What SHOULD you know, but don't?

Jetfire

Mainly in terms of playing, what should you know?

I'll get started. I feel I should know but dont

Notes in chords (I know some basic ones, but may struggle if you asked me whats in C# diminished)
Notes in scales 

mucksavage

Oh, man...right, bear in mind I spend my time trying to play Yngwie and Marty Friedman solos;
- I am barely an intermediate player at improvising even a basic minor blues solo. Even worse when we're talking Major blues
- my pinch harmonics are crap

my recent purchase of the truefire annual sub in the Black Friday thread has also shown me the following (been doing some of the country lessons as again, no clue lol);
- no real knowledge of using chords like maj6, diminished etc. 
- I cannot hybrid pick

Lestratcaster

Sweep picking
Slide guitar

skunkwerx

What I’m doing. 

Theory wise I can name the basic open chords. Thats it. Lol!

thumpingrug

remind me which ends the neck again?

Funkfingers

Every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain.

maltingsaudio

How to turn my amp down

LPManic

I can play just about anything but I don’t know the greater theory behind it. Maybe I don’t need to know all the rules but I feel a bit of a hack by not knowing why certain things sound good.

Stevepage

I should know way more about chords and songwriting. It got pushed aside for fast technique and 'shred' but at 34 years old, I wish I gave chord knowledge and songwriting skills the same attention I gave to the flashy stuff. There's still time though

Danny1969

I can't read music, which was never a problem before but now I'm in one band where I am the only one who can't read music. So I need to address that really. I can actually see the notes from the dots easy enough but not the timing. 

Pabcrane

Bloody modes

mikem8634

The names of Cathy Dennis' guitarists

thegummy

skunkwerx said:

What I’m doing. 

Theory wise I can name the basic open chords. Thats it. Lol!

I came to guitar after many years of playing keys and studying music in general so already knew a lot of theory.

I'd say it's overrated, wouldn't necessarily recommend learning it.

Its purpose is analysing music that has already been made but I think it's a mistake to use it to make new music - write the music you hear in your head then someone else can work out the theory if they want to analyse it.

I think it kind of takes the magic away from making music in a way. I remember back when I got my first keyboard and I didn't know anything, I'd just mess around then when I happened upon some good music it was like a magic moment.

Now I'm playing and I already know in advance what will happen on the next note depending on which one I choose so it's more like just deciding which to go for than that magical sense of hunting for a tune.

p90fool

I don't really know very much at all to be honest, I'm a very instinctive player. I know the names of the notes I'm playing but other than liking or not liking the sound I don't really know why. 

I've played a very wide variety of music in dozens of bands over the decades and the only door which seems closed to me due to lack of theory is modern jazz.

I've depped in a couple of swing/jump bands with no issues but I think most of us can muster up a bit of T-Bone Walker even if Charlie Christian is a step too far. 

I did learn to read music in my more ambitious teenage years but as it turned out to be irrelevant for the work I was doing the skill totally atrophied.   

guitars4you

I'm sure someone has said before that 'the more I find out then I realise the less I know'

viz

The thing that I will (hopefully) continue to learn till I die is how to think of tunes and make my fingers play them, rather than watching my fingers move and discovering what tunes they’re thinking of. 

hotpickups

Modes in a word. I’ve grasped the concept now and can apply them to my playing. It’s been a revelation in learning them. I used to think in blues boxes but now it’s modes I’m referencing and listening to the chord progression to highlight which mode to use etc. It hasn’t been easy and I’m still a novice in comparison to others but for once I feel something musical that I’m proud is coming from my fingers now. So not exactly as the OPs thread title I.e. Don’t Know but I am aware now thankfully 

I thoroughly recommend anyone to persevere with them. Wish I had when I was younger

soma1975

I have a horrific chord knowledge and I'd love to be about to play a bit more modally.

Switch625

The notes on the fretboard. Sure I can start off on an open string and count my way up, maybe even from the fifth fret. But I can’t place my finger somewhere on the fretboard and just know what note it is, which I’m led to believe is invaluable, especially for ear training. 

TheBigDipper

guitars4you said:

I'm sure someone has said before that 'the more I find out then I realise the less I know'

Ain't that the truth.... 

bencowling81

The whole song. I can play the intro and the rough verse/chorus outline to most songs, but unless it’s one for my band, there are very few that I can play start to finish from memory. 

Had a lesson with Aynsley Lister who gave some great advice to really improve. He said to pick any song and instead of thinking ‘I can play that’ when you’ve got the basic gist and moving on to something else, dig deeper and really try to make every note as close to the recording as possible (in terms of feel). Not only does it improve technique but also helps with committing the song to memory.