Guitar.

[chousenjin]

I freaking suck at guitar. I used to have a teacher, and he made me feel like I was improving, but now that I'm on my own, I realize I can't play anything, and repeating scales all day can be a drag.
How do I unlock the fretboard?

[Perdition City]

Repeating scales all day can be a drag indeed, If you're not having fun, you're not learning. Instead of just playing those, you can use them as warm-ups for say 15-30 minutes.

Playing songs is the main thing. If you really enjoy a song, then try and tab it out yourself, or just try and find a tab for it, which ever you prefer. I prefer trying to tab the songs out myself first, but remember, playing an instrument takes alot of dedication, and you're not going to become Jason Becker over night.

As you know, each song has a different technical level, so always push yourself and try and learn those songs just out of reach of your playing ability. I play mainly metal, so there are lots of songs ranging from easy to extremly difficult. If you play blink 182 and such, then basically all songs are extremly easy and you won't much improve lol.

What style of music do you play? and how long have you been playing for?

Edit: just got to add this: REMEMBER! If you're not having fun, then you're not learning (atleast thats my opinion on the matter of learning to play guitar)

[chousenjin]

Well, I played for a few months, but then I lost my teacher and couldn't find another one, so I stopped playing for a few months. After seeing Miyavi play though, I wanted to start again.
I'm not really particular to any style, really. Flamenco, jazz, classical, rock, it's all good.
My real problem might be that there isn't a guitarist I'm really trying to emulate. I haven't really liked a band since the Chili Peppers, and when I tried playing some of their songs, it just doesn't sound good for some reason. Or the songs are too hard.
Other songs I tried are Johnny B. Goode and Stairway to Heaven, but I got stuck midway.
The only song I could really learned was Tears in Heaven, by Clapton.
Hm, maybe I just haven't tried enough... Thanks for your tips, though.

[Fanservice Alchemist]

Well, I play bass guitar and it was something I took to quickly because I really loved the bass guitar what could be done with it.

Rather than sit with a book and a lot of sheet music, I watched videos of various bass players, studied their techniques, and then spent countless hours trying to reproduce what they did. I wasn't so concerned with trying to duplicate them exactly note for note, but only enough that it sounded close enough. I also didn't worry too much about technique either, because that's something you actually develop on your own anyway.

It took me years to get where I am now.

I can't tell you how many times I played my bass unplugged to my favorite songs. It wasn't uncommon for me to play along to an entire album either. It helped that I listened to a wide range of albums from rock, to pop, to trash, to funk, jazz, and r&b. I even have a few songs that had a strong country western vibe. Playing to such a variety of stuff enables me to play to just about anything, and I really began to learn that playing as many notes as possible is not as important as playing a few notes extremely well...

[chousenjin]

heh, I try to look at good guitarists play, but most MVs don't focus on the fingers.
here's a cool video of Miyavi. Not that I'm a fan yet, but I might become one soon.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3QogVfuENgE&search=miyavi
I wonder how he does that... It's hard to follow.

[Perdition City]

I don't really like his style of playing, it sounds a bit... crappy to me lol. I don't think it's very good trying to replicate that sort of technique on your own either and after such a short period of playing. But looking at videos does motivate me, just do a search on google video or youtube for guitar solo, and watch some of those.

But to be honest, if you've only been playing for a few months, you're not going to be able to play much. Just stick at it, enjoy it, and after a while, you'll start being able to play things you couldn't before. I've been playing for about 5 years, and theres still loads of stuff I need to learn and I still need to refine my technique etc... I'm expecting to be able to call my self a good guitarist after 9 - 10 years playing hehe

[chousenjin]

Whoo! I feel awesome. I got an old high school classmate to teach me guitar again. It feels great to be back in it.

[Perdition City]

Good stuff man. Usually it's just a passing phase when you feel that you can't really do anything good on guitar, it happens to me sometimes and it's frustrating, but that feeling when you can play and you feel your improvment... it's worth it

[chousenjin]

Whee, lessons are going great now.
A bit of an off-topic question, but can you train your voice to sing well? Can anyone? Are some people just cursed to not be able to hit certain notes?

[tomselleck69]

most people can be trained to sing decently [not earth-stoppingly wonderful singing, but definitely acceptable throat noise] even if it seems unlikely.