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Defining "the grail"


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I have been thinking about some long term goals on the instrument lately. I thought it would be cool to start a thread where we all post our number one dream, as I said "The Holy Grail of guitar"

 

Is there one? Is there one thing that we all want to be able to do overwhelmingly? So please post for you what would be THE ultimate goal for you on the Instrument.

 

For now try to nail it down to just one thing. Maybe once we have had lots of entries we can do a follow up thread on how to achieve some of these goals. I am curious to see how many of us are actually making strides towards the thing we so dream of. I bet many of us have never really thought about it : )

 

So let me start! For me my ULTIMATE goal would be:

To be able to hear melodies in my head and be able to execute them instantly.

 

You?

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Jeremy, that's a good one and I think basically the same as what I would want.

 

To be able to play guitar like we sing/talk (except not how I sing!). A perfect brain-body connection.

 

Perhaps, we should forget scales and all that and just sit with our guitar and repeat notes we hear. Play by ear. Over the course of time we might achieve the goal.

 

A program like this might work if slightly modified:

 

http://www.flashmusicgames.com/music_type.html

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Hmm. The same as you two. Something in the water here clearly :cop:

 

I would imagine that once the mechanics and relevant theory are at a satisfactory level, which is personal preference of course,...this really is "the grail" for most musicians.

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To hear a song and be able to recognize the scale/key and be able to play it. This is slowly happening by practicing scales. I can hear the scale in some songs if it is the same as the ones I am practicing.:)

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Hey, try this if you have GuitarPro!

 

You can set the tempo really slow, like 5 bpm. Find a song with a melody. Select "Solo" on the melody track so only the melody plays.

 

Don't look at the screen just listen and try to find the note your guitar by ear.

 

It's pretty neat. Perhaps if you did this for awhile you would get better?

 

Check it out if you have GP.

 

After awhile your brain may associate the fret with the sound you hear. It could work.

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To be able to play guitar like we sing/talk (except not how I sing!). A perfect brain-body connection.

 

 

I agree with this, but my thinking is on a more esoteric level. When we talk, we don't think about words and then repeat them aloud. We use words to relate emotions, thoughts, dreams - what is going on in our brain at the time.

 

In the same way, I am less concerned with repeating the melodies in my head. If I could communicate my thoughts and/or feelings at any given moment via the guitar, that would be the holy grail for me.

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Two of my top goals would be:

 

1. Complete and instant freedom of expression.

 

2. Complete and instant understanding of everything I hear.

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Ever since I read a Chick Corea interview in which he spoke about thinking like a composer when he improvises, that has been my goal.

 

When I improvise, compose a piece of music in my head and play it with as little delay between my head and my hands as possible.

 

That's why in my practice, I place so much emphasis on ear training and coordinating my hands with my mind.

 

My other "grail" goal is to instantly play any piece of music I want to play, whether written by myself or someone else. This is a pie in the sky goal to be sure, but the journey towards it is fun.

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I think it's a neat idea.

 

My own challenge isn't so much with seamless transfer from head to fretboard.

 

It's having the idea in the first place.

 

I hear fantastic things that move me - older stuff like Comfortably Numb solo or newer like Vicarious intro - but I don't know how to generate anything that moves me, or anyone else.

 

That'd be my holy grail...

 

GaJ

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Awesome thread, Jeremy !:thu:

 

To me the ultimate goal would be to have this direct connection between ear/brain/heart and guitar. By that I mean, to have ideas in my mind and to be able to play them on the guitar exaclty the way I want the to sound instantly. THAT would be the ultimate goal for me!

This could be while improvising / reacting on others that I'm playing together with or also while writing/ composing (envethough here it might seem less of an important skill to play instantly what's in one's head/musical imagination).

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Anybody try my idea with GuitarPro?


What do you think?

 

 

Sounds like a cool idea. I don't have guitarpro though.

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Posted

 

Hey, try this if you have GuitarPro!


