Any suggestions for a 2nd year guitarist looking for good fingerpicking songs. Basically songs that go over well in a solo performence without needing vocal accompanyment. Or pieces that can be played with a second guitarist in his first year of playing. Just looking for suggestions.
Like many others I suspect I recently subscribed to HD service with Comcast, and is it Just me or is MHD a great channel. Aside from the very limited program scheduling. And the constant repeats. But overall it seems like a pretty awesome outlet, what MTV was 20 years ago. And yes I am old enought to remember when MTV used to actually play music, videos intereviews and concets, before it becam unreality TV. Personally I find a Music channel that actually plays music on TV refreshing. And I love the HD format where I can actually make out what some of my favorites muscians are doing. I think MHD deserves a Kudos for putting on some music programing, but I also think they need to look at expanding Genre and maybe bring back something along the lines of early MTV. Remember 120 minutes, and Headbangers ball anyone? As it is I love their program Crossroads, the Allison Krauss, Robert Palmer one was awesome.
Currently I am enjoying one of those rare and
all to brief moments when new methods and techniques’ come a little
easier. Being primarily self taught and playing in earnest now for
close to two years, my progress and ability to learn goes through highs and
lows. I am sure that’s true with anyone at any level. But being a relative
novice I am curious if the "highs" will come more frequently as my
skill level progresses.
I experienced more or less a month where things came easily around my one year
anniversery of playing.
I am not sure if it was due to an epiphany, or increased enthusiasm for
sticking with a rigorous practice plan for a year.
I also can't help but wonder if there is a way to increase the frequency of
these "moments of clarity" as I like to think of them. To more accurately
describe what I am referring to let me give some analogous examples;
Day 28 of learning to play guitar.
Ok I know 3 open chords, I can remember most of the notes on the low e string,
I get that there are major and minor notes, and I sort of understand that they
relate to each other somehow, but I have no idea how yet... Thinking about
makes my head hurt, I will just play a piece of "hurt" (Johnny cash, Trent
resnor) as I have practiced it for 26 of 28 days, because trying to understand
a scale(not sure what that means) is just slipping off the edge of my already
overtaxed consciousness. Day 228 of playing.
Hey cool, those open chords I practiced early on can really fill out the sound
on this song when used with power chords, and with a little lick added in. (playing
"She Sells Sanctuary from the cult for the first time)
"oh my god! This guy (guitarist from the cult) is just using a bunch of
harmonics and he plays within the boxes I drilled until I drooled. So he's just using
d5,c5 on the A string and finish with an open G chord!"
And somehow…., comprehension of what 3rds 5ths and 7ths actually are sets in.
With the new found knowledge I rush into learning the opening riffs to a lot of
songs that I likely will never finish with newfound enthusiasm.
The question I find myself pondering is? How often do other players
experience these moments of clarity/accelerated learning. And more importantly
when experiencing the opposite (WTF How the #$#*&*#&$ do I play that?)
moments, how do you overcome them?w do you overcome them?
Is it possible to love guitar, playing, writing, performing. And at the same time not love Metal. Personally I am not a big metal fan, but the Vast Majority of those on this site it seems are. Is that because in metal the guitar is the Focal point of the whole music structure? Is it that metal showcases some of the most technically challenging finger gymnastics? And does a love of metal preclude you from learning, enjoying, or appreciating other styles and genres. I can understand the lack of any discussion or for that matter tabs. I guess it could be argued that other genres don't use the guitar much. And in the case of electronic and rap (say Moby and method man) this seems obvious. But what about for example The Cult. It would be hard to argue that the Cult was not guitar centric?
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midimcnasty's blogs, last updated : July 9, 2008
