Members thecornman Posted June 11, 2012 Members Share Posted June 11, 2012 What are you working on these days to step out of your playing comfort zone? Had an old buddy come by that was the other guitar player in a band I played with 15 years ago yesterday! For the last few years he has been on a gypsy jazz kick and he showed me the kind of stuff he has been working on. It was super inspiring and is what I needed to help push me into a new realm of learning. He left me with some cd's and books to get me started on playing this style of music. So now I have some work ahead of me, but I love having something to push me to improve so it's all good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BydoEmpire Posted June 11, 2012 Members Share Posted June 11, 2012 I learned to read music a couple years ago (after 20 years of playing). I can read on a basic level, but I'm still terrible and definitely out of my comfort zone whenever I do. It's been one of the best things I ever did, though, and I wish I had spent the time to learn decades ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Luis_Morais Posted June 11, 2012 Members Share Posted June 11, 2012 i have recently been stepping out of my comfort zone. i quit the band i had been in for 3 years back in january and had been sitting around not doing much apart from continue to write and record my own music for the past few months, and then three weeks ago i started playing acoustic with a girl to form an acoustic duet for playing some midweek gigs. i have never really been into playing acoustic, but have had one since i started playing 7 years ago. its a nice change and she had a list of songs she wanted to play, all stuff i never heard of, and its been great so far. learning a whole new style of the guitar and i can't wait to start gigging that in a couple of months. it has inspired me to write a lot more on an acoustic. then last week, i went to a band practice for a guy I know who's guitarist is away for one of their gigs at a local festival in July, wen to the practice on fir day, it was super fun. and again, it was music i had never really cared so much for - doom/stoner type thing - and I had an absolute blast. I learnt a bunch of covers for the practice, and jammed a few of their originals with them, and now they asked me to join the band full time. I haven't decided yet, I'm still trying to sort out my own band for all of the music I have written, but it could be fun for a while, right? maybe I will see how things go after the gig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grantus Posted June 11, 2012 Members Share Posted June 11, 2012 Simply playing guitar is stepping outside my comfort zone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members deanmass Posted June 11, 2012 Members Share Posted June 11, 2012 Our lead guy quite last week. Last night, for the first time ever, I took a lead on a majority of the songs. It was unnerving since I am also the lead singer, but, I left practice pumped. Perfect? Nope. Good? not terrible, but my new journey of a million miles has started with this single step. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members deanmass Posted June 11, 2012 Members Share Posted June 11, 2012 I would ad that is fair to say I did not 'step' as much as fell or was pushed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members xrleroyx Posted June 11, 2012 Members Share Posted June 11, 2012 Dean, you'll get it. It's what I do. It's much like playing piano and learning to treat both hands separately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted June 11, 2012 Members Share Posted June 11, 2012 Although I can read music I find it difficult to read and play at the same time. I find reading very helpful for learning but it seems to be a distraction when I am playing the guitar. A friend of mine is a jazz player and likes to bring over charts to play. When he plays rhythm I can solo over the changes but I feel bad that I can't keep up when I try to follow the chord charts for him to solo over. I played on a project last year where the parts were all arranged and written out. There was a classical cellist involved and she was kind enough to give me the heads up when my parts were coming up so I didn't have to sit there and count all the way through the songs. I was envious of her ability to read while playing and she said she was envious of my ability to improvise. It was a meeting of two different worlds and the project went quite well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thecornman Posted June 12, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 12, 2012 i have recently been stepping out of my comfort zone. i quit the band i had been in for 3 years back in january and had been sitting around not doing much apart from continue to write and record my own music for the past few months, and then three weeks ago i started playing acoustic with a girl to form an acoustic duet for playing some midweek gigs. i have never really been into playing acoustic, but have had one since i started playing 7 years ago. its a nice change and she had a list of songs she wanted to play, all stuff i never heard of, and its been great so far. learning a whole new style of the guitar and i can't wait to start gigging that in a couple of months. it has inspired me to write a lot more on an acoustic.then last week, i went to a band practice for a guy I know who's guitarist is away for one of their gigs at a local festival in July, wen to the practice on fir day, it was super fun. and again, it was music i had never really cared so much for - doom/stoner type thing - and I had an absolute blast. I learnt a bunch of covers for the practice, and jammed a few of their originals with them, and now they asked me to join the band full time. I haven't decided yet, I'm still trying to sort out my own band for all of the music I have written, but it could be fun for a while, right? maybe I will see how things go after the gig If you have the time it sure would not hurt you to play with this other band for a while! Myself I go out of my way to play with as many people as I can. I am playing with one group of people now and once I get rolling with the Gypsy Jazz stuff my buddy wants to start jamming just with the two guitars which can work well for that style of music. I play guitar to play music and playing music with other people is where it is at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fretmonster Posted June 12, 2012 Members Share Posted June 12, 2012 Trying to adopt more full scale modal playing into my soloing. Recently lacked motivation, so it's a long and winding road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scott944 Posted June 12, 2012 Members Share Posted June 12, 2012 I just started playing in our P/W band at church, in front of actual people, after being a basement hobbiest for many years. This means that now I actually have to practice, instead of just noodling or playing along with recordings. Practicing with a real goal actually works...who knew? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members edremy Posted June 12, 2012 Members Share Posted June 12, 2012 Simply playing guitar is stepping outside my comfort zone Same here. I actually think it's really valuable to have to start learning a difficult skill from scratch, no matter what you do. It doesn't have to be music- learning a new language, how to ski, carpentry, whatever- you need to keep your brain flexible. Off topic: as far as really stretching your comfort zone, I just got back from a conference yesterday that supports using elaborate role playing games in education. We both discuss how to use them as well as beta-test them both to get us to understand how they flow and how they break. I played two, one based around the Frederick Douglass and the abolitionist movement in 1845. I had to play Hugh Auld, his owner. Primary role? Defending his treatment of Douglass and demanding that someone pay him for his lost property. I've played the bad guys in these games before, but this was the first one I felt that I needed a bath afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Malcolm Ramone Posted June 13, 2012 Members Share Posted June 13, 2012 Trying to sing & play at the same time is pretty far outside my comfort zone! I really wanted to do the Smithereens "Girl Like You", but it has too many damn words!!! -Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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