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Hello,
I hope everyone is doing well. First, I would like to say thank you to everyone at Active Melody. I signed up at the beginning of December 2025 and have received nothing but encouragement and constructive feedback.Ok, so I have a question regarding practice with the aim to someday play with a group. I have set this as one of my guitar goals for 2026 and would like some advice on what to focus on. I am doing pretty well with memorizing tunes and have been taking Brian’s music theory course. I am starting to get an understanding of the caged system but still have a long way to go to putting it to good use.
I have always just noodled around on the guitar to, more or less, entertain myself. Part of the reason for this is because I have always been intimidated by the need to keep up with the tempo and rhythm when playing along with others. Now that I have been playing along with a backing track I can also see how unforgiving missing even one pick stroke can be.
I’m not looking to go on tour, but I would love to know I could hold my own.I’m wondering if any of you might be able to offer any “what I wish I’d known starting out” advice.
I realize this might not be a simple answer, but any direction is appreciated.Thanks much,
Bob -
If you do play with others, try and find players that have more experience than you, so you can learn from them. Probably starting out as a rhythm guitarist for a band is the best route. That will solve one of your problems right away, because playing rhythm is more strumming than picking individual notes as with lead playing. It still will require accuracy for many types of playing, but the real deal is playing chord changes in time with great rhythm.
The only band I was in was as a drummer during my collage years, and we did not have a rhythm guitar player. Would have been nice to have one. I did play with another really great guitarist just to jam with, but that was never a band thing. It’s a really great feeling to play in a band situation when you have the skills to keep up with the group.
They typically have a list of songs that are played and you must learn them all as quickly as you can to be of any benefit to them. Other than that, it’s a learn as you go situation.
Go slow and practice correct technique, and your abilities will dramatically improve.
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What worked for me: Find someone to jam with, then start a slow one-chord blues jam. Just take turns doing “call and response” stuff. As you get better, try some 2-chord blues jams.
Sunjamr Steve
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not sure if this applies to you, but learn which pick you use and why you use it. also if you are into finger picking style, think of your fingers as the wings of a bird flying effortlessly among the strings. It takes a lot of time, but don’t give up.
The melody of the notes is what expresses the art of music . 🙂 6stringerPete
It really is all about ”melody”. The melody comes from a language from our heart. Our heart is the muscle in music harmony. The melody is the sweetness that it pumps into our musical thoughts on the fretboard. 🙂 6 stringer Pete
Pete
Active Melody
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As a guitarist in a band you’re going to be spending 90% of the time or more playing rhythm, or otherwise supporting the rhythm by playing complimentary parts.
So I’d practice every aspect of rhythm playing from rhythm patterns and timing through to chord and triad vocabulary. Brian’s got some excellent lessons on playing complimentary parts in addition to rhythm lessons.
That would also pay dividends on any lead playing you do too. -
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