daveinspain Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 What was the turning point when all of the sudden it clicked... When it all started to come together and you could just pick up the guitar and have fun and play. How long did it take to get there? I know everyone is different and it depends on how much time you dedicate to your guitar everyday but try to think back if there was a moment when you thought to yourself its starting to come together.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stryker69 Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 for me its a combination of several factors but probably the biggest thing was after i learned the pentatonic scales. i put in srv cds and tried to play along. i was able to see how the scale was used and it really opened up a new world. also listening and playing along w/ cds help develop your ear which i think is very important for things to "click" took a few years to get there but i am comfortable playing and having fun but i still strive to learn new stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanMan Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 When I was in school I had plenty of time to practice and made progress in leaps and bounds... this is when I think I made the jump from "guy-who-knows-some-songs" to musician. After that it is about plateaus. But, I guess it depends on what you mean by "just pick up the guitar and have fun". I've been jamming out and having fun on the guitar since I got my first electric and a 50 watt Univox amp back in Jr. High. I was not nearly as skilled as I am now, but riffs and chord progressions and rhythms and such have always come naturally to me, so it was always easy for me to just jam. If you mean "when could you pick up the guitar and all that sh*t in your head would just come out your fingers".... /chuckle.... well I'll let ya know when I get there I still have to work out some of the stuff in painstaking increments... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I started playing 3 years ago and do not dedicate much time to play especially since I bought a house but learning music theory applied to guitar is getting me there quick, lately a lot of stuff makes sense to me and I can play improvising and kind of know what I am doing, I am still bad a it but enjoy the hell out of it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibis Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I'm 46, been playing since I was 10. I keep getting 'coming together' points in my life. Thats the beauty of a musical instrument, especially the guitar which allows you to express yourself so much. I feel my playing keeps on improving and can't put my finger on one moment of revelation. Recently, I've been realy digging linking scales and arpeggios that transverse the fretboard from low on the bass strings to high on treble. How I ever played solos without them I just cannot imagine. I feel so smug until I go and see another band and see a young guitarist tapping, sweeping, using legato and economy picking like a demon. I'll always be a student waiting for the next piece of the jigsaw to drop into place. I wish I had my time again and had all the unlimited learning resources that youngsters have today. When I was 16, you had to find other people who played in order to swap and learn licks from. Then you had to wait until you met another player. Failing that, it was a case of learning from records. Inspirational days were few and far between. Anyhow I'm pressing on, have enrolled in a 2 year music diploma and am playing plenty with my band in the vain hope that I will reach 'rock god' status before arthritis sets in! You youngsters out there should try and get as much learning input and practice as you can, it'll pay dividends! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewie Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I have owned a Gibson SG since 1968. I played a little back then with very little success, and no training. About 1996 I decided to take it up again. Since then I have bought every book and tab book on how to play guitar and got some measure of success. Then one day I found and old Hal Leaonard book that I must have bought back in 1981 or so called Lead Rock Method. I had purchased it and tried to learn but gave up. Now a lot later in life I had the time to practice. So I picked up the book and started to leaf through it. On page 5 was the holy grail of rock, and blues playing. The Blues rock Scale, the minor pentatonic. The first is the C minor Pentatonic, no big deal but they show the FULL DIAGONAL FORM. I suddenly realized that this was the run that most guitarist use in their solos. It shows how to move it up and down the neck by the Keys or tonal centers. I also showed the inside diagonal form. That was it. I was no longer restricted to certain parts of the neck. I could play in key all over the neck and that may be basic to some of you but it was like a lightning bolt went off. Now I practice that scale and apply it to just about every rock and blues tune out their to a certain degree most guitarists use it. I only wish I had understood the meaning of this when I first bought the book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 Hey Stewie same here then a couple of years ago I bought the DVD from Guitar World Magazine on how to play hard rock and they had the blues scale in the open position and then I made a lot of progress, now I am learning how to link two scales. I bought a couple of CDs with backing tracks from eBay and the seller Chris Korsak sent me a book on how to play guitar with the true basics on music theory, oh man, I have learned a lot from that book more than any other... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted April 7, 2008 Author Share Posted April 7, 2008 Hey Stiffhand, What was that book?? I'd love to get a copy. There has been so much great feedback and info on this thread !! I too wish I had the patients and knowledge as a youngster that I have now... But as they say its never too late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibson CS Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 I knew I had something when girls who were far too hot for me all of the sudden were quite taken with me! Seems like I became interesting and good looking for no reason other then I could razzle-dazzle the ol' electric guitar!....Oh ya, I had cool hair as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spot Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 I knew I had something when girls who were far too hot for me all of the sudden werequite taken with me! Seems like I became interesting and good looking for no reason other then I could razzle-dazzle the ol' electric guitar!....Oh ya' date=' I had cool hair as well.[/quote'] Hey DeepBlue,...let's see some pictures of the mullet!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibson CS Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Spotondrums... No mullets, but it was long! Remember you asked for it! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted April 7, 2008 Author Share Posted April 7, 2008 Good hair.... Is that now or then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spot Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Heheeee,...that's a great "Dave Murray" Maiden haircut DeepBlue :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 When I started playing with other musicians in a band. Probably the most free I felt was back in college when I used to casually jam with these guys once a week on Sunday afternoons. We'd get a bunch of beer, crank it up and just play whatever we felt like - some covers we all happened to know (usually half-assed), some incomplete originals and some space jams. There was no emphasis on playing with precise song structure, just all out experimentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Plains Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Fairly recent for me, about three months ago. First of all, I'm not a nerd...but I actually used a computer to help me out. During my lunch hours at work, I surf the net and read anything & everything music related I can. I've always been able to play, but theory wise, I didnt' know what I was playing. To help me understand & visualize it all, I created a MS Excel workbook. I drew out the entire fretboard each page along with where all the naturals are. It's full of macros & buttons. Sort of like my own 'guitar for dummies' if you will. :) It's kind of hard to explain in a forum post. The best way I can put it is, let's say, if you want to play the third pentatonic scale pattern - press a button and here are the notes you play relative to where the root note is. Does that make sense? I'd be glad to share it with anybody who's having difficulty understanding & learning the fretboard, or with anybody that thinks I'm crazy and has no idea what I'm talking about. :) Just send me a pm with your email. I'm continually expanding on it and going over it during my lunch breaks, makes the time fly by. Nice hair blue! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibson CS Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 That was 6 years ago... I was 39 years old. Ya, I know. I was too old to have long hair! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Heh! I cut off mine a long time ago; around '91, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T50 Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 It hasn't happened for me yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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