learning guitar as physiotherapy

[Roopey]

Yeah, that was a bold statement man, and an ignorant one at that. Eric Clapton has played a huge role in the guitar world for over 40 years. Whether or not you enjoy his music doesn't mean he wasn't horribly influential.

In terms of the debate, I can see both sides of the argument, and somewhere in the middle is where I think people should be. Music Theory as stated before does allow for easier communication on what someone is playing, and learning how to read definitely helps you learn songs quicker, especially understanding rhythmic structure. At the same time though I can see how it would hinder one's ability to listen and feel the music at first due to your focus being purely on it, but nothing fully suppress your ability to feel the music.

You make it sound like people who know music theory don't know how to put any emotion behind what they are playing, but this is obviously not true. You also make it sound like people who know their music theory are somehow being controlled, when this is clearly not the case either. Music theory is a tool, and like any tool when used properly, can help you get the job done more efficiently. This is not to say that there aren't plenty of people misusing this tool, or have become blind to other possibilities because of their reliance on the one tool.

You are looking at music as solely a heart/soul function. To me, it is both heart and mind working together to create music. I feel the music, and I analyze the music.

[Zen Peddler]

Im just fucking with ya. But I enjoyed the debate none the less...

But how is saying that Eric Clapton was not the most pioneering guitarist an ignorant statement? He played blues-style structured songs on a strat. I never said I didnt respect him.

You want pioneering guitar work then compare that with Robert Fripp's work in the 70s, Bernard Butler in the early 90s. or Robbie Krieger's minor-scale droning or Page's use of fucked-up phase and wandering solo melodies (the fuzz lead in No Quarter is a fine example). Pete Townsend also comes to mind at least for energy and speed which was pretty interesting at the time.

Page as an example had a HUGE influence (whether you see it as positive or negative). You can hear Page in just about every generic rock song that has come out in the last 20 years.

And although it is a little cliched no one made fucking crazy noise with more soul than Hendrix.

Edited October 29, 2011 by Zen Peddler BlueGreenie

[sethomopod]

Wow,

Doesn't take long for disagreements to arise ..

Santiago, DONT listen to ANYONE!!

You just find what is comfortable for YOU.. Learn whichever way is best for YOU..If its theory you want, you can learn theory, If you want/don't want to learn TAB, it's up to you entirely.. The way alot of these posts are turning out, sounds alot like everyone is stuck in their own ideas, which is completely cool, but some things work for some people, and some dont.. Music, like any other artform, is completely subjective.. Whatever makes you happy playing and learning, do it...

Santiago, you are an intelligent enough person to know what will work for YOU..

We could fill 100's of pages of debate with this subject, but NOBODY is 'right'..

Just do what feels best for you...

It's a beautiful, versatile and expressive instrument.

Love for the instrument organically turns into knowledge of the instrument..

The more you love it, the more you play, the more you play, the more you learn..

Just Jam brother!

Edited October 29, 2011 by sethomopod

[Zen Peddler]

What he said.

[danshaman]

right on sethomopod i'm a guitar player of 4 yrs and i havnt done an ounce of theory i just play what feels and sound right

tried lessons and gettin mates to teach me but they would just cramp ma style

I started out with alot of heavy death metal with crunchy fast riffs and alot of tremolo picking

recently ive brought myself right back when my dad passed down his beautiful round back semi acoustic morris

now i play very soft melodic stuff with alot percussion involved i even lay it down on my lap and lap tap completely revolutionised the sounds can make with the guitar

playing the guitar is best way just to chill out and express yourself

go with the flow man and one day u'll know that neck better then the back of your hand

[danshaman]

[Psylo]

But how is saying that Eric Clapton was not the most pioneering guitarist an ignorant statement? He played blues-style structured songs on a strat.

 

Actually, in the 'pioneering days' EC played Gibson SG, and to a lesser extent a Les Paul. He also, along with Hendrix, PIONEERED the use of the wah-wah pedal.

And he did heaps of acid. What's not to love

Im not defending his solo career, that kinda sucked.

