Do you play guitar????, I mean...even sort of... Options

[Rachshel]

I keep seeing all you guitar players out there and for some it is a desperate passion, so yeah, do you play or maybe you just want to!

[zoey]

I tried and failed. I attempted a few chords but my poor small hands couldn't take the pain. It may be a poor excuse but my hands really are small.

[smackwater.jack]

uuhm- i vote: I am working on being and expert guitartist - ´cause
i´ve seen my freind tom, playing his solo on "bebop a lula" and i spontaneously
decide to play more banjo

- martin

[Rachshel]

uuhm- i vote: I am working on being and expert guitartist - ´cause
i´ve seen my freind tom, playing his solo on "bebop a lula" and i spontaneously
decide to play more banjo

- martin

You make me laugh!!!!!!!

[wook059]

i need to start playing more often. haven't picked up my guitar in months... i miss her

:: the hummingbird ::

[bethany]

Once I learned 3 chords. But it hurt my hands, especially since I'm used to the smaller neck and strings of a violin. And I got frustrated with myself because I wasn't good immediately. But I have a dad and brother who play guitars. So I'm around it a lot. And maybe one day I will date a guitar player.

[jame$]

  And maybe one day I will date a guitar player.

How YOU doin' ?


I've played for about 13 years, but don't sound that good. I mean, I know people who have played for 3 years who can just smoke me. Part of that lies in the fact that I've never desired to be a soloist. The other part lies in the fact that most of the music that I really want to learn is pretty uncomplicated, so there's not a lot of incentive to sit around for 8 hrs./day going over my Ionic scales and 6th chords.

However, there does arise within me the occassional spurt of envy when I watch a John Petrucci or even Dave Matthews play incredibly complicated pieces with seeming effortlessness. The first time I saw Phil Keaggy in concert, I wanted to go home and smash my guitar into 1000 pieces.

Also, for those who have tried to start playing and failed, take heart. I started with 3 years of classical training at age 12. My teacher moved away, and I was kinda tired of doing all the technical crap anyway, so I didn't get a new teacher. For most of high school, I rarely played. Then, in 1997 (or so) around the time that everyone was getting easy access to the internet, I discovered this wonderful thing called OLGA (On-line Guitar Archive). Some of you probably know it, but for those who don't, it's basically a massive archive of pro-chord and tablature that makes it way too easy to find reasonable approximations of popular sheet music. At the time, I had started to really get into Indigo Girls and Oasis. I downloaded every tab that OLGA had for them, and since I still knew my chord formations and basic theory from my training, I learned how to play pretty much everything I wanted to know. Now, I probably haven't sight-read a piece of music in ten years (well, outside of singing in my cathedral's choir), and I still don't have a problem learning new music when I want to. I also write/play original stuff way more than I do cover songs.

So in short, training is great, but it is absolutely not necessary...especially if you have played music before and understand any sort of theory, or just have decent enough pitch to pick out melodies. If I were most of the aspiring players here, I'd go to my local music shop and pick up a book w/ pictures of most of the major chord-formations, and then go from there. And check out OLGA.

I mean look at Tom Petty. He's made a career out of four chords

Oh yeah:
Acoustic: Alvarez (I forget the model #)
Electric: Danelectro (gradual baby blue/white)
Coveted that I will probably never buy: Taylor "Jewel Signature" model.

This post has been edited by jame$: Jun 7 2004, 05:04 PM

[FallingLeaf]

Funny, but I started playing acoustic guitar in the 3rd grade and played (crappily) til I was 13 or so, then took up bass. Played bass for hours every day til I was 18 or so, then it dwindled, though I always kept an acoustic or a bass around to pick at.

THEN a month or so ago I bought a new acoustic, and I'm better than I've ever been on it after that 4 weeks. I think it's just the passion now, dunno. But somehow I've found the synchopation (spelling?) to sing and strum, and THAT f-in' RAWKS.

[WalrusOct9]

I've been teaching myself for about 8 or 9 years now. I'm still not good enough, but I'm working on it.

And maybe one day I will date a guitar player.

And I know James beat me to it, but i'd just like to point out i'm still taking applications.

I uploaded a song in the writer's forum awhile ago, it's still there if you want to know if i can actually play.

