I've
been playing piano since I was six, by the time I was in high school I
had become a pretty competent classical player. I quit because it got
boring to me and I wanted to pursue my other interests, like laying
around on the couch and watching tv. What I really wanted to do was
play guitar but I thought it was too late to start and I got busy with
college.
I picked up some chords here and there just from
hanging around people. For a long time I just played some crappy rhythm stuff whenever someone had a guitar lying around. I've been playing since the mid 90's, but I
never really progressed much because I never really challenged myself
to learn anything new. I decided that it was time to get serious around
2000 or 2001. I was tired of being this huge music fan - constantly
reading about bands, collecting music, going to concerts, etc. - but
not being able to actually play the kind of music that I enjoyed. I had
an old beat up acoustic lying around and started strumming open chords
using my fingers. I did this for about a year and my brothers bought me
a new acoustic for my birthday.
I got an Epi LP and started
taking lessons with this jazzhead named Dale around 2002. Dale's a cool
guy and a badass guitarist. He can make your head spin with his
knowledge of theory. I started to make rapid progress once I started
taking lessons. I was learning about theory, brushing up on my
technique, playing classical pieces for the first time (really badly).
All of the classic rock songs that previously seemed impossible to me
were now relatively easy to play. This was when I started getting
obsessed. I started collecting gear and practicing 8 hours a day.
Then
I got into graduate school and I hit another wall where guitar had to
take a back seat to other things. I had to cut down on my lessons and
practicing. To be honest, I'm still in the middle of this really busy
time, but I've decided I'm going to make time for playing and trying to
improve as much as I can. I'm just at the point where I don't think I
suck anymore, but there are a lot of ways in which I'd like to improve
as a musician.
So now I try to practice at least a few hours
every day, sometimes to the detriment of other things I have going on
in my life ;P. I can easily waste an entire day messing around on my
acoustic in front of the TV, I get so engrossed. I love coming up with
a nice sounding phrase or learning a new piece that I can play for
friends. I am currently taking time off from lessons to concentrate on
learning how to use this recording equipment that I bought - I'm
probably going to post some clips at some point. I'll probably go back
to lessons when I feel like I'm not making enough progress on my own.
Fade to Black Seek and Destroy Master of Puppets Nothing Else Matters Sanitarium For Whom the Bell Tolls Disposable Heroes Creeping Death Battery Breadfan
Jeff
Tolbert, GarageBand expert and author extraordinaire, has kindly
written an excellent article for our readers. In addition, to celebrate
Jeff's newest title, "Take Control of Recording Music Wit... [read more]
Underlying
GarageBand's simple interface is a host of complex functionality and
features that offer some serious power in modifying your audio inputs.
Many of these features are inherited from FinalC... [read more]
I started watching Rock Discipline again, although I'm still not sure how to incorporate it into my practice routine. I've expanded my scalesa and exercises to take up more than half an hour. I've been doing chromatics and pieces of the harmonic minor scale in an atempt to increase my picking speed. I'll just slowly incorporate exercises from Rock Discipline into this half hour+ of general exercises.
Some ideas for the ol repertoire from Guitar Hero 1 and 2. Preserved for when I don't know what I want to play in the future.
Guitar Hero Main setlist
1. Opening Licks
* "I Love Rock & Roll" - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts * "I Wanna Be Sedated" - The Ramones * "Thunder Kiss '65" - White Zombie * "Smoke on the Water" - Deep Purple * "Infected" - Bad Religion
2. Axe-Grinders
* "Iron Man" - Black Sabbath * "More Than a Feeling" - Boston * "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" - Judas Priest * "Take Me Out" - Franz Ferdinand * "Sharp Dressed Man" - ZZ Top
3. Thrash And Burn
* "Killer Queen" - Queen * "Hey You" - The Exies * "Stellar" - Incubus * "Heart Full of Black" - Burning Brides * "Symphony of Destruction" - Megadeth
4. Return of the Shred
* "Ziggy Stardust" - David Bowie * "Fat Lip" - Sum 41 * "Cochise" - Audioslave * "Take It Off" - The Donnas * "Unsung" - Helmet
5. Fret-Burners
