Reality Check!

[Raz]

Well I don't know if this is a phase, or my age catching up, but I believe I have reached what I would like to call a check in Reality...it has dawned on me that, due to me not only being a lazy arse, but with the kids, work, dish washing that shredding, progressive or intricate fushion style guitar playing is something that I will never achieve. In fact writing and recording progressive stuff for me isn't going to happen anytime soon, but that's no reason for me to give up playing is it...I have to face up and be what I am destined to be...its funny cause I have been struggling with this for awhile, wanting something, yet not appyling any energy to acheive it...could I do what I would have wanted to do...maybe, I mean it's possible, with practise and learning, but CAN I, no it's just not in the cards. It finally hit me last night while watching the final installment of Lord of the Rings, where either Piipin or Merry(Mary?) comes face to face with the fact that he is just a hobbit, still cool, but just a hobbit...so I accept what I am as a guitar player...I'm gonna keep things simple, concentrate on blues, blues/rock. I find myself straying from the heavier music these days, my tolerance isn't what it used to be...I mean I still love to rock, and I'll still crank the distortion and disturb the neighbors, but my main goal will be more specific now. Like jazz, for example, I've been listenning to some lately, but I know I could never understand such concepts...I could fake some playing, but its as tranparent as my sheer undies...errr, nevermind that...so I guess I have been feeling a bit better lately, realizing that although my feet are big and dirty, and that even though I'm short with big ears and a hairy back, I can still belong...

 

[ernie1966]

Raz,

It's cool that you found your niche, so to speak. But you never know, maybe with your new direction, you might find yourself back to exploring your shred side after a few months or a year. We all go thru many phases in our guitar lives.

 

[tvanveen]

Non-shredders suck.

 

[Tokkes]

Well Raz,

ever since I saw and heard Steve Morse play, I wanted to become as good a guitar players as he is. But, since Steve is in the music bizz, and I'm not, he has a s***load of time to improve and upgrade his skills. Well, although it would be pleasant to be that good, I'm not, because of several factors of which time is a prominent one.

But, this doesn't mean that I don't like playing anymore. No matter what hobby you'll take up, there are and will always be people that can do more and better than you. Hell, the best guitar player in the world is probably noodling around at home on his 50$ tenth hand guitar and we will never hear anything from him/her. Another thing that comes to mind is this: use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best (by Henry Van Dyke).

So, I will not give up trying to be a better guitar player, but given the amount of time I have for practicing and stuff, I just enjoy all the sounds (crazy ones, distorted ones, awful ones, ...) that are coming from my amp and that are trademarked by yours truly. So, I'm absolutely shure that you belong. Just do the things you do the best way you can do them and enjoy them.

Hope this makes sense? Music as such is nobody's possession so it's yours to do whatever you want with it, especially when creating that music all by yourself on guitar.

Cheers, Tom.

 

[SteveB]

Raz,

Welcome to the unwashed masses!

Most of us will never come close to threatening Morse's "Best Overall Guitarist" awards collection. But that's no reason to give up, right?

I don't think you need to shred to play progressive or fusion, and I don't think that 'understanding' jazz is beyond your capabilites (practice over chord progressions that go from V to IV for that..).

I have some original songs with my band that *everyone* dubs "progressive" upon hearing, but I'm certainly no shredder.

Anyway, try jamming along with some different kinds of music. You'll find something that inspires you to new levels. Ever listen to Strunz & Farah or Ottmar Liebert? They're flamenco players, and just listening to them can give you new ideas. Or go retro and listen to some Blue Cheer or Frijid Pink albums. Just expose yourself to something new or something that you haven't heard in a while.

