Practice and Practice Some More

"f86sabre" (f86sabre) 01/28/2020 at 20:32 • Filed to: guitarlopnik

3

23

I’ve been practicing with the guitar I bought a few weeks ago. It is slow going. I’ve just been using Rocksmith, but it allows me to play whenever I have 30 or 40 minutes. Still, it’s fun and the guitar sounds great when I play it correctly.

Its Sebring SA200 clone of a Gibson ES-335.  I’ve been reading up on this style of guitar. They get a lot of love as a good all around guitar. That makes me happy in my choice of impulse buy.

MM54 > f86sabre 01/28/2020 at 20:56

2

I’ve spent the past 5 years saying “I really should get back into playing guitar”

ES335s are pretty nice!

MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick) > f86sabre 01/28/2020 at 21:01

2

Gorgeous axe, if you want something fun and confidence building check out Nirvana’s stuff, I found a lot of their tabs REALLY easy but still   fun to play, and I am NOT good. 

i86hotdogs > f86sabre 01/28/2020 at 21:03

1

I always wondered if rocksmith actually helped you play guitar. Now I know!

f86sabre > MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick) 01/28/2020 at 21:20

0

Rocksmith has a couple of their songs. I will give them a try. 

f86sabre > i86hotdogs 01/28/2020 at 21:22

1

It kind of works, I think.  It’s very step by step.  I work on a lesson or two each night and then fumble my way through a song at the end.  I’ve figured out how to cheat it, but I try not to. 

f86sabre > MM54 01/28/2020 at 21:22

0

It’s pretty if nothing else. 

ttyymmnn > f86sabre 01/28/2020 at 21:41

1

“ the [insert instrument here] sounds great when I play it correctly.”

This.

ttyymmnn > f86sabre 01/28/2020 at 21:54

4

I’ve figured out how to cheat it

I cheat all the time. The thing is , the better you get, the more ways you find to cheat. And the better you get at it.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > f86sabre 01/28/2020 at 21:58

1

My new years resolution this year was giving up trying to play guitar. I just had zero natural talent for it, everything was a struggle for me. The issue I had with Rocksmith for me was that it was unfocused when I really needed a step by step, though it is more fun to play the songs you know than some random exercise song. Take a look at Fender Play, its more step by step but it also has you playing songs you know.

AestheticsInMotion > ttyymmnn 01/28/2020 at 22:25

1

And terrible when played terribly.

As my neighbors can attest to when I decided my first woodwind i nstrument would be a sax, in a thin-walled condo. Sorry! 

ttyymmnn > AestheticsInMotion 01/28/2020 at 22:31

1

When I was in grad school and living in an apartment, I never practiced at home. Mainly because if I were home I wouldn’t want my neighbor practicing.  Buying a home was the greatest thing that ever happened to my practicing habits.

arl > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms 01/28/2020 at 22:36

1

Guitar is a tough instrument to get good on. I played Saxophone many moons ago and it was much easier in the sense that you learned one set of fingerings and you’re done. Then you’re off to learn scales and music.

But with guitar, unless you’v e memorized the fret board (very, very, hard to do), then you’re never at the same level of other musicians. You’re trying to learn patterns, CAGED, licks, etc.

I t’s always a battle to be a great musician if you’re never completely mastered your instrument. And guitar is one of the hardest to master.

But a great guitar with an amp and fuzz pedal is always fun to bang out power chords!

jimz > i86hotdogs 01/29/2020 at 04:06

1

IME you need at least some level of inherent talent first.  No app or training program would help me become even barely competent.

i86hotdogs > ttyymmnn 01/29/2020 at 11:12

0

So it’s similar to every video game out there?

ttyymmnn > i86hotdogs 01/29/2020 at 11:25

0

Yeah, I suppose it is. 

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > arl 01/29/2020 at 15:21

2

Oh for sure. I never beat myself up over it...it’s like when I had a motorcycle. I wasn’t good at it, and I didn’t enjoy riding it enough to get good at it, so I got rid of it. In both cases my solution was to get rid of it (the motorcycle, and later the guitar) for an ‘80s GM product. 

f86sabre > ttyymmnn 01/29/2020 at 21:18

1

True, but there is something to be said for being able to do it right as well!

f86sabre > ttyymmnn 01/29/2020 at 21:21

1

Kind of true of a lot of things. 

ttyymmnn > f86sabre 01/29/2020 at 21:24

1

My trumpet teacher at UT, Ray Crisara, was a legend for saying things that you would think would be obvious, when he was merely pointing out how we students  were overanalyzing things. One time, I asked him about playing two subtly different rhythms, and whether or not I should alter one of them to really make them sound different. He said, “No, I think if you play them both correctly they will sound different.”

f86sabre > ttyymmnn 01/29/2020 at 21:36

0

That’s awesome!

ttyymmnn > f86sabre 01/29/2020 at 21:46

1

He was also known for telling the unvarnished truth. Here are a couple more:

“Tim, you could be musical, and phrase, and up and down and all, or you could be a monotonous bore. Tim, you’re being a monotonous bore.”

“Tim, I think we could call what you made there a noise , but we couldn’t call it a note , now could we?”

“Now Tim, I don’t think you want to play that as if Hitler just walked in the room.”

“Tim, all that trumpet is doing is amplifying the chaos in your head.”

And all I could ever do is laugh, because he was right.

f86sabre > ttyymmnn 01/29/2020 at 21:51

0

That last one is gold. 

ttyymmnn > f86sabre 01/29/2020 at 21:57

1

It’s my all-time favorite, and of course, he was right . Every once in a while, I’ll be playing and a little Mr. Crisara genie pops up on my shoulder and starts talking to me. “Tim, I don’t think you meant to do that.”  All of his students had priceless quotes like this, and when he retired somebody collected them all. I think they were even published in the International Trumpet Guild journal.