Mission of the month!

Originally Posted by: KasperowCool. I'll try doing that when I get the chance.

I may or may not have unexpectedly reached one of my long-term goals, as well... Yesterday, I came up with this sort of cool-sounding riff while far from my guitar, and I tried tabbing it out so I could play it later. Then, once I got home, I tried playing the riff on my guitar, first clean, then with overdrive and lastly with some distortion, and the overdriven version sounded exactly like what I had came up with in my head. I don't know if this means my ears have improved or if I'm just really good at guessing, but I like to think my ears have gotten better since I started playing guitar...

I would say that is a huge step!! You've managed to play something that you heard in your head. You've started making the connection between what you are physically doing on your guitar and what it sounds like.

I have fleeting (very fleeting) moments like that. From what I've heard from my musician friends thoughout the years - this is what it is all about. You hear an idea in your head as you are playing, either composing or improvising, and you execute it on your instrument. You are anticipating what you are going to play not by the physical muscle memory, but by the music in your head...which then your muscle memory executes.

Congrats!!

Originally Posted by: maggiorI would say that is a huge step!! You've managed to play something that you heard in your head. You've started making the connection between what you are physically doing on your guitar and what it sounds like.

I have fleeting (very fleeting) moments like that. From what I've heard from my musician friends thoughout the years - this is what it is all about. You hear an idea in your head as you are playing, either composing or improvising, and you execute it on your instrument. You are anticipating what you are going to play not by the physical muscle memory, but by the music in your head...which then your muscle memory executes.

Congrats!!

Thanks!

I can't even begin to describe how great it felt being able to play what I had heard in my head hours earlier. And the same thing just happened a bit earlier today again! Now, if only I could start coming up with riffs and licks in my head that don't sound too similarly, that'd be nice... I doubt it's possible to become a great rock guitarist if I can't come up with more varied riffs and licks... Well, that's the next thing to work on in that area.

Wellllll I got lazy last month + been busy. So I only got half of the song down. I was hoping to get all of it this month but oh well. I'm actually also learning a bunch of other songs too for a new band I'm playing with.

Ok now that my excuses are out of the way ... for july I will learn the other half of "Crossfire" by Stevie Ray Vaughan :) Even tho I didnt learn all of the song, my vibrato got a lot better last month (wich was my main focus).
I wont post a video since I only got half of it done but I'll definetly do one at the end of july (with the entire song and maybe even singing).

Well, I almost reached all my goals for June on time. I didn't quite memorize the scales or complete one of the songs I'm working on writing (sadly, that seems to have come to a halt right now due to lack of inspiration), but I did learn how to find the Dorian Mode of the Major Scale on top of reaching all my other not-mentioned-here goals.

I'll try getting some video up within the week.

For July... Ooh, this is hard, since I have nothing important to do once we get past the 6th... I think I'll begin looking for some musicians to play with in a band. Aside from that, I'll try to practise my improvisation with some backing tracks. I somehow feel that my soloing, which I don't do that often, needs some hard work. And, of course, I'll see if I can get on with any of the songs I'm working on.

Ok, so I didn't really learn what I wanted to, but decided to post a quick video just to track some kind of progress. first playing major and minor chord shapes (a,b,c,d,e,f,g) then going through the five penatonic shapes in Am. Then finally playing a 3 string major arpeggio. I'm not really happy with picking hand, (should be more from the wrist.) And should be smoother over all.
Ill post a goal soon for the month of july.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDIDKjFF1vY

Irishsnout - looking good! Chords and scales sound great. Your fretting hand going through the scales looks very efficient, meaning no fingers flailing around. That will help you develop speed! I thought your picking hand looked good. You'll find a lot of people will anchor their hand when playing scales for stability.

What amp are you playing through? It sounded really good to my ears.

I only have one suggestion...remove the stickers from the pickguard of your fine looking black strat :-).