* "Spanish Castle Magic" - Jimi Hendrix * "Higher Ground" - Red Hot Chili Peppers[1] * "No One Knows" - Queens of the Stone Age * "Ace Of Spades" - Mot?rhead * "Crossroads" - Cream
6. Face-Melters
* "Godzilla" - Blue ?yster Cult * "Texas Flood" - Stevie Ray Vaughan * "Frankenstein" - The Edgar Winter Group * "Cowboys from Hell" - Pantera * "Bark at the Moon" - Ozzy Osbourne
[edit] Bonus tracks
* "Fire It Up" - Black Label Society * "Cheat on the Church" - Graveyard BBQ (Winner of the "Be a Guitar Hero" Contest) * "Cavemen Rejoice" - The Bags * "Eureka, I've Found Love" - The Upper Crust * "All of This" - Shaimus * "Behind The Mask" - Anarchy Club * "The Breaking Wheel" - Artillery (Now known as Breaking Wheel) * "Callout" - The Acro-brats * "Decontrol" - Drist * "Even Rats" - The Slip * "Farewell Myth" - Made in Mexico * "Fly on the Wall" - Din * "Get Ready 2 Rokk" - Freezepop * "Guitar Hero" - Monkey Steals The Peach * "Hey" - Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives * "Sail Your Ship By" - Count Zero * "Story of My Love" - The Model Sons
Guitar Hero 2 Main setlist
PlayStation 2
1. Opening Licks
* "Shout at the Devil" - M?tley Cr?e * "Mother" - Danzig * "Surrender" - Cheap Trick * "Woman" - Wolfmother * "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" - Sp?nal Tap (Encore)
2. Amp-Warmers
* "Strutter" - Kiss * "Heart-Shaped Box" - Nirvana * "Message in a Bottle" - The Police * "You Really Got Me" - Van Halen[15] * "Carry On Wayward Son" - Kansas (Encore)
3. String-Snappers
* "Monkey Wrench" - Foo Fighters * "Them Bones" - Alice in Chains * "Search and Destroy" - Iggy Pop and The Stooges * "Tattooed Love Boys" - The Pretenders * "War Pigs" - Black Sabbath (Encore)
4. Thrash and Burn
* "Cherry Pie" - Warrant * "Who Was in My Room Last Night?" - Butthole Surfers * "Girlfriend" - Matthew Sweet * "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" - The Rolling Stones * "Sweet Child O'Mine" - Guns N' Roses (Encore)
5. Return of the Shred
* "Killing in the Name" - Rage Against the Machine * "John the Fisherman" - Primus * "Freya" - The Sword * "Bad Reputation" - Thin Lizzy * "Last Child" - Aerosmith (Encore)
6. Relentless Riffs
* "Crazy on You" - Heart * "Trippin' On a Hole in a Paper Heart" - Stone Temple Pilots * "Rock This Town" - Stray Cats * "Jessica" - The Allman Brothers Band * "Stop!" - Jane's Addiction (Encore)
7. Furious Fretwork
* "Madhouse" - Anthrax * "Carry Me Home" - The Living End * "Laid to Rest" - Lamb of God * "Psychobilly Freakout" - The Reverend Horton Heat * "YYZ" - Rush (Encore)
* "Surrender" - Cheap Trick * "Possum Kingdom" - Toadies[16] * "Heart-Shaped Box" - Nirvana * "Salvation" - Rancid * "Strutter" - Kiss * "Shout at the Devil" - M?tley Cr?e (Encore)
2. Amp-Warmers
* "Mother" - Danzig * "Life Wasted" - Pearl Jam * "Cherry Pie" - Warrant * "Woman" - Wolfmother * "You Really Got Me" - Van Halen[15] * "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" - Sp?nal Tap (Encore)
3. String-Snappers
* "Carry On Wayward Son" - Kansas * "Search and Destroy" - Iggy Pop and The Stooges * "Message in a Bottle" - The Police * "Billion Dollar Babies" - Alice Cooper * "Them Bones" - Alice in Chains * "War Pigs" - Black Sabbath (Encore)
4. Thrash and Burn
* "Monkey Wrench" - Foo Fighters * "Hush" - Deep Purple * "Girlfriend" - Matthew Sweet * "Who Was in My Room Last Night?" - Butthole Surfers * "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" - The Rolling Stones * "Sweet Child O'Mine" - Guns N' Roses (Encore)
5. Return of the Shred
* "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo" - Rick Derringer * "Tattooed Love Boys" - The Pretenders * "John the Fisherman" - Primus * "Jessica" - The Allman Brothers Band * "Bad Reputation" - Thin Lizzy * "Last Child" - Aerosmith (Encore)
6. Relentless Riffs
* "Crazy on You" - Heart * "Trippin' On a Hole in a Paper Heart" - Stone Temple Pilots * "Dead!" - My Chemical Romance [16] * "Killing in the Name" - Rage Against the Machine * "Freya" - The Sword * "Stop!" - Jane's Addiction (Encore)
7. Furious Fretwork
* "Madhouse" - Anthrax * "The Trooper" - Iron Maiden * "Rock This Town" - Stray Cats * "Laid to Rest" - Lamb of God * "Psychobilly Freakout" - The Reverend Horton Heat * "YYZ" - Rush (Encore)
8. Face-Melters
* "Beast and the Harlot" - Avenged Sevenfold * "Carry Me Home" - The Living End * "Institutionalized" - Suicidal Tendencies * "Misirlou" - Dick Dale * "Hangar 18" - Megadeth * "Free Bird" - Lynyrd Skynyrd (Encore)
Jeff Tolbert, GarageBand expert and author extraordinaire, has kindly written an excellent article for our readers. In addition, to celebrate Jeff's newest title, "Take Control of Recording Music Wit... [read more]
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pos69sum's blogs, last updated : November 15, 2007
