Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Posts: 84 Location: Oklahoma, U.S.
Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 6:26 pm Post subject: Plateaus . . . ruts
Just curious and wondering when you feel you've hit a plateau in your playing versus when you feel you're in a rut. Second part is what do you typically, to push through?
I made some pretty good strides in recent months by playing along with jazz music on a digital station. I pick things up more by osmosis than study. GG has also had a big impact in the last six months. Just listening to his blend of styles has really opened my imagination and i've begun blending more styles into my ideas.
What i haven't done in ages is really try to work out a piece of music. I found that when I did this as a new player, i would learn the piece but somehow nothing really changed in the things I played of my own. That only happed through obsessive listening. What are your thoughts? _________________ It goes to eleven!
I find that jamming with things on the radio is awsome for playing, you can try out anything you like over them, often westlife songs are good for getting your Aeolian power solos down!!! I think richard Wagner or someone like that said that he was forced to become original because he never really listened to anyone else, which is kind of the opposite of what your saying, but I am on the same line as you, Eg when I listened to WST and played all the licks loads and started taking licks from it to other songs and vice versa certain licks from it started to creep up in my playing all the time. Now everytime I try to play an A major apreggio i end up playing the intro slap bit!!!! just kidding. _________________ "The reason why guthrie is so good, is that he doesen't spend most of his time on the petrucci forum bitching about vai"
When I get into ruts there are a couple things I try…
1. I’ll try to work on something I’ve never tried before, like coming up with a 7 finger tapping arpeggio or something on 2 non adjacent strings (I’ll have to try that)
2. Another thing I’ll try is just jamming with standards and improvising. But maybe limit myself to a few strings, or a couple notes or something, or tapping, or slapping, or sounds, rhythmic sounds. By restricting myself I start thinking about music more than playing.
3. I’ll try writing something from scratch, just anything that comes to mind, and write it on a piece of paper. Then maybe put it into Finale and play along.
4. Play one of a billion exercises, think of every combination of numbers and frets and fingers, plenty to always work on.
5. Maybe learn a couple simple songs, with simple chords (strummy) and try to make the most interesting thing I can with the chords. Rhythmically, or arpeggios. Really try and control what I’m doing, not just falling into strum patterns.
EAR TRAINING!!!! Just in general, beyond transcribing.
Now, when I think about it, I don't know if I've ever really been in a rut, because I can always think of a million things I need to work on. If anything I need to chill and appreciate what I've learned, but that is nearly impossible, I think.
Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Posts: 84 Location: Oklahoma, U.S.
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:58 pm Post subject: Never in a rut?
That would be awsome. I've been playing for 25 odd years and I've hit plateaus every few years. When they drug out, it was a rut. Those times were usually when I was in cover bands. These days I do my own stuff so my ruts usually correspond to creative dry spells. When you've played a long time, you end up with your own identity and sometimes it becomes constricting. You tend to get dependent on 4 or 5 sounds from clean to scorching and fall into favorites in chord voicings as well.
I helped my daughter write a song for a school project last week. It had to be simple in melody and composition because she was going to sing it in front of her school (she's 10). I laid down 4 tracks for her to sing over and I was amazed at how inspired I was. Just 5 simple chords, with seperate voicings for two guitars, drum and a strum track. It really turned out as a sweet, kind of innocent peice and took only 3 or 4 hours to put together with lyrics and everything. Reminded me what the essense of music is. _________________ It goes to eleven!
Yeah I've been playing for around 15 years now, and have certainly had ups and downs. I may have not had complete ruts, but that doesn't mean I looked forward, or even did the things mentioned above. It takes a lot of will power to work on ear training when you want to be creative. All in all though my desire to be better has always had me searching for more. I don't remember a time I didn't want to play all day.
Joined: 12 Mar 2005 Posts: 214 Location: Hong Kong
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 12:47 pm Post subject:
These days I just pick a random page from Sheets of Sound, and that keeps me going for a while...
I've been playing for 28 years and I had a break for about 2 years 15 years ago when I backpacked around Europe... that was the best thing to get me out of a rut!!!
Cheers
M@ _________________ "My day job feeds my family, my night gig feeds my ego!"
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