[santiago]

see but this is totally why i opened the tread, i see you all as being correctly correct..whats right for one person is totally polar opposite for another. i liken it to junk yard hunting. like i normally go by myself and get what i am looking for but when i take a buddy they see something that iwould not even have looked at, kinda you cant ever walk in any mans footsteps until you have worn his shoes type analogy.

the hendrix and good guitatists musical theories go straight over, although now having played around a smidgen with a guitar you are totally awestruck by the possibilities, i seriously do have a softspot for a uke, that post of psylo's is astronomical and roopey's no5 for me anyway was helpful in the max.

probably tube can come in handy here, this is how i would like to play,

 

not necessarily normally but with 3 or 4 melodies interacting like guramul..not the singing, but just a slow depressing type drawl. and uke, and electric as i said bass..i dont really care if it takes 10 years. but yeh the untrained is what i would like to be but i see no problem with lessons.

so yeh, physio to the max.

like this lil kid too, saw him years back but he has heaps of plays

 

[sethomopod]

 

 

Fan-fucking-tastic!

Thanks for the link!! This guy is great..

[Psylo]

WIth the state of Chinese industrialism these days, its more affordable than ever to buy a decent beginners guitar & amplifier package for under $500. Or if you have a hi-fi, do away with the amp altogether, and buy a guitar, a USB desktop recording device, a couple of cheap effects pedals and you then have the ability to 'play with yourself' using multitracking DAW software (theres a very very good free one out there that give the name brands a run for their money).

For money/quality on a cheap guira, the Fender Squire Bullet is really good value for a beginners instrument. Sure, there will be people telling you they are no good, to buy blah blah blah, but for $170 brand new, built under license for a big-name in the guitar world, you cant go wrong.

A decent but cheap beinners acoustic will set you back maybe $400 - you really ned to spend as much as you can, as there's some awful sounding ones in the low price range. IN saying that, $400 would get you out of trouble.

But an electric is easier to learn, more fun, and you can also have a bash (ie practice your technique) anytime of the day or night unamplified, and not disturb your partner, housemates, parents...

Dont know here you are, but if youre in Sydney Im happy to go shopping with you for an instrument sometime if you need a hand selecting a guitar

[Legba]

@ Earache Clapton

jammin' to tv ad's helped me. 15 - 30 second's ad- so helped me to determine key and plug into any groove in seconds.

[ThunderIdeal]

i'm still open to suggestions for my new electric. i've never had active pickups or neck-through before. pretty sure fixed bridge is the way to go as well. want something with a magical expensive sound, you know, something that costs too much.

[santiago]

so i have been playing for 2 years now and unfortunately i broke a second finger on my left hand, i think you call it the wedding band finger. so now i have two fingers that dont bend fully at the end joint. it was extremely painful to play for a while, once you stopped and you had to let it return to straight finger...ouchy. but as in the name of the thread....somehow i believe guitar playing to be amazing to recover mild finger injuries and somehow like most things of bad fate you can turn a negative ino a positive. without breaking my little finger two years a go i would have never bothered to try physio by buying a guitar.

i still have not had any lessons and i am really a terrible player, i suppose im just not the lesson type of person. mayby one day but i think i will be entrenched in such bad habits by then that ill just stick to my own way.

the ends of my finger tips have hardened up considerably, the lines have actually made semi permanent indents. i can play about 5 chords ok now and get some cute sounds, nothing even remotely recordable but sometimes when the universe is in harmony and i am too i will get a little shiver run up and down my spine and a sense of achievment that i think only somebody who creates something from nothing gets.

one thing i would like to know from though is do you play with your thumb behind the neck pushing in with the thumb print or with the thumb hanging over the top like holding a chicken neck, i know the correct method is the thumb print at back but i see so many players like bruce springsteen as only one for an example have the choking position.

but yeah for anyone thinking of taking up guitar for me personally its taking a while, but i believe im 4 times better now than a year ago....im honing the accuracy and clarity of sounds at this stage, but im kinda hoping someone will break my nose now so i can take up another instument as well like a saxiphone too......its a slow work in progress but god damn im hooked.

[AndyAmine.]

Great thread.

I started about a year ago now and it has become one of the best things in my life and helps so much with my anxiety and depression, even down to the way I look at and learn things on a daily basis, it has really changed me for the better.

