Members GreenAsJade Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 Damn! This is hard! I wanna stop sucking, now. There. That's off my chest.
Members Mr.Bates Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 Patience young Jedi... Just remember this: There are good days and bad days. The bad days are ones that you feel your getting worse, you make mistakes, your sloppy, and feel like giving up. The good days are the ones when you feel inspired, happy with your progress, and enjoying the process... Try to make more good days by not pushing yourself too hard, studying stuff that is less challanging just for fun, and devote time to play the things that you already play well. Youll find out that youre getting better at the stuff youre already doing well... And the fact that you are critical on your playing is excellent... much better approach than people who suck but think that theyre good... Another thing to think about - if you had the chance, with a snap of your fingers, to magically become an excellent player - would you do it? Cheers...
Members johns7022 Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 Rule #1 Fire your guitar instructor if your not making progress in the direction you want to go..most guitar instuctors suck, they really do. Rule #2 You will have to burn through 10 guitar instructors, and 50 DVDs and tab books, all the bs at the music stores, but if you keep trying you might get it... Rule #3 It's easier then you think, everyone is really complicating all this guitar stuff...
Members lp_junkie Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 I finally decided I didn't suck anymore after about 15 years of playing, now at 34 years of playing I am pretty confident in my skills on the guitar. It takes time and there are no shortcuts, practice, practice, practice. But remember if you practice something wrong 99 times, on that one time when it counts you will still f#$k it up. So slow it down and practice things the right way.
Members Jordainyo Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 Patience young Jedi...Just remember this:There are good days and bad days. The bad days are ones that you feel your getting worse, you make mistakes, your sloppy, and feel like giving up. The good days are the ones when you feel inspired, happy with your progress, and enjoying the process...Try to make more good days by not pushing yourself too hard, studying stuff that is less challanging just for fun, and devote time to play the things that you already play well. Youll find out that youre getting better at the stuff youre already doing well...And the fact that you are critical on your playing is excellent... much better approach than people who suck but think that theyre good...Another thing to think about - if you had the chance, with a snap of your fingers, to magically become an excellent player - would you do it? Cheers... super good post
Members Jordainyo Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 I finally decided I didn't suck anymore after about 15 years of playing, now at 34 years of playing I am pretty confident in my skills on the guitar.It takes time and there are no shortcuts, practice, practice, practice.But remember if you practice something wrong 99 times, on that one time when it counts you will still f#$k it up. So slow it down and practice things the right way. to me, the moment I learned this was the moment I actually became a guitar player. The funny thing is I probably heard it 1000 times before it actually struck a chord with me. Read what this man has said. Understand it. Do it.
Members sfarfsky Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 there are different things that motivate people. The more uneasy I am about something the more I accomplish, hopefully you're the same way
Members 3shiftgtr Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 GaJ...next time you are driving by a garage sale, or flea market, scope out a $5 p.o.s. acoustic. Buy it and put it away for a 'special occasion'. Then, when you can't take it anymore, pull that thing out and smash it so nasty it'd make Townshend blush.... A little musical Gestalt therapy is kinda fun! Deep down, everyone wants to smash a guitar to bits, don't they? 'Specially when your real guitar just sits there LAUGHING at you....
Members mosiddiqi Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 Some tough love for you GaJ..I've heard you play. You don't suck..you need to improve in lots of areas. We all do. Suck it up.
Members bigboy_78 Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 There's always someone worse, there's always someone better. The day you think you don't suck is the day you stop getting better.
Members jonfinn Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 Damn! This is hard! I wanna stop sucking, now. There. That's off my chest. Yup. Welcome to the other side. After playing for a few years, you're criteria for "not sucking" changes. When I started, "not sucking" meant that I could play that F chord. But when I got it, it pointed the way toward a new can-o-worms! You're in good company. Every great player I know thinks he/she sucks. It's because your face is so close to the canvas that all you see are the brush strokes and not the painting. ...take a minute and appreciate your instrument. Then give up on "not sucking" because you might always feel that way.
Members Virgman Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 Last night I sat down to play and it just sounded bad. Was my guitar in tune? Yes. Ugh. This happens sometimes.
Members gennation Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 Record yourself. Tweak the rough spots, and create a monster out of the good spots! You never know what other people are hearing until you hear it yourself. I can't think of a better benchmark to use for improving.
Members meganutt7 Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 Yup. Welcome to the other side. After playing for a few years, you're criteria for "not sucking" changes. When I started, "not sucking" meant that I could play that F chord. But when I got it, it pointed the way toward a new can-o-worms! You're in good company. Every great player I know thinks he/she sucks. It's because your face is so close to the canvas that all you see are the brush strokes and not the painting. ...take a minute and appreciate your instrument. Then give up on "not sucking" because you might always feel that way. THIS!!!
