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| Just to vent and get any help I can |
movedbeatle
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Okay, So I have been playing guitar for about 2- 2 1/2 years. I am good with my chords open and barre, I know my Pentatonic scales and how they are formed from a Minor bar chord. I can play only a few simple songs like Island in the sun by weezer and Your guardian angel by the red jumpsuit apparatus. But when I play a song that involves a solo I fail.. Major fail. I cant seem to get them and I dont know if it is a discipline problem or a lack of ability. And the fact that when I try to sit down and learn a song through my dad tells me i suck, well that doesnt help much. 
Ma'am, that G string looks a little rusty 
| Post Date: 2/2/2010 @ 12:01 pm |
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RE: Just to vent and get any help I can |
Zug-uitar
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Tell your dad that he isn't doing his job of bolstering your confidence so you can realize your potential. That's what dads are supposed to do. Then tell him he can atone for these sins by arranging lessons for you once every week or 2. Apply yourself to the lessons and hopefully your dad will come to his senses and praise your progress.
 
this rig requires something with a little more kick... plutonium!
| Post Date: 2/2/2010 @ 12:33 pm |
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RE: Just to vent and get any help I can |
Julia_343
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Yeah, tell your dad that if he thinks you suck, he should start paying for weekly lessons. Threaten to suck more and turn up the sucking louder if he won't.
Don't expect him to every admit you're good either when you get there. You'll never measure up in his eyes anyway. You gotta do this for yourself and no one else's approval. It'll set you free.
I had to watch my brother go through that. And then I got it from my brother.
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--- Soudružka Julia of the Vocal Assassins
--- Disclaimer: pay no attention to tonal advice from this poster if you are under 40 and play thrash.
How about a Costa Rican flag?
| Post Date: 2/2/2010 @ 12:41 pm |
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RE: Just to vent and get any help I can |
movedbeatle
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Thanks guys, I'm gonna try to talk him into some lessons, but every teacher I have met said Im good for the time ive been playing.... but that could be them being nice lol
Ma'am, that G string looks a little rusty
| Post Date: 2/2/2010 @ 12:45 pm |
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RE: Just to vent and get any help I can |
Knucklehead
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Just to clarify things, are you having trouble with solos you are trying to copy note-for-note from the original recordings, or are you trying to make up your own solos? It's really difficult to give you a constructive answer without that bit of information. Having said that, the best bit of advice I can give you is to find some solos by a player that you like, but who doesn't really play a lot of notes. In my day, Leslie West and Joe Walsh fit that description. I don't know who's good at that in 2010, but there have to be people who are. Start with the simple stuff that sounds good, practice a lot (a couple of hours a day if you can), and stick with it.
Two to two-and-a-half years really isn't very long. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
I have both kinds of guitars - Fender AND Gibson.
| Post Date: 2/2/2010 @ 3:24 pm |
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RE: Just to vent and get any help I can |
movedbeatle
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When I try to copy solos. When I make some up I have no issue doing various tec. like pinch harmonics, tremelo picking. ext
Ma'am, that G string looks a little rusty
| Post Date: 2/2/2010 @ 3:28 pm |
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RE: Just to vent and get any help I can |
Knucklehead
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Just checked your profile. If that information is accurate, you've got one great thing going for you in that you like B.B. King. Copy as much of his stuff as you can - his technique isn't overly cumbersome, he gets great tone and vibrato, and most importantly, he plays with a lot of feeling. Just do that for a while and let us know how it goes.
And if it makes you feel any better, I had several years of formal training on a variety of instruments before I ever picked up a guitar, have perfect pitch, blah blah blah, and my dad thought I sucked, too. And he was probably right, and might STILL be right, but I don't care. I play, he doesn't.
I have both kinds of guitars - Fender AND Gibson.
| Post Date: 2/2/2010 @ 3:36 pm |
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RE: Just to vent and get any help I can |
ScreaminSGs
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I started on violin in 5th grade. Switched to clarinet in seventh grade. I added Sax my freshman year. I started playing bass and guitar my sophmore year.
My parents always came to my concerts, but my Dad never had any words of encouragement. He didn't say anything at all. My Mom let me know she didn't care for the music we were playing, Hard Classical in concert band and very progressive jazz in stage band. A few years later I bought a new Rick 4001 and a Hohner LP copy. I thought my Dad was mad at me for spending the money on them. I mentioned this to my Mom. She asked my Dad about it and she told me he wouldn't ever discourage me from playing music!
That came as a shock to me!
I don't know your Dad, but that may be his way of encouraging you to work harder.
Anyway, keep practicing. He may surprise you!
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
http://www.screaminsgs.com/vintage_knights.htm
| Post Date: 2/2/2010 @ 4:40 pm |
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RE: Just to vent and get any help I can |
DeathCharge2
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break solos into sections, practice clean and slow, use a metronome.
Mr Saucey Cool Hand
| Post Date: 2/2/2010 @ 6:04 pm |
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RE: Just to vent and get any help I can |
A Dozen
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Who cares if other people think you suck, so long as you can express yourself? Not everybody gets to be a rock star, use it to demonstrate how you feel, you'll be okay.
| Post Date: 2/2/2010 @ 9:12 pm |
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RE: Just to vent and get any help I can |
djobson101
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Sometimes you just can't avoid dad's disapproval. My friend that I used to jam with, when I was about 16 - Around his house, the playlist was COUNTRY. No if's, and's, maybe's or but's, and my friends dad liked to drink pretty heavily. He liked his Hank Williams and there was no stopping that. When he came down to listen to us play one night, and heard the Iron Maiden tunes, and the distortion and palm muting... oh, let me tell you. He was NOT happy. He must've told us we sucked 20 times in a 5 minute song. And it wasn't even because we sucked. He just didn't like it. You know who sucked? Sid Vicious sucked! And I like hella punk bands. So, as long as people aren't walking up to you and turning your amp off as you're playing, your set 
So the point is, don't take it to heart. If teachers are telling you you're good than you probably got a little something up your sleeve already. I can attest on behalf of the friend that I mentioned above. It's a sin he barely picks up a guitar anymore, because back then (he was 2 years younger than me) at 14 he was playing blues licks that still have me scratching my head... when he plays them now after months and months of not even touching the guitar.