I really need to jump on this bandwagon, though it may not be until the fall. Summer is booking up too quickly with social obligations and stuff.

Thanks maggior! I'm playing through the peavey Vypyr vip-3. It's really nice. I'm a little funny about the stickers though.
I think i'm going to try to learn something with hybrid picking for the month of july.

Peavey makes good stuff. I had a Peavey Special way back that I sold. I now have a Peavey ValveKing. That vyper amp of yours sounds great!

Everybody's different - I'm funny about stickers too, but different from you. They come off immediately :-). Same thing with the protective plastic they will put on stuff...I have to pull it off...immediately.

This really has been a fun month. I bought a Squier Strat and enhanced it with Tex-Mex pickups and a lot of other work. That took me away from playing a bit. Really it took me away from doing drills with scales and actually learning new stuff. So, this month I will be getting back to the basics. My biggest problem is timing. I don't always practice with a metronome. My goal this month is to practice with a metronome always.

Hello,
My mission is to get back in shape on the guitar and start a retirement band. I'll be retiring in about a year and need the dough$$$$. I've got all the axes I need, single coil, humbuckers, solid body semi solid, with and without vibrato etc. So, guitar wise, I'm good. I have 10 amps, all tube except for a Peavey Duece VT (power amp is tube, 4 6l6's). I converted two one used to be a PA amp for a middle school in the early 60's (2 ea. 6l6's), and the other a mono hifi from Kight Kit with, I think, 7591 output tubes. I have a minimum amount of stomp boxes, original Tube screamers 1 ea. 808 and 2 ea TS9's I got in 1969 thru 1975 along with a VOX wah-wah and a cry baby at the same time. Other old pedals and a few new ones.
Now I just need to remember how to play again. The old and new tunes. Get my chops together and find a good bass player.
Regards,
G1619T

I would like to start practicing with metronome and I have not done that. My timing is inconsistent. The good thing last month was I managed to pick up a few Blues Orchestration series by Christopher Schlegel and I enjoyed the 12 bar thoroughly. I am currently working on learning Little lies / Fleetwood mac available on GT.

My Goal is to complete the song Little lies and the Blues Orchestration series lesson to play on time.

The attribute, not the song. And practice. I'm getting frustrated. I can pick up my guitar a couple times a week but spend most of the time trying to reach learn what I did last time. I've been using Christian fundamental series, since January and I'm still trying to figure out how to best switch between A, D and E chords.

So far I can comfortably play along to Achy Breaky Heart, What do we do with a Drunken Sailor ( always good fun this one).

For July, I will work on smoother and faster chord changes for Every Rose Has its Thorn, plus I'm adding Sweet Alabama Home to my repertoire.

I should continue with the technical guitar lessons, but I've been side tracked with learning the drums :D. At least the drums will help with my timing :)

Originally Posted by: rockymtnriderThe attribute, not the song. And practice. I'm getting frustrated. I can pick up my guitar a couple times a week but spend most of the time trying to reach learn what I did last time. I've been using Christian fundamental series, since January and I'm still trying to figure out how to best switch between A, D and E chords.

Hi, there is a lesson in the Beginner section on switching between A, D and E chords. These are easy chords to switch between. In fact, the beginner guitar songs section is a great place to practice not just playing along to a song, but to switch between chords. The chords in the beginner section are quite easy too.

Have fun!

For this month, I am continuing on my path to write chord symbols over the standard notation in the COMPLETE SOR STUDIES, which is a Mel Bay publication compiled by David Grimes. I am well past the half way mark of this book, and each study piece rejuvenates my playing from the tread worn paths that my fingers settle into as a result of continuously reciting the tried and true chestnuts that are permanently embedded in my consciousness.

Turning the hallowed compositions of this pioneering genius of the guitar into a fake book format started as a spontaneous impulse, which became a semi obsession as renewed nuances in my playing tickled the reward centers in my brain. Placing chord symbols over the notation has allowed me to wander off the beaten path of these incredibly musical pieces in much the same way that the bebop musicians of the 1940s improvised off the then current pop hits, which we now call jazz standards.

