Share how bad you were when you started out on guitar ...

[Glide-bpm]

Slop? I'm a slop expert... It's about all I know... LoL!!!

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I am in my late 50s. I started playing guitar in 1976. I started with electric guitar.

Oh wow, we’re very close in both then.

 

[jxe]

you guys with ‘chops’ must
not have been capable of sharp cheekbones and long feathery hair (george lynch! warren d!) because otherwise you’d be famous speed metal gods where i’m from.

and like i said i play like jonathan richman.

 

[Alan Jurgens]

I am always amazed when I see someone seriously pick up an instrument mid-life or later. Like a lot of things, learning an instrument is much easier when one is young. However, a lot of people learn to play mid-life or later and become proficient.

So you’re saying I have a chance

 

[Em7]

So you’re saying I have a chance

The reason why kids are more successful than adults has to do with tenacity coupled with not having any preconceived notions on ability to learn. Becoming proficient is about spending time in the woodshed developing muscle memory and pushing through plateaus (all guitarists experience plateaus throughout their lives, so it is an important ability to develop). If you ask most guitarists how they became proficient, it is usually about being a crazed teenager who locked himself/herself in his/her bedroom and drove his/her parents crazy. I know that I drove my parents crazy. I had a silverface Vibro Champ that I borrowed for a year of so from a friend's younger brother who had used it as a small PA for his puppet shows. I used to play that thing dimed in my parent's basement. Let's say that a dimed Vibro Champ can be a serious parent annoyance. I caused the power tube to arc-over and carbonize the socket fairly early in the game. That was my first tube amp repair. My father brought a beautiful MIL-Spec octal tube socket home from work and said, "You broke it. Now, you need to fix it." My father was a chain-smoking electronics technician who worked in the standards laboratory at Westinghouse Electronics Systems (heck, being a chain smoker seemed like a right of passage for ETs and EEs back then ). That was the typical kind of response from men of that generation. They did not coddle us.

 

[Alan Jurgens]

For me it’s about doing something I always wanted to do but didn’t. Had I stayed with what I started at 17 I suspect I would be pretty good by this point but I can’t change the past. I like overcoming adversity and at this point I don’t experience a lot of things I don’t at least have a moderate level of knowledge of. Guitar is different. Everyday I learn something new and I can see weekly progress.

I am a person that is all in or I don’t do it. Since starting playing in January I’ve bought two guitars and a Marshall amp. I’d have a third but at this point my wife might leave if I bought another today. On my one year anniversary I will get a custom 24. I’m selling some of my guns and have sold my boat. It was easy buying guns since they lived in a safe and all look similar to my wife. Guitar not so much.

My expectations are modest and if I can play with my stereo I will be good with that. I love the look of beautiful wood. Guns and guitar are similar in that respect. Functional art to me.

 

[jxe]

The reason why kids are more successful than adults has to do with tenacity coupled with not having any preconceived notions on ability to learn. Becoming proficient is about spending time in the woodshed developing muscle memory and pushing through plateaus (all guitarists experience plateaus throughout their lives, so it is an important ability to develop). If you ask most guitarists how they became proficient, it is usually about being a crazed teenager who locked himself/herself in his/her bedroom and drove his/her parents crazy. I know that I drove my parents crazy. I had a silverface Vibro Champ that I borrowed for a year of so from a friend's younger brother who had used it as a small PA for his puppet shows. I used to play that thing dimed in my parent's basement. Let's say that a dimed Vibro Champ can be a serious parent annoyance. I caused the power tube to arc-over and carbonize the socket fairly early in the game. That was my first tube amp repair. My father brought a beautiful MIL-Spec octal tube socket home from work and said, "You broke it. Now, you need to fix it." My father was a chain-smoking electronics technician who worked in the standards laboratory at Westinghouse Electronics Systems (heck, being a chain smoker seemed like a right of passage for ETs and EEs back then ). That was the typical kind of response from men of that generation. They did not coddle us.

in those great days, it was ok to grab a horse by the face, spank children, and bring parts home from the plant.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

you guys with ‘chops’ must
not have been capable of sharp cheekbones and long feathery hair (george lynch! warren d!) because otherwise you’d be famous speed metal gods where i’m from.

and like i said i play like jonathan richman.

