I kind of suck at finger tapping. I have to really plan out what I'm going to do when using that technique. I'm not very good with fingerpicking although I do ok with two fingers but no more than that. I fumble fast notes between frets 15 & 22 because I try to play too fast and I don't practice in that area of the neck often. My solo's all sound the same to me. I forget easy chord progressions while I'm playing along with other people but I do well with complicated ones and I don't know why. I totally suck at playing and singing at the same time. I suck at singing period...

This is a good self assessment/therapy thread.

i need to work on my pentatonic scale. i cant get it right. its really hard

I suck at speed, sweeps and creativity. To overcome that I simply don't practice, but rather turn my attention on other ways of playing like slide or playing a different instrument altogether. It's a common practice called "ignoring the problem hoping time alone will fix it". It has also a very high failure/success ratio. Really, I'm just exploring my options before I dive in and practice like a maniac (because I really really hate practicing - it bores me out of my skull).

Your not alone with the bordom factor ibzRG, something I discovered is its not productive to practice a problem area for 3 hours once every couple of months but if you can bring yourself to do it every session for 10 minutes it will get better, I garauntee it. if you do that with the other problem areas aswell you will get results. I found that basic 1234 warmups can improve speed as well as scale sequences I only play 3nps for all my scales because they are uniform. but the bordom factor raises its ugly head. its having the inclination to ignore it and just do it. its so easy for us to play the things we already know but this does not get us anywhere. so I do 20 Minutes of warmups to get it out the way. if I am working on a scale step pattern for say pentatonics, I learn better if I break it down so I would learn pattern 1 the first day then pattern 2 and play pattern 1 and 2 then add the others in the same way on the next few days, by the end of the week I know it. something I find realy hard to understand is whats the point of playing stuff you cant use. but you wouldnt get a boxer a marathon runner or a gymnast entering a competition with zero training would you?.

3nps = 3 Notes per string?

Yes. I wasnt doing a spinal tap. (3 notes per second). LOL.

I tend to push myself and try to do arpeggios, sweeps, sequences, etc. as fast as I can. As a result, it's not always clean. I have to discipline myself to play them slower so they're always played cleanly.

Thats a good discipline, and the only way to improve something like that, if you play slopy slow you play slopy fast.

I would have to echo the motivation issue. Left to my own devices I will get very lazy. I have been recording a new album for several weeks now - more like 2 days with a several week gap in between. What normally gets me motivated is a deadline. When I have a scheduled show to play I will practice daily to the point of insanity. I guess if I scheduled an album release show I would probably work all hours to finish the recording. I guess it would be the same for learning a new technique - I would half ass it unless I had a real reason and time frame for learning it.

Yep, motivation's killing me of late, too. There's so many distractions of late (work mostly!)that make it difficult to not only learn new material, but maintain my skill level at the stuff I already do!

The thing that keeps it fresh for me is I alternate between acoustic gigs and gigs with the band.

If I am having trouble getting something right on the electric, I play it on the acoustic for a while and pick up the electric. then it is a lot easier. The acoustic will keep you honest.

Yeah, I've been pretty lazy about my playing lately. When I do play, I just work on coming up with riffs I like and writing songs. My problem is I have a hard time putting it all together into a finished piece. I have lots of songs in my head that I know how I want the finished product to sound, but I need to really work on motivating myself to put it all together.