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Post subject: Re: What did you do when you "Hit the Wall"?
Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 9:34 pm
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FrankieTheKid wrote:
Drew365 wrote:
Bottom line, you have to get out and play with people. Or, have some friends come over to jam. Playing by yourself is just an endless loop.


I'll 2nd that motion. Play with people, and play with people who are better than you. And - you don't have to play lead to be a good guitar player. Ask Tom Petty, or Ian Anderson.

Oh, and a little aside Drew... to answer that question in your signature:
At Ralph's Vegetarian Poodle Clipping... on East 12 Whittier Boulevard... right near the Jack-In-The-Box on Glenn Oaks... where the freeways meet in Downing!


Thank you for that Frankie. I'm still chuckling. But, is Eddie kidding?

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Post subject: Re: What did you do when you "Hit the Wall"?
Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 9:52 pm
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Hou-Tex wrote:
Monalst wrote:
It happens I know you said not thinking lessons but I can honestly say Its the very best thing I have ever done! My daughters last Christmas knew I would never actually call so they bought me a gift card and I had to go to not hurt their feelings lol..Ive played acoustic off an on as I have stated for decades but taking lessons for electric and also for slide and a bit for my bass it NEVER gets stale..I also use a plug in for winamp called Chords that lets you put in any mp3 and it picks out the chords its way more fun to play with music my opinion but the best part is the more I have used it the better my ear has gotten and I find I seldom look at the moving chord plug in..I also found extending my horizons and honestly checking out some of the newer groups like shinedown, foo fighters etc has made music kind of fresh and I dont get stuck constantly playing my favorite 70's stuff. I hope maybe sometime you rethink the lesson part because I was in a rut and just having another persons input opened tons of new doors! In closing Im willing to bet almost everyone goes through stretches where they too hit the wall..then you hear a new song and get inspired all over again..


Hi Mona.

I know that's the correct answer, but $95 a month for 2 hours, half an hour at a time is too much for me.

Perhaps I'm just being too lazy.


Mona, a thoughtful inspirational post. 8) Thank you.
I still think lessons with an instructor on the same wave length constructive and helpful to learning guitar.
Hou-Tex, you are definitely over 50 :lol: I'm over 60 and so feel that a consultation fee to me should be the bellwether, kidding of course :roll: :lol:

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Post subject: Re: What did you do when you "Hit the Wall"?
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 9:04 am
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Solid Body Love Songs wrote:
Mona, a thoughtful inspirational post. 8) Thank you.

+ 1
We all have ups and downs . As long as you play for the joy of it , you evolve. I often let my fingers work the guitar while watching TV :shock: I quite like that 8) When you just play on , you are getting better . But as mentioned earlier here - always an inspiration jamming with others :D -especially when they are better than you . But - not too good :
Yesterday I had a visit from a 18 year guy ( to whom I was asked to be his teacher , some years ago . I said '' NO . He can come and play here as much as he wants , but i can not take the responsibility for him - he is in many aspects better than me by now!!'')
Now he is in his last year of high school , a special music subject direction. He really is expanding his thing ! Wow ! I felt like an idiot trying to play along :( What rhythmic patterns !! What scales , chord shapes & progressions ! I really felt left behind.
I finally got rid of him :lol: Sold him my boss me-50 , and offered him to borrow a guitar or two for his graduation concert , since he really appreciated most of them. Which is kind of a mixed feeling - do I deserve them as much as he perhaps would have :? . Well , I have paid for them -set them up , modified , loved them - played them. Kind of feeling a bit down after that.....

Well - I will continue doing my things , my own way . Think I'm still happy with it . Practice , practice! My joy and pleasure is that I usually play my own music - and that is always an inspiration , when you feel it is good - especially when other people also can dig it 8)

PS-Gary -if you ain't got a looper , you should get one ! That is pure inspiration !

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Post subject: Re: What did you do when you "Hit the Wall"?
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 1:01 pm
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Lose the pick and try finger picking. If you already fingerpick, try a flatpick.

Try a smaller/larger/thicker/thinner pick than what you normally use (it will make you play differently).

Try an alternate or open tuning.

Try playing a genre/song you don't necessarily like, to break out of your normal rut/pattern.

Try playing slide.

Get an Ebow.

Play with somebody significantly older or younger than yourself.

If you use pedals, don't use them for a while.

If you don't use pedals, treat yourself to a basic "staple" type of pedal (like an overdrive, wah or phase shifter).

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Post subject: Re: What did you do when you "Hit the Wall"?
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 2:06 pm
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I've hit that "wall" a few times but I have used GarageBand random chord trainer to push my limits then switch between a Telecaster & Strat. Years ago in a band setting only aimed at being a short term keyboard/synth player and was prodded into playing guitar with lead vocals so it was "their fault" of any chaos afterwards. A crazy secret of covering up my sloppy moments is stick with a Telecaster plugged into a Bassman with a decent distortion pedal(ZVex) and some EQ pedal tweaking :lol: (a few times I've added a loop/delay pedal into the mix)

Since my music background is in wind instruments & piano, the only "edge" I have is experimenting with crazy chord progressions by ear. My motivation is find playing a form of entertainment I'm getting paid to do and be amused if a famous person is impressed :twisted:
I've been approached by a few famous musicians asking "what/how I got an idea of trying ___?" and replying "by ear" leaves 'em shocked :shock:


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Post subject: Re: What did you do when you "Hit the Wall"?
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 2:55 pm
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Pick an album to listen through, and pick out the licks which you would like to add to your "bag of tricks". It is rewarding to figure them out for yourself, and it's the method many folks here used to get to where they are with their playing.


