G_Rant
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Joined: 10/27/2007
Msg: 1 | |
| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 3/23/2008 8:47:27 AM | Yes, that's right, I'm losing my ability to play guitar good. In highschool I used to play for at least an hour every day, and now I'm lucky if I pick up my axe about once a month.
I guess my biggest problem, is I don't have any inspiration to learn any songs. New music is just garbage (IMO), and the only songs I do like require a ridiculous number of effects to even sound remotely close. I can just make songs up, but unless I'm in a specific inspirational mood, that's not too much fun.
Any ideas to give me something to learn until the creative spark comes back. I know a few basic scales, and can play pretty much any chord. I'm open to pretty much any style of music, so feel free to make suggestions. | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 3/23/2008 9:17:32 AM | You used to play for a whole hour a day? Wow!
Back in the day when I WAS going to be a Rock God, I'd play guitar for at least 7 or 8 hours every day, scales, exercises, noodling away. If I was awake, I'd generally have a guitar round my neck. It must have been hell for my poor old family listening to me just up and down the fretboard, as the majority of that time would be building motor skills, not actually playing music! I'd do it on autopilot.
Then a few years ago I had a kind of schism, lost all interest and didn't pick one up for a couple of years, I thought it was all over between me and guitars, the love was gone!!
Suddenly, one day, I had the urge to dust off one of my old friends, crank an amp, and play. I loved it, it felt great, I didn't need to force it.
These days I play for fun, I enjoy it, I make a noise, I play along to my old record collection or wail away on my own. No more Steve Vai 12 hour Modal Workouts, no more trying to get faster and faster. Just for the enjoyment. Some days I play for 5 hours, then not pick up a guitar for 2 weeks.
The downside is, my guitar collection has been growing....!! Aaargh!!
I suggest that if you don't have any inspiration, put the guitar down and go and do something else. You can't force it. One day, as with me, you'll feel the need to go and pick it up again, and you'll burn away and stuff will flow, ideas will ooze from your fingertips. You might get the urge to rush home from work and grab a guitar and lay down some riffs that have been going round your head all day, that's a great feeling!
And, BTW, you won't be "losing your ability to play", it's like riding a bicycle, you don't simply forget. You may get a bit rusty, but unless you have spent years building up your alternate picking speed, you'll be back up to standard in hours.
Best of all, you'll be ENJOYING it.
Good luck | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 3/23/2008 9:33:24 AM | I started playing guitar when i was 11...There were many times during those years where i lost interest in playing my guitar... I suggest opening your mind to all sorts of music and try to reinterest yourself back in the musical world...Thats how i reinterested myself into picking up my guitar a little more often to try to learn what turns my ears on ... 
As Rsmacker says you shouldn't lose your skills...of course youll b a bit rusty, it should come back to ya
Good Luck...Keep on Rockin  | |
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vro312
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Joined: 11/22/2007
Msg: 4 | |
| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 3/23/2008 10:59:57 AM | I also started playing guitar when I was 11. I played all the time for about five years, then didn't play as much for three or four years. When I returned to it in my early twenties, I was afraid I was going to suck, but it all came back pretty quickly. I ended up playing in a bunch of different bands throughout my twenties, and that forced me to improve. I also wrote a bunch of songs during that time, and for some reason, that made my playing better, too.
I took another hiatus in my early thirties. This time the break was so long I was afraid I wouldn't remember how to play. When I moved back to L.A. two years ago, I had no friends. I ended up playing a variety show just for something to do, and a guy asked me if I wanted to play rhythm in his band. They were all older musicians, and they were playing covers of older songs, some of which I'd never heard. That really challenged me, and actually, I would say after doing that for a year or so, I got to be a better player than I'd ever been.
So . . . I'd say playing with other people is the best way to maintain your skills. | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 3/23/2008 4:38:03 PM | I started at 16, played constantly my last 2 years in highschool. Had my momentary hiatus, but always found myself comming back to it. Full on. Actually gotten better every time.
Having others to play with helps a lot. Especially when they are close to your skill level.
