When you pick up your guitar.....

[Bungo]

....to have a bit of a noodle on at home, what do you actually play?

I seem to find myself going straight for Rush's 'Passage To Bangkok' riff without even thinking.

What do your fingers automatically head for?

 

[Philip]

when on clean I always play some open string chords, like C#min7 or Asus2, when od lead channel I always start with some blues-rock lick on the pentatonic

 

[brentrocks]

Usually some old Black Sabbath or "Radar Love"

 

[edensdad]

I don't play many covers anymore - I usually play originals - and there is one in particular I'm stuck on right now, but since none of you've heard it . . .

I do love to play zeppelin covers on my acoustic - stuff like "The Rain Song" and "Bron-Y-Aur"

>^..^<

 

[Larry]

"Bron-Y-Aur"

>^..^<

Thats a rough one

 

[koogie2k]

I start out witht the exercises from the Rock Discipline by JP. Great way to stretch out and warm up.

Scales and modes follow.

Then I work on my original stuff followed by some Van Halen.......as directed by my instructor.

 

[kbaim]

I don't play many covers anymore - I usually play originals - and there is one in particular I'm stuck on right now, but since none of you've heard it . . .

I do love to play zeppelin covers on my acoustic - stuff like "The Rain Song" and "Bron-Y-Aur"

>^..^<

I'm with Edensdad on this...except I can't play either of those cool zep songs. Aren't they in some bizzaro alternate tunings??

I usually start messing with the latest song I'm working on. Takes a while to get the different sections sounding cohesive. And once I finish a song, it seems to take a couple months of playing it and getting used to the fingering to play it w/o too many muffed notes and shaky passages.

 

[tommyindelaware]

devil went down to georgia..............

 

[edensdad]

I'm with Edensdad on this...except I can't play either of those cool zep songs. Aren't they in some bizzaro alternate tunings??

Si Senor. I have several acoustics, each with a different tuning, but my two favorites are a DADABD (I have never seen this in a book) and the well known DADGAD tuning.

Spices things up when you get bored - the usual chords and finger patterns either don't work well, or yield different results.

 

[Jonny Dubai]

Em7 and some legato runs.....then in A, G, C and D and stuff. Then picking work as my picking sucks.

Jonny

 

[Norrin Radd]

Either something terrible that I've written or, more likely, I usually start with the riff from Kings X's "We Were Born to be Loved". You know, that dropped D but not too heavliy distorted riff that leads into those awesome chord voicings for the chorus......

 

[Lucidology]

Though my hands aren't warmed up yet, I dig the fact that my ears are fresh. So I have a habit of jamming to a funky bass & drum groove on my sequencer and immediately start trying out new concepts.

Such as imposing key centers, modes & substitutions over static harmony and teaching myself to hear them naturally in my head (take 'em out of the conceptual mental realm into real functional, applicable harmony...) Find the learning process is much easier to do when my ears are fresh and without a trace of fatigue.

For instance: playing a C Dominant Lydian mode over a funky Em7 groove...

Start off basically playing in E Dorian, jumping to C Dominant Lydian for a few phrases, and then back to E Dorian... Thus the practice of going back and forth between two scales over a static (one chord) harmony (a famous Mike Stern trick or signiture sound ...) So I work on getting this in my ears and fingers so it's part of my musical soloing reality, not just a concept sitting in my head...

Forcing myself to play & hear outside notes seems to work best if I do it when I first pick up the guitar... I have more courage to take risks and force my fingers not to play the usual cliches...

Then after awhile, I usually start playing the melody to "It's hard to be a Pimp'... never fails...

 

[Bungo]

Though my hands aren't warmed up yet, I dig the fact that my ears are fresh. So I have a habit of jamming to a funky bass & drum groove on my sequencer and immediately start trying out new concepts.

Such as imposing key centers, modes & substitutions over static harmony and teaching myself to hear them naturally in my head (take 'em out of the conceptual mental realm into real functional, applicable harmony...) Find the learning process is much easier to do when my ears are fresh and without a trace of fatigue.

For instance: playing a C Dominant Lydian mode over a funky Em7 groove...

Start off basically playing in E Dorian, jumping to C Dominant Lydian for a few phrases, and then back to E Dorian... The practice of going and forth between the two scales (a famous Mike Stern trick or signiture sound ...) So I work on getting this in my ears and fingers so it's part of my musical soloing reality, not just a concept sitting in my head...

Forcing myself to play & hear outside notes seems to work best if I do it when I first pick up the guitar... I have more courage to take risks and force my fingers not to play the usual cliches...

Then after awhile, I usually start playing the melody to "It's hard to be a Pimp'... never fails...

Blimey! That's a pretty serious quick noodle!!!

 

[Knox]

I always try and play something different every time I pick up a geetar...makes it more interesting and challenging than going over the same old!

 

[Katana6506]

Usually Led Zeppelin's "Over the Hills and Far Away."

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

Lots of old twiddle, and the theme from Top Gun!

 

[PrpaLe]

....

What do your fingers automatically head for?

E 7/9

 

[Chris K]

I have a pick in my hand, I usually start out with some scales/modes. If I don't have a pick, I always play that finger picked riff from simple simon by Steve Morse band. I have tendonitis in my right hand at the moment, so I don't really play any intensive alternate picking now, just some light playing. If anyone has any good suggestions/treatments besides let it rest, please speak up!

 

[tommyindelaware]

I have a pick in my hand, I usually start out with some scales/modes. If I don't have a pick, I always play that finger picked riff from simple simon by Steve Morse band. I have tendonitis in my right hand at the moment, so I don't really play any intensive alternate picking now, just some light playing. If anyone has any good suggestions/treatments besides let it rest, please speak up!

at one point (late 90's) i was really suffering from it too. for about 5 years.

i was actually whinnig about it to steve morse when he told me he had had the same problem.....in the same exact area..........& told me that really good quality vitamans cured his. & i thought to myself ......thats too easy !!!!!! that won't work for me.i had tried shots & everything else that didn't work though...so he hooked me up w/ the now defunked source , i went on them....& i swear within 5 days it was gone !!!!!!!!! i was amazed !!!!
i think it's possible a vitaman deficiency can prevent your immune system from letting your body cure its self......

 

[SharonG]

at one point (late 90's) i was really suffering from it too. for about 5 years.

i was actually whinnig about it to steve morse when he told me he had had the same problem.....in the same exact area..........& told me that really good quality vitamans cured his. & i thought to myself ......thats too easy !!!!!! that won't work for me.i had tried shots & everything else that didn't work though...so he hooked me up w/ the now defunked source , i went on them....& i swear within 5 days it was gone !!!!!!!!! i was amazed !!!!
i think it's possible a vitaman deficiency can prevent your immune system from letting your body cure its self......

Hey, Tommy - if you can tell me what the brand name was and the name of the company, I might be able to track down what was in it and find a similar prep - I do have connections at work.....