm somewhere around moderate/ok when it comes to rythm guitar and acoustic stuff. lead guitar i'm not very good but i can play lead without sounding bad....i just don't sound good either

 

[Ger the man]

I suppose im at the intermediate stage, I did a bit of playing years ago and returned last year. I havent the slightest idea how to read music (is it worth learning?) and read entirely from tab \ video instruction, to be honest I'd be lost without it. Im learning the pentatonic scale right now and find it very helpful when attempting a solo.

 

[Squireman131]

id think im intermediate on both bass and guitar... though im a ton better at baass (4 more years of playing that) i haven't picked up my bass at home for a couple months... weird. i can play alot of coheed and cambria songs on both bass and rythm guitar. the rhythm guitar inst that advanced but i think the bass is pretty tricky and took me a couple months of practice to get the hang of. i just learned about 5 or 6 metallica songs this month.i play bass in my high schools jazz band so that gives me some practice time to practice blues, latin, and rock.

 

[jbviper4]

I have been "playing" since 1975 with a LONG layoff through the career building years, newlywed years and kids in diapers phase....:thwap:

I am beginner - intermediate on the acoustic. Very modest fingerpicking skills, but like Guitar George...I know all the chords. I can sit in and figure something out with more accomplished players. Still can't sing and play at a level that goes much higher than a campfire party.

As for electric play, I am a n00b lead player (but practicing all the time and improving dramatically these days) and ok at rythym guitar. I know a ton of tunes. I am still feeling my way through the best use of effects and my amp too. But its fun and i play almost every day - very tolerant wife!:AOK:

 

[tremoloman]

I'd best describe myself as a "hack" of all trades. Nothing great, nothing fancy, just dabbles of styles from here and there. My attention deficit disorder keeps me from focusing on just one particular style which I find both a blessing and a curse.

I just try to play to the best of my abilities and work daily to improve my skill.

I set my sights high and I've got a long, long, LONG way to go before I'd ever call myself an accomplished musician.

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

I think the beginner-to-intermediate shift happens when your focus becomes less about the mechanics of playing the instrument (how to hold the pick, how to finger a G chord, etc.) and more about what you play on it (learning songs, improvising over changes, etc.). At some point you spend more time thinking about playing music and less about playing guitar. IMHO.

I have always wondered when one could consider oneself an intermediate.

I like your definition. I'd say I'm a beginner with a toe or two through the intermediate doorway.

 

[dws]

Hm..my skill level? I know quite a few scales and chords, and have been in jam sessions without sounding horrendous.

My goal is to become as good of a soloist as I can be, I suppose, to the point where the girls fall at my feet...*wakes up from the daydream*.

I happen to think peoples' guitar skill is irrelevant so long as he/she enjoys it. Look at a community like this...while not everybody is a guitar virtuoso, we all love to talk about the instrument and all that goes along with it, and to me, that's a very good thing that should continue to be enjoyed by all.

 

[Blaze]

I d say , i'm intermediate + , let say ,maybe versatile, playin all kind of music.
The soul is much more important to me than the technic but i like to learn new licks and tricks to improve and to get out of my owne patterns and clichés..




Blazes