#1332439 - 12/05/00 01:26 AM
What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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Anonymous
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I had a teacher once named Jackie King who went on and on about practicing EVERYTHING in 12 keys. We'd learn to play tunes by changing keys in cycles, whole tones, minor thirds, the works. One day everything clicked. I quit gigging, went into advertising.
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#1332440 - 12/05/00 04:16 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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Anonymous
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The construction of scales and chords, and the cycle of fifths - with that, it's so much easier to play when the bass player looks at you and says "2 flats" 
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#1332442 - 12/05/00 07:35 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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Lisa
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Posts: 235
Loc: New York,NY,UNITED STATES
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I think the most important thing I learned as both a player and a tech was this: Stay calm and always have a backup for everything.
As a player, it means to always have another song ready to go. If things don't go as planned or your audience isn't responding, don't panic. Always focus on what it is you need to do to give your best performance and then change gears to an appropriate song or style. I'm sure many of you have horror stories about gigs that just didn't go over....
As a tech, it means that whenever possible, you should bring a backup guitar, amp, pedal, batteries, strap, strings, cables, power cables, etc. The more important the gig, the more important the backup gear is. If you don't have an extra amp (not everyone does) and play gigs where you share the stage with one or more bands, then work it out with another guitar player before the show and ask if you can borrow their amp, in the event an emergency, then offer to do the same for them. I've been to a few shows that have ended abruptly due to situations like amp failure, broken instruments or no spare power cable for the amp or master effects unit. Rather than to suffer the embarrassment of having everyone stare at you and wonder what's going on, just make sure you've got it all covered.
Simply put: Always be prepared! It's better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it! (Plug in your mother's voice for that piece of advice...)
Lisa
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#1332443 - 12/05/00 01:07 PM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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Tedster
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>>Simply put: Always be prepared! It's better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it!
WOW! I'm rolling on the floor laughing...my bandmates get so sick of hearing me say that very line...
Cool thing about this thread, it could be taken in several ways. I took it as, "Early on, what did you learn that affected your subsequent playing." But, the overall meaning is much more important. The Boy Scout motto is vital here. I remember gigs being almost totally hosed...thousands of dollars of equipment, and someone forgot to bring an extra two dollar adapter or extension cord or something. Taught me that lesson the hard way.
_________________________
"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine...(WAH WAH WAH WAHHH!)"
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#1332444 - 12/05/00 03:52 PM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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tonemonkey@yahoo.com
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Registered: 10/21/00
Posts: 73
Loc: ,CA,UNITED STATES
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"Learning to really listen as I play."
So many young players still run the CD in their head when they're playing with a band. Learning to listen to the entire mix (every instrument not just your guitar) every moment you play will open up a whole new way of relating to music.
A close second would be "learn to get comfortable with hearing yourself down in the mix."
So many players don't think they are really "hearing themselves" unless their instrument is blasting in their monitor mix.
For me, learning to be comfortable with less of myself in the mix helped me to be more sensitive in general and actually encourages me to play more aggressively - I don't feel like every time a brush a string that I'm peeling paint off the back wall.
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#1332445 - 12/06/00 10:45 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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GigaBoy
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Registered: 09/28/00
Posts: 124
Loc: Allendale,IL,UNITED STATES
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<>
The importance of playing dynamically.
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#1332446 - 12/07/00 01:57 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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Bassically
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Posts: 12
Loc: ,,UNITED STATES
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One word: Blues.
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Disclaimer: The above comments were posted by a bass player and therefore should be ignored as usual.
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#1332447 - 12/08/00 04:16 PM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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farranta@aol.com
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I spent a LOOOONG time learning scales, modes, chords etc. Spent hours with satriani books, petrucci videos and so on and so on until I could twiddle to my hearts content.
The most valuable thing I learnt after that was to scrap ALL of the rules that I had just learnt and accept that if you want to do something bizarre that doesn't conform to musical rules SO WHAT !! It's our music and we do it how WE want to. Granted the techniques and musical vocabulary help a great deal, but some of my favourite stuff that I have written is actually desperately simple, just not obvious because it is sound I like rather than guitar school technique.
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#1332448 - 12/08/00 10:37 PM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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michael saulnier
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Registered: 12/06/00
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One of the best tips I ever got was to "think" then "play".