 

[blackspy]

I have a fantastic book for you Raz, Mastery: The Keys to Success, by George Leonard. The book, in a nutshell, discusses alot of the things you're probably feeling about the topic.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452267560/qid=1116513802/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-1542103-2997503"]Amazon.com: Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment: George Leonard: Books[/ame]

I found this book to be more beneficial to my playing than any 'guitar or music' book I've ever read. The principles apply to all aspects of life. It has nothing to do with the guitar, but it has every thing to do with something every guitarist is familiar with, practice. It's a cheap book and a great book. I highly recommend any guitar player, serious about his or her playing, read it.

 

[J-Nick]

As a teenager I wanted to learn to most difficult stuff so that I would be the best guitar player of the school... well no matter how hard I tried there was always somebody that could play stuff that I couldn't... It even discouraged me (thinking that I had no talent for guitar playing) and I stopped playing for a few years. Then I realized: who cares if your not the best in town, as long as you are enjoying playing. So I started playing again but now I consider it a hobby (although a very serious one). I feel no pressure of being THE BEST, I'm just a basement rocker and I LOVE IT...

J-Nick

 

[JT1]

That's one of the tributes of being a good guitarist. Once you've reached your ability thresh hold, and recognized it, you can focus on just playing. Pursueing the unabtainable is a waist of time. Honeing your inate skills is really where it's at. There are lots of players who are successful, killer gutarists that just play what they feel. They may not be flashy or god like but they know what they can do and do it really well. It's not about mimicking, it's about hitting that phrase or note that sets the hair on the back of your neck up and chills down your back. I think you've reached a great point.

 

[mbgreene]

Hey Raz - I here ya.

I was seriously gung ho when I started back into this. I was going going to practice, improve. I was gonna put the Band back together like I was on a mission from God . Then, reality bit. Real life doesn't allow a never was to become what he never would have been anyway. Even with the forum I tried to participate but realized I didn't have the historic knowledge or talent background to get involved with a lot of the discussions so I probably just came off as occasionally snarky. There appears to be some real talent on this board (Get NorM's CD) and even the occasional clips and postings started to deter me.

After I went to the Morse show at B.B. Kings I literally said why am I even bothering and came close to offering the AL up. ...But.....I didn't.

I realized I got back into this for my own enjoyment and try to exploit that part of it. I'll never be the best guitar player no matter what the style so why judge myself. In the words of dime store philosophy - Those who matter don't judge and those who judge don't matter. ( if you invert the predicates and say it with a Yoda accent it sounds even more profound ) So then I went out and got more equipment (although I must admit to non-EBMM gas when I bought a Reverend workhorse junior) and dove back in.

I guess this is just a long winded way to say I've been through the same cycle of doubt and decided to play for my own enjoyment. You won't get better if you don't play so just enjoy playing, try stuff, experiment and when frustrated, fall back into your comfort groove and the rest may fall into your lap. Hey its only Rock n Roll, F-em if they can't take a joke.

Then again I may be a bit more optomistic at this point since I'm tall and my back isn't real hairy

 

[jimmyp]

Not everyone can be a virtuoso like Morse, Petrucci etc. Enjoying it is the most important thing - that and being able to play enough to communicate with your audience(even if that audience is just your family) - it's all good

 

[fogman]

Hey Raz!

If I remember correctly, you like myself had many years vacation from playing the guitar. But came back to it!
Even if you were King Shredder, I don't think you'd love playing more. Your abilities would be greater and only others would be excited. Most of us here play for the personal love of the instrument.
I see playing guitar as like playing golf. It's a lifetime activity that you can always get better at. Yes there will always be better players. But in all reality you are not playing against them. You are stuggling within your self.
Keep at it Bro. Love it and you'll be happy.

 

[kbaim]

This is a very interesting thread.

Sometimes the idea of getting better can be as simple as playing something you already know, smoother and with more feeling.

Steve Morse once wrote you should always play something that makes you feel good when you're practicing new and difficult things as a kind of reward for yourself for attempting it.

Lots of ways to be inspired. Learning a new tune or technique. Writing a new tune or a fun progression to play. Watching a guitarist you admire make everything look easy. Getting new equipment.

