Is this smug?

[Cryptic Excretions]

Ok, for the past 2 days at work I've listened to nothing but my own music and have found a great deal of joy out of the way I've put things. A good selection of passages and parts to the music I find myself thinking "I couldn't have made that any better" and am wondering how arrogant that might come across. I don't want to go blowing my horn like it's superior or anything, just that I've been finding an excessive amount of joy from it lately.

[SPL]

Nothing wrong with being proud of your work.

[Jolly McJollyson]

Even if you're me?

[chucklivesoninmyheart]

Thats positive reinforcment.Nothing wrong at all.I love playing and hearing myself knowing I am totally in the zone.

[Willdridge]

I've wondered the same thing myself a few times....and I've reached the same conclusion as you a few times too...

No, it's not smug; perhaps we're slightly egotistical, but then that's half the fun, isn't it? :p

[Cryptic Excretions]

Well cheers then, so long as I'm not shifting into Mr. Big Head or anything.

[Akira]

I listen to my playing and often think "ugh..."

[Willdridge]

I listen to my playing and often think "ugh..."

You're listening to it all wrong! :p ;)

[chucklivesoninmyheart]

Same here since I started to play just using my wrist.Man its tough to trem/trill pick and shred without using my forearm at least a little.

Ive been slipping the last couple months in my practicing and it shows.I gotta get back into the grind.

[Akira]

You're listening to it all wrong! :p ;)

Call me self critical if you will, but I really believe my playing needs to improve alot, aswell as my compositional skills.

[Cryptic Excretions]

Call me self critical if you will, but I really believe my playing needs to improve alot, aswell as my compositional skills.
How does your current practice/study procedure work? I tend to judge myself harshly as well, I just also tend to be satisfied with the results.

[zoran the dark]

Ok, for the past 2 days at work I've listened to nothing but my own music and have found a great deal of joy out of the way I've put things. A good selection of passages and parts to the music I find myself thinking "I couldn't have made that any better" and am wondering how arrogant that might come across. I don't want to go blowing my horn like it's superior or anything, just that I've been finding an excessive amount of joy from it lately.

well, point it this way. What would happen if your not proud ad your work? most logical is that you change your songs or just let them pas and don't play them any more if you are not proud of your work. so, you still like your own songs, big deal. but, stay open for what your audience wants to hear, then it wil not harm anything. even Vai is proud at his work :D

[Willdridge]

How does your current practice/study procedure work? I tend to judge myself harshly as well, I just also tend to be satisfied with the results.

It's good to be self critical - there's no point in being complacent; but by the same token, you shouldn't be so self critical that "everything I do is awful"; it's all about finding a happy medium.

Hearing something you played badly should make you go, "Man...I need to practice that", not "I suck"...in my egocentric opinion anyway, :D

[Akira]

How does your current practice/study procedure work?

What do you mean? My practise routine?

[Cryptic Excretions]

What do you mean? My practise routine?
Well, you've expressed that you're typically not satisfied with what you make and if your playing and writing skills need improving then my first thought is that the current methods of practice might not be working well enough. Of course I really don't know what you write, how you play, or how you practice so I don't really want to step on your toes with anything. So I'll use myself as an example. If I weren't satisfied with something I'd made I'd deduce that it routes back to what I've been reading into or how I've been practicing lately and thus I would work to alter it until my music began to satisfy my ears. In one method or another anyway, and therefor I'm sort of applying my own method of things elsewhere. If that makes any more sense.

[Akira]

Well, you've expressed that you're typically not satisfied with what you make and if your playing and writing skills need improving then my first thought is that the current methods of practice might not be working well enough. Of course I really don't know what you write, how you play, or how you practice so I don't really want to step on your toes with anything. So I'll use myself as an example. If I weren't satisfied with something I'd made I'd deduce that it routes back to what I've been reading into or how I've been practicing lately and thus I would work to alter it until my music began to satisfy my ears. In one method or another anyway, and therefor I'm sort of applying my own method of things elsewhere. If that makes any more sense.

Well, when I listen back on that song I posted a while ago ("An Ocean Length Away") I think "wow, what a sack of crap", obviously since then my playing has improved a bucket load due to my altered practise scheme (many thanks to silentmusic for that one). I have a file on my pc where I save various little ideas I may get, anything from 10 seconds to 1 minute ideas. I have about 50 or so files in there, eventually I'll go back through them and make some more music.

I don't know, I guess I just want to be the best I possibly can, and at the moment i'm not overly impressed by my playing, infact, I never have been.

[Willdridge]

I don't know, I guess I just want to be the best I possibley can, and at the moment i'm not overly impressed by my playing, infact, I never have been.

