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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:46 am
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I'm way up there in the 50's too and all along have been self taught for all these decades.

Though recently I've gotten the bug and have stated in on learning music theory and paying for occasional sessions from real music teachers when needed to set me straight :D

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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 12:52 pm
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I'm young at heart. I got some lessons when I was in highschool decades ago and then I got some more in college from a guy who I later saw one a.m. while getting ready to go to work on MTV. Basically, I learned a bit about how to play and then I learned some chords and so forth. That can only take you a little ways.

When no longer able to play so much tennis I got more into advancing as a musician a little short of a decade ago. To do it, I got into books about how to play, read music, etc. I went down a road of really playing guitar like a pianist plays piano, reading and playing what was written. Then i adapted over to tab after a health set back and continued that way. Gradually, I picked up licks from what I played all the time, and I also got into learning scales to understand why it was written that way. So, I'm a more complete player and can play improvisation much better than a few years ago, but I've gotten bad at reading notation aside from tab. I'm going to go back and restudy that and then get into playing some jazz, where I want to go next. I love playing the blues and it's tabbed but I aspire to being as complete a musician as my limited talent allows. It's a lifelong pursuit like those russian boxes where you just keep going deeper and deeper, and that's what makes it better than any video game.


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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:31 am
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I wish I had more theory at an earlier age. As I've gotten older it takes longer to undo the damage of not learning proper musical technique when I was younger. The more I learn about music, the more I enjoy it. The deeper I go into what makes it all work, the better I find I can express myself.

And make no mistake, guitar playing is 95% rhythm and 5% soloing. This should give you a good idea of where to concentrate your efforts!


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Post subject: Re: Lessons vs. self taught
Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:19 am
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cryingstrat wrote:
How many of you younger players are using lessons to learn your instrument? How many are just learning stuff from others and playing the same song over and over till you learn it?


well i'm 17 now and i've been playing since 2nd grade and i never had lessons. i only used th internet for fret board notes, but already knew how to read. so i just look at different artists' skill and learned and practiced w/ speed exercises and notes that i mad up myself.


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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 2:20 pm
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Suhr Thing wrote:
I wish I had more theory at an earlier age. As I've gotten older it takes longer to undo the damage of not learning proper musical technique when I was younger. The more I learn about music, the more I enjoy it. The deeper I go into what makes it all work, the better I find I can express myself.

And make no mistake, guitar playing is 95% rhythm and 5% soloing. This should give you a good idea of where to concentrate your efforts!


I can't tell you how many kids I've met or taught over the years that could shred but could only play a few bar chords. Good lead guitar players are a dime a dozen. Being a great, inventive rhythm guitarist will make you much better songwriter and much more marketable.

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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 2:35 pm
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It is important to not get off on the wrong foot, or finger when exclusively self-taught. It took me 20 years to learn to use my ring finger for bending and runs as I just used my mostly the first two as a kid. And it was a good teacher who straightened me out. But those bad habits are hard to break later.

Best to get the basics straight young from an instructor, then if you only use CDs and online instruction later, you'll be on solid ground mechanics-wise.

There are a lot conflicting schools of thought going on right now. The trad roots "lazyboy" guitar approach a la Clapton and many rockers is use mainly 3 fingers for runs/licks and the little finger just for chords. The hand is tilted at an angle, the thumb hooked over the top on runs and back to square on bar chords.

The Old Skool jazz and classical hand approach was of course square to the neck and the little finger always incorporated just as much as any other.

But now with all the shredmania getting popular, you pretty much have to use the little finger a ton and keep your hand pretty square--it's ironically much closer to the jazz/classical structure. Just with tats and face paint.

If I was a kid starting out, I'd be pretty confused by it all.


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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 2:41 pm
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If I was a kid just starting out again I'd take at least ten years worth of classical guitar lessons.

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Or is that a sears poncho?
Hmmm...no foolin ...." FZ


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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 2:42 pm
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i'm avoiding a definite "style" right now and just doing what feels right so i can grow into myself as a player and develop my own style. i'm trying to be a somewhat versatile player so if i chose i definite style i'd be more restricted to it. just my 2 cents.


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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 2:47 pm
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Well I recommend to every nubie at least use all 4 fingers for runs and licks, just as the classical approach will insist on. Keep them all practiced and strong. Ultimately that will give you the most flexibility to do whatever later on.


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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 10:08 am
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i can't play without using my little finger too. Just to play blues in a you've got to cover 5-8, 5-8, 5-8-7, 5-7, 5-7, 5-8 in like "Goin' Down Slow," a BB King cover from the mid-50s, which is one of my favorite songs because I relate to the health lyrics. To quickly go from 5-8 and run up the scale, I've got to use my little finger. I suspect BB King and Clapton have giant hands because BB's a big African-American dude and Clapton's a big Anglo-Saxon dude plus he likes that giant neck on his signature guitar. Wee celt-anglos like me have to use all the digits to keep up.


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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 10:23 am
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im almost 50 and took up guitar about a year ago thank god i have a great teacher who has saved me so much time in establishing good habits from the start i use all mediums for learning but nothing replaces consistant supervised practie by a human


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Post subject: lessons vs. self taught
Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 10:49 am
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I think that if you want to learn somehting like playing the guitar it is easier to learn for yourself than takeing lessons because everybody learns with different techniques and styles. Plus you cant really teach somebody how to feel what there playing for example the blues is easy to play but harder to feel thats why its easier to just learn for yourself than have someone teach you, plus dont you think that you would feel better if you learned it by yourself


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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 11:22 am
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The problem with that is your hands want to take the fastest path to making the notes. And that leads to cheats and shortcuts which will severely limit you later on when you want to do much more on the fretboard. Your hands will be locked into simplistic patterns and modes of execution that are very tedious to break later on. I know that from experience having emphasized the strong first and second fingers over the third and fourth. Took years to break out of that rut. A good teacher never would have let me get stuck there in the first place.


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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 11:25 am
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VERY EXCELLENT POINT


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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 3:15 pm
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"Plus you cant really teach somebody how to feel what there playing for example the blues is easy to play but harder to feel thats why its easier to just learn for yourself than have someone teach you"

The other side of that coin is you can't feel the blues if you can't play them right. Getting a feel for a piece of music comes with mastery of that piece of music. Feeling doesn't come first. Skill does. Lessons help.

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Is that a mexican poncho
Or is that a sears poncho?
Hmmm...no foolin ...." FZ


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