After the thrill of the chase.......

MarkM
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:26 am
Status: Offline

Thu Mar 03, 2011 5:09 pm

So you know when you finally finished learning that song you always wanted to play? Feeling pretty good about getting it just right or more likely just right for you. A satisfying sense of accomplishment finally settles in for a brief moment. Then............... on to the next one. Well I find myself in this situation once again and it's frustrating. I think I like the thrill of learning a new song and going through the process or more than likely the brief "high" you get when you accomplished it. For me finding that next song is just a pain the a$$. There are so many great songs in TARGET and we all have those others that we're trying to learn as well that it just becomes a bit overwhelming. Maybe not the right word but ...again.. for me it's a difficult thing to do. I'll now look through the Target catalog and see if there is something that grabs me. Do I look to do a fingerstyle song or do I pick a strumming/flatpicking one? Usually I try and find one of each to work on to change things up a bit. Do I look for one to really challenge me or do I take the easy way out and learn something well within my abilities? Oh I've always got a few songs not in the program I'm trying to learn but the curve is much longer as Neil isn't teaching it. So that's frustrating. Do I go back to something I did a whle ago and try and make it better? See where I"m comming from? Am I just going mad??? (Be kind) I'm just ranting I know. It would be much easier if I treated this like a project or assignment I suppose. Here... I want you to learn this becasue I think it would help you improve your skill on X. Now that would be somewhat easier I suppose. A sort of request hour......

So that's where I am. How do you all go through this process? Am I completely nuts or do you find yourself going through some of the this as well. Just curious.........



MarkM


dennisg
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:34 am
Status: Offline

Thu Mar 03, 2011 5:25 pm

Mark,

Usually by the time I've posted a song on TG, I'm so sick of it that I can't wait to start on my next song.
To me it feels a little like I've just finished a massive term paper for school, and now I get to choose how I want to have fun.


tovo
Posts: 0
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2009 4:35 pm
Status: Offline

Thu Mar 03, 2011 5:37 pm

Hey Mark. That's a keen observation I think and one I can relate to for sure. I have been working on the same tune now for oh, about 3-4 weeks. I whined to Neil about putting it up which he did, and I love the tune so I want to be able to play it well. It's a complex tune in that you can play it pretty straight or add a lot of embellishment and make it your own somewhat. I think that is the key to staying interested in a tune. A simple 3-4 chord tune is good to learn, fun to play but doesn't hold your attention very long (mine at least). Something that can get better and better as I improve is a different story.

I also find it frustrating to have a tune in the bag and then a couple months later when I try to pull it out I can't. An example is "Wonderful Tonight" which I had down pretty good at one point. One the weekend out in the bush around the campfire my mate said "Wonderful tonight is a really special tune for my wife and I...can you play it?" I found I had forgotten it completely and that was a real shame, it would have been great to play it for them.

Which leads me to the final point from your post. I reckon it is definitely worth revisiting tunes you have learned quite frequently so that you continue to develop a range of tunes you can pull out when the occasion suits.

Great thread Mark.


reiver
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2009 10:30 am
Status: Offline

Thu Mar 03, 2011 6:58 pm

I understand exactly, Mark. For me, learning something new - recording it - posting it.......all produce a bit of a high. But the next day is a slump and it can be hard to get out of it. I have to agree with Dennis, by the time I've posted something I'm usually so sick of it I don't even think of going back and playing it! I haven't played Mad World or The Water is Wide since the day I posted them.

Seems to me that posting a video is kind of like the end of a journey which is not normal in learning to play something - usually it's an ongoing process with no specific endpoint. And I do find it difficult to find the next thing to learn and end up just noodling away and being far too easily distracted by some of the other possibles. And that's really where I find myself now. There are techniques that I'm trying to improve (use of a pick, fingerpicking away from the "home" position) and I try to incorporate these into my noodling, but basically I'm still just playing around with various tunes. I'm beginning to think that those teachers who used to write "Stuart is too easily distracted" on my report cards may have been on to something!

Stuart


User avatar
neverfoundthetime
Posts: 48
Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:14 pm
Status: Offline

Thu Mar 03, 2011 8:09 pm

Mark, I feel your pain(said in my best Bill Clinton voice)! There is a slump after a successful video post and finding the next thing is the challenge for sure. But I do like this project oriented way of working on a song for a video as it gives you a lot of energy and purpose and a time line to get the thing done by. So that's all good. I found on a couple of songs that the work continued after so there was less of a slump. On New Horizons I found a guy on the tube who did a video of himself playing it exactly as Hayward did and I really wanted to play it that way.He sent me his tab so I'm well on the way to doing that now so this has been a much longer ride and no slump. On Melancholy Man I did the riff and strumming separately so learning to play it all together became the post video challenge. On all these songs though, I've always had the further goal of being able to play the song off by heart at the drop of a hat so I do keep playing them. Building a repertoire. A song has to jump up and bite me to have a chance... but when it does, away I go. On the other hand, I look at Fire & Rain and think I really want to play this and think it would be good for me and.... months go by, nothing! So just look for what grabs you with enough immediacy to carry you through to the bitter end :-). Just make sure you post the video!

