That ah-a moment when you "master" a new trick on guitar...

CaseOfAce

Finally got the hang of that Hendrix thing where "he bends a string up and catches the adjacent string to it and bends that back down" trick... 
I just couldn't get it right without losing go of the first bent string which snapped back noisily as I was letting down the other string.
As with all these tricks - the knack is in not using them now all the time.
This trick occurs in the Hotel California solo (Joe Walsh part). You can hear that meow like yelp when he does it.

I had a similar experience with pinch harmonics. Once you've played one you realise the "how" of doing it.
(I first heard one played by a guitarist in Chuck Berry's pick up band and I had no idea how he'd got that squawk in the middle of his solo...).

I just wish I could nail chicken pickin' - it never sounds right when I try it.

BillDL

One of the true exponents of that string bending style is Jerry Donahue.  He demonstrated how he does it in an old TV documentary named Twang, Bang, Kerrang from 1987.  Here is a little excerpt from it.

I remember the chuffed feeling I had when I first discovered through experimenting that the minor pentatonic scale moved down 3 frets became a major pentatonic over the same chord, or vice versa obviously.  I had the same eureka moment when I discovered the relationship of the open B7 to the open C7 shaped chord that lay mostly behind the nut, and the open A's relationship to the open strings of an open G chord, and that the note at the point of the open D was actually the first finger position in an open C.  Those discoveries came tumbling through one after the other within a very short space of time, but some other even more obvious shapes or theory took a while longer for me to discover.

fretmeister

I don't think this has ever happened to me!

I have mastery of nothing in music!  


But I do remember when I first got a faro shuffle perfect, and then again 10 times in a row.

Happy days (pre finger injury)

Mattharrier

I certainly haven't mastered anything musical yet, but I know that feeling. Suddenly it makes sense.

I had the same thing with snowboarding. Lots and lots of pain and discomfort while learning to just stand up on the damn thing, then the first awkward turns, everything a battle with your body and the snow. Then suddenly it clicks, and you start to cruise, and you can then stop focusing so hard on every aspect and it elevates from a mere activity to something wonderful.

I'm hoping I get the same thing happen with guitar, when I can just play the thing without concentrating so hard!

stufisher

I've got an arthritic index finger on my fretboard hand and arthritic middle finger of picking/strumming hand so when I finally cracked the rhythm part of 'Always with me always with you' (Joe Satriani) it felt great. Stood tall and puffed out my chest.

For ages my fingers couldn't stretch to the right frets/strings of that G add 9 (or 11?) but I've worked through a lot of pain and just persevered. It was worth it.

Lots of small wins eh? 

Cryptid

Finally nailing Take On Me was my biggest A-ha moment

hollywoodrox

I never mastered the pinch harmonics in the 18 & life solo after months and months .
  I could play them , I knew the nodes on the right hand where to pick but just could not get them guaranteed 100 % every time . I even marked with a pen or used the crease on the side of my right hand to line up where my hand needed to be to successfully get the node With my pick angle . 

I use lots of gain and a compressor too.  They seem to be easier in some places than others 
  Sometimes I would nail them great  I have no trouble with the general motion to get them and often hit them accidentally as I play with a Kirk Hammett jazz III in a grip that actually makes them pop out . Anyway I stopped playing that song because of this as it was eating up practice time 

prowla

You don't have to only use one finger to bend a note.

prowla

Cryptid said:

Finally nailing Take On Me was my biggest A-ha moment

I wasn't going to be that person... :-)