inspiration and advancement

Yah you got that right man.

Cheers :)

Very good advice from a beginner with a few months experience. There is no magic secret, other than loving the process of learning and putting in the time.

There is no magic secret, other than loving the process of learning and putting in the time.

Perfectly put! :D

Should be inscribed in the front of every music book (and a royalty duly paid to CFB 8) )

It always irritates me to see sites trying to lure new players with promises of selling them "amazing secrets that only the pros know.." or rubbish like that. Ain't no secrets... it's all been known for centuries!

There's a huge range of techniques among regular players - from the highly fussy precision of some classical players through to certain rock-n-rollers who don't give a stuff what their posture or hand positions are like as long as the noise comes out roughly right.... And then there's Richie Havens who's had a long career playing with his guitar open tuned and using his left thumb, sliding up and down as a barre.... :shock:
Check out the How I Play section!

The one thing that they ALL have in common is that they put in many hundreds of hours of work (if you don't like the sound of the words "Practice" or "Work" then just "playing" sounds better... :wink: )

It can take different motivators for each of us, but whether it takes discipline, love, obsession, support, ego - or just sheer bloody minded stubbornness - there's only one way through. KEEP PLAYING! It does come.

Ultimately it will come down to whether you really love music or not. If you don't you're bound to quit sooner or later. If you do you'll spend the rest of your life as a progressing musician. People around you can influence your motivation for a short period of time but eventually it just comes down to what you really like. It's nothing to worry about either, if you like writing books better it's in your own interest to find it out as soon as possible. And if it's music that makes your clock tick then you're on the right track and you ain't got no real worries either. It really doesn't matter.

thanks guys...i posted this to help the absolute beginners...hopefully i'll be posting more in the near future...the biggest change i noticed was my appreciation of music...i listen so differently and hear things i'd never noticed before,even in familiar songs...its worth it just for that alone

Ultimately it will come down to whether you really love music or not. If you don't you're bound to quit sooner or later.

I once read an article by a professional artist explaining what you needed to succeed in his profession. I can't remember whether he was a musician, painter or whatever, but I rather think he was a dancer. Anyway, it applies to most arts careers. He was spelling out just how hungry you need to be.

He said that if you just fancied a career in his art, that wasn't enough. If you enjoyed doing it at an amateur level and thought it would make a good profession, that wasn't enough either. He listed a bunch of 'interested' attitudes that just weren't enough, and then said that the only chance you had of lasting the distance was if you just couldn't bear the thought of not being allowed to do it, and simply couldn't imagine doing anything else.... :wink:

I suspect that you can be pushed, cajoled or supported a fairly long way down the track but, as Arjen says, if the love's not there you'll probably eventually drift off to other things.
If you do you'll spend the rest of your life as a progressing musician.

And if the love is there..... it really doesn't matter how fast or slow the progress is - the journey's the thing. :)

I've always thought of myself as a "perpetual student" but I do like the sound of "progressing musician". Thanks Arjen, I might upgrade my self image by applying that one.... :D

I once read (oh dear, here's comes another story.... :roll: ) about an interview with one of the world's most famous and accomplished violin players. I forget which one now, but he was asked why he continued to praactice every day even though he was widely regarded as the best in the world, and was pushing 80. He replied that it was because he found that it still helped him to improve. :) At the very top of the profession, yet still a "progressing musician"...

nothing good comes easy, practise makes perfect, you can be as good as you want to be, the question is,
how hard are you willing to work? how much time are you willing to invest? if it was easy everyone would do it 8)

There are times I wish I was an absolute beginner - there are so many things I'd do differently.....after 30 years of playing, you'd think I'd be able to change to a C7 or B7 easily....but I spent so many years avoiding those chords, transposing to different keys, I still find them difficult.....

I just wish Guitarnoise had been around in the early 70's when I fell in love with the guitar.......

I'm definitely still a developing musician......difference is, these days, I won't avoid those chords or other tricky changes - I'll have a go at them and try to master them.....

To any beginners I'd say, work your way through the lessons on this site - that'll give you the basics.....after that, it's up to you....what you get out of the guitar will be in proportion to what you put into learning the guitar.....

Good luck to you/us all with the learning process.......

:D :D :D

Vic

Good post ballybiker

Some great points here, you have to love it, you have to be compelled to play. I am compelled to play, not really sure why. But from a very young age I was fascinated by musical instruments and wanted to play badly. And I still feel that way today. If I could not play guitar now, I would feel like a very big piece of me was missing.

Guitar is ALWAYS going to play with your mind. Always. I have been playing 34 years now and I'm still not as good as I want to be. But this is good, it pushes you forward to learn more and become more proficient.

Even now I feel there is so much to learn. I have been working for quite a few years now to play faster. I have always been rather slow. I think one reason I was a big fan of Eric Clapton was because his name was "Slowhand". I could relate to that completely.

You know, sometimes it kills me to hear a kid who has only been playing a year or two that can play these super fast runs. But that is how guitar is, it is always going to cause you frustrations.

