Page 1 of 2
What caused the biggest improvement in your playing ability?
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 3:13 pm
by mathias
What one source (book, video, person, quote, inspiration) caused the biggest leap in your playing ability? If it was a person, what insight / instruction did they teach you?This came up in the chat and now I'd like to ask everyone on here.
(14:05:45) mathias: Oh, this is something I was going to post to the forums
(14:06:29) mathias: Question along the lines of: What one source (book, video, person, quote, inspiration) caused the biggest leap in your playing ability? If it was a person, what insight / instruction did they teach you?
(14:06:52) mathias: I suppose it could be something like a certain practice schedule, too, but then I'd be curious what that was.
(14:07:23) iamthesnow: a few really
(14:07:25) mathias: My playing hasn't improved for like 8 years (I guess its only been 3 or 4 years. I've certainly gotten better compared to my teenage-fuck-it-all-phase). Stuck playing the same way, and not particularly good >.>
(14:07:44) iamthesnow: gotta lot of jimi influence
(14:07:49) iamthesnow: little bit of kurt
(14:08:24) iamthesnow: one of my uncles really got me into playing to the point where i took it seriously
(14:08:26) mathias: Just replicating their playing?
(14:08:44) iamthesnow: i can't play any of their songs to save my life
(14:08:52) iamthesnow: just their free flowing spirit on the guitar
(14:08:58) mathias: Ah
(14:09:20) iamthesnow: for my 15th birthday i got an old vox tube amp, a russian muff and a cheap delay
(14:09:31) iamthesnow: almost 6 years later that's still my thing
Re: What caused the biggest improvement in your playing ability?
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 5:48 pm
by Ghost Hip
Most of my improvement on the guitar was gradual. However I think as far as skill wise it'd have to be my high school guitar class. It was so fucking repetitive with chords that I became really good with switching to any chord shape, and it eventually taught me how to solo and I could do pentatonic solos easily pretty early on. It kind of gave me the repetitive discipline I never would've given myself. However it also got me into "Sweet baby james" by james taylor.....which is kind of funny.
Also when I started my first real band my drummer and I traded smashing pumpkins and Nirvana CDs. So he really got me into Nirvana more than I ever would've been. It completely put a new light on punk music other than the typical "I fucking hate the government," stuff I didn't care about (back then at least).
Re: What caused the biggest improvement in your playing ability?
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 5:51 pm
by smile_man
Getting my Jaguar.
Having my favourite guitar caused me to play more often.
Re: What caused the biggest improvement in your playing ability?
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 5:55 pm
by Ghost Hip
smile_man wrote:Getting my Jaguar.
Having my favourite guitar caused me to play more often.
Yeah, thats another good point. I got a new guitar like every two or three months when I started playing guitar, I learned something new on each one. Now it's the fuzz that keeps me going. (duh)
Re: What caused the biggest improvement in your playing ability?
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:24 pm
by sev
Really learning how to LISTEN.
How to hear each instrument seperately, but still in context.
How to respect the song, the vocalist, and compliment while leaving room for these things to breathe.
Being totally serious, my improvement in critical listening coincided with my starting to smoke pot while listening to music. Coincidence?
Also, if you want to improve as a musician, or as a band....record yourself(s) playing, and listen back later. This can be very enlightening.
Re: What caused the biggest improvement in your playing ability?
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:38 pm
by mathias
Semi-related: Thinking of taking up drumming to improve my rhythm. Can't play actual drums in the house. Choices: rock band at friend's house, digital drum pads, or simply a practice snare pad and two cheap sticks on a tabletop. Thoughts?
Re: What caused the biggest improvement in your playing ability?
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:50 pm
by dronemachine
FuzzyWuzzy wrote:Really learning how to LISTEN.
How to hear each instrument seperately, but still in context.
How to respect the song, the vocalist, and compliment while leaving room for these things to breathe.
Being totally serious, my improvement in critical listening coincided with my starting to smoke pot while listening to music. Coincidence?
Also, if you want to improve as a musician, or as a band....record yourself(s) playing, and listen back later. This can be very enlightening.
smile_man wrote:Getting my Jaguar.
Having my favourite guitar caused me to play more often.
This is exactly how i feel about it.It's cool to see other people's thoughts and relate to it.
