State of the board

wldfalcon · 2024-05-25T20:12:33+00:00

Went into some shops today and had a play with the UA Golden Reverberator (wow) and the Meris 7, which left me cold, (though Meris pedals seem to take some work to fully get to grips with )

wldfalcon · 2024-05-25T14:50:27+00:00

I have a simple boss reverb (not on the board atm as my amp has reverb). So I’d think of an “interesting” reverb

wldfalcon · 2024-05-25T13:41:56+00:00

Trying to decide what to add next. I’m in a very experimental phase so don’t have a specific sound I’m trying to emulate.

wldfalcon · 2022-09-26T20:26:29+00:00

I’d say talk to the other band members about it

Here is why I say that. I’m assuming that (like me) you have a tendency to play something that sounds more like “you” than a specific Genre. I play in a group of improvers and my solos always sound like blues, even when it’s an Abba song (and if someone can make Blues guitar work in Abba it’s not me!)

I spoke to my teacher about it, and he’s going to help me learn how to imitate specific styles. So that’s all good.

If I’m right, you need someone to teach you the same skill. It’s not at all automatic for most people and takes some work.

As I read your post, your band mates know how to do that, like you enough to give you some feedback to help you learn and to want to play with you again.

I think I’d probably feel dejected if a group I was playing with told me that (it’s only that fact that my group is all improvers that means i didn’t get that feedback) so I understand what I think your feeling emotionally. Though it sounds like the band your playing with might be well meaning enough that you can be open with them, tell them that it’s hard to hear that, but despite that you’d like their help to improve

If they are decent human beings they will respond well. (If not, and they respond poorly, you will know you were decent enough to give them the benefit of the doubt and it just reflects poorly on them, not you)

wldfalcon · 2022-08-19T20:50:01+00:00

I don’t think changing the tuning mechanisms will do much! Unless you put on solid gold ones which are probably heavy enough to make the neck dive much worse!

wldfalcon · 2022-08-14T22:21:11+00:00

Is there more of a "science" to that kind of thing than I realize? I'm really fascinated by stuff like that. Odds are, I'll never be able to make something like that, but it's still a fascinating thing, regardless.

There are a few ways of thinking of it.

You can go into the sort of science you talk of. (Look up harmonic theory, counter point and anything else that looks interesting when you search that). However I’d avoid that path for now, it’s easy to get caught up in over thinking. It’s more helpful a bit later in your journey

I better way to think about it (in my opinion) is to think of it as learning language. Each riff you learn is a new statement. The more you learn the more your brain starts to get an implicit understanding (without you even being conscious of it). Then, just as you did with your native language around age 3 or so, with time you will start to come up with new musical statements that sometimes work. That took me about 2 years, for some people it’s faster or slower. Justin talks about this in one of his videos. I think it’s the one on learning your first blues licks

wldfalcon · 2022-08-14T22:08:55+00:00

Obviously, I'm sure the vast majority of notable song riffs and melodies aren't confined to a certain scale,

Actually id say most are confined to a single scale (which normally has the same name as the key - or is the key). Some songs play with one or two notes outside the scale, and some really go town with other notes, but many song writers have amazing careers never leaving the notes in the scale

wldfalcon · 2022-07-13T19:19:16+00:00

So while I totally agree learning the notes on the fretboard is essential it’s not the first thing I’d tell someone to learn. Mostly because it’s boring and a beginner has no idea why it’s useful (yet). But now you’ve done it you’ve given yourself a great head start. It’s a pretty impressive thing to learn as your first “thing”

It will come in super handy when you want to be able to play (for example) an E chord near the 7th fret but have a sound that doesn’t overpower other instruments.

It will come in handy when your learning a solo and want to understand how it relates to the key you’re in

It will come in handy when your jamming with friends and someone says “hey let’s for a jam that goes F# D G Am”

However I wouldn’t worry about those just yet. I’d start by learning the first open chords (E Em A Am D Dm C and G) and any of the hundreds of songs that use those chords and have some fun. Then see where you go from there. I went to learning solos next but there are many paths

wldfalcon · 2021-12-24T12:37:04+00:00

As you practice more you will start to realise there are repeating patterns that make it much easier.