There is no easy road to play guitar. You just have to play as often as you can. That is the only secret there is. There are better ways and methods to practice, but no matter what, you gotta put in the hours.

Like Ringo said, "You gotta pay your dues if you wanna sing the Blues, and you know it don't come easy"

Ringo knew exactly what he was talking about. :wink:

This reminds me of the post from about.com on music, which I like to read every once in a while: http://musicians.about.com/library/weekly/2002/aa021802a.htm

I edited it a tiny bit for G-audiences

What Do You Want to Be?
Several months ago I read something that stuck with me. I filed it away in the cabinet of my mind and hoped I'd remember it when the time came. Today is the time, and here it is.

It was in a job-advice column in the newspaper. Some guy had written in and said he wanted to be a doctor, but he wasn't sure he could pull it off. He said he was currently working in a hospital in an administrative position. He liked his job, because working in a hospital suited him, but he was constantly watching the doctors and wishing he could be doing that instead. It was his dream, you might say.

Then he wrote something like this: "So I think about going to medical school, but I'm afraid it might be too late. I'm twenty-nine now. If I go to medical school, it will take at least four years. I won't be a doctor until I'm thirty-three."

Most of the responses to other letters were several paragraphs long. To answer this fellow, however, the columnist wrote a single sentence:

"If you don't go to medical school, in four years you're going to be thirty-three anyway."

That reminds me of another story, this one first-hand. Many years ago, I went with my family to a holiday performance in the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee. It was a traditional, rustic, song-and-dance show. As a young rocker, I couldn't imagine anything less appealing. I mean, come on. A bunch of old guys with banjos and jews harps, singing Christmas carols while their wives and daughters dance around in overalls. God help us.

But one of the old guys took me by surprise. He played the fiddle, and he didn't just play it. He made it scream, whine, weep, and shout. Fire flew from his fingertips (to borrow a phrase from Charlie Daniels), and his blistering solo hit me like machine gun fire.

After the show, I asked him how long he'd been playing fiddle. He said ten years. I asked how old he was. He said sixty. That means he didn't start playing the fiddle until he was fifty. And he was amazing.

The Power of Time
In The Art of Bop Drumming by John Riley, one of my favorite self-instruction books, there is a quote from Tony Williams, one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time: "I used to practice eight hours a day, every day, from about 1956 until 1962."

Now here's the thing. You can take the most untalented, musically-backward person on this planet, and if they practice an instrument that much (over 17,000 hours), they're going to get astonishingly good. Maybe not Tony Williams good, I admit, but if my grandmother spent eight hours a day for six years on the drum set, I guar-an-TEE she would be able to throw some slammin' grooves at the end of it.

In case you're not picking up what I'm laying down here, let me spell it out for you: I don't care how old you are or how little talent you think you have. If you want to be a musician - a really, really good musician - you can be. You just have to do it. You don't have to spend eight hours a day on it, but you do have to make significant, regular commitment. If you do that, you will one day amaze others with your musical ability.

It's there for you, if you want it. Remember, in another four years, you're going to be four years older, either way. Will you be a [great] musician, too?

ballybiker, thanks for making this post. I am one of those "late" starters redpoint was talking about. I actually just began lessons a few weeks ago, and already I have found myself getting frustrated and disappointed. Sometimes I didn't even want to practice, but I am forcing myself to do so (actually it ain't too hard to force myself). After reading some of the posts here, I can't begin to tell you how much more inspired I feel. It's sometimes good to know that you aren't the only one who is, or has, battled these problems. Not trying to make this sound like some support group or something :) , but you guys have given out some very good advice and I, for one, appreciate it. Thanks all.

i'm glad i posted this now...all you guys are great....trust me i'm putting in the time...i cant stop thinking about playing...i eat,sleep n dream guitar....i cant walk past my baby without picking it up and running through the odd chord sequence....i used to bite my nails...not now!...it would hinder my ability [or lack of] to play my beloved guitar...

an old friend of mine is giving me lessons...he's self taught and been playing 23 years...he says i'm doing exceedingly well and can see the desire in my eyes....so i guess i'm on the right track :roll:

i saw a video the other day that made me think greatly....it was a guy busking with a guitar.....he had no arms!!!!!....he had the guitar on a rug on the floor and it was obviously open tuned...but man he was cool :!: :shock:

ok i dont intend to play with my feet....but with the tools i have [stubby little fingers] i know what can be achieved and WILL be making some cool tunes that will have my personality stamped all over them :D

what more can i say :?:

Most of the responses to other letters were several paragraphs long. To answer this fellow, however, the columnist wrote a single sentence:
"If you don't go to medical school, in four years you're going to be thirty-three anyway."
That's why the columnist is the columnist, and the letter-writers were letter-writers :wink:

I personally recommend the book "Zen Guitar." It is a great perspective on not only guitar, but life in general. It focuses more on the journey of playing and emphasizes not so much "how" to play, but "why" to play. It has some pretty good mental approach tips on how to practice, play, learn, etc. It was recommended by a Detroit guitarist, Brett Lucas, whom I respect a great deal.