Starting over...

MikeyB59 said:
Practice things you DON'T KNOW slowly and consistently. Attach your ear to your fingers.
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Bang on the money I'd say
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As GuitarDojo says .. Time Time Time. All of the great players I have read about, Satch, Vai, Zakk, Van Halen, Yngwie, Shawn Lane etc... the list goes on and on. all had one thing in common is that they played for many hours every day when they were younger. Some said as much as 16-18 hours a day! As we get older (I'm 46 BTW) it's not that we lose the ability to learn its finding time to stay focused. How many here have found time to play 4 hours straight 3 days in a row let alone 8 or 16 for weeks or months?
The responsabilities of life that come with age are the enemy of improvement most times. In our teens when there were much less distractions and responsabilities and was when most of the world greats poured their passion into the instrument. But...... as we get older hopefully we get wiser, so why not pick things we know we need to learn and practice one hour a day and stay focused? Don't give in to the easy way out and go to that old comfortable riff or chord. (like me) :) I know the things I need to work on just the dicipline is what I need.
 
Count me in. I dropped the instrument for a decade after college and didn't seriously pursue the instrument for nearly a decade after that.

Time is definitely an issue. I've come up with two ways to address that:
  1. Commit to spending some time each day on improving. If 15-20 minutes is all I can come up with, 15 minutes it is, but woodshedding consistently is more productive than binge practice.
  2. National Guitar Workshop has been a great help. My limited practice regimen isn't very conducive to a regular lesson schedule so I go to "guitar camp" for a week and pick up a year's worth of practice material in one shot.
 
GuitarDojo said:
Yes. Thats why I think you need to go see a Guitar instructor first. Skip the books,video and tabs within your reach. Think of it as your paying someone to kick your @ss! :twisted
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I agree a good teacher is worth their weight in gold.

I think that it's certainly possible to reach your goals even though you may have less time to practice than when you were younger. I firmly believe that 30 minutes of focused practice is worth more than 3 hours of noodling. As you're more mature, you're more likely to have the self-discipline to practice correctly.
 
Well you know it takes that commitment. When I was young I used to practice anywhere form 4-6, sometimes 8 hours every single day. Now, as a +50 guy, it's tapered off to 2-3 hours every single day, with few exceptions. I've taken a day or week or two off here or there and I can always feel it, but not as much as I used to. It just becomes a part of your life and lifestyle. My wife knows if I haven't been practicing because I'm grumpy as hell. It's what I do and who she married. My kids know me. It's just a part of the household. In the morning Dad practices, or whenever.
 
Cover'd said:
Those do indeed sound great... but as I recently discovered, whilst I can identify majors & minors in all keys etc etc and can 'work out' most musical issues, I've never been fluent in theory - indeed, to the point of not actually knowing the various positions of which you speak! One of the dvds I looked at focuses on this and I'll certainly be getting stuck into that and maybe then, your excellent recommendation might make a lot more sense
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Really, the positions are just where your first finger lies. So, "fifth position" is literally index finger on 5th fret, middle on 6th fret, ring on 7th, pinky on 8th. The awesome part about not knowing that stuff is how inspired you're going to be when you start learning it. The first time I changed keys without changing positions my world exploded into a vast universe of new sounds. That still happens as I go back and simply move things to different parts of the fretboard. For instance, if you're used to soloing in a song at the 12th fret. Try soloing down around the 5th fret instead. Same key, but totally different position. Suddenly those reliable patterns you've been playing for years have moved and you're forced to play using different notes, but in the same key.
 
I've also read and believe that one month of intense learning and practice will take your playing farther than many many years of sustained playing :)
 
NeoSound said:
I've also read and believe that one month of intense learning and practice will take your playing farther than many many years of sustained playing :)
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Yes, I believe that's very true. But the secret with practice is it takes consistency. 1 hour a day takes you much further than 8 hours on Sunday alone.
 
Finding a teacher is definitely a good idea.

Another good idea is to set a goal before you pick your guitar up to practice. "At the end of this 30/60/90/whatever, I will be able to play solo x/ scale y at 100bpm/that cool sounding chord progression/whatever.

Having a goal will make you focus on learning something new or improving something specific and help fight against the aimless noodling that tends to result otherwise.
 
I am, effectively, starting over... sort of.

