I bought a guitar

MrYeahBut

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I'm sitting here in a sweat. I'm going to take a voice lesson in an hour. I haven't sung since I was in a musical in high school.. Grip, grip, grip....
 

puckhead

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I'm sitting here in a sweat. I'm going to take a voice lesson in an hour. I haven't sung since I was in a musical in high school.. Grip, grip, grip....

The more you relax, the easier it gets.

I hope it went well.
 
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BigRedRage

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I found it!

Anyway. I pulled out the Kramer custom tonight. It felt amazing. Thought of jw7 on the meantime, rip. Was surprised I could play a few songs still but o have no idea what I'm doing. Pure muscle memory. I should start the process over....

Mryeahbut I still owe you a pedal. I always forget. My bad.

Puckhead, you're the man


I went to a brewery dinner, a cigar bar and then the perch and afterward came home and played guitar for my lady friend. Great night. Cheers to my friends at asfn

Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk
 

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I found it!

Anyway. I pulled out the Kramer custom tonight. It felt amazing. Thought of jw7 on the meantime, rip. Was surprised I could play a few songs still but o have no idea what I'm doing. Pure muscle memory. I should start the process over....

Mryeahbut I still owe you a pedal. I always forget. My bad.

Puckhead, you're the man


I went to a brewery dinner, a cigar bar and then the perch and afterward came home and played guitar for my lady friend. Great night. Cheers to my friends at asfn

Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk

:thumbup:
 
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I found it!

Anyway. I pulled out the Kramer custom tonight. It felt amazing. Thought of jw7 on the meantime, rip. Was surprised I could play a few songs still but o have no idea what I'm doing. Pure muscle memory. I should start the process over....

Mryeahbut I still owe you a pedal. I always forget. My bad.

Puckhead, you're the man


I went to a brewery dinner, a cigar bar and then the perch and afterward came home and played guitar for my lady friend. Great night. Cheers to my friends at asfn

Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk

How did you like the Perch? I hear mixed reviews from friends that have gone there. It's only about 2 miles from my house but I haven't gone there yet.
 

puckhead

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How did you like the Perch? I hear mixed reviews from friends that have gone there. It's only about 2 miles from my house but I haven't gone there yet.

I've been there once. It was cool to see the birds and the layout is...interesting. Food was not that great. Beer wasn't anything to write home about but if I was in the area, I'd probably go again. I'd like to catch a show upstairs sometime. It's definitely unique.
 
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BigRedRage

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How did you like the Perch? I hear mixed reviews from friends that have gone there. It's only about 2 miles from my house but I haven't gone there yet.
I've been going to the perch for a long time. its one of my favorite spots. the food is amazing and I usually only go thurs-sun as thats when they have the upstairs loft open. Up there is all lounge seating and a bay and then they have a stage with live music. Last night one one man and an acoustic guitar playing a bunch of music. he was really, really good. ive seen performers like that, duets, raggae/sublime style bands, bands that remind me of a southern/raspy dave matthews and more. One night it was a DJ, that one was disappointing.

Highly recommend. The local next to it has good food too. Puro, the cigar bar nearby is cool too. The perch closes at 11 or midnight and then I usually wander over to the irish pub.
 
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BigRedRage

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I've been there once. It was cool to see the birds and the layout is...interesting. Food was not that great. Beer wasn't anything to write home about but if I was in the area, I'd probably go again. I'd like to catch a show upstairs sometime. It's definitely unique.
which food did you try?

The jalapeno marmalade is the bombbbbbbb. I get the hand breaded tenders and dip them in that all the time. The fries were really good too. There is also a pizza with that marmalade as the sauce. pretty spicy though if youre not into spicy.

The meat and cheese board was disappointing
 

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which food did you try?

The jalapeno marmalade is the bombbbbbbb. I get the hand breaded tenders and dip them in that all the time. The fries were really good too. There is also a pizza with that marmalade as the sauce. pretty spicy though if youre not into spicy.

The meat and cheese board was disappointing

It was so memorable, I forgot. I just know that we were both like, 'meh.' Part of it could have been that the bartender was busier with smoking cigarettes than she was with tending bar and not washing her hands when she did get back around to it. That's a pet peeve of mine.

But, the venue and setup was pretty cool and like I said, I'd go again if I was in the neighborhood. I think we'd really enjoy watching some live music there and the birds were outstanding to watch.
 
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BigRedRage

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It was so memorable, I forgot. I just know that we were both like, 'meh.' Part of it could have been that the bartender was busier with smoking cigarettes than she was with tending bar and not washing her hands when she did get back around to it. That's a pet peeve of mine.

But, the venue and setup was pretty cool and like I said, I'd go again if I was in the neighborhood. I think we'd really enjoy watching some live music there and the birds were outstanding to watch.

