Hello fellow guitarists

[dwarf]

HOW DO YOU GUYS MAKE YOURSELF PRACTICE? I'm meant to be learning tetrachords and the names of their notes up and down the fretboard. I know it's going to help me emmencley in the long run but I can't get started. I've memorised the box shapes it's just a matter of going "3rd position Eb major" and then naming the notes.

I'd much rather be working on my own stuff such as the spanish peice i'm working on (I'll post mp3's later).

SO anyway how do you guys make yourself practice?

 

[mx_mx]

By telling the leprechaun that I'll get around to burning things later. He usually shuts up and lets me practice for a while after that

 

[Track Rat]

I wanted to play so there was no "making" me practice. There was no keeping me from it.

 

[mx_mx]

I wanted to play so there was no "making" me practice. There was no keeping me from it.

But what stops you from just playing what you want and getting down to scales and stuff?

 

[dwarf]

No see I WANT TO PLAY! I know how to play I enjoy it very much. I just can't seem to get myself to practice.

Oh just so you guys don't think I'm one of thoes power chord kids....I'm not my teacher is a jazz guitarist and my other (first) was a classical.

I went through the whole powerchord phase and then got sick of sounding like shit.

 

[dwarf]

But what stops you from just playing what you want and getting down to scales and stuff?

B.I.N.G.O

It will help you in the long run it's just a matter of taking your medicine

 

[james123]

Oh just so you guys don't think I'm one of thoes power chord kids

Hey im one of those power chord kids so theres no me sitting down for ages just
practicing one peice. I can play alot more but my favourite tpye of music is punk so im always going back to powerchords.

Hey i just realised this has nothing to do with this thread.sorry.

 

[dwarf]

It has alot to do with this thread. I'm not into jumping around but I tend to go off track.

I do believe in a few years you will tire of power chords. I mean there's nothing wrong with making a fun punk song, or having a 12 bar blues jam either. I'm in bands that we dedicate the whole genre too.

But there comes a time when you are going to have to do stuff that isn't fun.

 

[mx_mx]

Ive spent the last 7 years playing power chords. Now Ive graduated to these sort of power chords..

--12--
--X---
--9---
------
------
------

 

[james123]

It has alot to do with this thread. I'm not into jumping around but I tend to go off track.

I do believe in a few years you will tire of power chords. I mean there's nothing wrong with making a fun punk song, or having a 12 bar blues jam either. I'm in bands that we dedicate the whole genre too.

But there comes a time when you are going to have to do stuff that isn't fun.

Yeah i do agree with you.My school is doing a musical production of Bugsy malone (sp) and i have been told i have to play guitar for that.I dont really like the music but ive been told i have to.The guitar not that hard its just alot of 7th
chords and barre chords , among others aswell.So yeah i know what you mean about not always doing something you like.As long as im playing my guitar im usually happy.

 

[james123]

Ive spent the last 7 years playing power chords. Now Ive graduated to these sort of power chords..

--12--
--X---
--9---
------
------
------

I wonder what sort of guitar i will be playing in 7 years? Although i know that i wont have just mastered octave chords as i can already play them They were the second type of chord i learnt after powerchords.
mx_mx im sure you can play more than power and octave chords

 

[jeff5xo]

I wanted to play so there was no "making" me practice. There was no keeping me from it.

DITTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[metalhead28]

........
But there comes a time when you are going to have to do stuff that isn't fun.

I don't even understand that statement.

Why? Everything that I learn is fun to me. I want to be the best guitarist I can be, so practice and learning is always fun. The only thing that wouldn't be fun would be learning a technique or something that I knew I would never use. Even then I would probably find an excuse to know it because I wouldn't really be able to rule it out...

 

[gitrguy87]

I have to agree with Metalhead. Everything i do is fun. Practicing a technique shouldn't seem like a chore to you. If you don't want to do it, than don't!

 

[Crash ©]

Me being the self-taught knucklehead I am.. I ain't got a clue what a tetrachord is.. I just practice and work on whatever makes the hampster smile..

No No No... You bunch of perverts.. My daughter's hampster lives in the "music room"... If he likes something, he'll stand in the corner of his cage and listen.. When I get the fiddle or harmonicas out though he'll run hide behind his wheel and start screaching at me...

--
Rob

 

[djhead]

I self taught myself, and I can't teach myself anything new. Im stuck on powerchords

 

[legionserial]

I'm self taught too, I do the stuff I think is fun and learn the stuff that sounds gay anyway incase its useful...and cos its fun in a kind of lame way. I'm not going to force myself into routines that I don't enjoy, but then I don't think I need to, I don't really think I 'practice'. I just pick up and play. Thats all I ever did from 15 years ago when I started, and I guess I can hold my own...and I can play pretty well too I of course would like to improve and I feel I do noticably with time, but I ain't in a mad rush to get better. Its more like "hey, thats pretty cool, I'm gonna figure it out", whilst at the same time I'm just fucking around.

I'm not going to make myself to play if dont really feel like it. I just play when I feel like playing guitar.

 

[daav]

A lot of this has to do with knowing how to learn. Yes, a flat statement like "practicing scales and learning note names and site reading and so on is always helpful" is true, but flat statements generally count for shit in the real world.

The real deal is learning how to learn-- and what your personal style is; this can be very easy to rationalize, so is somewhat dangerous. Your task is to spend your time doing what will make you grow the most at any given time. Like a couple people have posted, you may plateau on development with scales, etc. quickly now, but come back to it after you have tapped out your potential in other things that you are more into now.

The key is to not allow yourslef to waste time when you are tapped out (see the last 10 years or so of my playing) and to not waste your time being frustrated by things tha tyou are not ready for (be it talent, discipline, persionality or what have you).

Daav

 

[DogFood]

I have to get tired of whatever is occupying my desire. So, if I am interested in writing a new fuzzed out heavy riff with a cool lead trick I just discovered I must write it until I get stuck. Then after a 10 minutes of being frustrated at stuckedness I lose interest and I will get to scales.

 

[Outlaws]

But what stops you from just playing what you want and getting down to scales and stuff?

The fact that you can't play what you want because you don't know the scales and stuff.