Progress happens in fits and starts. It's just not linear.

 

[Raz]

When did you guys become so friggin wise? Well I appreciate all of your responses, as they all echo the truth...I haven't been moved like this in a long while. This forum definately has no equal anywhere...thanks guys. My life has always been a rollercoaster ride...I remember one girl back in highschool once said to me, and I will never forget this, she said..."You know something Paolo, I will never get married to you, you change to much, one minute you're this, then the next something totally different!" Well in a way she is right, but I guess she didn't know that at that time I had something then, that I still have now...and that's my guitar I think I got fixated on recording and displaying some form of appreciable talent, just for the sake of others, thereby losing site of what the guitar really is for me...like others said about golf, for me guitar is a walk in the park, a cigarette after making love, a stiff drink after a hard day at work or dropping the gloves and getting into an old fashioned fist fight...for me guitar is my therapy, an extension of my feelings...I can only play what I feel, and I can only feel what I can play!

 

[ernie1966]

Hey Raz - I here ya.



After I went to the Morse show at B.B. Kings I literally said why am I even bothering and came close to offering the AL up. ...But.....I didn't.

I had just the opposite reaction. When I got back into playing in bands 5 or 6 years ago, I came across Dream Theater. When I heard Petrucci, I was blown away. I was never into shredders or Prog rock. That fact that he was lights years ahead of me skill-wise got me nuts!! I got his video, Rock Discipline, and dove right in. I went from practicing 3 hours a day at first to a 5-6 hours a day and got to the point where I can handle most of what Mr. Petrucci plays with some honest to goodness practice. I've now relaxed on the crazy headphones-on, metronome ticking sessions and play more for fun, because I'm at a skill level that allows me to play almost anything that I want. I also take a lesson from Ron Thal every 2 months or so to broaden my guitar horizons. That guy will drop your jaw, I think there is nothing he cannot do on the guitar.

Oh and Mike G. is TALL!

 

[Jimi D]

I'm slow on the up-take on this thread! I mean, I don't know how I could have missed this for almost two hours - a thread, from RAZ, titled Reality Check?!? Good lord, it has all the earmarkings of a classic already.

But I'm with you buddy, all the way... I've seen you play, I know you've got some chops and speed. I like to think I have some small talent myself, but guys like Petrucci and Morse and Satch and Vai are in another league! And a part of the reason for their awesome skills - beyond the question of raw, natural talent (which is something that I have never really felt I had personally) - is a dedicated and religiously observed practice schedule that includes more hours of guitar playing in a day than I get in a week, what with the family and the house, and all the responsibilities that go with having a couple of kids coming up on adolescence running around me all the time. In fact, a lot of my guitar playing time lately has been spent with my 12 year old son, who's finally moved from the piano to an apparently genuine interest in guitar!! In fact, I gave him the Vans Warped Tour Axis a couple months ago to encourage him (look, a guitar the same as mine, and it's from a Warped tour!), and so far so good... We've been figuring out and playing some Green Day over the last couple weeks, and the kid has a stellar voice and the gift of a terrific ear, so it's really been a lot of fun... but it's not going to help me clean up my clumsy fingering over the more difficult passages in Cliffs of Dover

I will always be grateful for the ability to appreciate great technical guitar, though - even if I can't equal it, I can listen to it and revel in it and get that rush like you're being lifted by invisible wings when you hear something that's just technically and musically brilliant brought off by a master, and I know that not everyone can enjoy that, and it's a tremendous gift. And I'll continue to play what I can play, and if my technical limit is the lead to Highway Star, so be it, it still sounds damn cool, and I can make all my Rock Star faces anyway!

