I'd have to say harmony and analysis. The ability to look at a chord chart and know what options you have at any point in the song is huge. It removes all the guesswork and allows me to be musical wherever I am.

Who's next...

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Ignoring negative people who think everybody or everything "sucks"...generally, they are just insecure about their own abilities or hiding their own shortcomings. This is true about most aspects of life.

In a guitar-playing-only context, the best thing I ever did to improve my playing was putting down the guitar pick and playing with my fingers (I use my fingers 99% of the time, but there are occasional "strum" songs that sound better when I use a pick)...I'm not a pure "fingerpicker" per se, but the "flesh & fingernail" method worked better for me as a player and for my tone, especially in open tunings.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Got sober five years ago. Playing wise, years of practice................ Mike

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

Learning how to sight read music has given me a better grasp on rhythm and note spacing in general... So its easier for me to mimic what I hear (what y'all call "playing by ear").... It's ironic how reading music has made me a better "play by ear" guitarist...

Also learing chord structure and appregio/note-fields... this has enabled me to improvise over just about any song/genre...

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In Reference to Blues Legend RL Burnside:
After a heart attack in 2001, Burnside's doctor advised him to stop drinking; Burnside did, but he reported that change left him unable to play.

That will definitely help... I know from first hand experience... the buzz kill however is realizing sober or not.. you still plateau...

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In Reference to Blues Legend RL Burnside:
After a heart attack in 2001, Burnside's doctor advised him to stop drinking; Burnside did, but he reported that change left him unable to play.

Early on, patience and then much later in life "unlearning" a bit of it. As a young guitar/bass player, I was too much in a hurry to get into a band, make money, etc. so I quit lessons, rushed things, etc. As a young employee, I was too in a hurry to get to the top so I didn't spend enought time figuring out where I really wanted to get ... and so on.

But then one day recently, someone said "You know, you have too much patience ... you never push anything, any one, any project." So with that, I unlearned a bit of my what some called almost Zen-like patience. If I don't get a song right away, I don't get frustrated but I don't totally put it off until "whenever it wants to happen naturally either."

Barre Chords
Pentatonic and other various scales

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Blues with a feeling.

GUILD GUITARS: MADE TO BE PLAYED!

learning the basics- chords, scales, reading music, etc. i received great lessons from my instructor. i can play a jazz song, or country, or blues, or rock and roll. helps make you versatile.

next time you are in a music store, and some kid is playing the same riff over and over, ask him to sit down and play something with you. make it a nice easy blues song. i wonder how many could play with you. if you are playing something tasty, i'll probably walk up , listen for a while, and strike up a converstion.

Still learning, but the best thing for my playing is/was playing with others

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Hey, Boy Blue is back!

playing in front of other people, even though i may really think its a bad idea at the time, and my hand spasms up, its helping me get more confident

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riley

So far I think it's been the realization that I don't always have to play fast all the time and that not playing anything can have as much affect on the song as playing something. You can have great chops, but if you don't have good phrasing then it almost doesn't matter that you can a cool lick. I'm still trying to work on that, it's very hard to play lead guitar without relying on licks alone.

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Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccalairdmusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/beckslaird
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Bending my knees when I pick up my amp.

Seriously, I've learned "Patience", "Nothing Else Matters", "You Can't Always Get What You Want",...

Finally taking the time to learn and practice scales especially the minor pentatonic scale. I wandered around the fretboard for years before learning where everything was. As you would imagine, it opened up all kinds of doors for me.

be yourself. no matter how good you think you are, there's someone down the street who is better. it's not a competition.

learning the major and minor scales..

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If I Like It...
I Just Do It...