As some of you know I just got a new acoustic and it really pointed out one thing to me....my playing has really deteriorated in the last 4 or 5 months. The story...
I started playing about 4 years ago and, up until about a year ago, only played acoustic. By no means was I good but I could play most of my chords cleanly (including various barre chords beyond major and minor A and E shapes), could do a bit of fingerpicking and fooled around with acoustic lead. Then I got an electric guitar and pretty much abandoned the acoustic. after about 8 months of playing exclusively electric I decided I wanted to play acoustic stuff again-I missed picking it up and strumming some chords and actually having it sound like music. So I picked up my old Dean starter acoustic and HATED it. I didn't want to play it so I went back to the electric until I had the money for a new, decent guitar. I bought it the other day...
Now my technique is shot. My playing is sloppy and chords aren't ringing true. I've been practicing as much as I can fit into my schedule the last day... even to the point where last night my fretting hand was sore, something I haven't felt in a long time. I still can't get over the fact how SLOPPY I got when I relied on the electric (even though I always played the clean channel).
So guys....
1. Has this happened to any of you before?
2. How do I remedy this? I intend to practice hard but this really shook me.
"How could you possibly be scared of being bad? Once you get past that, it's all beautiful." -Trey Anastasio
That's an interesting story, dl. I go on long jags with any one guitar but never 8 months. There's always a stretch where I'm out of town with just the acoustic. Electric and acoustic are different animals for sure; I'm betting you'll 'revert to form' pretty quick. Best of luck.
One thing I do know: playing bass helps everything! Timing, dexterity, strength, economy of motion, keeping your fingers as close as possible to the strings...never have to worry I'm spending too much time there.
:)
Don
One thing I do know: playing bass helps everything! Timing, dexterity, strength, economy of motion, keeping your fingers as close as possible to the strings...never have to worry I'm spending too much time there.
I'll second that! I found exactly the same thing.....and with that in mind, surely the techniques you apply to electric can also be used on acoustic, and vice versa?
One possible explanation could be, because you haven't played acoustic for so long, your "muscle memory" has adapted to electric guitar - narrower fingerboard, higher action etc.....I always try to make time for acoustic, electric and bass, I can pick any of them up at any time and play them all equally badly.
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
I think it's to do with the strength required in the fingers (and the deftness to move fingers over the high strings) to play an acoustic guitar. When I bought my first acoustic, after playing nothing other than an electric for 6 months, I was experiencing sore fingers all over again. Now I'm getting used to it, but I still can't cleanly do barre chords on it though.
However, my electric playing chord-wise has improved a lot now. :)
Rob
If something's not worth doing it's worth forgetting about.
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You'll find you're pretty rough when you go back to the electric after a long stretch of acoustic-only playing, too. Keep it mixed up.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
what Ricochet said
One thing I do know: playing bass helps everything!
Bass actually helped me a lot with timing and also hearing the flow of chords better -- I'll support this statement as well. I have not been playing bass much lately (usual problem of not enough time), need to go back and start doing that more.
I can pick any of them up at any time and play them all equally badly.
I resemble that remark (far more than you, I am sure :twisted: )
--vink
"Life is either an adventure or nothing" -- Helen Keller
+1 on what Ric says.
Your nervous system has a lot of muscle memory capacity; but you have to practice on all of those guitars all to keep 'em all current.
-=tension & release=-
I think you'll get right back into it, just don't try to hard. As far as playing bass can help thats probably true also. I started playing around with (can't call it playing) a mandolin, and I think it improved my guitar technique. Generally I play acoustic, but I take the electric out at least once a week for a session.
I think you've hit on the one of the possible reason why I think my Gibson LP hates me. :? I spend more time on my acoustic no doubt about it. When I get a chance to play my electric, I sound like crap. The are different animals for sure (as someone has already stated).
I think the answer is, give up your daytime job, forget about the lawn, taking out the garbage and cleaning the house. Just play guitar. At least I think that will get me close to where I want to be... :)
Teamwork- A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.
A lot of you guys were right...a lot of it was muscle memory that just had to be rekindled. A few days of acoustic playing has gotten me back into it. I went back to relearn a few of the acoustic tunes that I used to play and throw in a few, more difficult, tunes. I think playing the electric for so long actually helped my acoustic dexterity because now I can smoothly accent chords a lot cleaner than I used to (for example, the altered bass notes in Karma Police).
Now I just need to get my fingerpicking up there....sad to say, it was never "there" to begin with.
"How could you possibly be scared of being bad? Once you get past that, it's all beautiful." -Trey Anastasio
That's exactly why I make it a point to play both on a regular basis and why I tell newbies to learn on an acoustic! :D
..· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ .·´
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´ -:¦:- Elecktrablue -:¦:-
"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"
Well the reason that I didn't play both on a regular basis over this past summer was the fact that I worked 70+ hour weeks and had other things in my life to focus on so I was lucky if I got 30 minutes a day to play and the stuff I was playing at the time was predominantly electric based stuff. When I finally had time to go back to the acoustic I realized I'd outgrown that particular guitar. I just had to wait until I found the right new acoustic so that I could fall in love all over again.
"How could you possibly be scared of being bad? Once you get past that, it's all beautiful." -Trey Anastasio
I think you've hit on the one of the possible reason why I think my Gibson LP hates me. :? I spend more time on my acoustic no doubt about it. When I get a chance to play my electric, I sound like crap. The are different animals for sure (as someone has already stated).
I think the answer is, give up your daytime job, forget about the lawn, taking out the garbage and cleaning the house. Just play guitar. At least I think that will get me close to where I want to be... :)
You might be better suited to a Fender type with not-so-light strings -- a guitar you wail on like an acoustic, cuz it fights back a bit. LPs? Hah! Don't even need calluses for those. :wink:
-=tension & release=-
I believe its largely a matter of perception with which we play a particular type of guitar.
So when you are going to start playing the electric, just make sure you have adjusted the mechanics of playing in your mind inside. Eg. you must change the way you hit the strings, the attack strength, the pressure with which you hold down the chords.
If you are concerned about your technique, it won't go wrong on any possible sort of guitar (or any other instrument for that matter).
Good Luck and keep practising.
