I Play the Guitar
Being a good guitarist requires a lot of patience and practice. I know you didn't want to hear the two P's but don't leave just yet!
I first picked up a guitar a very long time ago, let's see, I'm almost twenty-one so it must be over ten years since that happened. It was one of my Step-Father's guitars and I'm sure it was an acoustic, maybe a semi. Now, as I was under ten years of age I can't say with all honesty that I took to it like a duck in water. It took me until I was about twelve years of age until I decided that I would take it seriously. Now the point of me writing this story is that I hope anyone who has hit some sort of snag in their learning reads my story and maybe takes something from it. Now I have a few pointers on how you can really progress as a player.
1) DO NOT! - Pursue guitar playing for recognition of status or to compliment your ego.
On several levels this is wrong. Firstly it's insulting to the discipline you're undertaking to use it for your own recognition in the eyes of others.You don't want to spend an inordinate amount of money on equipment if you're just wanting to join in with a trend that seems cool. On another level I would say that to get into guitar playing because of other people is completely necessary. I mean, how else can you aspire to be at someone's level or emulate someone's style? To aspire and emulate someone else when you start out is the most natural thing for a guitarist to do. With me I took such a notion towards the pentatonic movements of Noel Gallacher and also his chord work. Both of them are incredibly simplistic but they're truly a guitarists best friend.
This leads me onto point two.
2) DO! - Learn chord progressions and note scales.
You will discover the true essence of technical ability when you do so. It's honestly not that hard. The way I do it is to start on bass notes. Realize that (on a six string guitar) that the bottom and top string are the same note for a reason and realize that every note goes up an octave after every twelve frets. I learned to play notes before I played chords and when I had them both I mixed them together and learned what notes I could play with what chords. This is how you see these brilliant jam sessions in live shows.
So study, study and study! If you can't do that then you can't complain about not progressing or having nothing to play. When you learn how to play these chords and scales you don't need someone else's song to play and maybe you can even make up your own music, who knows?
3) DO NOT! - Stick to one form of music.
Some people call them genres and what-not but every music has some sort of form and shape. Never, ever stick to just one though. I guarantee that over 75% of the people who say that they 'don't know what to play', or something of that ilk, have been focusing all of their attentions on one form of music. A particular example is from a year or two ago when I was trying to help someone who had a keen interest in guitar playing but was only interested in learning songs from the same few bands. Said bands were the Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, the Smiths, etc. I urged as best I could for this person to branch out but the point was never really took on board and as such they never truly grew.
4 DO! - Have respect for fellow guitarists.
No matter how long you've been learning for or how much you may think you know, you can always learn something new. You'll often find that when you go down the line for a few years it seems as if there's nothing else to play. That's not true. It's times like that when you need to bestow onto others. Through teaching you can truly learn so much and I would say if you were to consider guitar seriously then it should be a duty of sorts to pass on what you know to other as opposed to keeping what you know to yourself in a bid to ensure that you're the only person who knows how to do said skills.
5 DEFINETELY! - Give into your emotions.
This is the biggest point I'm going to make so stick a cup of tea on and I'll take two sugars and milk.
My favorite guitarist is John Frusciante, formerly of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This is because he is the perfect model of the belief that I have towards guitar playing. That is, if you can't feel it, don't bother playing it.
Every song was written for a reason, every little note gave the musician who came up with it a certain feeling. It played to a certain emotion they were feeling at the time. These feelings can make a song that seems so simple to others, adopt such meaning and power to yourself. It's up to you to convey that meaning and power. And Frusciante does that with every song he plays. His amp to his guitar, his guitar to his fingers, his fingers to his brain, his brain to his mind and his mind to his soul. They are all connected. Just like this - http://tinyurl.com/6cjh4fl
Another of my favorite guitarists is David Gilmour of Pink Floyd fame. He is the true master of the blues pentatonic, in my opinion. When you complete that marriage of chord and scale you'll be able to play most Pink Floyd songs with good practice. This is a peach of a solo played live - http://tinyurl.com/6dqu7yb - Also check out Comfortably Numb.
Ian Curtis said that "Instead of just singing about something you could show it as well, put it over in the way that it is, if you were totally involved in what you were doing". That is a perfect explanation to what I mean. He was talking about his dance moves, here's a good video of him doing so - http://tinyurl.com/8fs7kq
My point is that the true exploration in musical discovery doesn't come from finding out about new bands or musical movements and keeping them to yourself in a bid to say "Well I was into that first", it comes through the discovery of the emotions inside you and how this can be explored and conveyed through technical understanding, playing and composition.
It can be Damien Rice's musings on lovers long gone.
It can be Johnny Cash coming to terms with his troubled Christianity through his stories of rogues and renegades.
It can be Aretha Franklin's resounding vocals highlighting her views and the true power of femininity.
That's how they discovered their meaning and power. For you though, like I said, it can be anything.
It can be anything that you want it to be.
If any of you have a question or two then don't hesitate to ask.
Take care.
