Should I give up?

I was born with a nueromuscular disorder as some of you know, and it is more pronounced in my lower extremeties, but it does effect my hands in subtle but very annoying ways. The muscle tension isn't enough to hinder me from playing completely, and over the past three years I've practiced tirelessly and made great strides. I absorb knowledge and techniques like a sponge and have applied them to my own playing....but we all know it's key to have loose muscles and hands when playing guitar, well as far as picking goes that's almost impossible. I'm not stiff as a bored persay but very tense and that is something I'll never be able to help. So seeing as I've never been a quitter I have opted to just try and adapt and find ways around it. I have gotten advice from Richard Lloyd, Alex Skolnick, and Jason Becker which is most inspiring to me...but my best friend gave me a blow to my dignity that is hard to get over. He noticed (yet again) that my picking wasn't so even and clean....like I didn't already know that, like I don't focus on that so much it drives me crazy. He suggested maybe I shouldn't put so much pressure into my picking...well duh. Yet I march on, play each note slowly and cleanly to a metronome day after day after day. Though the hangups become less and less apparent, I will play a scale or a lick I made up and blammo each time I get to the third string playing upwards from the low E (playing a three note per line lick) my hand inadvertantly slows up or freezes..suffice it to say I'm so bloody frustrated. They say doing the same thing over and over expecting different results is insanity, maybe I'm just that. Today there's a special sale at a local music shop for prefered customers and I was going to buy a new guitar. As much as I love playing I'm begining to wonder whether I should use my money or not on a new guitar...oh well, my problem I guess. Thanks for reading this desperate diatribe.

Hey fella,

I think the passion you have for the guitar is evident from your post and that in itself is the answer. No way are you gonna give it up!!
You say you've made great strides and you KNOW you're gonna keep on making 'em through blood, sweat and tears.
Also, is playing guitar not a form of physiotherapy as far as keeping your synapses firing to the best of their ability goes?
Keep it up, you're an inspiration to us all!!

One more thing.......GO BUY THAT GEEEEETAAAARRRRR!!!!!!!

head_creeps

I'm with Head Creeps. Never quit. Never surrender. Never give up! Just remember Django and look what he accomplished after the fire damaged his fingers when he was a young man. He went on to become legendary!!! You love it (which is clear) so stay with it man.

And yeah, go buy that guitar. :)

Hi Hjorvard,

I am in awe of your tenacity and persistence. It sounds to me like you are a very good player indeed, and should go with your heart and never give up.

It is never easy to hear that someone else has noticed a lack of skill that we ourselves have noticed, but to me that just shows that you are under no illusions. The worry would be that you let this get the better of you.

Mentally, I think you should focus on what you HAVE achieved rather than what you haven't - did you get this far thinking that you'd never get any better?

I am by no means trying to belittle what you are going through - but don't let it get you down.

You are an inspiration to me.
Get that guitar.

best wishes

Dielle
xxx

You know I only play for my own entertainment. If I only play a few scales I am happy even if I screw up half the time. I have been playing for just about 4 months and I do mean playing. I don't know a single song hahahah. But I have fun learning and practicing. I really want a new guitar the one I have is a really cheapy-do beginner guitar just to see if I would like it. I do but hey I am broke but I am still happy with the one I have. If I was you I would get that guitar and keep playing for sure :) I can relate to your situation but only barely. I can't stand and play thats for sure and I really am not very good but considering how I was 4 months ago I can jam! Stick with it if nothing else it should make you happy just playing,
Ed

Thanks for the inspiring words guys, you realy don't know how badly I needed to hear stuff like this :) I guess I'll keep on truckin and be the best damn metal guitarist I can be...

p.s. I did go through with getting the guitar and it is friggin sweet

right on, man. i can relate to how frustrating it would be to practice your ass off with precision and tenacity and have little payoff like that. if you ask me, though...playing 3-note-per-string licks and shredfests aren't nearly as gratifying for the soul as playing with feeling, and i'm not getting into a "gilmour versus gilbert" argument at all. i'm more leaning towards a jazz approach to thinking about your instrument. if you have physical handicaps that are holding you back, continue working on them- obviously. but branch out! the best think i ever did for myself was to learn jazz changes, learn how to really feel music. maybe jazz doesn't do it for you but i dunno, i got bit by the bug after "playing" jazz in big bands for three years, and seeing it in a different light made me re-examine my priorities. and you don't need lighting-quick hands to play beautifully.

