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My first day of playing. OUCH!!!


Carbonite

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Can't.........

 

Stop..........

 

Playing......

 

Guitar........

 

Fingers......

 

Actually......

 

Bleeding....

 

 

Took my first lesson today. Got three chords to learn and transfer through without hesitation. Have a Pentatonic scale to get myself through. He also wrote down the opening lick of Sweet Child O' Mine because I love that song.

 

I have been practicing the chords since I have been home. I can go through them OK atm. Not very smooth yet, but I can do it without looking now. He has me doing A -> D -> E -> D and repeating it.

 

The pentatonic isn't bad, but I find myself fumbling a bit on the picking end, so I have been practicing double picking each string without looking, which is helping. The only other thing about the pentatonic is the fact that I have to use my first and fourth finger on the E string at 5 and 8. I am finding it difficult to get my hand in that position without rocking from 5 to 8. On the e I don't have that problem, but on the E its terrible. Getting better though.

 

The opening lick of Sweet Child O' Mine doesn't seem to hard, but the transitions are a bit tough for me as a beginner. For one, once I learn the notes I will need to clean it up big time as the notes are bleeding into one another, so I need to practice raising my fingers up at the proper time and to the proper tension to get them to mute. Using my index finger on the 4th note in and raising my middle finger off in order to play the proper fret is proving a bit of a pain, but I will get it. For those not familiar it looks like this:

 

---------------------15------14----------

------15----------------------------------

-----------14--12------14------14-----

--12--------------------------------------

-------------------- ----------------------

--------------------- ---------------------

 

Sounds like this:

 

That 14 to 12 fret is raising my middle finger up so that I can bring my index finger down and strum the 12th fret. Its causing me trouble. lol I will get it though.

 

Anyways, I can't stop. My index finger is now bleeding a little. The muscles in my forearm have never been worked this much. I mean, they have but its the angle that is causing me to use different muscles I guess. Got a kink in my back from hunching over to look at my music. (Which reminds me, I need a stand, and possibly one of those things you put your foot on.) Going to be a crazy week. I fully intend to have the chords and pentatonic scale I have down to a science by next lesson. On the GNR song I don't know, but I will do the best I can there.

 

So there it is, my first day of truly doing something meaningful on the guitar in order to learn.

I am hooked already, and I mean I'm really addicted to this. Didn't expect my fingers to feel like they do, but its really worth it to me.

 

Just thought I would share my first day with everyone.

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Well, he started showing me things, and I was doing them no problem, so he bumped it up a little bit. He explained the box method of showing me chords and then showed me one to play and I did it fine so that's how it started. He said that I will be easy to teach compared to his other students.

 

Don't get me wrong though. What I posted up there of Sweet Child is all I am trying to learn. Currently all I can do is play the first three notes in tune and on time. Once the transitions hit, I am toast. Then its all really slow moving my fingers and hitting the note and going on to the next one. But those first three notes, oh those first three notes, once I played them and they sounded true, a fire lit under me if you know what I mean.

 

I also got a little book to learn to read actual sheet music for guitar. Which is a bit confusing for me at the moment. I guess I will really need to know the notes on the frets before I can get into fully learning how to equate the ones on paper to the proper string and place on the guitar.

 

Mostly, I just can't wait to be comfortable picking up the guitar and getting up and down the neck easily.

 

@ Dem00n Half hour lessons.

 

@ Oilpit Super Glue huh? I put a small piece of gauze, wrapped it with a tiny rubber band and kept playing. I found this to be perfect as it didn't mess with my playing and keeps the blood off my guitar. lol

 

 

 

EDIT: Oh hey, been wondering this since I heard the song. What does Slash play when he makes those two notes after the solo? It happens at 4:02-4:03 in that video I linked. I don't know why, but that is probably one of my favorite parts in the song. Just comes off of a crazy solo and links that through. I always loved it.

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Cool Man! You're off to a great start! It's good to have a hard song to work through as long as you have patience, and it sounds like you do. Sounds like you Get it, which is half the battle.