PS: Here's why we don't do the song we think we should as it would teach us a much needed lesson but do do the spontaneous choice and make a video of it even though we may not increase our skills much. Same reason we buy lots of healthy fresh food when we are out shopping which then rots in the fridge for weeks while we snack on candy bars and biscuits: http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/10/27/procrastination/

Oh yeah, and there's that experiment with the Marshmallows and the 5 year-olds. Apparently if you couldn't resist them for 10 minutes at that age...your whole life is going to go down the drain! ;-) Too bad we've past that defining moment!


MarkM
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:26 am
Status: Offline

Thu Mar 03, 2011 8:31 pm

Dennis - Yup been there. Sometimes I got totally sick of the song and only went back after a while to play it again.

Tony - I hear what you mean about sometimes forgettting. I was at a friends house the other night and we were playing. I was trying to show him a song I always play (Down By the River) and just had a brain cramp. It eventually came back to me. I constantly go back to old songs and play them though. Always making sure I don't forget them. Sometimes it just may take a few minutes for the cobwebs to clear.

Stuart - Ah.. So I'm not going nuts!!!! Yup I noodled all day today.. A little bit of this song I don't know and a little bit of that one and on and on. ............Oh look at that shiny object...................

Chris - I can hear that voice now. I'm with you. A song has to grab me and when it does I won't let it go until I've got it down. I thnk I'm starting to do that now with Helplessly Hoping. I just wish Neil had a lesson on it so I could get it down easier. There is just too many versions out there which makes it confusing and none of them really sound like that Stills is doing.




MarkM


MarkM
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:26 am
Status: Offline

Thu Mar 03, 2011 8:34 pm

neverfoundthetime wrote:
[
PS: Here's why we don't do the song we think we should as it would teach us a much needed lesson but do do the spontaneous choice and make a video of it even though we may not increase our skills much. Same reason we buy lots of healthy fresh food when we are out shopping which then rots in the fridge for weeks while we snack on candy bars and biscuits: http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/10/27/procrastination/

Oh yeah, and there's that experiment with the Marshmallows and the 5 year-olds. Apparently if you couldn't resist them for 10 minutes at that age...your whole life is going to go down the drain! ;-) Too bad we've past that defining moment![/quote]





HA!! I can totally relate on the food and the songs!!!! Every once in a while you need to play something that you know just to let you believe you don't totally suck that day.................



MarkM


User avatar
neverfoundthetime
Posts: 48
Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:14 pm
Status: Offline

Thu Mar 03, 2011 8:38 pm

Thought you'd like that Mark .....I'll explain the marshmallows tomorrow... must SLEEP! ;-)


User avatar
neverfoundthetime
Posts: 48
Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:14 pm
Status: Offline

Fri Mar 04, 2011 6:12 am

If you could resist the marshmallow at the age of 4, you are going to be better on self-discipline issues on TG ;-):


User avatar
skaladar
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2010 12:45 pm
Status: Offline

Fri Mar 04, 2011 7:38 am

I don't think you're “nuts” at all Mark. Not even different than most of us.

T. S. Eliot wrote:
“The journey not the arrival matters.”
There are hundreds of quotes, some more philosophical than others, that essentially reflect some of what you're feeling. Personally I get far more satisfaction out of the learning/accomplishment process than I do in knowing I have gotten a song "just right".

I think my own problem is that I can't always wait until it IS just right. Once I have gotten to a point that I know and can play a song fairly well (in my own mind perhaps) I become complacent and don't put in the time needed to really perfect it. Maybe I am gobbling up that first marshmallow rather than waiting for the second. However, contrary to what you are experiencing, with all that is available in the Target program I find it hard to resist finding that next song. When I first started playing over 30 years ago, if I wanted to learn a new song I had to trek all over the place to find the sheet music. Now, after more than a 25 year hiatus of not playing, to have so much content readily accessible makes moving on easy. There is just so much I want to try and learn. In addition I am constantly inspired by the video uploads, both for review and in the busking channel, to try songs that may have not grabbed my attention to a great degree at first.

In any event I think it is completely natural to enjoy the learning process and feel a satisfying sense of accomplishment when done.
Sure I do experience some anti-climactic feelings but very soon afterwards I look at it as an opportunity to further expand and grow by setting new goals ... and that's my "for what it's worth" :-)

Ken


Post Reply Previous topicNext topic