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How did you know you'd gotten good?


Izzy

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When Dad told me "That sounded great!"

 

When my mother said "Why don't you pick up your guitar and play something?"

 

When I put my guitar away and my older brother said "Why did you stop playing?"

 

When a friend of mine sat down to hear me play "Theme From An Imaginary Western" and told me how amazing it sounded. I was unaccompanied, and playing acoustic, so I had tons of sonic space to fill up.

 

Come to think of it, I still think I suck!

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I remember the day I learned day tripper' date=' I was so happy![/quote']

 

I just taught my girlfriends 12 year old son to play that over Christmas beak. He had it down the next day. I don't mean down for a 12 year old, I mean down. He can fingerpick Blackbird also.

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Hmm, I guess when I got accepted into both Berklee and Eastman. But that was on piano. In reality I'll never consider myself good enough at anything I do. When you "admit" to it then you've given in to the fact you don't have much more to learn. No one is above that in my opinion. Recently Neil Peart was talking about taking hi-hat lessons. He's probably the best drummer ever and he thinks that he needs to practice more! Even the great ones don't think they're ever good enough...

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Hmm' date=' I guess when I got accepted into both Berklee and Eastman. But that was on piano. In reality I'll never consider myself good enough at anything I do. When you "admit" to it then you've given in to the fact you don't have much more to learn. No one is above that in my opinion. Recently Neil Peart was talking about taking hi-hat lessons. He's probably the best drummer ever and he thinks that he needs to practice more! Even the great ones don't think they're ever good enough... [/quote']

 

 

I would agree with you, but I think the thread is about when you knew you where good, not when you knew you where great or more then good, but the moment when you are like, wow i kinda know what I am doing now............

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I don't consider myself good by any stretch of the imagination, but when I was playing a cover, some other "real musicians" were able to recognize what I was playing and jumped in with their own instruments and jammed for about 20 or 30 minutes. And at the end of a couple of songs, they said that was awesome. I did not know these guys before, but was invited to come back for another jam session. I don't know if that qualifies as an answer to Izzy's question, but it was a huge ego boost for me.

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I'm doing OK...but, after a 30 year hiatus, there's a LOT to learn, that I missed, and even more to

learn, everyday...anyway. So "Good" even "Great" is relative. As soon as I feel like I'm doing well,

something, or someone shows me, that I still have a long way to go. That's a GOOD thing, IMHO.

Always want to keep learning, pefecting, changing...growing. I just wish it was a bit faster, at times... ;>)

 

CB

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I would agree with you' date=' but I think the thread is about when you knew you where good, not when you knew you where great or more then good, but the moment when you are like, wow i kinda know what I am doing now............[/quote']

 

 

Ahhh. If that is the case, then I retract my previous post. I still don't know what I'm doing, ergo I am not "good". I suspect, at this point, given that definition, I never will be, either [biggrin] !

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I only tell people i can play. if they like what they hear great, if not i'm only playing for myself. over the last few years when i go to GC or SamAsh, the place gets quiet and they listen. than ,always someone comes over and tells me they like what i'm playing and if i'm in a band locally so they can hear more of my music. There's always someone better so never worry about what they play . If people (strangers)like what they here your there.

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For me it was actually 2 moments. First when I finally figured out Blackbird on the acoustic and could play it beginning to end without screwing it up. I've seen Dave Grohl try to play that live and FAIL miserably.

 

And the second was at getting called out of the audience by a Jazz piano player because he heard I played guitar and wanted to play some blues. He told me the key and said I'll nod at ya when It's your turn. I was nervous only because he was unbelievable on keys. We jammed on a couple tunes and brought the house down. After the show we talked and he said how much fun that was and I just kinda nodded. lol

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I was ALMOST certain of this fact. Now it's official:

 

I'm the worst player of ya all!!!!

 

 

I have only played ONCE in front of a small friends & relatives gathering. My wife thought I was really good, especially for jamming for first time in my life on a friend's accoustic Fender (while I only practice on electric). Actually, when I was handed-over the guitar she thought I would decline. She didn't think I can actually PLAY a few songs in front of others!

 

Anyway, only a few songs mastered from my side so far. And my pentatonics allow me to jam along my drum machine on some blues / rock /metal improvisations. That's about it. [biggrin]

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When did I know I was good? I am not even close [crying]

 

I mean I have heard that I am pretty good and stuff like that, but only a few times have I satisfied MY ears. I can play decently, I have ability, but when I hear something, I want to make it better. I really need to work on my scales and theory, but from that, it will help a lot.

 

Rudimentary answer: when my parents said I could turn on my amp [biggrin] but I have come a long way from there

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I think my friends and family think I am ok, but they don't play.

I think most people on this forum are much better than

I will ever be.

So yea it relative.

 

The whole Day Tripper thing cracks me up, I was playing that

last night, and I usually don't play cover stuff.

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Guess I knew I was good when Jimmy Page tapped me on the shoulder and said " You the man" .Oh wait that was a dream I had....nevermind lol

 

 

Buddy that I jam with says I'm really good and he's a fine musician in books. Another example is when an ex girlfriend said that she thought it was the cd player and not me playing guitar.After that she always complimented me

 

I personally feel I'm not bad but improvement and knowledge is what I need to really focus on. I often challenge myself with stuff and I try not to get frustrated.

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When i beat every kid in my school in guitar playing.(They are a bunch of Nu-metal heads and grunge/punk types...so its easy!)

 

Is nu-"metal" even around anymore? For real? Why won't it die?

 

To answer the question, I have been playing for over 16 years and it never really occured to me that I might be good. I always tell people "good enough." People have different ideas on what "good" musicianship is. What's good to a regular guy on the street who thinks a guitar is a long wood thing with strings and what Paul Gilert thinks is good are totally different things. To regular guy, I can confidently say, yeah I'm good but I'm no Paul Gilbert.

 

I guess it hit me more when other band members at my church said they preferred me over others. Auditioning for local bands and beating out the competition. This must have been 4 yrs ago. I started playing lead guitar for a Metallica cover band about 6 years ago. I still play w/ them.

 

But to my standards, I will never be good enough until I can play "Winter Madness" flawlessly.

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