Have you played along with any recordings recently? How did it go? If it was fun, keep doing it! If you had problems that kept you from enjoying the jam, you can solve them, but first you have to recognize them. Answering these questions will help you determine the gaps that are holding you back:
>Could you tell if the songs you chose were in major or minor (or some other mode)?
>Were you able to find tonic?
>Did you have enough facility in one or more scale patterns to have fun using them to improvise?
>Were you able to feel the rhythm?
If you answered either “no” or “I don’t know” to any of those questions, congratulations! You now have an indication of what skills you need to improve in order to have even more fun on the guitar! Let’s look at what you can do to up your skills.
Be really honest with yourself about the areas that are lacking and then search out and study the lessons that apply to those areas.
You may need to search farther, such as in the Virtual Studio or A Guitar Player’s Guide to Ear Training. If your answer continues to be no after doing the relevant lessons or if you find yourself moving from “no” to “I don’t know,” you probably need someone (me, for instance!) to tell you if and when you are on target and how to get there consistently.
Hearing the pitches and rhythms and identifying them correctly may seem like magic, but in fact it is something that you really can learn! Once you have been directed to the correct pitch or rhythm enough times (and “enough” may even be a small number), you will become better at hearing it yourself. In addition to assisting you by pointing out the correct pitch, I will give you ways to help you get better at finding it on your own, based on the tendencies I observe.
If you need help, don’t hesitate to contact me. You might be surprised at how much more fun you have once you have filled in the gaps in your learning!