You can set the tempo really slow, like 5 bpm. Find a song with a melody. Select "Solo" on the melody track so only the melody plays.


Don't look at the screen just listen and try to find the note your guitar by ear.


It's pretty neat. Perhaps if you did this for awhile you would get better?


Check it out if you have GP.


After awhile your brain may associate the fret with the sound you hear. It could work.

 

 

Great idea !

 

I will have to try this:thu:

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to create a riff so heavy, it collapses in on itself in a black hole, crushing the entire planet in its gravity well.

 

Try Open Jam, I bet you will love it there!:cop:

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To be able to hear melodies in my head and be able to execute them instantly.

 

That would certainly be great. Very oddly, after 17 years of guitar I still can't do it very much, while I can do it more easily on a piano, even if I never owned one or got piano lessons :confused: Anyway, it's not so much a holy grail for me, since I don't mind after all to have to spend some time to figure out the execution.

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Jeremy, that's a good one and I think basically the same as what I would want.


To be able to play guitar like we sing/talk (except not how I sing!). A perfect brain-body connection.


Perhaps, we should forget scales and all that and just sit with our guitar and repeat notes we hear. Play by ear. Over the course of time we might achieve the goal.


A program like this might work if slightly modified:


 

 

I'm starting out with solfege right now and it's definitely helping my playing and singing (slightly!). I'm using the fixed do instead of the movable.

 

Why concentrate on only on the intervals (movable) when you can have intervals AND a specific tone reference? They're not exact Do, Te, Le, etc. but they are very vocal.

 

I sing the Do runs as well.

 

I've got some links in anyone wants em'.

 

 

As far as the OQ goes...Rhythms. Definitely. I'm thinking of taking some drum lessons (possibly even with my guitar?). Oh and sight reading - singing, harmony and melody. Just the basics.

 

Anyone the memory chip with all of that I can borrow. I just need to plug it in for a little bit.

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I think it's a neat idea.


My own challenge isn't so much with seamless transfer from head to fretboard.


It's having the idea in the first place.


I hear fantastic things that move me - older stuff like Comfortably Numb solo or newer like Vicarious intro - but I don't know how to generate anything that moves me, or anyone else.


That'd be my holy grail...


GaJ

 

 

This touches on the perennnial challenge of coming up with interesting original music. When you create a brand new solo, you are essentially composing a new piece of music.

 

Is there a way to turn on one's inspiration like you flip the light switch?

 

There seems to be so many different ways to try to answer this questin. Some buy books like "Inner Game Of Music", "Effortless Mastery", "The Listening Book: Discovering Your Own Music", etc. Some get it from random conversations as in the case of "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits. Some just write song after song with the idea that if you get the "bad" songs out of your system first, the good ones will come.

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It's having the idea in the first place.

 

 

More on this topic...

 

Erik Mongrain on a song inspiration:

 

"St-Sebastian, Spain, 9 AM, sitting on stone steps, underneath a shady tree... a pure sun edging out through the leaves, drawing crests of light... My coffee on my left and my guitar on my knees... It's with heart filled with joy that these melodies came to me... And I Played!"

 

Here's what he wrote:

 

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

 

Man, to be inspired, and come up with music that pleases me on the spur of the moment - that'd be a beautiful thing indeed.

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to create a riff so heavy, it collapses in on itself in a black hole, crushing the entire planet in its gravity well.

 

 

in order to implement it you'll have to find an amp with haunting mids

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Man, to be inspired, and come up with music that pleases me on the spur of the moment - that'd be a beautiful thing indeed.

 

Yes. That's my holy grail, that's what I'm talking about for sure.

 

In contrast to the Salieri experience that I have at the moment (youtube clip posted by someone in a thread near here).

 

"Grazie, senore" :cry:

 

GaJ

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Great topic. Being a basement noodler with no aspirations to perform or make money but to occasionally jam and the lifetime goal to enjoy myself...the grail is more a meditative thing with the lowly goal of attaining a

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