Originally Posted by: quickfingersright on, man. i can relate to how frustrating it would be to practice your ass off with precision and tenacity and have little payoff like that. if you ask me, though...playing 3-note-per-string licks and shredfests aren't nearly as gratifying for the soul as playing with feeling, and i'm not getting into a "gilmour versus gilbert" argument at all. i'm more leaning towards a jazz approach to thinking about your instrument. if you have physical handicaps that are holding you back, continue working on them- obviously. but branch out! the best think i ever did for myself was to learn jazz changes, learn how to really feel music. maybe jazz doesn't do it for you but i dunno, i got bit by the bug after "playing" jazz in big bands for three years, and seeing it in a different light made me re-examine my priorities. and you don't need lighting-quick hands to play beautifully.

You know, I've been doing alot of thinking on this exact same thing! To use Gilmour as an example, a friend of mine who is phenomenal at guitar can shred with the best of them...but like Gilmour, his focus is on feeling and note selection itself. I've been thinking about this alot....I've even examined Shawn Lane, even though he could play lightning fast, he didn't all the time, it was mores so used as phrasing to create a tension point in his pieces I think. So in that regard although he could do it, I think it was just another tool in his arsenal that he learned along the way.

I'm not exactly a huge jazz fan, but I do like the stylings of Django oddly enough, especially pieces like minor swing. I even got a chance awhile back to see Bela Fleck and the Flecktones live, and that was probably the best show I've ever attended, ironically compared to shows like Morbid Angel, Incantation, Krisiun, Malevolent Creation and bands like that that I normally go to. So yeah I've realy wanted to add some jazz techniques and stylings to my playing, but I'd like to do something different in that I wouldn't want to mainly play in major tones and scales...maybe not neccesarily sadder and depressive, but a darker, more foreboding form of jazz haha...problem is, I have no clue where to start with my journey into jazz

You know, having some kind of handicap that forces you to play a certain way is probably the best way to get a style all of your own. So, I would say definitely don't quit, just take it easier and have a think about working around the techniques that cause you problems so you can come up with a result that suits.
Re your actual playing, have you tried fretting the left hand with the absolute minimal pressure required? A lot of people squeeze the neck and end up with their fingers on the actual fretboard. If you look at a lot of really great players you will notice that they barely move their fingers at all, up and down about 2-3mm is about it with very little pressue on the strings. I used to play covers and scales and runs all day long for about the first 5 years or so, but I only found my own niche and actually improved when I quit all of that and started playing what was in my own head (no more pressure to get something sounding like how somone else played it).
One good thing about this is you end up doing your own work arounds for techniques you can't manage. This might help you to reduce the cramp and stress on the forearm and fingers. As another poster commented, playing guitar is great for keeping the left and right sides of the brain firing. You could always call playing guitar physio, great excuse for playing for hours on end;-)
If you have your own way of doing things and you like real heavy music, then just work out what you can hear in your own head. Who knows you could end up with a bizare crossover call Morbid Floyd!

i have been playing for about 6 months and restarted since i quit playing years ago so if i was you i would continue too play.

I really like your determination to ensue what you love, and thats what you should do. Music can be very healing so in times of need it really can help. Don't ever stop doing what you love, play guitar for your enjoyment, and don't listen to any doubts along the way.
Thank You

Originally Posted by: SuperhumanYou know, having some kind of handicap that forces you to play a certain way is probably the best way to get a style all of your own. So, I would say definitely don't quit, just take it easier and have a think about working around the techniques that cause you problems so you can come up with a result that suits.
Re your actual playing, have you tried fretting the left hand with the absolute minimal pressure required? A lot of people squeeze the neck and end up with their fingers on the actual fretboard. If you look at a lot of really great players you will notice that they barely move their fingers at all, up and down about 2-3mm is about it with very little pressue on the strings. I used to play covers and scales and runs all day long for about the first 5 years or so, but I only found my own niche and actually improved when I quit all of that and started playing what was in my own head (no more pressure to get something sounding like how somone else played it).
One good thing about this is you end up doing your own work arounds for techniques you can't manage. This might help you to reduce the cramp and stress on the forearm and fingers. As another poster commented, playing guitar is great for keeping the left and right sides of the brain firing. You could always call playing guitar physio, great excuse for playing for hours on end;-)
If you have your own way of doing things and you like real heavy music, then just work out what you can hear in your own head. Who knows you could end up with a bizare crossover call Morbid Floyd!

