alanfc
January 20th, 2007, 07:25 PM
Every time I'm on the boards here and elsewhere, and I see posts of some wicked fast cool guitar playing on Youtube- I get in this intense practice mode, like learning the licks and trying to work up to speed.. after about 10 minutes of this I go "and I'm doing this for WHAT? "...
Its this sick funny vicious circle. I remind myself that my bands have few solos for me (in roughly half of the songs) and I don't care since I'm the only guitarist and the =whole song= is practically a solo for me. I play it however I want on any given day...
You do this too ??? Its not competitive necessarily its almost like 'catch-up'.
But I'm 40 ! Who cares right?? I mean do I have hours a day to practice like the teenagers ?? NO. Luckily I can laugh at myself and not get frustrated.
What matters is if the audience remembers our songs and wants to see us play again. And as far as individual playing and PRIDE go, what I'm really seeking is Agility and the flexibility to put whatever's in my head, into my hands. All natural, straight from my head. - - - Some players that I see as having this are Yitzhak Perlman (violin), Guthrie Govan, Stevie Ray V., Neil Schon.
Like training for the Decathalon rather than the Sprint. Like being the champ on the obstacle course rather than dead lift.
Do I make sense here.
So I ramble here, to ask you all-
What are some exercises or challenges you put yourself to, that you can share-
String skipping, going from rhythm to lead fills back to rhythm, messing with timing and playing off beats, etc...(for example one thing I do sometimes is practice Vocal melodies from pop songs or old standards)
so what do you think - -
?
THANKS
Its this sick funny vicious circle. I remind myself that my bands have few solos for me (in roughly half of the songs) and I don't care since I'm the only guitarist and the =whole song= is practically a solo for me. I play it however I want on any given day...
You do this too ??? Its not competitive necessarily its almost like 'catch-up'.
But I'm 40 ! Who cares right?? I mean do I have hours a day to practice like the teenagers ?? NO. Luckily I can laugh at myself and not get frustrated.
What matters is if the audience remembers our songs and wants to see us play again. And as far as individual playing and PRIDE go, what I'm really seeking is Agility and the flexibility to put whatever's in my head, into my hands. All natural, straight from my head. - - - Some players that I see as having this are Yitzhak Perlman (violin), Guthrie Govan, Stevie Ray V., Neil Schon.
Like training for the Decathalon rather than the Sprint. Like being the champ on the obstacle course rather than dead lift.
Do I make sense here.
So I ramble here, to ask you all-
What are some exercises or challenges you put yourself to, that you can share-
String skipping, going from rhythm to lead fills back to rhythm, messing with timing and playing off beats, etc...(for example one thing I do sometimes is practice Vocal melodies from pop songs or old standards)
so what do you think - -
?
THANKS