***The Official Guitar Thread***

Still fine tuning this Cemetery Gates solo, it's actually not as hard to play as I expected somehow just takes a lot of repetition and practice. But does anybody else get this though - as I get further into learning it at some stage I guess because I'm focusing on the notes so much it just kind of stops sounding "right" to me when I'm playing it - sort of like it doesn't even sound like the song anymore? But then if I record myself playing it and play it back suddenly it does sound correct... very strange. Feels a bit like when you really focus on the sound of certain words they can start to almost sound wrong despite not being so. Or is it just me?
 
uncle_rufus said:
Still fine tuning this Cemetery Gates solo, it's actually not as hard to play as I expected somehow just takes a lot of repetition and practice. But does anybody else get this though - as I get further into learning it at some stage I guess because I'm focusing on the notes so much it just kind of stops sounding "right" to me when I'm playing it - sort of like it doesn't even sound like the song anymore? But then if I record myself playing it and play it back suddenly it does sound correct... very strange. Feels a bit like when you really focus on the sound of certain words they can start to almost sound wrong despite not being so. Or is it just me?
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Definitely true, at some point you need to step back and remember you're rocking out a solo to a cool song. It's a bit like cooking a complicated meal - when I serve it up I'm often less excited to eat it, compared to if someone presented me with that plate. I just see ingredients and hard work.

This will be doubly true if you've learned someone else's playing style very closely - you're trying to recreate a recorded solo rather than solo along to a song. You've learned the solo structure and the technique. Now is the time to loosen up and allow yourself to have fun with it!
 
Of course, you're right - although I can and always could improvise a solo over it instead if I wanted to and get something that sounds perfectly passable... But in this case I really wanted to learn the actual arrangement partly just to see if I could do it!
 
Then I reckon it will feel more natural as you practise less and play it more. Certainly, play through the whole song and not just the solo. And record yourself then listen to that like you would listen to a normal song. It's always cool when you find yourself rocking out to your own music :cool:
 
Absolutely - well last night I just hit record in Reaper as I was playing the track through incl. the solo and that's when I noticed that it actually does sound pretty close when I listen to it back (and am not actively engaged in thinking about playing it) - my wife said the same thing (that it sounds good/correct) when she hears it. It's just a new one on me as most of the time I would give up trying to learn solos like this partly because it sounded weird to my ear and I just assumed that meant I wasn't getting it right!
 
Think I know what you mean...if you’re isolating parts or/and slowing it down it’s hard to know if it’s sounding right...I’ve recorded myself playing at 50% speed or whatever a could play it clean and sped it up to see what it would sound like if I could play it faster...see if the timing etc sounds right

LuckyBenski said:
. It's a bit like cooking a complicated meal - when I serve it up I'm often less excited to eat it, compared to if someone presented me with that plate. I just see ingredients and hard work.
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Funny...I grudge spending time preparing and cooking food but happily spend 10s of hours practicing a 3 min song
 
I tried playing Cavatina for the first time in about 20 years last night. Last time I just snorted and gave it up as too hard.

It's not impossible, but getting it to flow and sound nice might well be. Getting the melody to sound above the rest is giving me real problems.

On the plus side, it's shown my left hand finger positioning is rubbish, so I have some work on there.

*weeps*
 
funny you mention...I bought strings for my old battered BM Espana nylon/classical guitar last week after about 5 years of not touching it...was determined to string it properly with the strings tucked under each other at the bridge etc - took ###### ages... didn't even get it right... at the tuning pegs...the 'excess' there is meant to be under the winds but thought it didn't seem right at the time....aaand the low E started fraying so had to cut it short so couldn't do that 'properly' at the bridge either

was ****** off by the end of it all :p



 
potatolord said:
I can never be bothered tucking the strings in tidy. I just play it in for a few days, then snip off the excess. Life's too short...
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I tried it got bored and did what you do, felt a bit sad as my classical is by far the best quality guitar I own and the previous owner (family member) always strung it up beautifully. I really should play it more it’s good enough that it sounds nice even when I play it!
 
Planning a guitar session at the bank holiday weekend, been looking forward to it for a fortnight. Gets to 24 hours before it and cuts middle finger of fretting hand with a kitchen knife. :mad: NOT HAPPY
 
I've got my first gig on May 21st and I haven't touched my guitars and keyboards since last August.
I'm 63 this month and I could quite easily retire.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
I've got my first gig on May 21st and I haven't touched my guitars and keyboards since last August.
I'm 63 this month and I could quite easily retire.
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Won’t
You be rusty? I know you have been playing years but still..

i have been playing a year now and the longest ive gone without playing is 3 days i think
 
SexyGreyFox said:
I've got my first gig on May 21st and I haven't touched my guitars and keyboards since last August.
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Jeez, I can't imagine stopping playing for that length of time, it's one of my main hobbies. As the above poster asked, aren't you worried your skills will have dropped off?

Though, to be fair, I'm teaching the boy bass guitar at the moment and it only took me a few hours to get back to a reasonable standard after around 20 years of not playing.
 
Bassmansam said:
Won’t
You be rusty? I know you have been playing years but still..
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potatolord said:
As the above poster asked, aren't you worried your skills will have dropped off?
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I have this uncanny ability to remember things, even stuff I played in 1970 so when we have a rehearsal I'm confident I'll make a few mistakes and then brush up on them before the gig.
Of course the other thing is I'm not doing any songs that need a lot of skill.
 
I guess if you're gigging then the amount of times playing the songs must help remember them
The only things I can remember that I've no played for ages is more complicated things I've spent hours (days...weeks) learning
 
builder22 said:
I guess if you're gigging then the amount of times playing the songs must help remember them
The only things I can remember that I've no played for ages is more complicated things I've spent hours (days...weeks) learning
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I was amazed that I could remember and play a good chunk of Terminal Beach (complicated two-handed tapping piece) by Stu Hamm, probably 20 years since I last played that. The boy (I'm giving him bass lessons) was shocked, to say the least.


Muscle memory is a weird thing, isn't it?
 
potatolord said:
Muscle memory is a weird thing, isn't it?
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Definitely...there's some things I've learned and can still play on a piano with full size keys but turns to junk trying to play it on a midi controller or something with smaller keys/spacing.
Also if try playing just the left or right hand on their own then it falls to pieces but fine playing it with both like I've learned it
 
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