Back in Jan 2001, I was hit head-on by a lady that crossed the double yellow in a long, sweeping curve while riding my Yamaha R-1. Among the injuries I sustained, my right hand became detached at the wrist (skin unbroken, tendons, etc held it on.. severe, severe dislocation), had two breaks on fingers, and my left hand suffered three breaks, including my left pinky snapping backward at the knuckle where it meets the hand. On Oct 1, 2001, after recovering enough to begin racing/riding again, while in the North Carolina mountains (heading to Deal's Gap with friends), my brake handle snapped going hot into a turn at about 75mph, and after being being in a coma, awoke 4 1/2 days later to discover that (again, among other injuries) I was now a paraplegic for life (T6 Complete, ASIA A).

I have struggled since to be able to hold an instrument (I play guitar, bass, and keys), and during the limited time I am able to spend holding an instrument each time, I am still struggling to "rehab" my playing... essentially, starting over. Frustrating does not begin to describe the feeling, but also... so very cool! Music is everything to me, and was my prime motivation for fighting for my life in the hospital. I love the tips in this thread! Thanks to the OP for starting it!!! :D
 
Wow! Sorry about your injuries, but I'm glad that you're still playing.

Django Reinhardt did some amazing stuff with just 2 fingers, so it's awesome how people overcome and adapt in the face of physical adversity.

nikki-k said:
I am, effectively, starting over... sort of.

I have struggled since to be able to hold an instrument (I play guitar, bass, and keys), and during the limited time I am able to spend holding an instrument each time, I am still struggling to "rehab" my playing... essentially, starting over. Frustrating does not begin to describe the feeling, but also... so very cool! Music is everything to me, and was my prime motivation for fighting for my life in the hospital. I love the tips in this thread! Thanks to the OP for starting it!!! :D
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And perspective is once again restored!
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Hell of a story nikki - my brother-in-law is much the same... although he fell off a fisherman's cradle into a river whilst playing silly buggers, so not quite such a 'rock n roll' story as "hot into a corner with a snapped brake lever in my hand"
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NeoSound said:
As GuitarDojo says .. Time Time Time.

The responsabilities of life that come with age are the enemy of improvement most times.

Don't give in to the easy way out and go to that old comfortable riff or chord. (like me) :) I know the things I need to work on just the dicipline is what I need.
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Yep, agree with all that
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aleclee said:
Count me in. I dropped the instrument for a decade after college and didn't seriously pursue the instrument for nearly a decade after that.

Time is definitely an issue. I've come up with two ways to address that:
  1. Commit to spending some time each day on improving. If 15-20 minutes is all I can come up with, 15 minutes it is, but woodshedding consistently is more productive than binge practice.
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Good comment that
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henryrobinett said:
Now, as a +50 guy, it's tapered off to 2-3 hours every single day, with few exceptions. I've taken a day or week or two off here or there and I can always feel it, but not as much as I used to. It just becomes a part of your life and lifestyle. My wife knows if I haven't been practicing because I'm grumpy as hell. It's what I do and who she married. My kids know me. It's just a part of the household. In the morning Dad practices, or whenever.
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Nice
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Sidivan said:
Really, the positions are just where your first finger lies. So, "fifth position" is literally index finger on 5th fret, middle on 6th fret, ring on 7th, pinky on 8th. The awesome part about not knowing that stuff is how inspired you're going to be when you start learning it. The first time I changed keys without changing positions my world exploded into a vast universe of new sounds. That still happens as I go back and simply move things to different parts of the fretboard. For instance, if you're used to soloing in a song at the 12th fret. Try soloing down around the 5th fret instead. Same key, but totally different position. Suddenly those reliable patterns you've been playing for years have moved and you're forced to play using different notes, but in the same key.
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Thanks for your input Sidivan

When initially skimming through a dvd I saw all this in action. I'll be getting stuck in and can already fully appreciate what you're driving at here
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NeoSound said:
I've also read and believe that one month of intense learning and practice will take your playing farther than many many years of sustained playing :)
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I'd tend to think that can be true

I've not done any of the former for a couple of decades... just lots of the latter
 
jamieosborn said:
Having a goal will make you focus on learning something new or improving something specific and help fight against the aimless noodling that tends to result otherwise.
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Indeed Jamie

My immediate goal is to learn more scales and positions - that will instantly pull me out of the same routines and I'll know when I'm getting where I want to go when the daft stuff starts to disappear (ie missing notes or plucking more notes than are actually being fingered etc
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)
 
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