Members TrickyBoy Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 GaJ, The one thing I had to learn when I started frequenting this site is that there is a negative to it. Hearing all the great playing of the other contributors puts in focus way to clearly all the stuff you CAN'T do. When I was in high school, I could pretty much smoke the other "competing guitarists" from other bands in the area. Sure there were plenty of Seve Vai licks I couldn't play, but he was a mythical person that I listened to on CD's, not an ordinary Moe like me (no disrespect intended Mo :poke:). So I REALLY thought I was the man! Now, I'm back to almost a similar situation. I go to see other competing bands in the area, and not to sound like a conceited ass, but I'm better than most all their guitarists. If this was still 1988, I would once again think I was the man. BUT, then I stumbled across this site, and I realized how small my "little pond" was and how much better players there are out there. At first it beat me down a bit, but I quickly have been able to turn that into a motivating factor. Not to get to Zen about it, but you need to focus mostly on what you CAN do and continue to add to it. If you focus on what you CAN'T do, you will be eternally frustrated. Keep at it man. In truth, your attitude has been quite inspirational to me!
Members Virgman Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 GaJ, The one thing I had to learn when I started frequenting this site is that there is a negative to it. Hearing all the great playing of the other contributors puts in focus way to clearly all the stuff you CAN'T do. When I was in high school, I could pretty much smoke the other "competing guitarists" from other bands in the area. Sure there were plenty of Seve Vai licks I couldn't play, but he was a mythical person that I listened to on CD's, not an ordinary Moe like me (no disrespect intended Mo :poke:). So I REALLY thought I was the man! Now, I'm back to almost a similar situation. I go to see other competing bands in the area, and not to sound like a conceited ass, but I'm better than most all their guitarists. If this was still 1988, I would once again think I was the man. BUT, then I stumbled across this site, and I realized how small my "little pond" was and how much better players there are out there. At first it beat me down a bit, but I quickly have been able to turn that into a motivating factor. Not to get to Zen about it, but you need to focus mostly on what you CAN do and continue to add to it. If you focus on what you CAN'T do, you will be eternally frustrated. Keep at it man. In truth, your attitude has been quite inspirational to me! Nice post.
Members BydoEmpire Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 The more I learn and the better I get, the more I realize how little I actually know. One of the great ironies of life, I guess. I had kind of a similar experience the other week. I've been wanting a lot of gear lately - drooling over a couple of different amps and guitars. But I decided I hadn't taken any lessons in ten years, and I thought it would be good to take some o fthe money I saved for gear and see a local guitar teacher who I heard was really good. 45 minutes of sitting with this guy (Berklee grad, excellent jazz chops, excellent flashy "shred" techniques, but also a good teacher) and it cured me of wanting to buy more gear. It was totally humbling. I've been practicing a lot lately, and I felt like I'd learned a lot over the last few years, but this guy was so good he made me feel like I just picked up the instrument yesterday.
Members gennation Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 Not to get to Zen about it, but you need to focus mostly on what you CAN do and continue to add to it. If you focus on what you CAN'T do, you will be eternally frustrated. Keep at it man. In truth, your attitude has been quite inspirational to me! Yes, while people beat themselves up about the things they can't do many times they ignore the things they can do. The things they can do are the 'natural' abilities and need to be matured. This is where their 'musical personality' comes from. That's why I mentioned to "create a monster" out of the the things you can do.
Moderators Jed Posted April 2, 2010 Moderators Posted April 2, 2010 Last night I sat down to play and it just sounded bad. Was my guitar in tune? Yes.Ugh.This happens sometimes. There must be something in the air . . last might I spent what seemed like half or the night tuning and re-tuning. I couldn't play worth a sh*t. Nothing sounded right.
Members Virgman Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 There must be something in the air . . last might I spent what seemed like half or the night tuning and re-tuning. I couldn't play worth a sh*t. Nothing sounded right.That's exactly what happened!I sit down, play some chords. Doesn't sound right. Check tuning. A little off.Retune. Still not right. Check tuning. Hmm. A couple strings off. What!Retune. Still not good.Recheck tuning again. In tune. Still doesn't sound right though.Play anyway. Grit teeth.
Members 3shiftgtr Posted April 2, 2010 Members Posted April 2, 2010 The more I learn and the better I get, the more I realize how little I actually know. One of the great ironies of life, I guess. ^^^^this^^^^+1^^^^
Members lollygag Posted April 7, 2010 Members Posted April 7, 2010 Try playing some easy music that you know you can execute flawlessly. It will force you to think about the basics again as well as boost your self-esteem, for all the new rep you can play for people.
Members lespaul1964 Posted April 8, 2010 Members Posted April 8, 2010 My guitar playing needs a lot of improvement. My singing REALLY sucks!!
Members jonPhillips Posted April 8, 2010 Members Posted April 8, 2010 My guitar playing needs a lot of improvement. My singing REALLY sucks!!This +100
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.