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Post subject: hate how the fundamental things apply...
Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:10 pm
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So I was away from home for work for 10 days, and didn't get to play at all, and now I'm working to get back to where I was before I went away (including barre chord practice with all the awesome songs you suggested on the other thread - thanks again!).

And also I'm still worn out from too many late nights and early mornings and long days, and I don't have any groceries so I've been eating too much fast food, and I haven't been exercising either, same reason.

And I can't seem to get anything to sound right. Don't you hate it that all the rules for clean living and success in everything else also apply to playing guitar?

That isn't really a question, just looking for some sympathy... :(

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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:26 pm
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Welcome Back! sorry to hear about your woes at work. but look at it this way: experiences such as what you have endured build character! it might take a few hours of play to get back into the groove, but you'll get there. If not, you can always come hang out with us here at the forum. :D I spend hours at the computer just reading thru threads and strumming away unplugged.

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Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:55 am
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Early mornings, long days, and late nights is not clean living nor is it success. Taking care of yourself, body and mind is what matters, the rest of it leads to poor health and materialistic things that don`t really matter anyway. Everyone measures success by the size of your bank account. Success is how you treat family and friends and how others view you. Doing something good for someone you don`t know is a sign of success. It shows how you contribute to your community. If all that hard work is dragging you down, then you need to take some time for yourself and do the things that make you feel good cause if you don`t feel good inside, it will show on the outside.

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Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 5:28 am
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Ok, you need to take a break from everything for a short while.
If you want to get re-inspired, I suggest you do this :-
Put your guitar on a stand and make yourself a coffee.
Sit in an armchair facing it from a short distance.
Playing on the stereo is 'See Me, Feel Me ' by The Who.
After that some of your favourite, cool, layed back songs.
Feel yourself drift back into the ' zone ' again........ 8)


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Post subject: Re: hate how the fundamental things apply...
Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 5:37 am
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EllenW wrote:
So I was away from home for work for 10 days, and didn't get to play at all, and now I'm working to get back to where I was before I went away (including barre chord practice with all the awesome songs you suggested on the other thread - thanks again!).

And also I'm still worn out from too many late nights and early mornings and long days, and I don't have any groceries so I've been eating too much fast food, and I haven't been exercising either, same reason.

And I can't seem to get anything to sound right. Don't you hate it that all the rules for clean living and success in everything else also apply to playing guitar?

That isn't really a question, just looking for some sympathy... :(


Join a hippy commune eat/drink what you want and make a unholy earsplitting noise all day then.
Sounds like a valid life choice to me. :)

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Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:48 am
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Wow! I can finally say something wise that I've learned over my 15 lifeyears!
"You shouldn't see playing the guitar, overall music, sports and maybe work too, as must-do's! There are no rules, There are no limitations! You're the limit! You should really do what you want.
Go sit at the dinner table, with a pen and a piece of paper in front of you.
Re-organise your time. Set priorities. But remember you should only do what you want, not what society expects from you.
So if you decide you only want to play the guitar after you've put on your wedding dress, do it! Make sure you enjoy life, because that's the only thing that matters!
It isn't surviving that matters, it's most certainly not being rich, it's not serving your boss.
The only things in life that matter are love in the active and passive form.
To love and to be Loved.
Not to live and to be lived."
end of lifewisdom-blather from a 15 year old

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Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:58 am
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Don't worry about the slumps, we all get them! :wink:

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Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:15 am
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What do you do?


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Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:04 am
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I can't comment on the clean living part, I'm a health/exercise junkie and a gym rat. If I don't think I look good, then I surely won't feel good. And if I don't feel good, then nothing seems goes right for me.

For the few times when I'm in a slump, I'll do something drastically different to break the cycle: ride my bike in some nice trails and think about things, meditate, have a lazy 10-movie day on my couch, call or visit friends I haven't seen in too long, read some books I've been wanting to read, etc. After that, I usually have a little different mindset and can get back into it easier.

For musical slumps, I'll do something similar: listen to things I don't normally listen to, try to play some cool sax lines on my guitar, read a sentence or headline and try to play the melody that I read the words as, go back to simple exercises on a timer like you would with a gym workout (this pattern, going up a fret a time, all the way across the neck, 5 times, etc).