[kylie jo]

i play. i've sorta been playing for about 3 years. but i'm not good, and i can't do bar chords or anything that requires long fingers b/c i just don't have them.

the song i chose for my point of departure was 'Poughkeepsie'.

[Trudes]

I chose 'I want to try'...but I have never played a guitar.
I played around with a guitar, but I didn't know what I was doing at the time...and I do not own a guitar.
S'on my list.

[hometown boy dav...]

I've been playing since my 20th birthday when I bought my first guitar.
I played with it in my room for 6 months. Yes, my guitar. Geez.

So I've been playing for almost 25 years, but I still haven't mastered
Stairway to Heaven. I got pretty good in the 80s till I broke my thumb
playing volleyball, which screwed up my bar chords for a few years.
I think I'm an ok guitar player, good enough for the minor leagues.
I'll never make it to Carnegie Hall, but I have played on stage at
Canal Street Tavern; in 1986 during their open mike night.
"The Dave Group" was hot that night, we were asked to do an encore
of our version of Rickie Lee Jones - "Danny's All Star Joint".

I have 4 guitars now, 2 of which need to find a new home because I don't
use them at all. I have an Ibanez acoustic electric, a Washburn Travel acoustic
which I really like, a Yamaha acoustic (24 yrs old), and a Montana travel guitar.

My best song is going to be Seahorse, but it is currently Behind Blue Eyes - the Who. Or as Larry King put it, the W, H, O.

Hey, when is the Orchard yard sale anyway??? I got a lot of stuff to sell.

This post has been edited by hometown boy dave: Jun 7 2004, 06:16 PM

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[d.]

in the air, i am andre segovia!

[FloridaGirl]

I've had a guitar for about two years now, but I still stink at playing it. I know how to make a bunch of chords, but I'm crap at switching because I don't practice enough, and I can't do bar chords or any of that nonsense (I'm feeling ya on the small hands, Kylie). And my strumming is terrible. But I'm not bad at figuring out simple chord progressions, which is useful when I want to mess around with songs I really like.

[liberation party]

I am working on becoming an expert guitarist, but I doubt I will ever get there because I suck at sticking with things without constant (and I do mean CONSTANT) motivation, and I developed chronic tendonitis in my fingers from excessive typing a couple of years ago. Bleeeeeeh. I've taken a year and a half or so of lessons, though, and I taught guitar to kids for a few months when the tendonitis first set in, when I was on Celebrex and concurrently really happy and thought I could actually teach, before I moved away from my pint-sized fan base. (I still help my friends' siblings work on the basics, so I guess I'm not a perfect failure.) I used to play in church events (Proclamation was probably the biggest -- a few hundred people, and I had a djembe player! Wow!) and open-mic nights at coffeehouses, where I think I was sought out because I had my own microphone. Harrumph.

Oh, and I'm playing in my best friend's wedding next month. If anyone would like to hear me play Wherever You Go over the phone, give me your number. I am in dire need of constructive criticism as I try to figure out WHAT the HECK to do with the outro, seeing as I am not a Welsh goddess with a killer falsetto like the song's original author/singer. Help meeeee!!!

[Aaron]

I have alwasy given up when trying. Part of it is that I don't have one of my own.

[taliendo]

I've played guitar for around 10 years now, and although my friends and family like what I do, I'm just not satisfied. I picked up the mandolin about five years ago (a much easier instrument) and have been wailin on it quite a lot lately. I also play bass and banjo minutely.

Like another Rhinelander said, I've always been more of a rhythm player, although I do like to finger pick everynow and again. I would like to become one hell of a rhythm player, even if I never really learn how to solo (I also play pretty much only acoustic guitar -- just never liked the texture that electric offers. I thinkt he best of both worlds is probably combined in something like a chet atkins slim body.)

[markianmc]

I classify myself as a "once and future" expert guitarist. I played really consistently for about 8 years starting in high school and for about a year or so in college, I would probably have considered myself "good to very good". I was writing some instrumental pieces and dabbling in some bands, but mostly just jamming with friends. Then I moved to England for a year and didn't bring my gear with me (I have always been exclusively an electric player--acoustics and I don't get along). I got rusty over that year and then got married--and that really did it. I have not played hardly at all for about 9 years. Finally, within the past month or so, I have picked it back up (thanks in part to inspiration provided here. Thanks!). My technique is understandably rancid, but I am excited that my "feel" is still there. Guitar is much more like riding a bike than one would expect. I don't think your hands ever "forget" how to play entirely, they just get sloppy.