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Post subject: Re: What did you do when you "Hit the Wall"?
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 3:13 pm
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All good suggestions, thanks guys and gals. I have pretty much done everything suggested above and am not either new, nor a bad guitar player, I just want to go to the next level and am having a hard time motivating myself. I had signed up for some online blues lead lessons awhile back and am going to start that back up. I think I lost interest when I didn't see where learning pentatonic scales meant anything.

And after thinking about it, I wasn't following a suggestion I have given many times over the last 47 years. And that's not to worry about playing other players songs and trying to do it exactly like they do. Maybe there's nothing wrong with "Noodling" and seeing where that goes? Write my own tunes using my own style and who cares if I can't play any SRV?

:?

I'm going to learn those scales, learn lead and make my own music.

A mans gotta know his limitations. Ill never be better than Stevie Ray or Clapton. lol

Thanks yall. I'm going noodling. :lol:

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Post subject: Re: What did you do when you "Hit the Wall"?
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 4:25 pm
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Gary, try some backing tracks to solo over. that helped me alot. but i'm too stupid to know how dowload them and put them in a simple cd format that this old fossil knows how to use. i have to listen to the tracks thru my crappy old laptop. still, that practice was immediate results. if i did it more often i know i'd be more comfortable soloing. i should make that a goal for myself. i don't care to impress anyone with speed and flash, i just want to hit the right notes. i also need to learn a good "country scale".
if i got caught up in trying to be as good as the guitar players i listen to daily i would have quit a long time ago. i just want to hit good notes.


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Post subject: Re: What did you do when you "Hit the Wall"?
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 5:02 pm
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jeebus wrote:
Gary, try some backing tracks to solo over. that helped me alot. but i'm too stupid to know how dowload them and put them in a simple cd format that this old fossil knows how to use. i have to listen to the tracks thru my crappy old laptop. still, that practice was immediate results. if i did it more often i know i'd be more comfortable soloing. i should make that a goal for myself. i don't care to impress anyone with speed and flash, i just want to hit the right notes. i also need to learn a good "country scale".
if i got caught up in trying to be as good as the guitar players i listen to daily i would have quit a long time ago. i just want to hit good notes.



I'm gonna try throwing this together since I just got a new flanger and chorus. Simple, my style and should increase my confidence.

http://www.guitarbackingtrack.com/play/ ... 282%29.htm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIjUY3pjN8E

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Post subject: Re: What did you do when you "Hit the Wall"?
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 5:21 pm
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Hou-Tex wrote:
I'm going to learn those scales, learn lead and make my own music.

Now we're getting somewhere. What scales do you and do you not presently know?


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Post subject: Re: What did you do when you "Hit the Wall"?
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 5:34 pm
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Toronado wrote:
Hou-Tex wrote:
I'm going to learn those scales, learn lead and make my own music.

Now we're getting somewhere. What scales do you and do you not presently know?


It's been a few months and I forgot my password on the site, but if I remember correctly is the major pentatonic scales. I'm still waiting on my new password.
http://www.activemelody.com/premium_gui ... ar_lesson/

Actually, pretty simple and boring. I don't see where this is going.

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Post subject: Re: What did you do when you "Hit the Wall"?
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 6:03 pm
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Gary,

For where you live, there's no excuse for your problem.

It's obvious, you aren't eating enough green chilies.


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Post subject: Re: What did you do when you "Hit the Wall"?
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 6:28 pm
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pentatonic is how Clapton made a bezillion dollars..I did not understand last February why my teacher had this thing about scales..then a couple of months ago it clicked..and they are right about backing tracks I adore them!
Here is a website someone posted on another thread lots of fun for me !
One other thing that noone mentioned is I really enjoy going to small venues and watching live bands play where I can watch the guitar player..who hopefully doesnt think Im a crazed stalker from staring so intently haha!

http://www.freejamtracks.com/

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Post subject: Re: What did you do when you "Hit the Wall"?
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 8:34 pm
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Next month will be my first anniversary as a guitar player.I always think I'm at a constant learning plateau, but my lady always tell me I've come a long way. Maybe she's biased but I think she's right. I know most open chords, barre chords are sounding cleaner and cleaner, know a few scales and have a ok grasp at music theory. This is without a doubt the hardest thing I've ever tried. No wonder there's people with decades of experience, still learning. :)

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Post subject: Re: What did you do when you "Hit the Wall"?
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 9:00 pm
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Hou-Tex wrote:
Toronado wrote:
Hou-Tex wrote:
I'm going to learn those scales, learn lead and make my own music.

Now we're getting somewhere. What scales do you and do you not presently know?


It's been a few months and I forgot my password on the site, but if I remember correctly is the major pentatonic scales. I'm still waiting on my new password.
http://www.activemelody.com/premium_gui ... ar_lesson/

Actually, pretty simple and boring. I don't see where this is going.


There is absolutely no reason to have to pay for the layout of pentatonic scales.. there are resources everywhere on the internet, including Youtube.

There are an infinite number of pentatonic minor (and major) licks to be found with just those five notes. Try playing the pentatonic minor scales beginning on the 2, 3, and 6 notes of major scale. You'll be utilizing the Dorian, Phrygian, and Aeolian modes. You'll also notice that these scales fit the framework of the major scale perfectly, meaning that you can play pentatonic licks while having the option of throwing in any of the other two notes of the mode.. that's a lot of flavour to go to.
This is how I look at the fretboard. Understanding where multiple scales overlap. And once you get some theory together and are able construct any chord anywhere on the fingerboard from scratch, I guarantee you'll never hit "the wall" again.


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