To me, I wouldn't have wanted music to come too easy at first. If it were, then I've have no pride in it and probably would have lost interest early on. The fact that I can play what I play makes me appreciate it more since it took years and years for me to get to this point, and more years to get to my next goals, etc. If I could have picked up a guitar and played just like EVH in a month, I would have gotten bored in under a year and just dropped it, since it was so easy to pick up in the first place.


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Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:37 pm
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JPD wrote:
Early mornings, long days, and late nights is not clean living nor is it success. Taking care of yourself, body and mind is what matters, the rest of it leads to poor health and materialistic things that don`t really matter anyway. Everyone measures success by the size of your bank account. Success is how you treat family and friends and how others view you. Doing something good for someone you don`t know is a sign of success. It shows how you contribute to your community. If all that hard work is dragging you down, then you need to take some time for yourself and do the things that make you feel good cause if you don`t feel good inside, it will show on the outside.


+1... Ellen, JPD makes valid points. I guess, though, you should feel lucky you have a job... I know I have been griping a little on another thread about Jobs Lost... but, since I have been out of work last year, I was able to focus so much time into my guitar playing, that it allowed me to finish my 2nd CD, and find a style of playing. So positive things have come out of it... and I have learned, as JPD mentioned, that we can live an easier life without all the material stuff.

If you have too many hands in the fire... perhaps you should rethink and simplify to what matters most in your life. Guitar, your body, guitar, cleanliness, guitar, your health... and so on. It can't be all work, and no play (guitar)... there needs to be a balance somewhere.

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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:43 pm
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Here's an update - I still don't have any groceries in the house, still haven't been to the gym yet, but I am once again re-obsessed by guitar and have developed a project and focus that has reawakened my passion and enthusiasm.

I was feeling frustrated I think because I wasn't making lots of progress on the techniques my teacher had given me, so I refocussed on what I actually want to express with my playing, and now I'm obsessed with perfecting the riff in the song "Hate to Say I Told You So" by the Hives (notice how they almost intentionally blur the guitarist's left hend in the video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsm2hSKkH7E). I have a lesson tomorrow and another one on Monday due to a schedule change, and I have lots of questions to take in so I think I'm back on track. And I know that I still need to learn the other techniques, but it should be easier now that I'm practicing anyway.

Work is still taking lots of energy, but I have to say that I love my job and, especially lately, feel very, very lucky to have it (it's something internet-related). But you're right that I need to find balance. Still a bit new in town, but this year's focus is to find some people to hang out with, go to gigs, movies, etc. Or maybe I need to form a band?

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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 7:12 am
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Great Song! I learned it myself a short while back. Try this link, should be TONS more helpful that watching the guitarists in a music video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZzX2sK6u0s


Also check out his web site. Tons of useful tips and lessons to be had. Access to his site is totally free, but I encourage you to make donations if its within your means to do so. Justin, aside from being a great musician is also quite the humanitarian.

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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 11:00 am
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We are all works in progress, Ellen.

Be grateful for the experiences and now, for the awareness, health and desire to get back to chasing your guitar-ly dreams.


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Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 5:54 pm
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Hey, all_thumbs09, thanks for the link - I had actually found it, embedded on one of the tab sites, and it was incredibly helpful, I hope to check out other lessons on his sites. And he's from Tasmania! So that's cool.

HOWEVER, I am just back from my lesson and my teacher and I both agreed that the song sounds better with barre chords than power chords. The original has some chimey top notes that are important to the sound, at least I think so. As I have learned from everyone here, there is no one "right" way to play any song, so I'm glad to learn both, and I'm getting better at power chords and left-hand muting in the process so it's all good, but I think the barre chord version will be the one I settle on as "mine".

The Hives are one of the three best live bands I ever, ever saw, so if anyone here ever gets a chance to check them out I would highly recommend it.

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Post subject:
Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 7:04 pm
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Welcome back. I am sorry that you feel a little rusty. I do too when I am away from playing too long. I took a 10 year hiatus and it has taken me another 8 years to almost get where I was before I stopped. You may have something there on clean living thing, but I have never payed much attention to that. Unfortunately I am not as young as I used to be and need to cut back a little. You know if you travel a lot with your job, maybe you could consider getting a travel or practice guitar to take with you. Just to keep you from getting rusty. Course this only works if you are not flying all the time.

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