Back after long hiatus

At 53 years young, I have decided to get back into playing guitar after a 25+ year hiatus. I also picked up a bass and am hoping to learn bass also. Ultimately, I want to be in a rock band and play either guitar or bass (or both). I am just not sure yet which one to focus on. The focus is what brought me to Guitartricks. I started back about a year ago and have just been playing the same old riffs and chords that I know and was stuck in a rut. I need a focused place where I can improve my skills so I can play with others (without paying thousands of dollars a year for private lessons). Growing up in the 80s I love 80s metal and also heavy rock from the 70s. But also like many blues artists. 

I can play most of the basic chords, barre chords, power chords, and know the basic scales. I do like to learn about the theory behind the music also. As an engineer, the science behind how and why things sound right is interesting to me.

So where to begin here? Do I start at the beginner level and just skip over the things I already know?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark

Hi Mark

I went through Fundamentals when I joined back in '19 but everything was new to me. I don't want to discourage you from looking at it, but you already have some working knowledge of guitar and may find it boring. However, it may be worth checking out. 

I think as an engineer delving into music theory would come easy to you and if Christopher reads this, I am sure he will, he could outline some lessons that are buried in the vault. 

If there were two things that really helped me in my pursuit, one would be learning to write a song, chord structure and solo bits, this is where theory comes in and two would be joining with other players. Which took some time but now we have a little group. The main benefit, I think from joining the group has been that there are expectations from each one of us that we will learn the material that we want to play. This keeps progress moving forward into new genres of music, because we don't all like the same things. But music is still music and playing music with others is a wonderful experience. 

In regards to bass and guitar, I actually do both, because sometimes I am the bass player. But depending upon how deep you want to go into bass will determine how much time you want to commit to it. My purpose for playing bass is to provide the back beat for the group and I leave it at. I don't do any kind of artist studies into the various bass players like I do with guitar players like Stevie Ray Vaughan as an example. 

Best of luck with it 

Bill

Edit: I should have mentioned that if you do want to be in a band, something that we don't talk about enough is the importance of rhythm playing. That will be critical to play well with others.

Hey & welcome back to the guitar.  Thanks to William for the great advice.

I usually start by asking a student:  what is your current skill level & what are your goals.  You've already address those, so thanks!

I think your best use of GT is to start working through the rock courses 1 & 2, then at the same time pick some songs to work on.

https://www.guitartricks.com/course/rock1

https://www.guitartricks.com/songs/rock?sort=popularity

The Rock courses will show you the skills & ideas you'll need to work on in order to play songs.  Jump in at the beginning and use anything you already know as a review.  Eventually you'll find the point at which you are learning new material. 

I encourage you to get starting learning songs you like right away.  If you can't get through the whole song right away, then simplify it to a point at which you can get through it.  It's great practice for learning & memorizing full song forms, then automating the process as much as possible.  If you come across skills in the songs that you don't yet have you'll find out what you need to work on.

The Rock style page is another great place for a deeper dive into skills & ideas that the rock course might only introduce you to.  It's particularly helpful for finding a specific skill at a specific level.

https://www.guitartricks.com/styles/rock 

You mention theory.  It's important to keep your theory (conceptual understanding) & practice (ability to play the ideas) growing at the same pace.  This usually means a little theory goes a long way.  The basic theory is integrated into the context of the lessons in the course.  If at any point you want a deeper dive into the theory of any idea or skill, please ask. You might also eventually be interested in the music theory page.

https://www.guitartricks.com/music-theory

Hope this helps.  Best of success!

Hi markbailly,

I totally support what William and Christopher had to say, but I could not resist hopping in just to say welcome to GuitarTricks, and welcome back to making the music you love - and getting better and better at it!

Be well - Lisa