Electric guitar confession

Hurling_Fruitmig

grungebob said:

I suck at guitar but have a great time doing it. 

Me too. My partner doesn’t understand why I’ve never tried lessons, but I just enjoy fiddling around. I’m a terrible keyboard and bass player too.

Jalapeno

Start (but don't end) with Blues box shapes, and playalong simply with the masters - 3 kings, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf.  It is intensely satisfying.

Your feelings are pretty universal tbh, amplified by the lack of interaction with others at this time.

Find a jam, or regular workshop - playing with others is a fantastic feeling.

Sassafras

grungebob said:

 I suck at guitar.

That's where you're going wrong. 
You should be plucking, not sucking.

guitars4you

Jalapeno said:

Start (but don't end) with Blues box shapes, and playalong simply with the masters - 3 kings, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf.  It is intensely satisfying.

agree about starting with the blues from the 40's and 50's era as against trying to work out what SRV is doing - Play the 'more simple' stuff then bring your own style/licks into play

Plus I find it more interesting to play blues/soul/jazz influenced songs that are not your traditional 12 bar A, D, E influenced songs - You can still play along with pentatonic ideas, with many chromatic passing notes for the licks - ie Many Ray Charles songs - start of with 'In the heat of the night' - I find playing licks along with these songs means I'm not 'copying' any preconceived ideas' - Not sure if this is because I don't want to be judged that I can't play their licks/solos - But I also often prefer to listening to some sax players from this era  and try to copy their phrasing ideas

maltingsaudio

The point of the guitar is to enjoy doing it, my journey I supppose was playing acoustic where the guitar chords provided the rhythm and my voice provided the lead then moved to electric which provided the noise. Playing with other people then got me to understand you don’t (and shouldn’t) play every bit of the song yourself just play a part of it, and the others play their part to make th whole song . There is quite a big difference between doing this with an electric and acoustic.

BluesLover

OP: "...they seem to be making shit up on the spot..."  as noted above, it's all pre- learned stuff. There's a great course on this, by Blues Guitar Unleashed called "How to jam the blues alone on your guitar" (no affiliation, other than as a satisfied customer).

skunkwerx

We are meant to play them?!

Skipped

We had a thread about "starting on acoustic". It was amazingly contentious. Half were in the camp arguing that legendary players started out strummimg their first (acoustic) guitar.

The other camp, arguing that you buy the instrument that matches your goal, included a couple of guitar teachers.

Whatever happened to the Music Radar Forum? Surely the Routine Maintenance on the servers should be complete by now?

Brize

Cranky said:

How do you all do it?

You're making the erroneous assumption that you're the exception rather than the rule!

Grumpyrocker

axisus said:

I always refer to myself as a hack guitarist. Sloppy, poor technique, inability to learn stuff, zero theory knowledge. 

However, I enjoy playing at home, and I can impress any non-guitarist.

Hate playing in shops though. Rarely do it. Very rarely ...

This is also me. Any non player would think I'm a heavy metal wizard of speed and heaviness.

I'm actually shite. Couldn't shred if my life depended on it, and likely will never be able to shred.

Some half-arsed Sabbath riffs and pentatonic widdling do not a competent musician make. 

Andy79

I require some dirty gutter tones sometimes
I pick up a Telecaster from time to time. Within 10 mins I’m back to an acoustic with a magnetic pickup with the gain on 11, just feels weird playing electric. All too thin, heavy, floppy stringed

Just weird. 

Funkfingers

ICBM said:

One thing that’s important to remember about playing in shops is that you’re not playing music, you’re testing gear. You should be listening to how the sound responds to your playing, dynamics and how you adjust the controls etc, not the note sequence - if you concentrate on playing a ‘piece’ you’re not learning as much about the gear as you could be.

I never normally play anything recognisable in a shop.

You just described me. When I test guitars, effects or amplification in music shops, other customers tend to distance themselves, taking tiny steps, hoping I will not notice. I delude myself that the further I can repel them, the more “original” I am being.

