I play exclusively for my own enjoyment. I have jammed with friends a few times and I am open to the possibility of playing out at some point but til now it has just been a home thing.

I have a hard time memorizing tabs note for note, and whole songs and the like. I can't read music and I went for lessons as a kid, I had a great teacher but I was a terrible student. I am just not a student of music, I know nothing of theory and just basic chords and some pentatonic patterns. I do think that I have a decent ear though.

Anyway most of my playing either consists of strumming some tunes I like on my acoustic, like Angie, or Tangerine, Wish You Were Here or improvising pentatonic scales over any kind of blues based music or tracks. The problem is if I play something that I particularly like, I usually can never play it again. I can't memorize what I played for repeatability. I took a vid of myself playing and posted it on Youtube some months ago, and I really like what came out, and now I can't seem to repeat it. I attached a link to the vid below. I also would be interested to hear any critique of my playing you might want to throw in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjqVsk16UHQ

thanks

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I feel your pain. The same happens to me often and I do it for a living FFS. I hear things I've recorded or done live, 'happy accidents' is what I call them and then it takes me ages to figure out what I had done so I can do it again. Frustration!

The bass player in my old band said a wonderful thing to me though that to get anything stuck in 'finger memory' you have to play it about 50 times repeatedly. I don't know if it's true but when I'm learning anything I do just that and it seems to help bro.

CC

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Fender Stratocaster (parts build)
Fender Telecaster 72 Custom RI
Fender Telecoustic Deluxe
Gretsch Electromatic Pro-Jet
Gibson Les Paul Standard Plus
Gibson ES-135
Zenith Type-17
Marshall 70's JMP Superbass 100w
Blackstar HT-5

And this is the beauty of improvisation.

Some people stuck in a rut of repetition would kill for your problem!

But I understand your problem. It'd be nice to remember how to do certain things so you can throw them in your playing once in a while. Just be careful not to work too hard on memorizing things so that you do them impulsively too much in your playing. It's sometimes a good thing to never play a song the same way twice.

Well first let me say I enjoyed your playing. One of the most annoying thing is playing a solo note for note because you are constantly thinking instead of feeling free and relaxed. When teaching my son I tell him mistakes are free and to play right through them as most people freeze when they hit a clam.

What you have to do is buy a little cassette player as I have the same one 15 years now.lol Well you can really buy whatever recording device you like and you have to bookmark your licks. What I mean is take the piece you just put up I would take about 5 or 6 licks if I were you from that piece and get them drilled into my brain so you always have references to go to everytime you play it. So it could be 70% improvised but the other 30 you would have a motiff or them you could come back to besides the licks or runs you like best. Sometimes you have to work some things out ahead of time for it to sound cool. Vai or Satriani dont just pull those blistering runs out that fit perfect things like that are usually worked out.

A lot of guys dont want to learn anything note for note which there is nothing wrong with but you should at least cop cool licks you here and like and tape them so you get them ingrained in your head and fingers, then you can change them up.What CC said his bandmate said is right and the more licks you have is like having more dialogue when learning a different language. But as far as your playing it is really good, your patience will determin how much you broaden it.

Hey Kong, I think it was very good. You are a good guitar player, don't let doubt overcome your talent. I had this discussion the other night with my guitar teacher and we agreed that both playing solos from memory and improvised solos are a must. Concentrate on what you do best and work on the other kind of solos as well. This way you won't get frustrated by working exclusively on hard stuff, and you'll have fun doing what you like best. I would sell my mother on Ebay to play like you do. Good luck.
Claude.

Nice playing Kong. I rarely play stuff note for note, that's for tribute bands. I approach covers as my take on it, with my sound and nuances in the mix. My stuff too may vary a bit from time to time, but hey, I'm ancient.......... Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

Hi Kong... I'm in a similar position to you, in that I play at home for fun and every so often someone says "You know, you really should play out somewhere." I just don't seem to have the time or the patience to learn actual pieces these days, although I differ from you in having lots of material stored up in "finger memory" from the years when I did. Problem is, it's mostly classical stuff -- nothing wrong with that, it just doesn't translate to the blues noodling I perpetrate these days. It is kind of fun to watch my fingers run through five or ten minutes worth of material that I have no conscious recollection of learning, but every time I sit down to go through something new I get sidetracked.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your playing. Grabbing some crap guitar, rolling the camera and wailing away with abandon... that's special... don't feel bad about it! That made my day more than any Vaughnabee could.

Kong, first let me say I really liked what you played. Eric Clapton is probably my biggest hero and influence. I would spend hours trying to copy songs note for note. The when I saw him live for the first time he didn't play the leads exactly the way they were recorded. After that I tried playing in his style not his notes, Im still working on it but I have things that work well on his songs, but they're not same notes. That being said when I come across some of my own little bits that I like I do record them and make little notes of what I did it helps down the road. You did a nice job on the guitar. How do you like the Line 6? What model is it?
filerj

Playing the same solo repetitively can be boring and sap you of any spontaneity you may have it's far better to keep switching up your lead breaks.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Thanks to everyone who made encouraging comments, they are really appreciated.



My Line 6 is a Spider Jam which is basically the same as a Spider III 75 watt but with recording features and jam tracks built in. I think it's great and it really has helped me advance my playing.

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You do sound great btw Kong, I forgot to mention that in my previous post. Very nice playing man.

CC

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Fender Stratocaster (parts build)
Fender Telecaster 72 Custom RI
Fender Telecoustic Deluxe
Gretsch Electromatic Pro-Jet
Gibson Les Paul Standard Plus
Gibson ES-135
Zenith Type-17
Marshall 70's JMP Superbass 100w
Blackstar HT-5

Thanks a lot man. I love this place - such a good bunch of guys.

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Kong you don't have anything to worry about. It sounded good to me and the next time if it's a little different it will still sound good. Most of the pros are the same way with memorization thus leaving them to improvise. I'll bet if you record yourself a rhythm track then solo over it you will find a better or different solo each time you play to it.

Record, record, record, record, record and record.

I record my leads in a loop session and then go back and pick and choose what I like. I then piece it all together and then reherse it until I can play it live with some consistancy. Although I don't always play it EXACTLY as recorded, its close enough that I'm in the playpark gig after gig.

Kong, cool vid, cool sounds, you will hit that groove again, keep up the good guitar work.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.