What have you learnt this year?

stickyfiddle

Having a tiny pedal board that you can easily shuffle around is great for creativity.

Tonemaster amps are awesome

Drumming is at least as good for my mental health as guitar 

And I shouldn't sell ES-330s... 

Stevepage

I’ve learnt to not consider things sold until the cash is in my hand even if some one promises to turn up with the money beforehand. Too many people showing keen interest then going dark and ignoring messages when it comes to making the transaction 

SPECTRUM001

What a great thread. I have learned -

That GAS is a genuine affliction
 
That I don’t care about GAS

That I actually quite enjoy GAS

To vary and develop my chord structures
 
To be more experimental with my sound and pedals

That there is guitar life beyond Fender (only took me 35 years)

To choose life (really corny, but for me quite relevant. In the most bizarre year of worldwide health and economic issues, I have a renewed optimism and energy. Might all go wrong, but I feel you have to give it a chance)

To laugh more

Being creative is far easier than I ever realised - if you want to do it, then just have a go

Lestratcaster

TTBZ said:

Lestratcaster said:

That my lead sound must have delay and reverb. Reverb is great. Never used it much in the past.

Same, I've been getting more into it since I got the Neural Plini trial. Not really sure what if anything the reverb on there is based on, but it sounds awesome. Would quite like to find something like that in a pedal that isn't an expensive Strymon unit. On other gear I've learnt to stop fannying about with Fender style guitars, they just don't work for me with the longer scale length and bigger feel. I'll stick to Gibson designs which are so much more comfortable and easier to play. 

Song wise I haven't really learnt that much, I learnt the solos in Alive (Pearl Jam), Rosanna and Easy Lover, a few Mastodon full songs. Most of my playing focus over both lockdowns has been writing with the band we formed just before the first lockdown - we've only met a handful of times in the break between lockdowns but have written loads of stuff. Bandlab has been the saviour.

I posted about this last month in another thread, I never used reverb before as it was usually on amps as a built in feature and I never really liked it.

Helps I got a Kemper where all the reverb effects are amazing, hall, echo, church, etc etc. So many to choose from. Coupled with delay it really gives a nice ambience and sheen to my lead sound now, its a must have for me!

axisus

I've learned a bunch of stuff on the piano, memorised my own instrumental arrangements for Streisand's Evergreen and You don't bring me flowers as well as Hallelujah, Someone like you, and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman. 

I've also memorised some Pink Floyd stuff, not full instrumentals, but things to sing along to - Breathe, Time, Breathe reprise, Great gig in the sky intro, Comfortably numb, Is there anybody out there, Nobody home. I haven't transcribed the guitar solos!

A few other sing along songs, not quite memorised yet - Your song, We are the champions, House of the rising sun, I dreamed a dream to name a few.

Working on a few full piano pieces - River flows in you, Angel eyes (Jim Brickman), La valse d'Amelie, Wait for sleep (Dream Theater). All a bit tough for me!


I'm making a big thing of 'memorised' as I am utterly rubbish at remembering stuff.

Fuengi

Lestratcaster said:

TTBZ said:

Lestratcaster said:

That my lead sound must have delay and reverb. Reverb is great. Never used it much in the past.

Same, I've been getting more into it since I got the Neural Plini trial. Not really sure what if anything the reverb on there is based on, but it sounds awesome. Would quite like to find something like that in a pedal that isn't an expensive Strymon unit. On other gear I've learnt to stop fannying about with Fender style guitars, they just don't work for me with the longer scale length and bigger feel. I'll stick to Gibson designs which are so much more comfortable and easier to play. 

Song wise I haven't really learnt that much, I learnt the solos in Alive (Pearl Jam), Rosanna and Easy Lover, a few Mastodon full songs. Most of my playing focus over both lockdowns has been writing with the band we formed just before the first lockdown - we've only met a handful of times in the break between lockdowns but have written loads of stuff. Bandlab has been the saviour.

I posted about this last month in another thread, I never used reverb before as it was usually on amps as a built in feature and I never really liked it.

Helps I got a Kemper where all the reverb effects are amazing, hall, echo, church, etc etc. So many to choose from. Coupled with delay it really gives a nice ambience and sheen to my lead sound now, its a must have for me!

I think you're right, I've boiled down my pedals to a good reverb, delay and some drive pedals. 

Spending the spare pedal cash on amps though! 

Rowby1

That I don’t mind lockdown if the weather’s good but I hate it when the weather’s bad.

How to do some basic video editing, that’s been good fun and helped keep me sane(ish).

All my band mates miss gigs and rehearsals nearly as much as I do.

Eastman make some remarkable guitars.