Especially when I'm in a rut, I'll sit and hum myself some new melody or rhythm lines and poof... instant creativity.
guitplayer
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#1332450 - 12/10/00 05:09 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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Uh Clem
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Registered: 03/13/00
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Loc: Atlanta, GA USA
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I went to a KISS concert in high school and studied how to hold your hand for a barre chord (you laugh - but those guys pretty much gave a barre chord show so I had a an hour or so to get it down) - came home and showed it to my friend who wanted to start a band as the guitarist - I played keys and didn't know a damn thing about guitars - but I had good eyes and good pattern recognition skills  .
Several yrs later I thought, well if he could learn it, so could I - and my keys were too heavy to haul off to college anyway...
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#1332451 - 12/11/00 01:42 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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stratman_dup1
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Registered: 02/09/01
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I guess the thing that made the most difference for me was the realization that I COULD learn to play well. For a long time I just fiddled around on an acoustic and never really tried because I thought you had to be born in a musical family or you had to go to school for music or something along those lines, no one ever told me I could learn this stuff.
It took a long time for me to realize that I DO have the talent to be a great guitar player, I just had to apply myself. So now I'm practicing my ass off trying to make up for lost time, oh well. So now I try to influence every person I meet, young or old, that has an interest in music. I tell them YOU CAN do this too, you just have to try, apply yourself, PRACTICE. Take lessons, get videos, anything you can do to learn. I mean look at me, I've only been seriously playing for three 1/2 years and I'm a fairly highly regarded blues player in my area now. Guys that have been playing for 20 years will get me up to jam with them.
I've got a long way to go, and I'll never be as good as I want to be, but at least now I know that I CAN do it, and this made the BIGGEST difference for me.
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#1332452 - 12/11/00 02:15 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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dinopop
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Registered: 09/08/00
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Loc: Arlington,TX,UNITED STATES
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Thanks, Stratman, I needed that!
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#1332453 - 12/12/00 01:34 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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Anonymous
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I learned a long time ago that what you DON'T play is just as important and what you play.
I you are doing some lead work over a laid back song there is no need to go overboard with a solo. Some of the best solos have only been a handfull of notes played with much feeling and expression.
Then on the Hot stuff let it rip...
Kev
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#1332454 - 12/12/00 02:08 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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stratman_dup1
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Registered: 02/09/01
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Loc: attleboro,MA,UNITED STATES
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Anytime dinopop
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#1332455 - 12/14/00 02:04 PM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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Anonymous
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Nuance. Everything doesn't have to be played as hard it can be and everything turned up to ten and vice versa. Subtle passages are key to variation. Thank you Jeff Beck.
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#1332456 - 12/15/00 06:00 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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tone@ev1.net
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Registered: 12/15/00
Posts: 6
Loc: Buda,TX,UNITED STATES
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traid study and learning all the notes on all the strings chord shapes and learning
melodies harmonic chord melody is wonderfull
check out chordmelody.com they have tunes in standard notation as well as tabs great stuff
Pick a player you really like and learn where his roots stem from the well is deep.
Phrasing, dynamics knowing what not to play is real key walk into a blues club and start blasting and see what happens you play too much and you wont get back up to play again but lay back a bit and play behind those guys and you can be accepted.
jimmie vaughn is a prime example he can play
alot more than he does but his respect came from not playing a thousand notes.Sure helped me out and ive made a total ass of myself many times by playing too much or being so nervous i was outside of myself
natural vibrato as i like to call it or
the shakes...Practice and go play out
I wish i had done that more I live in austin
thre are so many places to play. nerves and wondering if i was good enough kept me from playing out as much as i should meet your fears head on I found out
i was not executed for hitting sour notes
no one threw anything lol people are usualy cool at jams they know you are new and tryng.
woodshedding on the right things damn sure helps out but nothing replaces the experience of just playing out alot with great players a great bassist and drummer can make you inspired to play even better
at least for me that was the case.
my humble 2 cents....
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#1332457 - 12/15/00 06:07 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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tone@ev1.net
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Registered: 12/15/00
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Loc: Buda,TX,UNITED STATES
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Originally posted by pybas@earthlink.net:
I had a teacher once named Jackie King who went on and on about practicing EVERYTHING in 12 keys. We'd learn to play tunes by changing keys in cycles, whole tones, minor thirds, the works. One day everything clicked. I quit gigging, went into advertising.
