1 Topic by micky the mooch (edited by micky the mooch 2009-04-07 03:43:57)

  • From: North East England
  • Registered: 2008-10-26
  • Posts: 207

Topic: How long?

yeah fellow chordians

                                 How long?..........How long did it take for you's to be a accomplished guitar player?....Now i know  we all keep learning as time goes by(new ways /ideas)

I mean ...the day you thought ummmmm pretty good!!!  Got the hang of timing/strum patterns etc

With me its..God i cant wait sad lol........i know if i could afford lessons i would improve quicker,

Ave being playing  for  16 months now(all self taught with chordie's help), and though i know a bunch of chords, and basic strum myself through some songs (nowt fancy though) i still feel that am struggling with strum patterns
and memorizing songs.
So in general  what do you say..for you that is

Cheers micky

cool Dont Stop Kid Keep Rockin'  !! cool
  • Registered: 2008-08-02
  • Posts: 52

Re: How long?

well a good way 2 teach urself is 2 use youtube...lotsa good stuff thats very visuall and can help u learn things by ear. plus there u can find whole websites that just teach guitar of songs...it cool...4 me i taught myslef a bit and me and my friends played 2ether adn we all taught rselfs but now i got lessons...i just practice and practice and continue to improve and think "um pretty good" more now... so ya smile lol ttyl

{{***~MuZiK LuVeR~***}}
  • From: Calgary, AB
  • Registered: 2006-07-17
  • Posts: 182

Re: How long?

Sounds like you're doing pretty great Micky, considering how long and such.  Do you have any other guitar players, more experienced that can guide you and play with?  That would surely help.  For me it's probably just been the last year or so that I've gone, WOW, I can actually play this thing!  smile  It's a pretty great feeling and revelation.  I've been playing since Sept. 06 but I've also been taking lessons since then too.  But there were definitely milestones throughout the almost 3 yrs I've been playing.  You'll try to learn something at one point and you just can't quite get it.  Then you'll come back to it and BAM!  You got it!  Don't let it get you down if you can't take lessons though.  Just keep plugging away at it.  If you don't have anyone to learn from, maybe put up a notice somewhere.  Your commumity or rec hall, grocery store, pub wherever.  Post a notice that you'd like to jam with other like minded musicians.  And listen to music and play along to it.  I know that's helped me.  Good luck!

Cheers
RavenLady

That's All Non-Violence is
--- Organized Love---
        Joan Baez

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  • NELA
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  • From: West Monroe, La. 71292
  • Registered: 2007-11-28
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Re: How long?

MtM, I been where you are and understand your problems. I've only been playing around 4 years (rythem guitar) and for being mostly self taught I think I've came a long way. I've managed to have a few lessons, some good and some bad teachers, but mostly it's practice, practice, practice. I have about 60 songs that I now play and I try to learn 1 or 2 new songs each week. One of the good teachers I had told me to expect that "burned out feeling" where you just feel like you are not getting anywhere  -  then out of nowhere something will just snap in place and it will become easier. It happened to me.

Best advice I can give anyone is to keep practicing, read any articles you can find and find a group of  musicans that will let you sit in and play. Most musicans really like to show off what they can do and don't mind helping.

Nela

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  • KajiMa
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  • From: Glastonbury
  • Registered: 2009-03-24
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Re: How long?

I think if I could play the begining riff from Rush's "Spirit of Radio" properly rather than "after a fashion" I'd feel pretty good.

A lot of people use a music stand during gigs. For me there are so many songs I know without crib sheets that new stuff needs them and gradually I learn them more and more through performance repetition.

If I ever thought "I've got here" with music it would be time to give up it's a never ending learning journey....

....ENJOY THE RIDE!!!!

<-----<< On an even field, only talent prevails! >>----->
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        >>-----> [color=#FF0000]Rudhes[/color] hag [color=yellow]Owres[/color], Kajima <-----<<
  • Zurf
  • Zurf
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Re: How long?

I'm going on three years of being self-taught.  I'll let you know when I get there.  It could be a while. 

The things that have moved me along the most is to find a particular little "thing" that you hear in the music and then try and figure out how it's done.  If someone can show you how it's done and then all you have to do is practice it, then so much the better.  Then you've got a little "thing" to add to your basic strums on basic chords.  I am convinced that "accomplished" merely means "has got a lot of little things to soup up the song".  The first "little thing" that's helpful is learning hammer-ons.  Man, a nice hammer-on adds a lot to basic strumming.  The next "llittle thing" I'm working on, that I've been working on since last summer, is to do a little bass run while continuing to strum the rest of the strings.  It's pretty hard but sounds cool when I can make it work.  I hear that little "thing" all the time in folk music. 

- Zurf

- Zurf

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  • Registered: 2007-03-24
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Re: How long?

The rewards and frustrations walk hand in hand. I don't think this is related to how long you've been playing. Even the most accomplished players need inspiration once in a while. Like mentioned above, playing with more seasoned partners will help a bunch but can be discouraging too. For me, I always try to remember I'm playing because I love to play AND I play like me and only me. If you get discouraged, put it down for a day or 2 you'll be itching to pick it up by then. And it'll start all over again. Play because you love to play and it makes you feel good... it's a state of mind....IMO that's an accomplished player.

I used to be disgusted; now I try to be amused.
Elvis Costello