Do any of you guys think that "Prince" ever had to struggle with practice? I swear that, right now, I'm ready to go pop a whole vial of "Wellbutrin XL" and call it a "LIFE"!!!! Prince
[Edited 6/26/07 2:14am]

I've felt like doing that too.

Just make sure you don't do what Tom Petty did, and hit a wall really hard with your chord-making hand. Dude was on the shelf for a whole year.

RodeoSchro said:

.....!!!!!,

It's takes time. Be patient. It doesn't happen in one day.

Here are some kewl guitar tips from Joe Satriani.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...NDyI5b3Fh8

Hang in there. You can do it!

Peace and Positivity.

Carl Cranshaw

[Edited 6/19/07 14:12pm]

carlcranshaw said:

Sure Prince has had to get very frustrated, but he's got an iron will to control that's what has sustained him this long.

It angers me because no matter how much I say that I will never ever touch my guitar after "EVERY" practicing period/session, I come back to the damn thing, hoping for a change. Something's up with that.

I believe hendrix said that it takes a total of 7 years of sucking at guitar
before you start to actually get good
so yah..
patience...

EmbattledWarrior said:

Nuh-uh! You've gotta be makin' that up. Hell, correct me if I am wrong, but didn't he receive his first guitar at a really late period in his life (*COUGH**COUGH*"SEVENTEEN"*COUGH**COUGH*)? Plus, "Prince" of all people, received his first offer at around seventeen-eighteen and had only started playing since he was thirteen. AND, in an interview about some of "Prince's First Few Recording Sessions", they had a guy introduce some of those tracks (Probably from around the time that he had recorded with "94 East") to the interviewer and "Prince" was "BAD" (And by "BAD", I mean "SICK") on that "GODDAMNED GUITAR". That guy even said that he noticed how good "Prince" was, at first listen.

FarrahMoan said:

Why is Prince in quotation marks?

purplesocks said:

I don't know why. I seem to have a tendency to do that a lot with a lot of significant elements within a conversation.

I highly recommend structured learning if you feel like you're spinning your wheels... Doesn't necessarily have to be a teacher... maybe going through a guitar instructional book or something. Something with a lesson plan, with a concrete set of steps etc... If you learn just one new thing every day, you are bound to improve...

How long have you been playing?

coolcat said:

I higly appreciate your gesture of advice. I have playing, off and on for two years (When I say off and on, I mean I have probably missed about ten months-to-a-year's worth). I often learn songs by ear on guitar and piano like "Purple Rain", "Computer Blue" ("John L. Nelson Version"="Awesomeness"), "Sign "O" The Times", "Alexa De Paris", and "Lady Cab Driver". Actually, I have learned these songs through tidbits and not the whole thing. I think I learn different techniques when I listen to different songs, mostly by "Prince" ("Blues-Two String-Chord-Picking" from "Sign "O" The Times"). I play like a baby, man. I try to improvise while playing for hours and when I am at my angriest and I have gotten nowhere while trying to go up and down the goddamned strings on the guitar smoothly(Which is all of the time), I go crazy and kick the shit out everything around me and throw the nearest object.....and....and (Hold on, I need a breather just talking about it, man)....
[Edited 6/21/07 0:16am]
[Edited 6/21/07 0:17am]

Oh, and sorry for double-posting, but, another thing that I would like to add is that I have tried to learn from an instructor and a school teacher, "AND" a book (Although, I couldn't attain the attention span in me to channel it on either three). I couldn't learn just about anything from any of those supposedly "VITAL SOURCES". The best way for me to learn is by ear and using the "basic" music theory that exists in the world.

FarrahMoan said:

There are certainly plenty of great guitarists that learned with that approach. SRV comes to mind...

Have you tried writing your own songs? The process of writing a song (vocal or instrumental) could vastly improve your guitar skills... Just use whatever skills you have right now, however limited they may be, and try to create a piece of music (maybe even all the way to recording it)... Your first few songs may turn out crappy, but you will improve... Don't worry too much about not doing the things you're "supposed" to be doing with the guitar... Take more of an approach like: whatever works, no matter how weird it is, is cool... You might develop a very unique style of playing.

I always hated trying to figure out other people's songs, because there'd always be parts that I couldn't figure out... It was easier to just make up things myself... Also just felt like a more productive use of my time...

Don't give up.

When you said you played like a baby, it reminded me of this quote from Victor Wooten (taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/w...or_Wooten:

"If you take a newborn baby and put them on the instrument, they're going to get sounds out of it that I can't get out of it, so we're all the best."
[Edited 6/21/07 1:15am]

coolcat said:

Aw, man! You're gonna make me cry! There you made me do it. You know, that doesn't sound like a bad thing. I usually use the improvising technique when learning songs by "Prince" that seem inevitable like "Computer Blue". Here, I want to reciprocate for my troubles.

