Playing nicely with others...

willem
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Sun Jul 04, 2010 1:14 pm

Matt you said well,we have to meet and play life,,looks cool what you have under the cork..


songman52
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Mon Jul 05, 2010 12:16 am

Good topic, Michele.

When I first felt competent to strum along, I joined a group at my church (many years ago). Playing with other, more experienced people, helped me learn from them, and we would sometimes just jam after rehearsal. It also helps to learn to play in front of others.

A few years ago I answered an online ad on a local message board, and began getting together with a couple of guys to jam. After a short time a guy joined us on bass, and eventually we said "If we had a drummer... hmmm..." Well, five years later here we are playing some local venues, getting together weekly to jam and practice, and having a great time. So, check local message boards, in music stores or online, or put your own ad up looking for someone to just get together with.

Another option is to fly 2000 miles (for me) to Oregon and you might run into a guitar-playing Bear!! (Okay, okay, I was there to visit one of my daughters. Meeting Bear was icing on the cake!)

And replying to Bear's comment, I don't play better than him, just different. Some of the songs we played together, like The Boxer, Scarborough Faire, Sound of Silence, Brown Eyed Girl, etc., I've played for years. But Bear has much better knowledge of the fretboard and scales and was able to improvise some leads, like on Kansas City. That's something I really want to work more on (leads and theory).

So, Michele, good luck finding someone to jam along with. If you're ever in my part of Texas, I'd love to jam. That goes for any TG'ers!

Jerry


michelew
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Mon Jul 05, 2010 4:06 am

Thanks for the advice and the story of how it started for you Jerry. I'd love to be able to play like you some day. If I'm ever in Texas I'll drop you a line.

Michele


smips65
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Tue Jul 06, 2010 2:36 pm

I'll throw my support to the idea of playing with church members. They already know you, and it's a very positive arena to begin with, support just comes naturally.

Playing in front of the congregation, teaches you the amps, large space acoustics, and they didn't pay for the performance, so no ill will towards a missed note, or out of time chord.


songman52
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Tue Jul 06, 2010 11:59 pm

"...missed note or out of time chord"

Hey, smips, didn't know you were in the congregation listening to us!! There were a few seriously bad moments, but like you said, it was church and free so nobody threw things at us.

Jerry


BigBear
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Wed Jul 07, 2010 12:53 am

songman52 wrote:
"...missed note or out of time chord"

Hey, smips, didn't know you were in the congregation listening to us!! There were a few seriously bad moments, but like you said, it was church and free so nobody threw things at us.

Jerry

You guys just need to be sure they pass the collection plate before you play!! rofl!! :silly:


haoli25
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Wed Jul 07, 2010 12:58 am

That was a COLLECTION PLATE?!?!?! Damn, I'm so sorry, I thought it was the tip tray. I thought the little envelopes were a bit much for just music fans. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:


AndyT
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Wed Jul 07, 2010 2:23 am

Nope... I'm not gonna say it... Nope... Not going there... LOL


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neverfoundthetime
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Wed Jul 07, 2010 3:48 am

I did catch this thread a few days ago but didn't have time to comment so I'll answer at the risk of having missed something having not read the whole thread now. I did read that Jerry interestingly considers Bear to be the "icing on the cake"...that translates to "sahnenhäubchen" in German ...so Bear's a big dollop of guitar playing cream. Can't lick that! ;-)

Anyway..... I've found that who I play guitar with is important to me. I'd rather be together with a friend and someone I appreciate than just anyone who can play the guitar. Music can be quite an intimate thing to share so I really do pay attention to who the playing partner is. I've found it difficult to play with someone who just has their own agenda and little sensitivity to what I can/want (to) do. There are a number of TG-ers I'd love to play along with (especially a certain big dollop of cream ;-) ) and sincerely hope I get the chance to one day. I love playing with someone who's much better than me as I find I can pick up a lot from such players and as I can camp-fire-jam pretty well, there's much that can be done. With someone who'd much, much better than me, it depends on their sensitivity and ability to be generous in giving me some space. With someone who's not as good as me, no problem, I'm a coach so I drop into that role automatically and can enjoy that too. I was trying out the The Story in Your Eyes with Alessandra on Sunday as she's making good progress with her singing and it was great fun (mostly, except for the tantrums ;-)) and we noticed there is something to be learned listening to how your own voice fits with someone else's. Something special started to happen there but was interrupted by the afore mentioned tantrums (I can't, I don't want to, I don't like that song etc.). Hopefully we will revisit that song soon!


michelew
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Wed Jul 07, 2010 4:35 am

That's the way I feel too Chris, that's it's pretty personal. But, I might need to try and chill a bit on that front.

Re: getting together with your congregation, while I'm a spiritual person I'm not a religious one. I don't go to church, but I think that would be a great place to find people to place with. I assume you have a good sense of community and similar values, which is a great place to start.

M.


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