I do listen to myself when testing gear in shops but only in the sense of, have I already got something that makes this sound? 

SPECTRUM001

Brize said:

Cranky said:

How do you all do it?

You're making the erroneous assumption that you're the exception rather than the rule!

Exactly - although there was a recent suggestion on a separate thread that TFB members were at the least at a similar level to Taylor Swift (who seems to be quite a competent player).

I wonder if she gives lessons ?

DrJazzTap

I've been playing nearly 26 years now, I still get anxious at playing in a music shop. The key is to block  everything out, just focus on what you are doing in the shop. Trying out a guitar, pedal or amp. 
If you compare yourself to others you become bitter, if you compare yourself to yourself you become better. 

Solos are cool and all that, but its not the be all and end all. 

SlopeSoarer

Phew.... what a reassuring thread this is!

Cranky

You all are great.  Really glad I did this thread.

earwighoney

Andy79 said:

I require some dirty gutter tones sometimes
I pick up a Telecaster from time to time. Within 10 mins I’m back to an acoustic with a magnetic pickup with the gain on 11, just feels weird playing electric. All too thin, heavy, floppy stringed

Even though I first started out playing electric guitar, and in the last few years I've put a lot more energy into learning technique for the instrument, it'll never be as familiar as playing acoustic guitar. You're completely right about the strings feeling too thin and being floppy.

I also find the string spacing at the bridge for most electrics to be too cramped and difficult to play with fingers.

drwiddly

Grumpyrocker said:

axisus said:

I always refer to myself as a hack guitarist. Sloppy, poor technique, inability to learn stuff, zero theory knowledge. 

However, I enjoy playing at home, and I can impress any non-guitarist.

Hate playing in shops though. Rarely do it. Very rarely ...

This is also me. Any non player would think I'm a heavy metal wizard of speed and heaviness.

I'm actually shite. Couldn't shred if my life depended on it, and likely will never be able to shred.

Some half-arsed Sabbath riffs and pentatonic widdling do not a competent musician make. 

And there I was thinking I was pretty good. Bollocks!

Lestratcaster

I started off for a long time playing acoustic guitar as I was an Oasis fan and alot of their songs could be played on one. I did get a Squier Affinity Strat starter pack thing in 1998 but the amp was rubbish and I was confused with all the controls and ways you can change the tone. I ran with acoustic for a number of years until I started playing in bands, so was forced to use the electric more, with amps and stuff. Then I went to study at music school in 2007 and I was using it all the time, exploring the sounds you could get out of it and playing in context with a band, how the guitar fitted in, etc.

But I'm not big on massive effects and stuff, just a good guitar and a good amp. The hands will do the rest.

jaymenon

ThIs thread describes me too, to a T.  (I am basically a singer and I play acoustic guitar to back up my singing).

It seems to me that that musicians identify predominantly with the backing track or the solo. And many singer-songwriter types perhaps fall into the former category...

As a consolation, very often lead guitarists can't play rhythm to save their lives (though there are exceptions). 

There are lead players that I envy who seem like they can 'make up shit on the spot'. I can learn a solo, but certainly not do one 'extempore' so to speak. 

But I think it's more fun playing tight rhythm guitar with a great drummer / bassist. More to and fro communication, more smiles all around etc.

As an aside, have you chaps noticed how singer-songwriter types / rhythm guitarists are very often reasonably competent on the bass guitar?

RE: learning solos, there is a consolation. On these songs (and a hundred others)
- Comfortably Numb
- Hotel California
- Easy (the commodores)
- Hello (Lionel Richie)
- One of these nights
-Stairway
- Freebird
- November Rain
- Sultans of Swing
- Aqualung
- Sweet Child Of Mine
- Get Back (john Lennon played the solo)
- Back in Black 

try playing the solo any differently from the original. The audience will hate it (and you)