I don't think anyone's ever impressed by themselves - but being impressed and being satisfied are different things. If you've played the best you can, you should be satisfied that that's the best you can do right now...if you're not happy with what you can do, it should be the incentive to go off and make yourself better.

Be critical, it's the only way you'll grow - just don't be too critical.

[Akira]

I don't think anyone's ever impressed by themselves - but being impressed and being satisfied are different things. If you've played the best you can, you should be satisfied that that's the best you can do right now...if you're not happy with what you can do, it should be the incentive to go off and make yourself better.

Be critical, it's the only way you'll grow - just don't be too critical.

I'll try. :p

I'm planning on writing a bunch of songs sometime in the next few years, putting them on a disc, and then giving it away for free to whoever wants it. Would be nice to see what feedback I would get.

[Willdridge]

I'll try. :p

I'm planning on writing a bunch of songs sometime in the next few years, putting them on a disc, and then giving it away for free to whoever wants it. Would be nice to see what feedback I would get.

Dude - save the money on CD's (all of 30p that they cost) and just distribute it online - it's the future! ;)

[Cryptic Excretions]

Well, when I listen back on that song I posted a while ago ("An Ocean Length Away") I think "wow, what a sack of crap", obviously since then my playing has improved a bucket load due to my altered practise scheme (many thanks to silentmusic for that one). I have a file on my pc where I save various little ideas I may get, anything from 10 seconds to 1 minute ideas. I have about 50 or so files in there, eventually I'll go back through them and make some more music.

I don't know, I guess I just want to be the best I possibly can, and at the moment i'm not overly impressed by my playing, infact, I never have been.
Oh, that old routine. I'm not innocent of that type of thing myself. I've got a number of songs and material that could just as well be crafted better. I'd say just so long as you don't frown on yourself completely. My main concern with myself was whether or not I'm enjoying myself too much.

[Akira]

Dude - save the money on CD's (all of 30p that they cost) and just distribute it online - it's the future! ;)

I like cd's; they're pretty. :'(

[Akira]

Oh, that old routine. I'm not innocent of that type of thing myself. I've got a number of songs and material that could just as well be crafted better. I'd say just so long as you don't frown on yourself completely. My main concern with myself was whether or not I'm enjoying myself too much.

The implications of playing guitar. *sigh*

[Willdridge]

I like cd's; they're pretty. :'(

mmm...shiny.......


Can you enjoy yourself too much?...

[Akira]

Can you enjoy yourself too much?...

Never. :p

Speaking of progressing, i've pretty much got the intro down to Smoke and Mirrors by Symphony X, not quite up to speed but getting pretty close.

Anyone else got a recent guitar achievment they'd like to share?

[chucklivesoninmyheart]

i've pretty much got the intro down to Smoke and Mirrors by Symphony X, not quite up to speed but getting pretty close.

Sweet.I want to learn unleash the fire...man,i'm just too lazy.

[Akira]

Sweet.I want to learn unleash the fire...man,i'm just too lazy.

Don't think i've heard that one.

[chucklivesoninmyheart]

its off the odyssey..that whole album rules

[Akira]

its off the odyssey..that whole album rules

I plan on buying that album sometime.

[Cryptic Excretions]

Never. :p

Speaking of progressing, i've pretty much got the intro down to Smoke and Mirrors by Symphony X, not quite up to speed but getting pretty close.

Anyone else got a recent guitar achievment they'd like to share?
Uh... my sweeps and taps are cleaner and more elaborate than they've ever been...?

I've mostly been working with theory lately. I can play in any major key and know the notes on the neck well enough to do so. I guess that counts for something.

[Willdridge]

Never. :p

Speaking of progressing, i've pretty much got the intro down to Smoke and Mirrors by Symphony X, not quite up to speed but getting pretty close.

Anyone else got a recent guitar achievment they'd like to share?

It's been a while, but my last "revelation" was listening back to a solo I played on a friend's song and thinking to myself "man - that tone rocks!"...(again, meet the Egotist, :p)

I've been playing around more with trying to find my own sound rather than techniques recently...I'm still striving and far from impressed, although I am 'satisified' with the results so far... ;)

[Cryptic Excretions]

It's been a while, but my last "revelation" was listening back to a solo I played on a friend's song and thinking to myself "man - that tone rocks!"...(again, meet the Egotist, :p)

I've been playing around more with trying to find my own sound rather than techniques recently...I'm still striving and far from impressed, although I am 'satisified' with the results so far... ;)
That's got to be one of the coolest feelings. Growing and developing your own personal way of doing things and being able to feel it as it happens. Who could ask for more? It'll be a sad day indeed if that feeling ever goes away. Of course then I'd probably be compelled to express such a feeling via music to which I would end up doing something new and rediscovering that same feeling which would continue to grow until the cows come home... music rules.

