How Impressive are you?

rcsnydley
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Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:59 am

AndyT wrote:
:lol:
I was just messing around the other day and was pounding out a 12 bar and just getting into it. I must've played on it for about 10 minutes or so when my grandaughter came in and yelled "WOOO HOOO PAPA! ROCK ON! YEAH BABY!" :woohoo: I know I didn't really sound very good that day but boy did she boost me up and make me want to practice more. I love that kid. (She's 9)

All of us can give a full catalog of what we do wrong when we play, but how often do we tell ourselves something positive? Sure, work on what you can't do, but don't forget to have fun with what you can do, no matter how it sounds. Encourage yourself or you will just kill your own spirit. And then where will you be?
Great post Andy. A little encouragement goes a long way.

A couple of years ago one of my nieces (14 at the time) who is an aspiring singer told me that I sound like a pro. Though I know I didn't and don't it has carried me through many a hard time. Just a little bit of appreciation can go along way.

This is one of the advantages of playing for people, the positive feedback (which most people give) is very encouraging and helps to build confidence.

Ric


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neverfoundthetime
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Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:36 am

Sounds like a good time to tell you we just released a way to easily upload videos to your profile so someone just needs to click on your username to access. Or you can keep the videos private so you have all your guitar vid's in one place for when you are in the zone on practicing. It's a good way to really see and hear yourself or open yourself up to feedback if you make your video shared with friends on TG or public.
Great idea BigJim!

My moments of Zen recently:
One of my 12 year old daughter's girlfriend was over and I took up the guitar and sang a song. Here eyes opened up like dinner plates and she just beamed at me and said to Alessandra,"Oh your father can sing so well!"

A very good girlfriend was over feeling very low after loosing a relationship. I played You Can Never Go Home (moody Blues) and she cried and cried. When she stopped she said it was so healing for her. She's a music teacher, pianist and music-therapist. I was very, very chuffed... and moved.

And then I found Neil and you guys.....


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neverfoundthetime
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Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:37 am

Andy you got some Karma thrown at you from for this thread. Make up for all those jokes! :-)


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Music Junkie
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Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:42 am

AndyT wrote:
:lol:
I was just messing around the other day and was pounding out a 12 bar and just getting into it. I must've played on it for about 10 minutes or so when my grandaughter came in and yelled "WOOO HOOO PAPA! ROCK ON! YEAH BABY!" :woohoo: I know I didn't really sound very good that day but boy did she boost me up and make me want to practice more. I love that kid. (She's 9)

All of us can give a full catalog of what we do wrong when we play, but how often do we tell ourselves something positive? Sure, work on what you can't do, but don't forget to have fun with what you can do, no matter how it sounds. Encourage yourself or you will just kill your own spirit. And then where will you be?
Yes, Yes, Yes! That is one thing my wife told me the other day. I was getting frustrated and made an off-hand remark about how crappy I was. She just stopped and told me to shut the he## up. She then began to remind me of how far I have come since buying my first guitar several years ago. She reminded me that I can now play five or six songs all the way through and that most of the time, I have a blast practicing.

All of us certainly need to be critical of ourselves, but we need to remember to pat ourselves on the back once in a while and have FUN!!!!!!!!!!

Great points, all of you.


BigBear
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Thu Aug 13, 2009 11:19 am

I think we, as aspiring musicians and guitarists, get so focused on technique that we lose sight of what we're really trying to do; make music either for ourselves or others. To the average, non-musical, person the ability to play an instrument, especially the guitar, is pretty amazing. They are more impressed with our ability to make a song sound like something they recognize.

Regardless of how poorly we feel we play we are still probably way better than they are! My point is, we are much too hard on ourselves. Think of how many practice hours you've invested to get to where you are. Hundreds? Thousands?

I am incredibly self-critical of my guitar skills but I always get great wonderful compliments from other people (except my wife who has some deep seated issue with the guitar). Maybe I should just lighten up and accept that I will never play like Neil but I can still have loads of fun making music! :cheer:


eagle670
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Thu Aug 13, 2009 11:48 am

You know its funny how it takes an outside look to measure how far you have come on the guitar. When I started back to playing last summer, I made a point not to even attempt to play any of my old music from my high school days. I wanted to learn the right way this time and back then most of the songs that I played were learned using short cuts and frankly they were not very good. Last night I was reorganizing some of my music and decided to make a list of the songs that I had learned since last summer. My listing came to 29, which surprised me. Some of the tunes I had even forgot about until I saw the music for them in my files. Most of the stuff that I play, my kids don't recognize, but the other day I was playing and my wife started singing along a little bit and had to tell my kids what the song was. Just that slight recognition that she could pick up on the song I was playing brought a little smile to my face. My next goal is to video tape myself playing the tune that brought me here "From the Beginning". I would like to get your guy's opinion of my playing.

Kevin


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Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:11 pm

Kevin:

Look forward to it. Nice that your wife recognized the tune and started singing along. My wife will do that from time to time and it always feels pretty good.....


BigBear
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Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:25 pm

Kevin- you and I must be brothers or something! I just did the exact same thing! I have a 3-ring binder with all my "good stuff" in it. Songs that I could play in front of others or songs that people like at a jam. But a lot of it is old, slow Am folk songs. Not very interesting.

I've spent so much time learning TARGET songs that my old, good stuff, really sounded stale. Now, probably half my good stuff is TARGET and the rest is stuff I still really like but don't play very often.

In The Beginning is a fantastic song and I've spent a lot of time learning it. Neil included the lead tab but I still don't get it. Especially that part where he walks up the bass strings 3 times. Doesn't sound right to me. I've asked Neil to post a video for the lead section but I suspect he's too busy.

That's a song I never would learned without Neil's great instruction. Now it's easy. Or the lead to Wish You Were Here with all those bends. Neil telling us that David Gilmour used really light strings and that Neil had trouble with the bends was a huge validation for me.

Can't wait to see your video! Cheers! Rick


BigBear
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Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:28 pm

Music Junkie wrote:
Kevin:

Look forward to it. Nice that your wife recognized the tune and started singing along. My wife will do that from time to time and it always feels pretty good.....
You guys are lucky! My wife says "Can you play that quieter?" The passive aggressive side of me wants to plug it into my amp and wail away!! LOL!


cabro
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Thu Aug 13, 2009 2:09 pm

I work a tough room. My wife plays multiple instruments including guitar and has a really big, Ethel Merman kind of voice. She also has an extensive knowledge of all kinds of music and was one of my first guitar teachers back in the mid-seventies. My daughter can sing like an angel as well as sight read, play the flute, and keys. Both the boys have great voices and the youngest was nominated to All State Choir twice. We've been told he has perfect pitch. Try getting encouragement from this crowd. I feel like Rodney Dangerfield here. But every now and then... the wife will ask me to show her what I just did or the youngest will come up the hall from his room to investigate. I get a lot more respect away from home though. I'm good enough to have a standing solo gig every October. One set for as long as my fingers can stand it. And... my best friend has had formal instruction on the guitar and been playing years longer than I have. Every time we get together, we have to stop in the middle of a jam so I can show him something. Since he was my other teacher back in the seventies, that feels really good.


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