N-lightMike
Forum Replies Created
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That was simply fantastic @nelsonb12 . I love the picking pattern and rhythm you’ve found. It is very enjoyable. The could be an intro or a solo in a song. That’s just beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
MG 😀
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Congratulations @Himleyn . This is a wonderful site and it consistently helps people make progress. However, there’s more to it than “getting better”.
The real deal is to have fun. As long as you’re having fun, then you are “doing it right”. But again, I would encourage you to work on a song. How to play a song? It’s like Nike says: “just do it”. Pick a song that you know. Preferably a song you sing along with when you hear it on the radio. Then, go find the chords and lyrics and start working on it.
When you start a chorus or verse and then quit, my guess is that you are judging yourself. You think it isn’t good enough. You’re not playing it like the guys on the radio. You will need to get better to be able to play it. Whatever it is, you’re wrong. You don’t have to do it perfectly. You don’t have to do it like the guys on the radio. It doesn’t even have to sound like the same song. You don’t even have to like it. But the more you “just do it”, the closer you’ll get to any or all of those things. By the time you’re good enough to sound like the guys on the radio, you’ll realize you don’t want to sound like them. You want your own sound. It’s easier to do that now. The best advice to playing music after “have fun”, is “let yourself make mistakes”. Some of the best music started off as a mistake.
I hope I have helped. I look forward to hearing about more of your progress.
MG 😀
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First, let me say @mkjohnsons , I like long-winded people. That way, I know I won’t be criticized for being long-winded. 😂
As far as learning to play a cover song, there are a number of ways to do that and none of them are “wrong”. I have learned to play cover songs from the sheet music when I didn’t even know the song or had ever even heard it.
Generally, I would think we were talking about a song you know well enough to have an idea of how the melody goes. The tab will tell you what chords to play and link the words to the chords. I find it much easier to learn a song with singing the lyrics, because the lyrics tell me where I am in the song. I link chords and chord changes to the words I am singing. If you start off trying to sing and play at the same time, it will seem “normal”. But if you spend time learning the guitar “first” and try to sing with your playing after you have been playing long enough to reach some fluidity, you will think singing and playing is nearly impossible.
So let’s start there. If you ever want to sing and play together, do it from the beginning. The better someone is at playing guitar, the more reluctant they are to learn to sing along with their playing if they have never done it.
Second, playing the song from the tab until it is fairly familiar and then trying to play from memory is a fine idea. Tony has suggested we break it down into small chunks. Whatever size chunk you can bite off, play that until it’s pretty familiar. Then add the next chunk. There is no right or wrong way. Many people advocate learning to play songs by ear. If you can learn that way, you will be far ahead of the game.
Anyway, I think you are more than far enough along to try learning songs. I look forward to hearing your first attempt. I hope you will post it.
MG 😀
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Excellent job, @andy_e . I have always struggled with making and keeping schedules. I still don’t have a very regular guitar practice routine. However, over time it has become more steady. So I’m happy for you that you got in a before work practice, but in the long run it won’t matter if you can’t do it regularly. All that’s important is that you keep trying to get those practices in as often and regularly as possible. If you just keep doing that, those practices will eventually find their own space in your busy life. So keep up the good work.
MG 😀
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That’s just awesome, @Spiz . That’s how to have fun and get better at the same time. You were training you licks and your ears all at the same time. Nicely done. Thanks for sharing. I have jammed with videos before, but not as much as I could have. Thanks for reminding me about doing this and inspiring me.
MG 😀
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If I lived in the Philly area, I would very much appreciate your sharing this @JoeW . As it is, I think it’s great that you shared this for those it might benefit. I’d love to find some music related events in my area. Guess I’ll have to get in the internet and do a search. So, I guess you did help me by inspiring me to look.
MG 😀
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I really enjoy your shares @Moonhare , as I get very different insights watching an already accomplished musician learn the guitar. Thanks for sharing your journey with us.
I just thought I’d throw in what I learned about “tramline” finger syndrome. (Ya like that one? I just came up with that. Of course, I stole the metaphor directly from you just now.) Anyway, I use a nail file to take down the calluses and get rid of the grooves. One time, I used cuticle scissors to cut the thick callus so I could save time. That didn’t work as it took away too much of my callus and I was left with having to build my calluses up again. It wasn’t like starting from scratch, but it was too aggressive as my little fingies were very tender for the better part of a week. But when I use the file to get rid of the grooves as much as possible, I still have the hard pad underneath the skin, but I don’t have the really thick, dead skin the builds up around the groove and creates the “tramline” finger syndrome.
MG 😀
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Hey @charlie_d , nicely done. I always liked listening to your solos as you are one of the accomplished soloist here on TAC. I like how you mixed the double stops from the lesson in with the more typical higher notes on the high E and B strings. I have made enough advancement since joining TAC over 2 years ago, to start understanding soloing and therefore learn from what others do. (I know, it’s all in my head. But that’s my process. Well, or it’s my lame excuse.) Thanks for sharing.
MG 😀
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First, I’m glad that you, also, have benefitted, @MarkD66 . Second, I think your idea of singing the chord names is a great way to get familiar with the chords and the melody. It’s a way of breaking the task down into a smaller bite.
MG 😀
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@mkjohnsons ,Mark, you are so welcome. The time I spend reading someone’s post and then responding is SO worth it when I hear that the person benefited. But to hear your guitar-excitement level went up motivates me to spend more time contributing to this marvelous community. So thank you for that.
I did my best to explain the process of learning a cover song. But please don’t hesitate to ask additional, more specific questions. I would be very happy to explain any aspect in greater detail.
MG 😀
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No, keyboards are a little nicer to the old finger tips. 😅
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Thanks for playing at the VOM @Loraine . And thanks for posting your performance. It is obvious you are improving. I also appreciate the second video. It demonstrates very clearly how much better the audio is when we record ourselves directly instead of using Zoom.
As far as rotating your wrist instead of bending at the elbow; it is very true that will make your strumming better. But it is also true that you will get better at using the wrist more as time goes by. Right now, you are doing what you can and that’s the most important thing. Regular practice does indeed lead to improvement. Keep up the good work.
MG 😀