I also went through a bit of pain those first months due to lots of excessive playing of GuitarHero using poor hand positions (LOL) a few years earlier. Still get sore faster than I'd liike but strengthening the muscles and stretching has made a huge difference,

Moved through a few loaner guitars and ended up with a Am Std Strat, and am looking at an acoustic, most likely a Cole Clark FL2C or a Taylor GS-Mini.

I have moved quite quickly to fingerstyle and cant wait to throw some percussive stuff into my playing as well but thats a while off yet I think.

Started with the absolute basics and theory, then onto some easier songs like Mad World and Everybody Hurts by REM and am now on Blackbird by P.McCartney and Nothing Else Matters by Metallica.

I never found a teacher I liked so tried out quite a few online/downloadable lessons and stuck with the Gibson Learn and Master Guitar DVD with Steve Krenz, the Youtube channel and website of Justin Sandecore and Guitar-Pro + Ultimate Guitar.com etc for TABS

http://www.learnandmaster.com/guitar/

http://www.justinguitar.com/

IMHO they are the 2 best I could find and L&M G has a large forum to go with it so there is constant help and support by people who are doing the same thing and regular live stream lessons with guest guitarists each week.

L&M Guitar has just finished a Fingerstyle course and I cant wait to grab a copy of that.

Justin offers live lessons over Skype.

Maybe we should get a SAB guit' gathering together sometime?

Edited October 31, 2012 by AndyAmine.

[santiago]

Old thread. My guitar playing progress continues. Prolly been 3 years since I started and the whole point was my finger which you will be glad to know..fine.

There was some points posted on learning by book or by ear. Of course the fundamentals of chord learning are essential but I kinda have done away with any mechanical type systems. ie books, you tube, lessons, tutorials. That's just the way I roll. The thing is...the guitar doesn't mean anything to me personally except really a toy. I have no desire for stardom, no desire to play in bands, no desire to wow my friends and no desire to copy a song note by note. If you do...great, all good. Everybody has a method unique to self and motivation varies from person to person.

I suppose what im getting at is, well if you learn by the book, your copying the book. If you learn by ear then you write your own book and the brain isn't really required. I mean...is good guitar playing merely a stored memory ie ''smoke on the water" the memory song we all learn. For me guitar must be natural, fun, unthinking, unknowing, creation.

Also im finding that a few days ago...I picked up the acoustic after 5 or so months of it collecting dust. Hadnt touched it in that time. You would naturally assume being rusty but its a strange happening that the break helped. It was like I had adjusted ear or something. I was heaps better. A break is good.

Thismorning I sat there an cranked out my music. I use all my fingers. Im starting to hear the matching of sounds. The strumming is creating a rhythm, the fingers are flying around without thought but the sound is clear. The main thing is that I played a song nobody heard, and nobody will ever hear or hear again. It felt awesome. I have a long long way to go......if I was going somewhere. For me that somewhere is an illusion. It doesn't matter if your the best guitarist in the world, music is meant to be an illusion. An escape, and for a few minutes thismorning ...I played guitar, and I most importantly, forgot to think about doing it.

Moral to that is, as I said above for total noobs. I believe, if the book works great...use it, but dont be stifled by mathematics music. Music was first created and then it was theorized over. And that's all there is to it. But ...negatively, playing by ear takes a lot longer, I believe. Which is why more will probably get lessons and so on, in a rush to copy...somebody elses music. Which is why, music is fairly repetitive in modern life.

[jackz]

Well, i am a guitar player too ;), i love to shred just like Malmsteen and others, and it's been 7 years since i started. I learned it myself, no guidance from musician teacher, no course, no friends to teach, that's true, i search for video lesson, books from the net and local store, finally i can smile with my current achievement, but still, i dont really like to play infront of crowd, i play only with my family but usually alone. When alone i'll like to play a slow romantic or classical rythm+pluck, I can say that playing guitar had helped me a lot, released my stress, etc, but the most joyful moment to me is playing in front of my loved one before i got married with her , I remember her smile and her face filled with happiness, and she said she cant never ever let me go anymore...

Take Care,

jackz