Hey are you from Texas isnt jackie king from san antonio? he is great a lefty i think isnt he? Boy id like to see those notes
still have his lessons???????
tone@ev1.net
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#1332458 - 12/15/00 07:18 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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alphajerk
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im with steve, the power chord. oh and how to fret the damn thing was a big barrier breaker, albiet the first one but if ya dont get past that... and being a lefty learning to play guitar right handed it wasnt easy. just kidding [about the difficulty, not being left handed or playing right handed]
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alphajerk FATcompilation "if god is truly just, i tremble for the fate of my country" -thomas jefferson
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#1332459 - 12/15/00 08:42 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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Chip McDonald
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Registered: 01/19/00
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Loc: Augusta, Ga. USA
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After playing guitar for about a month, having figured out how to play a lot of Hendrix songs... and then seeing "Jimi Plays Berkeley" on television and realizing the B string wasn't tuned to a fourth because his fingers weren't in the same places mine were. If it wasn't for the USA network show _Night Flight_ running that concert so much, I probably would have gone an insufferably long time tuned completely to fourths, not knowing any better. Seemed logical enough at the time....
_________________________
www.chipmcdonald.com (tagline inlieu of having a representational page of downloadable music for the moment...) / "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien
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#1332460 - 12/15/00 11:10 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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Anonymous
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My sound silly... simple...SCALES.
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#1332461 - 12/15/00 02:01 PM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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Anonymous
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To relax and to listen.
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#1332462 - 12/16/00 07:16 PM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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JoseC.
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Registered: 11/29/00
Posts: 299
Loc: Madrid, Spain
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Originally posted by alphajerk:
... and being a lefty learning to play guitar right handed it wasnt easy. just kidding [about the difficulty, not being left handed or playing right handed]
Hey, alpha, the same with me (lefty playing, right handed)...Why did you do it? In my particular case, was that when I was a kid, I never got a guitar from my parents, no matter how I asked (I think that they feared that I might become, God forbid, a musician), but they gave one to my sister instead (a nylon string classical)...for some reason, I couldnīt convince her that left handed was the right way to play it, so I had to play it her way. I bet that most lefties that play right handed are victims of the same lack of understanding by some luckier sibling.
Have fun,
JoseC.
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#1332463 - 12/17/00 07:25 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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alphajerk
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i play righty because like everything else in the world, things are pretty much made for righties and not having a lefty guitar made me learn that way. oddly enough when i learned drums [which you can set up either way] i chose the righty way too.
this bassist i work with [plays in Freakwater/the unholy trio/gavra lynn] plays a right handed bass upside down so hes playing lefty but its still strung properly so if a righty picked it up, its is strung right.
_________________________
alphajerk FATcompilation "if god is truly just, i tremble for the fate of my country" -thomas jefferson
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#1332464 - 12/17/00 12:32 PM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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Anonymous
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The most important thing that I learned are scales and use of scales through different chord progressions... The next thing is (I think that Nuno Bettencourt said that) "If it sounds right play it!!!" Theory doesn't work always...
And, of course, as performing musicians I learned that you always take everything with you on gig. No matter what is it a spare cable or spare string... "Trust no one" Roadies won't do everything for you..
And the last: always use your ears!!!
It's the best peace of equipment you own!!!
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#1332466 - 12/18/00 04:56 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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guitz2000@hotmail.com
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From a songwriting perspective, there was
a quote in an article here at this site that is so true :
"The biggest secret to success is finishing a musical idea, even if at first the idea seems like a bad one. I've found that even a bad idea can lead to a good idea."
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#1332467 - 12/18/00 07:24 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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alphajerk
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im lefty and play righty, i play drums righty, i play golf righty, i bat both [consistant as a righty, power as a lefty] i think we are that way because we are forced to grow up in a right handers world.
_________________________
alphajerk FATcompilation "if god is truly just, i tremble for the fate of my country" -thomas jefferson
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#1332468 - 01/02/01 12:03 AM
Re: What was the thing you learned that made the most difference?
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good morning
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Registered: 06/22/00
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That's interesting about the lefthanded, right-playing thing. I'm lefty also, but do some things "right" because, yeah, it's a righthanded world. I'm a novice guitar player (piano, mostly), but playing guitar righthanded feels natural to me because it seems the left hand has more to think about (frets AND strings). So I went with that. No offense, but I never understood why righthanders play the way they do!
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