[chucklivesoninmyheart]

just thinking about learning every scale in every position makes me tired.

[chucklivesoninmyheart]

And...1500!

ten words is alot of words when youve got nothing to say.

[Willdridge]

That's got to be one of the coolest feelings. Growing and developing your own personal way of doing things and being able to feel it as it happens. Who could ask for more? It'll be a sad day indeed if that feeling ever goes away. Of course then I'd probably be compelled to express such a feeling via music to which I would end up doing something new and rediscovering that same feeling which would continue to grow until the cows come home... music rules.

It is, and it doesn't happen nearly as much as I'd like...and yes, music does most certainly rule.

On a side note: I can remember my first guitar revelation was when I came to understand how to read tabs. I'd spent weeks reading the "Beginner's Guide To Guitar Tabs" you find on almost every tab site you go to and just couldn't get my head around it; then, one day, when I was nowhere near my guitar, listening to Metallica as I played solitaire, I had a eureka moment and the penny dropped - THAT was the beginning of a whole new world for me. Thinking about it now, it makes me wonder just how critical that moment was for my playing...would I be where I am now, trying to find my own tone, if I'd of never had that moment?...

Anyone else had a moment they took for granted to begin with, but looking back, it could've been one of the most important to happen to you?

[Cryptic Excretions]

It is, and it doesn't happen nearly as much as I'd like...and yes, music does most certainly rule.

On a side note: I can remember my first guitar revelation was when I came to understand how to read tabs. I'd spent weeks reading the "Beginner's Guide To Guitar Tabs" you find on almost every tab site you go to and just couldn't get my head around it; then, one day, when I was nowhere near my guitar, listening to Metallica as I played solitaire, I had a eureka moment and the penny dropped - THAT was the beginning of a whole new world for me. Thinking about it now, it makes me wonder just how critical that moment was for my playing...would I be where I am now, trying to find my own tone, if I'd of never had that moment?...

Anyone else had a moment they took for granted to begin with, but looking back, it could've been one of the most important to happen to you?
Before I leave work today I'm going to make a final post here (to add to my absurd amount of posts today, I'm a good worker aren't I?) and say that I don't quite recall my first revelation, but I do remember my greatest. It was when I discovered that I enjoy playing guitar more than I enjoy playing bass (I began music through bass). If I never got ahold of a guitar at any point, I'd have never learned just how much I love the guitar. And here I am, today, in the same place as you, trying to find my own personal style and enjoying every bit of it. Go team.

[Andrew Sa]

Even if you're me?

No, Pride is an emotion that Jolly is only allowed to read about in story books

[iamthe_eggman]

Ok, for the past 2 days at work I've listened to nothing but my own music and have found a great deal of joy out of the way I've put things. A good selection of passages and parts to the music I find myself thinking "I couldn't have made that any better" and am wondering how arrogant that might come across. I don't want to go blowing my horn like it's superior or anything, just that I've been finding an excessive amount of joy from it lately.

Well, let's have it already.

[Cryptic Excretions]

Well, let's have it already.
Well, I guess I more so develop that stance on a selection of passages. I'm a slow writer, so I don't really have very many complete songs. But what I do have (fragments and all) I would describe as you've quoted, so there's not really much I can dish out at the moment. When things are completed, I'll be more than happy to display it. Just give me some time.

[CW14]

I'm a slow writer, so I don't really have very many complete songs.
You're not alone there :o

[Leedogg]

I'm pretty critical of my playing and feel like I haven't improved much in the past year or so which is kind of troubling. I blame it on my gear :D.

[Cryptic Excretions]

I'm pretty critical of my playing and feel like I haven't improved much in the past year or so which is kind of troubling. I blame it on my gear :D.
I'd say to an extent that's true. Of course you can practice on any guitar and get good regardless. But if your style is heavily involving speed, then nothing's going to bring that out better than a guitar built for speed. But I don't think that qualifies enough for us to blame gear for lack of musical progression... I don't know. I suck.

[bigbuda]

Well, when I listen back on that song I posted a while ago ("An Ocean Length Away") I think "wow, what a sack of crap", obviously since then my playing has improved a bucket load due to my altered practise scheme (many thanks to silentmusic for that one). I have a file on my pc where I save various little ideas I may get, anything from 10 seconds to 1 minute ideas. I have about 50 or so files in there, eventually I'll go back through them and make some more music.

I don't know, I guess I just want to be the best I possibly can, and at the moment i'm not overly impressed by my playing, infact, I never have been.

Man you sound just like me. Gotta keep playin I guess...

[Akira]

Man you sound just like me. Gotta keep playin I guess...

Yay! *dance*