Playing different styles always helps. Was a metal head in highschool, well metal and alternative. Now Im all about the blues, though my bad Im playin with still does the metal stuff. It's loads of fun so long as you don't force it. | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 3/23/2008 11:16:53 PM | | I started playing guitar when I was 15,keyboards a year later.I played pretty steady until my late 20's,then ,because of the changing music scene which didn't interest me,and having to devote more time to my work,I stopped playing for almost 10 years.I thought like you do,that I wouldn't be able to play,until a friend that knew I played brought his guitar over.We started to jam,and it came back to me.The time flew by and it was mourning,we had jammed all night!That was my musical re awakening,and I haven't put it down for more that a few months since.I mostly play my old favorites,and songs other people I play with are doing.Also,there was no internet when I learned,so that has helped and inspired me tremendously.So,like the other folks said,don't force it,and don't forget to have fun. | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 3/24/2008 8:19:52 AM | | started playing guitar when I was 13, played in bands until daughter entered my life. Now I have a little project studio in the spare room. Love all to do with recording, mixing and production. :) Maybe you could attend an open mic sesh or jam night (?) | |
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G_Rant
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Joined: 10/27/2007
Msg: 8 | |
| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 3/24/2008 12:46:44 PM | | Wow, I'm genuinely surprised at how many of you have taken breaks from playing throughout your lives. I think I'll follow a few of your suggestions... or maybe just go back to the basics and re-learn things in order to break old habits. | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 3/24/2008 1:06:09 PM | I too quit playing for a number of years and have recently come back to it in a serious way. Like yourself, I want to play music that requires few effects, and I tend to play alone (solo), and a lot of contemporary radio music is not of interest to me.
So I play music that was created and played by one guy on one guitar – traditional acoustic folk, country and jazz, but most especially the blues.
If you like those kinds of music and have any interest in humming along, there’s a ton of wonderful music I (and others here, no doubt) could recommend. And they start from the simplest three-chord pick-strum kind of playing and evolve from there in rhythmic and chordal complexity and sophistication of melody line.
If you give us a clue what sort of music you like and your stage of development as a player (beginner? intermediate?) we could probably make further suggestions.
There’s also tons of guitar resources on-line, including you tube footage, that could keep you going for several lifetimes if you have the inspiration and persistence to continue.
Soo… care to share a little more detail about the music you like? Acoustic/electric? Old/new? Black/white? Anglo/foreign? Anything would help us help you… | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/8/2008 11:44:25 PM | Any ideas to give me something to learn until the creative spark comes back. I know a few basic scales, and can play pretty much any chord. I'm open to pretty much any style of music, so feel free to make suggestions.
I've found that if you go back and dig out some old stuff that made you want to play guitar in the first place is a good motivation... for me, I dig out the old Van Halen, Santana, Journey etc... | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/8/2008 11:56:17 PM | Yeah I'd definately agree with going back to your original inspirations, it always helps a lost guitar soul. Even going back to those first tunes and expanding on them with your own creations can be fun! 
I remember playing for at least 9 hours a day during highschool, heck I'd eat whilst playing guitar! Got distracted by partying and women though and never quite came back to my original ambition. Still will always be lifelong, but not as a career anymore.
Also I'd suggest just writing poems for a week or whatever, then the next week try to put them to music. Always works for me. | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/9/2008 9:38:52 AM | Def good advice ou812...I started playing guitar at 12...am 38 now. I also play bass and sing. For a while there I lost touch...but now I go back and listen to Ambrosia...The Carpenters..Hank and Waylon...Slayer...rnb and it reminds me of why I started playing and why I wanted to become a musicain in the first place!
Making it big..hell all I ever wanted to do was to be a musician and be able to play the sounds that inspired me..still have a lot to learn..but thats the fun of it! For a while I played Bass in a Dokken tibute band..sang in a Ramones tribute band...and am now playing bass..guitar and sing in a country band and play guitar in a 80's /90's cover band as well as play bass in a Metallica tribute band.
Want to get reinspired?..open your ears and listen to your heart..trust me...your desire never left...you just misplaced it lol...keep on rockin in the free world man! | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/9/2008 12:57:04 PM | you never lose the skills you have learnt and developed.
years ago i used to play 5 or 6 hours per day, some days even more, say, scales, sweeping, string skipping and tapping, legato playing, etc
now i only pick up my Ibanez once a month, just to see if i have lost any skills.
i only must train my fingers for half a hour to play well as before. i am able to play the same as before, so the skills do not really disappear nor does the speed | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/9/2008 3:18:46 PM | I'm a metal head tried and true but this really inspired me... Only a bit of reverb and a truck load of skill.
Antoine Dufour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGxWETZiEMU&feature=related
and if that's too easy you could try this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f27megLOleQ&feature=related
On a serious note, to say all new music is garbage just tells me you need to look somewhere else for good music. You are probably not going to find it on MTV or the radio. | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/9/2008 4:53:40 PM | Hey I know what you mean about most of the new music. It sounds to me like you play primarily an electric guitar. Maybe try an acoustic for a while. Practice finger picking.
Personally I'd rather play with my fingers than a pick any day. Another thing I did to keep the guitar flame alive is learn to play bass.I know they say those that can't play guitar play bass, and the bass is really just a guitar. Well yes and no. As an instrument yes the bass is a guitar, But in arrangement it's more like a horn. If you have big fingers like me you may have a lot of fun playing the bass . If your thinking It might be boring after playing lead.
Try Getty Lee, Stanley Clark, or Les Claypool on for size. Just to name a few. Roger Waters has great sense of when not to play.(Just as important as when to play in my opinion).