Very sound advice. Hahaha the only isue I've ever had is not being able to accept/adapt to limitations but you're right. There's so much more to music than it being heavy, and I'd much rather it be unique than fast and super heavy. Haha and I especially like the Morbid Floyd comment. That brought a smile to my face wand would be very interesting indeed.

Hey - I agree with all the others - don't give up if you love it... and buy that guitar! Music is an amazing outlet and everybody ends up with their own style! I don't think you should worry so much over the stiffness of your muscles, but use it to come up with a style that is your own! Music is in you!

Dude, as long as you are enjoying the experience of playing & learning....I would never give up on it. Playing because you love it, is far more important than any physical accomplishments or prowess on the instrument.
Regardless if it's one note or 100,000....clean or sloppy....smooth or a bit uneven....if it comes from the right place within you....it's music and it's good.
The easy things are rarely as rewarding as those that cause us fits. LOL
Quitting is all too easy in most situations and far less rewarding than having stuck with you passion. Having something as simple as a song/piece of music that YOU wrote, is often worth the trouble it takes to create it. That's the great thing about music, is that there are no hard & fast rules about creating it. You're a unique individual and the struggles that you go through, effort that you put in...is what makes your music yours. And in the end, that's the most important factor in it all.

As for your friend pointing out the flaws to you....
Unless he's being a prick about it...I would say, at least he's being upfront with you about it and not just protecting your ego/feelings. If he's using it as a way to knock you down & make himself feel better...that's a totally different story. ;)

Don

So what guitar did you end up getting? Are we gonna get a review or pics? :)


head_creeps

Originally Posted by: Hjorvard
I'm not exactly a huge jazz fan, but I do like the stylings of Django oddly enough, especially pieces like minor swing....So yeah I've realy wanted to add some jazz techniques and stylings to my playing, but I'd like to do something different in that I wouldn't want to mainly play in major tones and scales...maybe not neccesarily sadder and depressive, but a darker, more foreboding form of jazz haha...problem is, I have no clue where to start with my journey into jazz

you probably like django's take on jazz because it is more melodic and has only passages of disharmony and chromatic tones as opposed to hard bop jazz that contains a ton of extended harmonies using 9ths, 13ths, and every flat note in-between. django actually got me into jazz. i used to say "i don't want to play anything weirder than what i would hear him django play" but after you get used to the colors of jazz you grow more into the weirder stuff. it takes time, and i am by no means a hardened jazz player. it is the area of my playing where most progress is being made everyday, however. i have days where i practice yngwie solos and tech stuff like that, but the real joy of guitar comes to me from listening to jazz melodies and copying them onto my fretboard.

where to start, you say? well, if you look at music as "happy" and "sad" with the major and minor, you are only going to confuse yourself. you have to start looking at these scales we use as vehicles to get the sound you want. if you want more minor-sounding stuff, you stick to minor progressions, and it will be "brooding" jazz. try a ii-V-i in minor (in Cm, that would be: Dmb5, G7, Cm7) and improvise over that progression with a harmonic minor scale in C (C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, B). you're going to find out that to get a "jazzier" sound, you will have to incorporate not only diatonic ideas like you would find in that scale, but off-colour notes and harmonizations.

so in short, if you want to learn to mix some jazz with your playing, don't just memorize some jazz lines and call it good. THINK about the notes you are using, and that means knowing where the off-colour notes are. maybe you don't like using the major scale and whatnot, but start with it and move your way through the modes. learn where the b2, b3, b5, b6 and b7 is and start memorizing where these notes are as you work on your scales. then start working with arpeggios, doing triads all the way up a scale. (1,3,5, 2,4,6, etc.) then learn "digital lines" after you google it. it's the idea of taking the notes of your scale and numbering them, just like we do when we name chord tones. then, we set a pattern to work up this scale. charlie parker made the 1,2,3,5 thing famous. try doing that, and then pick up a jazz book and learn about "trapping" notes and how to use these chromatic tones more effectively.


it's a lifelong journey, and something that many rock players miss out on because there's only so much you can do with power chords and a diatonic scale.