Stylewise, I have always been a blues man. This is part musical preference and part necessity. I am left-handed but play right-handed. So, while this gives me an advantage with note/chord fingering, it limits my picking/fingerstyle abililities. I don't have the dexterity to finger-pick well and don't have the speed for Eddie Van Halen, et al. Since, IMO, good blues guitar is about timing, feeling and subtlety, it works best for me. Also, I have always loved the music itself anyway, so it fits.

I am currently looking for some more inspiration to get back into it, and nothing does that quite like a new axe! Can any of the players (or aspiring players) out there recommend an electric with a good blues feel. Right now, I have a basic model Strat and an old cheap Yamaha I am using, but I am looking for an upgrade. I have always wanted a Tele, but can't decide. Any advice is appreciated.

[silentjane]

i've never played guitar - that's my big brother's job. but i used to play and make bass guitars, if that counts ...

[jame$]

  Can any of the players (or aspiring players) out there recommend an electric with a good blues feel. 

You're smart to lean towards the Tele. Of course, as with any Fender, the USA-made models are the best, and you can pick one up at a Guitar Show for $800 if you're lucky. You might find a decent used one cheaper, but I'm wary of used guitars. Teles are so versital, and (I think) they look cool. I was *this close* to getting this beautiful baby-blue Tele when I went w/ the Danelectro instead. Danelectros are made super cheap (the body is particle board...seriously), but the lipstick pick-ups are just incredible, especially for that mellow-y Radiohead vibe.

If you want something that will have an excellent blues-y feel but not break the bank, I would reccomend a Mexican-made tele. They are not as good as USA made, but way WAY better than the Korean model. Also, they come with the Tex-Mex pick-ups which I think blow away other "middle of the road" electrics. Brand new, you're looking at around $500, but if you go to a good private store, you can usually haggle, especially if you pay cash.

If you want to pay a little more, then the USA-Tele, the Gibson NighHawk, or the good ole' Fender Mustang (good luck finding one!) are just fine for Blues.

If you have a bag of money just lying around with nothing to do, then you might as well get something from the company making the best electics guitars in the universe, Zion

[liberation party]

Guitar is much more like riding a bike than one would expect. I don't think your hands ever "forget" how to play entirely, they just get sloppy.

A perfect description. Thank you.

*goes back to practicing scales and other basics*

[markianmc]

*goes back to practicing scales and other basics*

My struggle is just getting the hands to work together again. I find myself making (and remembering somehow) pretty solid chord formations and progressions with the left, but getting my right to do its thing at the correct time isn't there yet.

I hate scales myself, but agree they are a necessary evil for good technique. I must grudgingly return to practising them...

::Performs his best "air" impression of an A#m scale sitting in his office chair::

[liberation party]

Scales are horrible. On the plus side, once I can play scales really fast I can kinda sorta improv, and I pick up the flatpicked embellishments of songs I'm trying to learn significantly faster. Arrgh. This is frustrating. Let's hope my fingers give me a few weeks of solid practice before they hate me again.

[smackwater.jack]

I've played guitar for around 10 years now, and although my friends and family like what I do, I'm just not satisfied. I picked up the mandolin about five years ago (a much easier instrument) and have been wailin on it quite a lot lately. I also play bass and banjo minutely.

Like another Rhinelander said, I've always been more of a rhythm player, although I do like to finger pick everynow and again. I would like to become one hell of a rhythm player, even if I never really learn how to solo (I also play pretty much only acoustic guitar -- just never liked the texture that electric offers. I thinkt he best of both worlds is probably combined in something like a chet atkins slim body.)

heyo taliendo,
i give you my vote. You´re absolutly right.
for me, fingerpicking is a big fun - which brings me to the banjo at last.
and playing the Rhythmguitar suits at last. But it seems that i will never manage the powerchords
But - i love, playing in a band. That´s pretty cool.
Just to stay on stage , feel the vibes from the audience - is there anything better in this univers?
-martin

[secretly just me]

i invested in a new taylor a few months ago in hopes that it would make me a better player... it didn't work.
guess that means i really do need to start practicing more.