Be sure to holler if you do, I always like an excuse to go to the perch :)
 

MrYeahBut

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I still practice every day. I can finger most of the chords I know cleanly, but damn, changing between them to any kind of rhythm is just brutal. I understand enough music theory to be dangerous so figuring how/why chords work together helps. I've got a long way to go... it's disappointing because I've worked pretty hard at it for 6 months. I have no friends so finding someone to play with isn't happening. I'm not giving up though!
 

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I still practice every day. I can finger most of the chords I know cleanly, but damn, changing between them to any kind of rhythm is just brutal. I understand enough music theory to be dangerous so figuring how/why chords work together helps. I've got a long way to go... it's disappointing because I've worked pretty hard at it for 6 months. I have no friends so finding someone to play with isn't happening. I'm not giving up though!

Have you tried messing with a looper yet? It's really tricky at first, but once you get a nice progression in, you can have some fun noodling around with your scales over the chord changes.

One other pro tip, don't get caught in public talking about fingering A minor. :eek:
 

MrYeahBut

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Have you tried messing with a looper yet? It's really tricky at first, but once you get a nice progression in, you can have some fun noodling around with your scales over the chord changes.

One other pro tip, don't get caught in public talking about fingering A minor. :eek:


No looper yet, I use songs on Chorify and run them thru my amp with my phone and play over them.

As to your pro tip, I'll pretend I didn't understand it....
 

MrYeahBut

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I'm guessing I've got at least 500 hours practice into this and aware enough to know that I shouldn't beat myself up too much, I practice every day, but man this is just brutal. I haven't been able to learn much of anything because I can't get past playing the cowboy and basic bar chords smoothly. Changing chords in time is near impossible when they're not fretted cleanly and the strings buzz and sound like crap, it's totally disheartening. Not to mention getting past playing chords where you get your fingers down in unison and not one at a time. You can't work on rhythm or timing.

I'm not really a goal oriented person other than the fact that I would like to get proficient enough to find some people to play with and have some fun. I do feel I have music inside me that wants to come out, but at this rate I'll be 90 years old before I can chop out Cold Shot by Stevie Ray.

I'm reduced to watching Uncle Ben's youtube series 'This is why you suck at guitar'

Will someone talk me off the ledge, please?

.
 
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MrYeahBut

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I'm here for you, @MrYeahbut

To start, what's your practice regimen like?

I start by playing chromatic scale up and down to warm up. 20 times or so alternating playing B open and little finger.

In no particular order, play one or 2 chord sequences- basic stuff..
E-D-A, G-Em-C-D7, G-C-D, E7-A7-B7, C-F-G, G7-C7-D7, G-C9-D9. Basic barre chords- Major, M7, m, 5th string barres M/m & 7. Sometimes I'll just pick one and play it like 50+ times, all with basic strumming. Then I'll do it with the DDUUDU pattern or something I just make up. Clumsy cuz I can't change chords in time. I think my finger positions are ok. I try not to be sloppy and keep them curved. Air changes ain't there yet.

Usually scales for a while, minor/major, pentatonic & blues- trying to learn all positions on the neck for A & E.

Then I'll just fart around, a shuffle, turn arounds, make up some chord changes and try to make a song out of it.

I have like 150 youtube videos saved, lol and sometimes I'll watch one and try to learn something.

Most weeknights I'll do at least 45 min, on the weekends 2-3 hours or more while I'm watching football or just chilling. I've missed maybe 3 or 4 days in a year.

This is why I suck at guitar.
 

MrYeahBut

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Are you doing these exercises to time/meter?

Being a bass player back in the day, I have a good feeling for time. I do run the scales to a metronome but I have trouble doing it changing chords even when I slow it down. 55bpm is about the best I can do with chords.
 

puckhead

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You see where I'm going then. The changes need to be in time. That's why your flustered, I'm guessing. You're used to being able to blaze through single notes on the bass and getting annoyed when the chord shapes don't come in that same way. I recommend practicing chord changes to a slow metronome or using an app like 'song speed changer.' That lets me play to the song, but slowed down without changing the pitch. Even when you can feel time, it takes up part of your concentration. It's like RAM on a computer. You need that extra concentration to focus on your hands and you can let the metronome take over that time component until your hands catch up to your brain.

This is just what worked for me, anyway. Someone else might have another idea for you.

I should add, I'm in that place right now trying to learn piano. The metronome works miracles for me and I feel progression every day on an instrument that I have no experience with. It's even more beneficial when I'm trying to play and sing simultaneously.
 

puckhead

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One last thing. I don't like fumbling for my phone when I just want a metronome pulse so I bought one of those old school ones like this. Simple, quick, and no BS.

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