The Official Guitar Thread

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
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Duppin's on the money. I wouldn't start with an acoustic. Electric is where it's at.
 

Duppin_sl

shitlord
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So how do you guys deal with it when your confidence disappears completely?

I've been going to a jam for a while now, and I started playing at it probably earlier than I should have. Things were going fine for a while, but now I'm really starting to have a hard time with it. Part of it is that I keep getting put up with other weaker players and singers, and I don't have anyone to lean on/follow. Or I get put up with people who are stronger players who just pretend I'm not there, taking all the solos themselves.

How do I get past the fact that this jam is basically just run in a shitty fashion, and just push through it and be confident in what I'm able to do? Or should I take a step back and just listen again for a while until my confidence comes back?
 

Heriotze

<Gold Donor>
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dammit, I was going to respond the other night then thought ,"who the fuck am I to respond about having confidence in being a good player", then i watched those sweep arpeggio videos and now I'm in the same boat.

In the past I just played with people and that maintained my confidence. I worked at a venue that saw a lot of touring bands and my practice space was in the same building as a studio where a ton of people would come through to record so I was always trying to get some time in with as many different musicians as possible and that made me a lot better quickly and kept my confidence up because I could tell people that I played guitar with the guys from Devotchka or Calexico or whoever else was in town that week. Your going to play to the level of the people playing with you so perhaps you're just getting bored with it now that your skill level is exceeding most of your group. Unless you're super into Phish type stuff or know a bunch of old school jazz guys jam bands can get pretty tired pretty fast from my experience.

You should grab some of the stronger players from your sessions and try to hammer something more structured out. Getting a small group and working towards playing a set of songs perfectly note for note is a great confidence booster when you hear it all come together.
 

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
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You should grab some of the stronger players from your sessions and try to hammer something more structured out. Getting a small group and working towards playing a set of songs perfectly note for note is a great confidence booster when you hear it all come together.
Definitely. I used to be in an 80s metal cover band (with some grunge stuff thrown in) and that was probably the tightest group I was ever apart of. We played some difficult tunes too. We even covered a couple Dream Theater songs. That was a huge confidence booster especially when we got out of the basement and onto stages. We realized very quickly that we were one of the tightest bands in town. That's when it turns into a drug and you just want to play all the time because it's awesome being awesome.

I really miss being in a band.
frown.png
 

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
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Holy shit that has a lot of presets. If I had one of those I would certainly experiment with more tunings. $300 is steep though. I'd like to test that out in person pretty extensively before I'd purchase that.
 

Duppin_sl

shitlord
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3
Hopefully the last guitar change for the foreseeable future (yes, I know I've said that before):

rrr_img_53728.jpg


I decided it was time to stop dicking around with niche-ish things and get a big boy guitar. It's a 1978 Les Paul Pro Deluxe. I got a great deal on it because someone had stripped the original finish, down to the natural wood which I think looks pretty damn nice.

I might get it finished as a gold top eventually. We'll see.
 

Heriotze

<Gold Donor>
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I'd say leave the natural on that LP , looks really nice and it's unique. That case looks like you could drop it off of a building and open it to find an in-tact and in tune guitar.
 

Duppin_sl

shitlord
3,785
3
Yeah, that's my inclination is to leave it natural. It's going to stay that way at least for now. Right now she's at the shop getting a wiring issue fixed, and I'm like a nervous father waiting for news.

Those cases are amazing, it's called a "chainsaw case". There was a commercial once where someone threw a Paul off the top of a house in one and opened the case up to find the guitar totally intact. It's missing one latch but otherwise it's a tank.
 

Seventh

Golden Squire
892
15
That looks fucking great man! I'm not a fan of P90s, but I'm a boring metal guy - otherwise I'd rock the hell out of that. Enjoy it!
 

Duppin_sl

shitlord
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I love P90s. I like playing big chords, and humbuckers get too muddy with those, at least in my experience; but Strat-style single coils are too twangy with single notes. P90s occupy a sweet middle ground that's perfect for what I want to play, I think.
 

ToeMissile

Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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Not terribly relevant, but will be appreciated in this thread the most I'd think... my niece who turned 6 a couple months ago has been taking piano lessons since around the middle of June, can play and talk/sing at the same time. F'n kids.
 

Duppin_sl

shitlord
3,785
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I can sing and play in very limited fashion at the same time. Both parts still have to be pretty simple. But I'm getting better.
 

Duppin_sl

shitlord
3,785
3
Here's a soundcloud for you guys of the new guitar, recorded via Amplitube:

[removed just incase]

Still lots of mistakes, but it's worlds better than some of the first things I recorded.