 

I think for the little Fill after the solo he dampens all the strings and hits 'em a couple times, then frets the 10th fet on the A string and runs it down the neck towards the nut, all while rocking a wah wah pedal. I'll try to Tab it out here, but I've never tried to write out Tab before

 

----------------------------- -

----------------------------- -

---x--x--x--x--x--x-------

---x--x--x--x--x--x--10>3

---x--x--x--x--x--x-------

 

the other fills he does around then are variations of the dampened string into a note with wah, all based on the pentatonic scale.

 

Edit- I accidentally posted this to soon, :) but it's ok now.

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Just FWIW' date=' dedication and enthusiam are great. Overuse can injure your tendons (been there!) and lead to a layoff, so be aware. [/quote']

 

That's a good point. Carbonite, you're using muscles that you're probably never put much strain on before and, like starting a new exercise program or sport, you don't want to over do it right away so be careful.

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@ Tanner I have a Les Paul Standard

 

@ Californiaman Seems I am one of those, just a bit more than a boy.

 

@ The Mick Well, mine isn't that bad, that looks like more than a guitar injury lol.

 

@ daveinspain Well, I'm not so young. I didn't get an early start. I'm 28. That actually probably helps my discipline.

 

@ ninety1vee I very much intend too.

 

@ Axe® I will do that. I think as long as I am playing I will be enthusiastic about it. Always something to learn I think.

 

@ RichCI & Rosewoody Yeah, I am going to tone it down a bit. It was just nice to have something to work on. The callouses are starting on all my fingers. Not fully there yet, but I can feel the skin hardening.

 

@ FirstMeasure I think your talking about a different part than I am. But I am interested in all that. Probably wont be playing any of it till later. What I was talking about was that little double note. It plays on that link at 4:02 and just goes duh duh real fast. That's the best I can describe it.

 

Thanks guys. I am actually just about to sit down and do some work on this stuff now.

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Great to hear, but do take it easy for now until you build up your strength. Trust me once you hit 30 those little sore areas can lead into big problems. I remember twisting my ankle once and after several weeks of pain I finally saw a doctor. He said it was just a minor sprain which will take about a month to heal. I said "a month, geez, I used to get sprained ankles all the time when I played soccer in high school and I'd be up and running again in a week or so." He laughed at me and said "well you're not 18 anymore!." The last thing you want is to overdo it and get something like carpal tunnel.

 

FYI I practice on an acoustic to keep my finger strength up. I play the electrics only a few hours a week but I play the acoustic about an hour a day. Sometimes I overdo it too. When I do I take at least a few days off (yes I hate it but such is life).

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Great job. Riffs are cool, but I would also suggest you learn some strumming songs as you learn more chords. Simple songs like Night Moves teach you to keep good time and make smooth chord changes. Keep it up.

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Hey, those chords he is teaching me to play and transfer between, are they a song? A -> D -> E -> D

 

To this point I have been playing them once and then making the transition as best I can. Did he sneak a guns song in on me without telling me?

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Okay, I'm so old that I think that "When You and I Were Young" is up-to-date. (FYI, the lyric was written in 1864, the tune not that long afterward and it was first recorded over a century ago; it's been done in about every style known to mankind except maybe rap - and I think it could even work there.)

 

But...

 

I hadda lay off for 25 years. When I came back I determined not to make the same errors I'd made as a beginner on a really crappy guitar.

 

1. Don't play longer than it takes for your fingertips to tingle.

 

2. Wait until the tingle stops, then have at it again. And again. And again. And again. etc. I did that for four to five hours and it keeps the head from getting in your way as well as painful fingers.

 

3. I tricked out a couple of my guitars with very light strings (42-09) and even put a capo at the second fret to allow a somewhat lower and easier action. But then I'm not doing rock, either. Still, many may find basic chording at the root positions quite a bit easier.

 

4. And I guess the real thing is it's better to play every day than to play until your fingers hurt enough that it ain't fun. It's easier for an adult to indulge in such masochism, though. <grin>

 

5. Don't quit for 25 years no matter what the circumstances.

 

6. Who's "Slash?" (I told you I was old.

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A-D-E-D is called a chord progression...another common one is A-D-E-A. A-D-E can be written as 1-4-5. Check this link for a chord progression generator...http://www.hotfrets.com/songanator.asp

 

If you learn a few of the basic progressions, and you know what key the song is being played in, you can play about 70%-80% of all rock&roll, blues and country music.

 

A-D-E

E-A-B

C-F-G

A-E-B

etc.

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