EDIT: Oh, sorry I didn't really give you much of an answer. The posts above are all you need to do to get those solo's rollin
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| Post Date: 2/2/2010 @ 9:36 pm |
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RE: Just to vent and get any help I can |
Strattern
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Some fathers believe in negative reinforcement. Your dad could be thinking that if he rides your ass you will try your damnedest to show him up by practicing harder. It's screwed up, but it's not uncommon. Hell, in Japan, negative reinforcement is pretty much the rule.
Either that or your dad is just a miserable prick with an inferiority complex. As much as we all want our father's approval, you are ultimately the only one who can make yourself happy.
And I also have to say I am equally as horrified when I see You Tube videos where somebody does a completely unlistenable or clunky version of a tune and their friends and relatives write in telling them that they are "amazing" (probably the most overused word in YT). That doesn't do anyone any good, either.
Anyway, the thing is that skills come in their own time. Learning guitar tends to be a rather incremental endeavor, so, as someone said earlier, just break the stuff you want to learn down into bite sized sections, master them and then build on what you just learned. It takes time for your brain to rewire itself to make your hands do what you want them to.
I have also seen, albeit only very occasionally, guitarists in name touring bands admit that they are lousy at doing other bands material even if he can do his own group's stuff up a treat. So don't feel bad. Just keep working at getting better.
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
(H. L. Mencken)
Two octaves down? Really? What is your target audience? Seismometers?
(srinivassa)
| Post Date: 2/3/2010 @ 7:45 am |
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RE: Just to vent and get any help I can |
dafreeze
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Been playing a long time and I still suk. But, I have a ball. And many of us are our own worst critics.
One thing I heard a lot from my Father was "turn that dam thing down!" I'm sure I'm not alone. But I liked it loud and we didn't usually buy the same records.
One of my problems has always been consistent discipline. I play a lot. Fortunate enough to have a job where I can take a guitar to work, too. There's a Tele and a Bj in my locker right now.
I can go into my cave and play for 3 or 4 hours and get into it so much I'll put off taking a drink, going to the head, eating or going to bed at a decent hour. A lot of that time I just fart around though. But like I said, I have an absolute ball. Most important part, for me.
Watched my Son teach himself something the other day by watching a kid on you tube demonstrating it. I'd never thought of that. A couple days ago I stumbled across a free demo site where folks submit their own breakdowns. vanderbilly.com. Have looked at a handful of things on there from a few different guys, and some were pretty impressive.
| Post Date: 2/3/2010 @ 8:04 am |
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RE: Just to vent and get any help I can |
Brazenman
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Practice practice practice practice practice practice practice!
Only way to get better. 
___________________
I dig my Bogner Alchemist 112. 
| Post Date: 2/3/2010 @ 8:06 am |
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RE: Just to vent and get any help I can |
srinivassa
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My 2 cents worth of music theory:
A lot of what most bands play is pretty simple, and a lot of it sounds good. If you understand pentatonic scales and basic chords, the only thing standing in your way of playing solos is probably ear training and practice.
If you were my student, I would have you practicing basic first position chords: A, E, D, C, G, Fbar, Bmidbar, Am, Em, Dm, B7, D7, A7,E7, G7.
Then use your pentatonic blues scales based on the tonic note. For instance, if you are playing something in E, the scale to learn would be E pentatonic blues:
----------o------ o------- o---------
- -|- -|-- -|-- -|-x-|-x-|-x-|---|- -|
- -|- -|-- -|-- -|-x-|---|---|-x-|- -|
- -|- -|-- -|-x-|-- -|---|-x-|---|- -|
- -|- -|- --|-- -|-x-|---|-x-|-x-|- -|
- -|- -|-- -|-- -|-x-|---|-x-|---|- -|
- -|- -|-x-|-- -|-x-|-x-|-x-|---|- -|
This really covers an awful lot of music. I think for rock/blues music the blues scale is far more important than the major scale. Practicing this scale will not only help you learn to improvise, it will make it easier to play other people's solos and licks. Once you have this under your fingers all up and down the fretboard, you will find your fingers 'accidentally' going to the right note more often, or at least something that sounds ok instead of just garbage.
Of course, this is just the way I play. Learning licks from a favorite artist is also considered one of the most important techniques in improvisation and soloing. I always have to do things my own way, so I frequently just try to train my ears and practice. A lot of times, other people's licks will just pop out of it, which is rewarding in its own way.
But just play. There's not that much to music except tone/sound, feelings, and ears. You need at least two of those to be good, and feelings isn't one many people can learn. *edit* ooops, and you have GOT to have rythm. If you are going to play with another person at ALL, you have GOT to have rythm. *end edit*
| Post Date: 2/3/2010 @ 9:11 am |
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RE: Just to vent and get any help I can |
movedbeatle
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thanks guys!!! Time to work on discipline, i start to work on a solo slow and get bored and end up playing something i already know
Ma'am, that G string looks a little rusty
| Post Date: 2/3/2010 @ 2:37 pm |
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