Or, no sharp cheekbones, no long hair (dark red and curly don’t fit the profile, right?) but there were offers to start bands or to play in established bands, but playing in bars was not an option.

 

[jxe]

Or, no sharp cheekbones, no long hair (dark red and curly don’t fit the profile, right?) but there were offers to start bands or to play in established bands, but playing in bars was not an option.

lesbian bars? is this a long form jonathan richman joke?

 

[11top]

I bought a drum machine, and learned to play in time.

=K

The ability to keep time is essential. I know guys who can pull off impressive licks, but put them in a band setting and they are lost because they can’t keep time. About a year ago, I went to a Paul Gilbert class, and he emphatically made the point “Stomp your foot!”

 

[alantig]

The ability to keep time is essential. I know guys who can pull off impressive licks, but put them in a band setting and they are lost because they can’t keep time. About a year ago, I went to a Paul Gilbert class, and he emphatically made the point “Stomp your foot!”

I used to think that once I got good enough to play in a band, I wouldn't have to tap my foot. The first time I saw Kiss, I saw Ace Frehley tapping his foot, and my first thought was, "They still do that?" I've noticed quite a few guys doing that, especially around tricky passages.

 

[jxe]

I used to think that once I got good enough to play in a band, I wouldn't have to tap my foot. The first time I saw Kiss, I saw Ace Frehley tapping his foot, and my first thought was, "They still do that?" I've noticed quite a few guys doing that, especially around tricky passages.

‘tricky passages’ for $400, alex.

 

[11top]

‘tricky passages’ for $1,000, alex.

What is Dream Theater?

 

[Em7]

in those great days, it was ok to grab a horse by the face, spank children, and bring parts home from the plant.

My did not bring much home from his job. He was not that kind of guy. He left work at work. However, tube technology was starting to become less supported at the local electronics stores in the second half of the seventies. That made finding a tube socket difficult for a teenager who did not drive.

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Middle school was a new thing in Maryland at that point in time. The newly constructed schools adopted the middle school/high school model, but most of the existing schools retained the 7th through 9th junior high/10th through 12th high school system until the eighties. Sixth grade was still part of elementary school. I attended junior high and high school. Middle school sixth graders may think that eight graders are bullies, but that pales in comparison to being a seventh grader in a school with ninth graders. Most ninth-grade guys are within an inch or two of their terminal height.

I was in Junior High also...but Haven't actually said it for years....I graduated in 82.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

lesbian bars? is this a long form jonathan richman joke?

I don’t think there were any of those around here when I was young.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

What is Dream Theater?

Jordon made a joke on instagram a while back about watching someone trying to tap his foot to 7/11 timing.

 

[11top]

Jordon made a joke on instagram a while back about watching someone trying to tap his foot to 7/11 timing.

I understand that certain timings other than 4/4 could throw this rule off. However, for the bands I’m in and the genre we play (uh, not DT), the ability to tap your foot to 4/4 is a big plus. Also, I’m confident that Jordan can, and I know first hand that Paul Gilbert can and does. I’m also confident that Mike Mangini could drum to 4/4 before expanding his horizons.

 

[alantig]

in those great days, it was ok to grab a horse by the face, spank children, and bring parts home from the plant.

My dad would bring something home from work every day. One day a light, one day a switch. Over a number of years, he built a car. No - wait, that was Johnny Cash.

My dad’s been retired about 20 years. He’s still using stuff from work.

 

[alantig]

I understand that certain timings other than 4/4 could throw this rule off. However, for the bands I’m in and the genre we play (uh, not DT), the ability to tap your foot to 4/4 is a big plus. Also, I’m confident that Jordan can, and I know first hand that Paul Gilbert can and does. I’m also confident that Mike Mangini could drum to 4/4 before expanding his horizons.

Frank Zappa recorded a song called ‘13’ in 13/8 time. He even explained how to count it at the beginning of this version. I still can only follow it so far.