FarrahMoan said:

correct broseph
P mastered his lead in the mid to late 80's
but first and foremost he was a masterful rhythm player

Can anyone in here by any chance tell me how I should work my whammy bar because it really doesn't seem to be making much of a difference?

EmbattledWarrior said:

I second that. Rhythm guitar playing is a lost art in many ways. I knew a player who, as far as shredding goes, was one of the most technically accomplished players I've ever heard. Yet, he couldn't use a wah-wah pedal - he didn't have the coordination nor the rhythm chops to play funky. And I knew a Stevie Ray-type player who could solo all day long but didn't have much to say, rhythm-wise...

FarrahMoan said:

If I were you, I'd take it off and put it in a drawer somewhere 'till you can learn really cover the basics of playing. Right now, it's probably more of a distraction than a musical device.

JesseDezz said:

Oh, no, no!! LOL! You see, there is nothing distracting about it and that is probably the problem. Yeah, I know. Weird, right? No, but, really, I just want to make sure that it works. I have got it rammed into that hole where it belongs in my guitar so tightly that it seems like there should be some noise being made or something to that effect. However, no screaming or screeching or anything for that matter has resulted as I thought it would from the sound of my guitar. It's really like the whammy bar is a nuisance or mine is just broke.

carlcranshaw said:

Okay, this may sound a little ignorant of me, but I am terminologically-challenged when it comes to the ethics of music. I am merely the lover of the sound that these instruments can bring. I so hope that I am not alone on this. I don't know how many words I read from a part of that online seminar and skipped over even trying to make out the meaning of it all. I am so disgusted with myself and ashamed about it, but what can I say. Maybe I just wasn't cut out for it all.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but do you suppose that you are perhaps spending more time posting than actually trying to play and understand the instrument? It's like you're looking for answers from fellow orgers then you come up with an excuse not to follow any of the tips. I wish I had this information available when I started playing - before the internet age.

If you're gonna be good at anything, you need to spend time developing the skill. There's no way around it. Plus, everyone's situation is different - Prince's situation at your age was different, and so on...

As I stated before, Rome wasn't built in a day and Prince didn't pop out fully-formed and ready to make records, regardless of what some of the uber-fans on this board might think...It's gonna take some time, so either you're prepared to do it or not.

JesseDezz said:

Off and on, I played the guitar quite very much today. I got such a short temper and I gotta work on that. I know that. I don't exactly look for reasons to make my way around what has to be done. I am trying, man. Maybe not at my hardest efforts. I love playing and picking up things at a steady pace, as long as I feel some progress. It's just that, sometimes it's so stagnant. My nails grow long in a matter of two-to-three weeks. So, maybe that's the problem. The reason I started with this instrument along the keyboard/piano is because, well, I noticed that I could play sone things by ear (Alhough, looking back at them, they were so elementaric that it is crazy to consider this thing a gift, but I did at the time). I have seen other people play better than me that have played just as sporadically over the course of two years and it is often "VERY" discouraging. This one guy told me that he learned the "sweeps" techinque on the guitar, overnight while playing non-stop for six hours while watching "Nick@Nite" (Kind of weird, really). He said the reason why he was so fixated and focused on getting it down was because his girlfriend had cheated and broken-up with him. I was jealous of him and kept asking him to make sure that he wasn't lying. I guess that's just me, though. I don't really want anybody's sympathy. I just want some honest opinion on this whole subject. However, I could see why you would question my dedication to the damn thing because I know I do. Man, I tell ya, I got a lotta growin' up ta do, but I am gonna do it with this instrument.

Cool. Just remember to have fun - it's just so cool to see young cats getting into music. More young people should - it definitely alleviates boredom and it's so rewarding to start at point zero, so to speak, and steadily progress.

Funk on, dude

Keep it really simple. Try to learn one thing a day... maybe just one chord... there's all sorts of lessons on youtube for beginners all the way to advanced...

And use a metronome.

coolcat said:

You know, the thing about those is that I hear a lot about people changing and switching up their tunings to deviate from the norm. As related to its significance, what's really up with that?

FarrahMoan said:

Significance of the metronome? Timing is everything.

coolcat said:

Maybe I meant a tuner because, now that I realize it, I think I was getting the two confused from one another. Yeah, I know something about timing. Now that I can understand. It's the tuning deviance of many players/artists that bothers me when it comes to string instruments, period.

FarrahMoan said:

Me too. Stick with standard tuning. But here's an online metronome as an example:

http://www.metronomeonline.com/

You can get little portable electronic ones.

Or of course, if you have a synth or drum machine, you can just use that to keep a drumbeat going while you practice.