P.s. Thanks for the tea.
I first picked up a guitar a very long time ago, let's see, I'm almost twenty-one so it must be over ten years since that happened. It was one of my Step-Father's guitars and I'm sure it was an acoustic, maybe a semi. Now, as I was under ten years of age I can't say with all honesty that I took to it like a duck in water. It took me until I was about twelve years of age until I decided that I would take it seriously. Now the point of me writing this story is that I hope anyone who has hit some sort of snag in their learning reads my story and maybe takes something from it. Now I have a few pointers on how you can really progress as a pla
1) DO NOT! - Pursue guitar playing for recognition of status or to compliment your ego.
On several levels this is wrong. Firstly it's insulting to the discipline you're undertaking to use it for your own recognition in the eyes of others.You don't want to spend an inordinate amount of money on equipment if you're just wanting to join in with a trend that seems cool. On another level I would say that to get into guitar playing because of other people is completely necessary. I mean, how else can you aspire to be at someone's level or emulate someone's style? To aspire and emulate someone else when you start out is the most natural thing for a guitarist to do. With me I took such a notion towards the pentatonic movements of Noel Gallacher and also his chord work. Both of them are incredibly simplistic but they're truly a guitarists best friend.
This leads me onto point two.
2) DO! - Learn chord progressions and note scales.
You will discover the true essence of technical ability when you do so. It's honestly not that hard. The way I do it is to start on bass notes. Realize that (on a six string guitar) that the bottom and top string are the same note for a reason and realize that every note goes up an octave after every twelve frets. I learned to play notes before I played chords and when I had them both I mixed them together and learned what notes I could play with what chords. This is how you see these brilliant jam sessions in live shows.
So study, study and study! If you can't do that then you can't complain about not progressing or having nothing to play. When you learn how to play these chords and scales you don't need someone else's song to play and maybe you can even make up your own music, who knows?
3) DO NOT! - Stick to one form of music.
Some people call them genres and what-not but every music has some sort of form and shape. Never, ever stick to just one though. I guarantee that over 75% of the people who say that they 'don't know what to play', or something of that ilk, have been focusing all of their attentions on one form of music. A particular example is from a year or two ago when I was trying to help someone who had a keen interest in guitar playing but was only interested in learning songs from the same few bands. Said bands were the Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, the Smiths, etc. I urged as best I could for this person to branch out but the point was never really took on board and as such they never truly grew.
4 DO! - Have respect for fellow guitarists.
No matter how long you've been learning for or how much you may think you know, you can always learn something new. You'll often find that when you go down the line for a few years it seems as if there's nothing else to play. That's not true. It's times like that when you need to bestow onto others. Through teaching you can truly learn so much and I would say if you were to consider guitar seriously then it should be a duty of sorts to pass on what you know to other as opposed to keeping what you know to yourself in a bid to ensure that you're the only person who knows how to do said skills.
5 DEFINETELY! - Give into your emotions.
This is the biggest point I'm going to make so stick a cup of tea on and I'll take two sugars and milk.
My favorite guitarist is John Frusciante, formerly of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This is because he is the perfect model of the belief that I have towards guitar playing. That is, if you can't feel it, don't bother playing it.
Every song was written for a reason, every little note gave the musician who came up with it a certain feeling. It played to a certain emotion they were feeling at the time. These feelings can make a song that seems so simple to others, adopt such meaning and power to yourself. It's up to you to convey that meaning and power. And Frusciante does that with every song he plays. His amp to his guitar, his guitar to his fingers, his fingers to his brain, his brain to his mind and his mind to his soul. They are all connected. Just like this - http://tinyurl.com/6cjh4fl
Another of my favorite guitarists is David Gilmour of Pink Floyd fame. He is the true master of the blues pentatonic, in my opinion. When you complete that marriage of chord and scale you'll be able to play most Pink Floyd songs with good practice. This is a peach of a solo played live - http://tinyurl.com/6dqu7yb - Also check out Comfortably Numb.
Ian Curtis said that "Instead of just singing about something you could show it as well, put it over in the way that it is, if you were totally involved in what you were doing". That is a perfect explanation to what I mean. He was talking about his dance moves, here's a good video of him doing so - http://tinyurl.com/8fs7kq
My point is that the true exploration in musical discovery doesn't come from finding out about new bands or musical movements and keeping them to yourself in a bid to say "Well I was into that first", it comes through the discovery of the emotions inside you and how this can be explored and conveyed through technical understanding, playing and composition.
It can be Damien Rice's musings on lovers long gone.
It can be Johnny Cash coming to terms with his troubled Christianity through his stories of rogues and renegades.
It can be Aretha Franklin's resounding vocals highlighting her views and the true power of femininity.
That's how they discovered their meaning and power. For you though, like I said, it can be anything.
It can be anything that you want it to be.
If any of you have a question or two then don't hesitate to ask.
Take care.
P.s. Thanks for the tea.
By:
Shingu026
Age:
18-21
,
Male
