How do you come to terms with your biggest playing weakness ?

[BryanMatthews]

Weaknesses..............we all have em, dont matter who you are

My biggest weakness is definitely legato , I just do not have a strong left hand, and on longer legato lines, my fretting hand tires easily. Luckily I have a solid as a rock picking technique and I can replace one weak area with a stronger one and without any trouble.

It took me a long time to come to terms with acceptance that I simply will never be strong in the area of legato. I remember playing in bands I was in, the solo to waiting for an alibi by thin lizzy , and man, i suffered for it. The end of the solo is all pull offs going up and down the strings and my poor ole fretting hand was screaming at me that it was tiring out. I simply shelved the desire to reproduce it exactly as it was recorded, and I now pick all the notes, and what frustrated the heck out of me before is now very easy indeed.

I remember , I think it was steve morse, who said" now that we can all play fast, lets see who can play good ? " and for me its all about playing it good , thats where my focus lies.

It was digesting that I cant play everything, nor can i play all styles, that allowed me to put the legato demons to bed and just get on with making things sound as best I can and in my own playing style.

How about your demons and weakness , how do you cope with them, what step(s) and reality check acceptances did you have take ?

[Analog Delay]

My biggest weakness is usually the drummer.

[boldaslove1977]

Originally Posted by Analog Delay

My biggest weakness is usually the drummer.

i probably have more weaknesses than i do strengths... so i play to my strengths more... and it makes me sound better than i really am. and i know it's working when i have guys who i know are better than me compliment my playing....

[neil99]

Its all down hill as soon as I take the guitar out of the case.

[drod2045]

Originally Posted by boldaslove1977

i probably have more weaknesses than i do strengths... so i play to my strengths more... and it makes me sound better than i really am. and i know it's working when i have guys who i know are better than me compliment my playing....

this

[BryanMatthews]

Originally Posted by boldaslove1977

i probably have more weaknesses than i do strengths... so i play to my strengths more... and it makes me sound better than i really am. and i know it's working when i have guys who i know are better than me compliment my playing....

its cool to note other players sit up and take notice, you are obviously doing something very well.

[Billy Penn]

Originally Posted by BryanMatthews

Weaknesses..............we all have em, dont matter who you are

My biggest weakness is definitely legato , I just do not have a strong left hand, and on longer legato lines, my fretting hand tires easily. I remember playing in bands I was in, the solo to waiting for an alibi by thin lizzy , and man, i suffered for it. The end of the solo is all pull offs going up and down the strings and my poor ole fretting hand was screaming at me that it was tiring out.

There are things you can do to strengthen your hands for guitar playing. No, not those little gizmo's you get in GC or as a stocking stuffer around the holidays. All they do is contribute to a repetitive motion injury. I mean real tools to develop hand strength. I had the same problem some years ago and I started training wiht kettlebells and even more effective clubbells. I can get you a bunch of info and some links. PM me if you are interested. I am happy to help!!

[SoulToStrings]

Originally Posted by neil99

Its all down hill as soon as I take the guitar out of the case.

Hilarious...

Interesting threat, look forward to hearing others chime in here.

For me, sweep picking is a tough one! Never quite got it right, therefore I don't intend to introduce it into any songs anytime soon!

[BryanMatthews]

Originally Posted by SoulToStrings

Hilarious...

Interesting threat, look forward to hearing others chime in here.

For me, sweep picking is a tough one! Never quite got it right, therefore I don't intend to introduce it into any songs anytime soon!

if sweeping is a significant weakness , you would be brave to introduce it into your playing in front of an audience .

[shredhead7]

For me I took Andy Timmons advice and joined a band that did what I couldn't. Meaning, I grew up on Yngwie and went to shred stuff, but like most shred guys, my vibrato was weak as was my phrasing. If I wrote out a solo, I did fine.

I joined a classic rock cover band, where we had extended improv outro's and that really forced me to work with a simple chord loop and drum machine just playing pentatonic stuff. I also went deeply into a phase of learning every Schenker solo that I could, as he is an idol of mine. It's helped me out a lot.

Also as others have said, play to your strengths when you're actually out there doing it. No one wants to hear you play something you can't.

[pickaguitar]

I recently played with a country band and realized I need more country bending notes fo sho! (I've always played in rock bands up to this point)

[derekd]

I don't come to terms with my weaknesses. When I find them, I work on them until they get to some level of competency. Guitar playing is too important to me to compromise on technique. However, my aspirations aren't to be a shredder or other highly technical or athletic player.

I want to be a pro level jazz player in all phases and will keep working until I get there. No coming to terms...yet.

[ImmortalSix]

Mine is not knowing more than 5 songs

But I play them all real good, promise!

[kludge]

I blame my bandmates. When that isn't enough, I trash a hotel room.

[mikem]

One of my greatest weaknesses is relying on stock licks instead of using my ears. I can tell I'm having a bad night if I feel that I'm falling back on stuff I've known for twenty years and not trying to use my ears to improvise. One of the down sides of being known as a "tasty/feel player" (others have described me this way, I certainly wouldn't) is that it's so easy to just pull out licks that everyone knows, use vibrato, play politely and everyone is happy! This approach doesn't really lend itself well to learning a variety of styles or approaches. To me, that has been a weakness that I've only recently been trying to address- sometimes the answer isn't more practicing, it's more listening! I practice less than I used to and my interest level has been stimulated by new things cropping up in my playing.

Mike