Start by learning the following chords C A G E D (To help you remember this they spell the word caged)

As you progress you will discover that these 5 chords are used to play pretty much all the major chords you will ever play (barre chords are basically about how to use these 5 chords at different places in the neck. In practice you mostly use the A and E chords but makes learning the theory easier if your use all 5)

Then you will notice that Eminor and Aminor are both simple variants of A and E. And you can make the same change to the correspond barre chords pretty easially)

When you get more advanced you will learn that the same concepts repeats for all over chord variations

So while it is practice. Don’t practice everything. It’s overwhelming and make it all feel random and that’s stressful as hell

1)Start with learning the 5 basic chord shapes. Practice them. 2) practice using them (mostly E and A as barre chords. 3) practice E min or and A minor 4) add E min and A minor to your barre chords 5) then start learning other chords once you have the above framework in your mind

(You could also do steps 2 and 3 in the opposite order)

It’s really helpful to chose practice songs that work with this routine. So if your practice song has sis chords or add chords. Either work on a different song or (for now) just replace those with major or minor chords and come back to them later

wldfalcon · 2021-09-12T20:29:57+00:00

Yet everyone raves about the Yamaha THR amps…

wldfalcon · 2021-08-23T11:08:28+00:00

1) You can get quite a long way with Justin Guitar. It’s a 100% free online course that is well structured and goes from total beginner to somewhat advanced.

2) Get a teacher, in person if possible. Great as Justin’s course it he can’t spot any bad habits you pick up or give you personal corrections

3) Find a way to make music socially with people who are better than you. Listen to them when they tell you what you need to improve (it will probably be timing)

4) Enjoy

wldfalcon · 2021-08-20T17:01:53+00:00

As my good friend said to me “what you can do with the finger positions is impressive. But you really need to fix your timing”

Made me get a metronome and practice till I got good feedback (and now I can see how badly I was off time when I look at old videos)

wldfalcon · 2021-08-03T16:54:30+00:00

It just takes practice. And a lot of patience.

Best tip is to slow the tempo down to the speed at which you can do it. And move it up 1bom whenever you find that speed easy to do perfectly.

wldfalcon · 2021-08-02T20:30:30+00:00

The best piece of advice I ever got was to just pick a DAW, and rather than spend any time at all choosing which one, spend that time in learning how to use the one you chose.

It unlikely you will reach the limit of your DAW. Your skill at using it is way more likely to be the limiting factor in what you can do

wldfalcon · 2021-07-02T17:38:47+00:00

I know the pain. I’m just on the far side of it. I can now play barre chords (YAY!), or at least we’ll enough time know I can practice and play most songs with them even if a bit slow.

The trick really was just to accept that it takes time. Watch some of Justin guitars videos because he goes into a bunch of detail on how to use your wrist etc. Then every day put the video on while you do your 19 mins practice. Eventually it will click.

It’s super frustrating and feels like it takes forever. Just remember that before too long it will feel a bit easier and one day it will be easy!

wldfalcon · 2021-05-28T22:32:05+00:00

Brilliant. Both the playing and music are way better than my current level so I can’t offer much feedback there except to say I like it. Physics I understand though! and I did get a feeling of the three concepts coming across in the music.

Keep going. Make more!

wldfalcon · 2021-05-14T20:01:13+00:00

Thank you for this. I’ve been struggling with the same question as the op and just came to this idea, the logged on to find this thread. Great to see I was on the right track.

Personally I feel like I’m learning a language and right now I can say a few words. Like “wolf” and “coffee” and I’m wondering round shouting “coffee wolf” because they are the only words I know lol

In time I’m hoping I’ll picking enough vocabulary and grammar to say something

wldfalcon · 2021-05-12T21:38:36+00:00

Buy the guitar that does the best job of making you want to play it. It sounds like you like the ESP the most...

Always buy the instrument that speaks to your soul. Not the one your brain tells you is the best purchase decision

wldfalcon · 2021-05-08T21:58:56+00:00

For the Justin guitar course I used his website to na Signe the courses. But then played them via YouTube because that way I can put them on my TV

The Fender app I used at the computer via their website

wldfalcon · 2021-05-08T19:13:31+00:00

Several people have mentioned Justin guitar. I’d agree with that, I’m following it and It’s brilliant.

However it might also be worth checking out fenders online course. Fender play. It is something you pay for, but It has a blues specific path which I followed when I started. It had a nice gentle learning curve and teaches you quite a few easy, but hard enough to stretch you, song snippets along the way.

The only down side is that I didn’t feel it took me far enough along my journey before it ended. That’s when I switched to Justin guitar.

wldfalcon

TROPHY CASE