By adding a dash of jazz or latin rhythm to everything that I can steal from Maestro Sor, I can pretend to be the guitar prodigy, which I am not. Then again, don't we all steal a little something from our idols, who in turn lifted their chops from somebody else?

Originally Posted by: PeterNYBy adding a dash of jazz or latin rhythm to everything that I can steal from Maestro Sor, I can pretend to be the guitar prodigy, which I am not. Then again, don't we all steal a little something from our idols, who in turn lifted their chops from somebody else?

Yes, yes we do. There's simply no avoiding it. What usually happens to me is that I hear something awesome, and subconsciously try to make my own playing sound similar in style. I can't help it. I can only choose what I listen to.

So, I made some videos and put them up on Youtube, hoping to get some constructive criticism. There are 2 videos that I know of. One is just a short video where I try to play the intro to "Dream On" by Aerosmith, up until the fast part, and the other is one where I just play some arpeggios, that involve some string-skipping.

http://youtu.be/ofnMDkzJKrY
http://youtu.be/96gvf0tPzYs

I know there are things that can be improved (such as not looking down on the guitar as much as I do in the videos), and I would love to receive any advice I can on how best to make those improvements. I can only imagine asking a bunch of strangers on a guitar-forum for advice would be better than trying to figure out how to make the improvements myself :)

Yeah, I now the sound is extremely low. I don't know what's wrong with the webcam I recorded the two videos with...

Good videos. I'm still a beginner too but if you don't mind i will comment.
Btw, I had to tinker around to get the sound in my video right. First off, it looks like you are on your finger tips which is a good thing. As far as looking down, muscle memory takes a lot of practice. I usually practice chords or scales while watching t.v. I'll only look down when I make a mistake. When learning something new, it does not work, but on repetitive things, It helps me.

Originally Posted by: irishsnoutGood videos. I'm still a beginner too but if you don't mind i will comment.
Btw, I had to tinker around to get the sound in my video right. First off, it looks like you are on your finger tips which is a good thing. As far as looking down, muscle memory takes a lot of practice.

Yeah, I usually try to press down on the strings with the tips of my fingers, except when playing Barre Chords, obviously. I know muscle memory requires lots of practice and patience, but then, what parts of playing guitar doesn't require those two? It wouldn't be fun either, if anyone could just pick up a guitar and play like Van halen or Hendrix without any prior knowledge about the instrument :)

I'll try to mess around with my settings (or hope my neighbors to both sides are on vacation at the same time), and try to get some better videos up.

Kasperow,

Video 1.
For as long as you have been playing, you play it pretty well. I watched it through 4 times with no sound, 2 times only watching your left hand, then 2 just watching your right, then twice with sound.

Your left hand seems to know where the cords are, it just lacks confidence it will land in the right places. So it still takes a long time to change to the next chord. What I do when learning songs with new chords and my left hand is doing what yours is doing is, without strumming, move through the chord pattern of the song. Start as slow as needed, make the first chord on 1 and the second cord on 2 then the third cord on 3 and so on.

You might have to start real slow to get a beat that you can change the chords evenly at. Once you can, go through the chords 10 times in a row. Do something else for a bit, then cycle through 10 times a gain. Continue till the chords can be switched at song speed. Of course it will take a while, but that is the beauty of being able to play well.

Your right hand is better at playing this song than your left. It should be ready by the time your right hand catches up.

Listening to it you can hear the gap of time, waiting for the next chord.
There is a lot going on at the same time in this song, just keep at it.

Video 2.

It appears to me your left hand is playing the same chord pattern just moved up and down the neck. Yet it still stumbles when landing in a new place. That is a problem more in the way your brain is thinking than ability. This one you lack confidence it will land in the correct place, not your hand.

As fast as you are learning, it will not be long before you are past all this.