starting to play guitar seriously

[Diff-chan]

I like the lessons. The guy is killer, and he gives me stuff to practice. Without it, Im kind of listless, like "what should I practice"? Except... the trick is, he's been throwing stuff at us left and right that just practicing all of it every day takes up a good 2 hours.

[Diff-chan]

Okay, so a few thoughts:

01. My chord changes are still very sloppy but I can do them without thinking of them - IE, I can switch from a C to a D to a A or whatever without thinking of it, my fingers just trail my brain by a little bit.

02. I need to get a metronome.

03. Im gonna start working on individual songs. Easy ones, mostly, some Nirvana (Where Did You Sleep Last Night in particular - it's in the sweet spot, not too hard but hard enough to keep me challenged for a while), some Weezer, etc. Nothing too terribly difficult, on top of what Im learning in lessons.

Good times though. If I look back at what I was doing when I made this thread... Im like a million times better. Even at stupid stuff like reading tab Im way way more efficient than I was.

Im actually pretty surprised, to be honest. But hopefully that it will stay that way for a few months...

I doubt anyone cares about all this stuff... its just like a journal of my guitar progress. Ill take it off this board eventually ("Good plan" I can hear Icepick saying).

[SonofdonCD]

I doubt anyone cares about all this stuff... its just like a journal of my guitar progress. Ill take it off this board eventually ("Good plan" I can hear Icepick saying).

I can't speak for anyone else, but I always like to hear how other people are enjoying learning how to play an instrument.

It seems that you're not only doing that, but learning some classical guitar, am I right? Or at least taking lessons, which is a great thing. (I hate it more than anything when someone who claims they love something refuse to learn how to be better at it, like taking lessons in music.) Now you should not only be able to appreciate what it takes to perform your favorite songs, but you can actually play them.

This past Sunday I had an orchestral concert I was performing in (I was in the percussion section). During the break, lots of people come up to the section, and in particular, they look at the timpani. (For those who don't know/remember, the timpani are also called kettle drums, the big drums that you always see in an orchestra. Think of the George of the Jungle theme to refresh your memory of what they sound like.)

The reason I bring this up is that I always love it when they ask me questions about it, like "how do you read the music?" or "what do the pedals do?" and other things that I take for granted yet the general population have no knowledge about.

One guy who was maybe 70-80 years old said how he wished that he learned how to play an instrument when he was young. Ask a lot of older people one thing they wished they did when they had the chance and that's one of them.

You should be proud of yourself. Having the discipline to practice an instrument isn't an easy thing to do. A lot of the times it can seem a chore. But in the end, you're only as good as the amount of time you put into it.

I say keep up the good work, and keep us updated on your progress.

[Diff-chan]

It seems that you're not only doing that, but learning some classical guitar, am I right? Or at least taking lessons, which is a great thing. (I hate it more than anything when someone who claims they love something refuse to learn how to be better at it, like taking lessons in music.) Now you should not only be able to appreciate what it takes to perform your favorite songs, but you can actually play them.

Yes, you are right. Im basically learning whatever the instructor tells us to, but he has shown us things like Dioniso Aguado's "Study in A Minor" and somnething called Spanish Study and Malaguena. It's great stuff for the fingerpicking. I admit that first and foremost I picked up a guitar because I wanna play songs from the rock bands I know and love, but this sort of thing is very interesting and beautiful and shows another side to music. He's played things that I wouldnt have imagined coming from a guitar a month ago.

Unfortunately, though, I dont have too much more time for the lessons, and I cant afford private lessons right now. Maybe sometime in the Fall I could but for now, definitely not. Ill probably ask the instructor what books he gets his material from and go from there and try to keep learning.

In any case, I can say I got more out of guitar in the past five weeks than I did out of videogames in the past 5 years.

[arjue]

its really cool seeing someone get into it like you have. Kind of makes me feel nostalgic. I'm thinking about taking up the drums just so I can attack that first stage of playing again, before your skill starts to plateau.

Currently in a cunt of a rutt at the moment. I'm not getting any better or enjoying playing nearly as much as I did 3 months ago. These rutts have happened in the past, but they eventually pass.


Its surprising how much playing with a metronome can improve your performing. I like playing to drum loops and solo's for a similar type of practice.

further down the track, if you're ever working on timing and improv, try playing to Merkaba by Tool (a drum solo). With its odd timing (11-4, and the emphasis varies), It'll throw you in the deep end, but its great fun once you tackle it.

[Razor Ramon]

My guitar learning is going slower than expected. My friend needed his guitar back so I don't have anything to practice with. I've been doing more studying of notes and finger exercises. I hope that in two weeks I get my own axe so I can practice myself.

Good shit, none the less.

[Shakey]

I admit that first and foremost I picked up a guitar because I wanna play songs from the rock bands I know and love, but this sort of thing is very interesting and beautiful and shows another side to music.

That's one of the coolest things about guitar. If I may make a suggestion, he may not be your style, but Joe Pass' solo recordings (the Virtuoso series are the main ones) blew my mind the first time I heard him, and I wasn't even into jazz at that point. It took me a while to become convinced that there was only one person playing.

Also, don't delete this thread. Hearing from new guitarists is always cool.

[Prince Planet]

Quick update:
edit: I started learning Back in Black today

The one song I made sure to learn very early on, and the one I still play the most. By far. Good choice.

If you keep practicing an hour or more every day, you will get competent pretty quickly. And yes, playing in a band, or at least with some other people, is a whole new ballgame. If nothing else, you'll learn to get through whole songs, as opposed to learning the first 10 bars of 100 or so songs.

[Diff-chan]

Yea... I play more than an hour a day... probably 12-15 a week.

And I got a 3 day weekend coming up... with no midterms next week either. w00t.

[Shakey]

I start with a new teacher tomorrow, he's an awesome guy. I also heard that Berklee sent him back because they said he'd just be wasting his time.