Originally Posted by: quickfingers...this is peculiar. i never understood how things of this nature can be so difficult for some people and so easy for others. of course we've all had our "hitting the wall" moments and those moments where frustration rules over everything else, but if you've been playing this long and this hard and not getting the rhythm and feel or the technique down yet, maybe you're wasting your practice time. i'm curious as to know what you practice and whatnot.

i disagree with superhuman about "forgetting" theory or whatever; it's a blanket statement and we all utilize musical theory when we play, no matter how basic. i just can't imagine someone actually saying "nah, i'd rather NOT know what notes are in this chord so i can be limited to box shapes and stock licks". i know that's not what you meant, superhuman, because you're obviously a well-versed musician. but having a refined ear is the counterpart to KNOWING why you like what you hear. sure, if you break things down mathematically some people don't dig that train of thought. but you tell me how to play "giant steps" or coletrane changes without looking at music from a mathematical point of view-because our ears would have a hell of a hard time making that chordal connection without knowing what's going on. our ears can suppliment the theory most times, and often override it...but why abandon that entire aspect of musical understanding?

All good points, I always say that it comes down to how your brain in wired. At the end of the day I understand theory in my own way - ie I know by my ear what sounds right and how to create harmonies and scales etc from looking at the fretboard. This took a long time to achieve though and was done pretty first by practicing scales and shapes then by relying on my ear and working out what was in my head. I just hit a major plateau that I couldnt go beyond when I stuck with the scales approach. I only truely started to 'understand' music when I started concentrating on composing for myself without worrying about what it supposed to comes because of rigid theory. I comes back to how your mind works, some people work best off feel and imagination whereas other have more analytical minds that work best from an understanding of rules and concepts. Others again work from a combination of the two. Not advocating throwing theory out the window, just saying to try a new approach for a while if you hit a plateau. You may discover something new about your ability and playing might improve and even if you don't a break in routine can often help to kick start improvement.