 

[Raz]

I had just the opposite reaction. When I got back into playing in bands 5 or 6 years ago, I came across Dream Theater. When I heard Petrucci, I was blown away. I was never into shredders or Prog rock. That fact that he was lights years ahead of me skill-wise got me nuts!! I got his video, Rock Discipline, and dove right in. I went from practicing 3 hours a day at first to a 5-6 hours a day and got to the point where I can handle most of what Mr. Petrucci plays with some honest to goodness practice. I've now relaxed on the crazy headphones-on, metronome ticking sessions and play more for fun, because I'm at a skill level that allows me to play almost anything that I want. I also take a lesson from Ron Thal every 2 months or so to broaden my guitar horizons. That guy will drop your jaw, I think there is nothing he cannot do on the guitar.

Oh and Mike G. is TALL!

What you're taking lessons from BumbleFoot...no friggin way that is awesome...that is cool...no wait...its WAY cooooolll!

But what you just said makes alot of sense and it seperates the obvious
in that one needs to practise to develop these incredible skills. When I was young and single living in TO, I used to get up at 5:00 AM and practise scales and what not, the bummer was I didn't continue or go further, I just brushed that mode of play, maybe it was fate, I know not...but again reality is I just don't have 5 hours to practise, let alone play...heck I am in heaven if I can get an hour in
Perhaps it was meant to be this way, that guitar was meant as a source of healing rather than one that would either generate interest from others or any income of sorts...I guess my only regret for not playing those 15 years or so, is that, well sure I would be a better player, but perhaps a better person...

 

[ernie1966]

What you're taking lessons from BumbleFoot...no friggin way that is awesome...that is cool...no wait...its WAY cooooolll!

But what you just said makes alot of sense and it seperates the obvious
in that one needs to practise to develop these incredible skills. When I was young and single living in TO, I used to get up at 5:00 AM and practise scales and what not, the bummer was I didn't continue or go further, I just brushed that mode of play, maybe it was fate, I know not...but again reality is I just don't have 5 hours to practise, let alone play...heck I am in heaven if I can get an hour in
Perhaps it was meant to be this way, that guitar was meant as a source of healing rather than one that would either generate interest from others or any income of sorts...I guess my only regret for not playing those 15 years or so, is that, well sure I would be a better player, but perhaps a better person...

Oh please, every day I wish that when I was a teen I practiced like I practice these days. That's why guys like Petrucci, Vai and Satch, Bfoot are so great, along with freaky talent, they had the discipline early on in life.
Yeah, Ron was a friend of a friend, now he's a sort-of friend of mine, so when I ask for a lesson every once in a while, he says, "sure, come on down."

 

[AxSport4me]

The thing thats works for me is that i`m happy. Forget about how good you are or aren`t or how good other people may be,its all about feeling good. If you enjoy playing the guitar then thats all that matters! Don`t get caught up in all the hoopla......lifes too short!

 

[jimmyp]

Forget about how good you are or aren`t or how good other people may be,its all about feeling good. If you enjoy playing the guitar then thats all that matters! Don`t get caught up in all the hoopla......lifes too short!

Well put - personally I find it the best way to relax or get rid of tension - I may never be that good, but I always feel better when I play

 

[ripley]

Not everyone can be a virtuoso like Morse, Petrucci etc. Enjoying it is the most important thing - that and being able to play enough to communicate with your audience(even if that audience is just your family) - it's all good

you're dead right.

also, when I find myself listeing to morse and holdsworth and the like, and getting reeally frustrated that I just KNOW that no measure of practice and technique is going to make up for what those guys naturally have, I have to remind myself that there's a reason that people like satriani and morse and holdsworth and vai and whoever else is who and what they are. I am what I am and I can't change that anymore than my dog could walk around on 2 legs and dance like fred astare. and that's OK. infact, I have come to find it liberatng to think (while playing) that I should stop comparing myself to these stellar players because by doing so, I'm only holding myself back.

if I'm a lunitic and I play screwey, angular music, that's ok. coming to grips with my own personal and musical bizarrity is probably the best thing I've done. I should just do what I do and be inspired by better players, not use them as a template to copy.