Well anyway good luck to you. Keep jamming and keep the faith. | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/9/2008 5:47:18 PM | One thing I do with my students who feel like they are falling behind with their guitar playing, is to pick up a guitar that is strung for a left handed person and they can see how fart they have come.
Anyway it is not always about the amount you practise it is the enjoyment that comes with it. Try watching a concert dvd and really focus on the guitar player and how he is acting. This should give you some form of inspiration
In terms of scales and chords, try learning interesting chords such as Bmajadd4 and put it into your playing straight away, you should get nice spacey feel if you are playing in the key of Bmaj. Also use Pitch Axis, e.g. switch from playing in the key of bmaj and then transfer it to bmin, this really puts emphasis on the chord changes.
In terms of scales and wotnot, don't get bogged down with them. Learn interesting scales that can be used straight away to create an interesting effect. For example the Phrygian Dominant scale (E F G# A B C D) when used with an emaj vamp creates an instant Egyptian feel. Scales such as the Kumoi and the Iwato, when used with Emin creates an instant far eastern sound.
Hope this helps, I write online for various guitar orientated websites so I am more than happy to offer any help when it comes to guitar orientated stuff. | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/9/2008 6:13:24 PM | I can help you with one aspect . . .keeping your mechanical ability even if your inspiration isn't the highest right now
I would suggest playing through some scales, and then a couple of songs you like and then leave it at that . . don't spend too much time with this. roughly fifteen to twenty minutes a day
as far as what kind of music to listen to . . . well I take this approach. while I may know the difference, my fingers don't. so even if you don't know the style or not an ecstatic fan of the style learn it anyways. it's helped me break out of ruts before and it'll be helpful when I go "I'm bored with my guitar" | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/11/2008 9:39:06 AM | I had not picked up a guitar in maybe 20 years, and just the other day at a mall I walked into a Musicians Superstore, we have them here in Florida, more guitars than I knew existed, a lot has happened in 20 years, at the time there were maybe 5 top brands, FENDER mostly, now it's 100's!!! Anyway I was surprised how much suddenly came back to me in that few seconds, the salesman even recognized the CREME song. I think as long as you get that renewed interest you can get as good as you ever were, maybe even better. until the other day, I was thinking about getting a new motorcycle, but after a friend was almost killed recently, a New Ibenez is looking way Smarter.
Stormpainter | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/11/2008 12:24:06 PM | ^^^^^you must have trained and warmed up your fingers a lot to play again after 20 years
usually my fingers need a warm up of half an hour or three quarters to play well picking up my guitar once a month. so after 20 years you might need to start again | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/12/2008 2:03:02 PM | | No, I just picked out a Few Notes, I was just surprised I even remembered the Fret positions after all those years! | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/12/2008 8:02:01 PM | Put on some California Guitar Trio guaranteed it will make you want to pick up that guitar again :)..amazing!!!  | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/13/2008 10:44:21 PM |
For example the Phrygian Dominant scale (E F G# A B C D) when used with an emaj vamp creates an instant Egyptian feel. Scales such as the Kumoi and the Iwato, when used with Emin creates an instant far eastern sound.
Gonna hafta jot that one down...
I'm planning a performance art piece that involves a live jam...and we may just be lookin' for that type of sound....there ya go OP...try something a little different....at the very least...try getting together with a group of players and just JAM....
at this point...I don't even pick up my instruments to "practice" by myself...once or twice a week with my jammin' buddies is good enough for me....and jammin' NEVER gets stale...especially when everything is completely off the cuff...
I don't care about sittin' in my room building dexterity....as long as I can hit the proper notes on a whim...(still have a little trouble with that) I've found drills I did as a newbie just gave me bad muscle memory that limits my playing... | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/14/2008 4:38:52 AM | | Something that's made an immense difference for me is to find an article/lesson by someone with a different angle to work woth. After some of the exercises i usually find myself playing something out of the box I got trapped in. I don't think any level of proficiency will hold your attention forever if you just repeat similar chops. BTW, I wish people would start playing again also, and you drumers out there, if you decide to work up a solo I for one will stand up and show my appreciation at the cash register. Hell, why don't we all start playing again instead of letting the bar owners pick our volumes and songlists | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/14/2008 2:53:39 PM | ya same here I could never take a break at playing. when things are down or I have not had a good day I pick up my guitar and my troubles seem to go away.
been playing for 11 years its my passion and i could not think of a life without it. | |
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| Guitar, losing my skills!!
Posted: 4/17/2008 8:25:22 AM | I'd look for an instructional DVD by someone whose music you enjoy. I have found the DVD instruction much more liberating than trying to play by ear or from a book.
Another tip: Buy a Gripmaster finger/hand exerciser and put it somewhere you are a lot. Then just use that in idle times. It'll keep you hands/fingers in shape, as well as help you practice fingering patterns without having to have a guitar in hand. | |
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