I could just add that buying a dedicated looper pedal can help anyone to play better in time,and get the creative juices going.There were times when I would just stay in my house the whole day,recording drone and rhythm on looper,and then playing it the whole day....listening....playing along...drinkin...thinking about it...
Re: What caused the biggest improvement in your playing ability?
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:54 pm
by mathias
C W Y wrote:This is exactly how i feel about it.It's cool to see other people's thoughts and relate to it.
I could just add that buying a dedicated looper pedal can help anyone to play better in time,and get the creative juices going.There were times when I would just stay in my house the whole day,recording drone and rhythm on looper,and then playing it the whole day....listening....playing along...drinkin...thinking about it...
Hmm, my laptop +
SooperLooper (free open source) does the looping thing, if I use my cheap Behringer USB audio interface. I think tomorrow I'll set up that instead of worrying about amps and effects, and see what I can do. Thanks.
Re: What caused the biggest improvement in your playing ability?
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:59 pm
by dronemachine
mathias wrote:C W Y wrote:This is exactly how i feel about it.It's cool to see other people's thoughts and relate to it.
I could just add that buying a dedicated looper pedal can help anyone to play better in time,and get the creative juices going.There were times when I would just stay in my house the whole day,recording drone and rhythm on looper,and then playing it the whole day....listening....playing along...drinkin...thinking about it...
Hmm, my laptop +
SooperLooper (free open source) does the looping thing, if I use my cheap Behringer USB audio interface. I think tomorrow I'll set up that instead of worrying about amps and effects, and see what I can do. Thanks.
Re: What caused the biggest improvement in your playing ability?
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 7:03 pm
by Ghost Hip
Yeah when I first got my SMM/H i spent the majority of my time making loops. Most of it was meditative music that reminded me of music in newer Zelda games.
Re: What caused the biggest improvement in your playing ability?
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 7:42 pm
by jrmy
FuzzyWuzzy wrote:How to respect the song, the vocalist, and compliment while leaving room for these things to breathe.
I totally agree with this one. Also, playing with people from different musical backgrounds. My band used to have a different singer/guitar player - he left to do his own thing, but we still had shows booked. Rather than trying to find another singer, my drummer decided to step up to vox & guitar. Now, he had played & sung before, but he came from a completely different background - I was all indie/shoegaze, and he was a weird combination of New Order, Tom Petty, Material Issue & The Cure. Musically, we had almost no common ground at the time (except for an agreement to try to come up with something together). Our first year was kind of all over the place, and frankly a bit of a mess. Over time, we really came to respect each other, and learned how to edit & craft our songs in a way that neither of us had really tried before. It was a helluva lot of work, but I'm prouder of my music now than ever before.
Re: What caused the biggest improvement in your playing ability?
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:47 am
by WaveForm3
Actually, self-disipline.
I made a deal with myself, I could get a new pedal, if I play 1hr a day. Only missed 2 day's since Dec 25th!
Re: What caused the biggest improvement in your playing ability?
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:52 am
by Ghost Hip
I don't think I've ever missed a day without playing guitar of some sort since I started.
sometimes I totally hate what I'm playing but I still feel the need to keep strumming. This could be a whole nother thread, but yeah.
Re: What caused the biggest improvement in your playing ability?
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:56 am
by archlilim
I learned theory on a bass, and played in a rapcore band in high school, but I kinda fell out of it. I kinda casually picked up guitar, teaching myself to play with my girlfriend's help. The one thing that really pushed me to where I am today is a person named Pete Cosey who played with Miles Davis from 1973-1975. The way he played basically opened me up the idea that playing the guitar traditionally was only one out of millions of ways to play it. The guitar is a means to an end for me. So basically from there I learned some of the basics, combined it with my familiarity of the fret board from bass (I've always been good at recognizing the patters) and then strove to learns how to find sounds through effects instead of going the usual route. Long story short, I'm a shitty guitar player in the traditional sense and if I was to join another band it'd be with the bass, but as far as creating atmosphere and crazy unique fucking noises out of amps--I'm good at that.
Re: What caused the biggest improvement in your playing ability?
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 8:10 am
by bigchiefbc
I started on guitar when I was 11. Moved to bass in college. Pretty much played by-the-numbers the whole time. The real breakthrough for my playing actually came when I became completely bored with it, and taught myself piano. I played nothing but piano for about 6 months, and when I came back to the guitar/bass, my playing style had completely changed.