View post (I would like some advice)

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JeffS65
Registered User
Joined: 10/07/08
Posts: 1,602
JeffS65
Registered User
Joined: 10/07/08
Posts: 1,602
05/13/2017 1:22 pm

I'm gonna go a little different direction than the others (though good advice); you also have to take some time and just carelessly bash away at the thing. Being methodical and regimented definately has value but remember that you're playing the instrument because something in music moved you enough to want to pick up the guitar.

You must (must) connect with that feeling too. It's why you play.

You don't play to be good at it, you play to connect with your emotions. Being good at guitar is a means to get there. Skip that feeling stuff and I'd say don't even bother playing anymore. I'm not suggesting you stop. I am suggesting that you reconnect with why you want to play guitar.

Early in my playing days, I was spending time learning some songs and getting better but I recall that first time when I played that I really got a buzz doing it. I was standing in front of my modest little practice amp and had the volume up just enough to be kickin'. Since the amp was on a stand and about belly height, it was aimed at my torso. I stopped trying to get 'Black Dog' down and just started agressively beating on some power/barre chords. Just goin' to town. It was such a buzz. I could feel it in my body. My belly and chest were vibrating. Before that, I wanted to play, I liked playing and was hooked by then, but that moment is when I went from hooked to addicted.

I wanted to play.

Every time I practice, I end with a sort of bashing away (ok, I'm a lttle better than those days decades ago) but I still smash at the thing without a care at the end of practicing. It's something of a practice credscendo. I think it releases those chemicals in your brain that make you happy.

So, it's also about emotion, remember that.