The internet is both a blessing and a curse.

fretmeister

The basics of home recording.

Still lots to learn. Everyday is something new!

Lestratcaster

Fuengi said:

Lestratcaster said:

TTBZ said:

Lestratcaster said:

That my lead sound must have delay and reverb. Reverb is great. Never used it much in the past.

Same, I've been getting more into it since I got the Neural Plini trial. Not really sure what if anything the reverb on there is based on, but it sounds awesome. Would quite like to find something like that in a pedal that isn't an expensive Strymon unit. On other gear I've learnt to stop fannying about with Fender style guitars, they just don't work for me with the longer scale length and bigger feel. I'll stick to Gibson designs which are so much more comfortable and easier to play. 

Song wise I haven't really learnt that much, I learnt the solos in Alive (Pearl Jam), Rosanna and Easy Lover, a few Mastodon full songs. Most of my playing focus over both lockdowns has been writing with the band we formed just before the first lockdown - we've only met a handful of times in the break between lockdowns but have written loads of stuff. Bandlab has been the saviour.

I posted about this last month in another thread, I never used reverb before as it was usually on amps as a built in feature and I never really liked it.

Helps I got a Kemper where all the reverb effects are amazing, hall, echo, church, etc etc. So many to choose from. Coupled with delay it really gives a nice ambience and sheen to my lead sound now, its a must have for me!

I think you're right, I've boiled down my pedals to a good reverb, delay and some drive pedals. 

Spending the spare pedal cash on amps though! 

My main lead sound has boost, compressor, delay and reverb. 4 pedals all switched on if I press 1 button as its stored as a "performance". Might add some of that to my clean sound too.

JerkMoans

Oh, and, eBay can fuck off.

LastMantra

LastMantra said:

I done my first ollie in 30 years. 

Just landed my first shuvit! Woo! 

Legs are killing me!

MagicPigDetective

I've learnt to harmonise the major scale, triads, 7th extensions chords, diminished chords etc. Has really improved my knowledge of chords. 

Learnt to play Hideaway and improved on some blues vocabulary. 

Bought and sold a hell of a lot of pedals, went on an ambient journey, recorded one song and made lots of cool noises, but now feel the need to go back to basics. Bought my first valve amp and loving it, using less effects. 

Philly_Q

You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family.

Oh sorry, did you mean guitar stuff?  In that case, nothing.

Dominic

I learnt quite a bit about Pandemic Virus' and the stupidity of some people 
other than that, on matters of 6 strings ;
1) I don't much like the sound of PAF pickups........the better the quality and clarity the more I dislike them;
Monty,Wizz,OX4,Throback ,Seth Lovers etc etc
2) I cannot beat a Klon type for any kind of drive /mild distortion........Tumnus,Ryra, Centaura etcc etc
3)KOT is not all it's cracked up to be
4)I very rarely use any other pedals than drive and delay /reverb ......they're on the board but pretty redundant
5)How much I miss my Strymon Deco

Logie

If you actually sit down and practise for a bit you can get quite good at this guitar malarky. 

p90fool

Logie said:

If you actually sit down and practise for a bit you can get quite good at this guitar malarky. 

Heretic!

Nick67

brojangles said:

I've always been scared of fingerstyle so I finally tackled some and learned Never Going Back Again by Fleetwood Mac and a guitar arrangement of the prelude from the first Bach cello suite. It took me 3 weeks of quite hard work to be able to play the Bach piece through (and more time to get it up to tempo). The Fleetwood Mac song took about five times longer. 

Doing well on the Fleetwood Mac song.
Not the easiest if your just learning fingerstyle.

Rocker

How important it is for me to tab licks and fills that I have worked out/written.  Half an hour later it is gone.  And I mean gone.  Read the tab and it comes back.  Memory is a strange thing, it gets worse as I get older.....

thegummy

Logie said:

If you actually sit down and practise for a bit you can get quite good at this guitar malarky. 

But just think how much better you'd be if you bought 12 guitars a year!

Cranky

• To practice, don't just play
• That pedals are fun.  Pedal boards are very helpful.
• What a "dominant" is and why it's dominant
• Various chord inversion patterns and to pay attention to where 3rds, 7ths and 9ths are in different chord shapes
• The major modes and the triads/chords of the different modes
• Names of important guitar players from the past to listen to and study
• The importance of listening
• Diminished vii chords are inverted V7 chords and can be used interchangeably
• There's such a thing as "borrowed chords" and secondary dominants
• How to play major, minor, major/dominant 7 chords, etc on a piano
• The importance of attending to the logic of a song's chord progressions, not just memorizing them
• I'm worth pursuing things that I enjoy