Allow me to slip on my "Purple Banana" until "Denise Matthews" pulls me into her "trunk".
[Edited 6/21/07 3:20am]

FarrahMoan said:

FarrahMoan said:

DONT GIVE UP do it for yourself that is why after playing since 10 i call my guitar by her 2 given names BITCH or OH BABY
ps dont call it practice call it ure purgation of what ails u have a glass of wine or wrap ure naked body in silk whatever it takes enjoy its just like good sex

misslilly said:

Will wrapping my naked body in polyester achieve the same effects? Don't have any silk

Shawnt24 said:

as u wish but i find myself playing the BEE GEES with polyester for u just play naked let it all hang out

misslilly said:

Once again, I'd like to thank you! I agree. I like to find it as an equivalent to sex because, in fact, it is. Passionate intercourse or romantic intimacy. Either way, sometime I "GO" for it, but it doesn't "COME" out the way that I would like it to. Actually, that's most of the time. Hell, I just about knew one of the riffs of "Computer Blue" by ear, four months after "sparsely" (And I use that term loosely) playing my guitar, "LEISURELY"! It's just that I couldn't deliver what I had heard and expected. My ears are good, but my fingers are cursed.
[Edited 6/22/07 0:31am]

Rome wasn't built in a day. It takes time. Music is a journey. You gotta be in it for the long run. I've been playing for some years now, and there are always new things to discover/learn. That's one of the fun things about learning/playing an instrument. You're never bored, 'cause there's always something that's gonna catch your ear and make you go, "I wanna learn how to play that!"

You have to be prepared to put some time into it. Everyone proceeds at his/her own pace. How much you put into it is how much you'll get out of it. I think in some ways, the internet is a distraction, in that the time one spends posting on message boards can be spent with one's instrument. On the other hand, there are soooo many outlets available for learning, via the internet, especially compared to when I first started playing. You have a lot at your fingertips.

My advice is to keep it simple. Don't get inundated with too many books/methods of playing. Divide things up - treat it like you're taking different classes. I used to have separate notebooks for chords, scales, music theory, the history of music, etc. I also had a subscription to a guitar magazine - the monthly lessons were invaluable. Lastly, I had a cassette tape - I know, I'm kinda old - that I labeled my 'ear training' tape. I would tape whatever caught my ear and I would give myself a few days to learn the song/guitar solo. Even if I didn't learn the whole thing note for note, I came away with my own approach to doing things. If I did learn it note-for-note, I added some licks/chords to my musical library!

Listen, listen and listen to music - not just Prince's music, but different kinds of music. A lot of people think country music is hokey/corny, but some of the best guitarists come out of that genre. Keep an open mind and a healthy respect for all forms of music.

And finally, patience, young man, patience!!! Have fun with it! Enjoy the ride!

Hope that helps! Happy playing

coolcat said:

I Love SRV's guitar playing...may he RIP!!!

I'm open to other music and I don't just stay on the computer all day. It's just that, I don't know. I mean, I don't have much influence, motivation, and sometimes (No, scratch that. "ALL OF THE TIME!!!") I don't have the self-determination in carrying out these things. Yeah, that does sound like a bit of a cop-out in it of itself. I don't have two jazz musicians/vocalists on my side as my parents and I wasn't exposed to much but this guy, "New Jack Swing", "Neo-Soul", and some "Rock "n" Roll" when I was younger. I didn't learn how it was to be in a band atmosphere because I didn't have many (If "ANY"!) friends in my old/new school daze. I have heard "Jimi Hendrix" playing (I mean, of course. But, who hasn't!). I have taken the time out to look up people like "Chuck Berry", "Bo Diddley" (Although, I know very little about both),"John Lee Hooker", "B.B. King" among others. I have listened to some "Jimmy Page" (Well, okay, sue me. I realistically only heard "Stairway To Heaven", but give me a break here. I'm tryin'! LOL!), "Eddie Van Halen", "Lynard Skynard" (Mark whoever plays the guitar on their band. Although, once again, I only know about two songs from those guys, and they happen to be "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird"), "Eric Clapton", "Brian May" (YAY! QUEEN!), "John Frusciante", "Michael "Flea" Balzary" and "George Harrison" (Forgive me, once again. Send my regards on behalf of the mere acknowledment on that one song being "When My Guitar Gently Weeps" and sign it "GOD" as "Prince" strangly would to "Miles Davis"). The current guitarists out there that just so happen to famous for their guitar-playing that I know about are "Steve Vai" (Although, he's been in for a while so it wouldn't be right to say that he was "Current", per se. It's just that he fits in wherever time space he lands. Give credit where credit is due on that regard.), "John Mayer", and of course, the epitomy of crypticicity as an artiste, "MR. Jack White" (Who I can gladly say is from my hometown and current homestay, unfortunately. Man, I gotta get outta this place.). I don't know much about "Jack White", except for that he is from the "White Stripes", he recorded "Seven Nation Army" (Yes, I know! I'm pathetic.....), and currently has a song out from his current album called "Icky Thump" and the guitar was sick on that song, by the way. Yeah, so there goes my list, on the surface, for a kid who can be quite lazy and misuse most of the time in his life. I am admitting this as it is true. However, I know more than some others my age do and I can at least say that I have a pretty much open mind when it comes to music, but I am going to have to try to open up to "Country" because the "LATEST COUNTRY" is not my bag. I could try out some "Johnny Cash" and "Dolly Parton" (Even though she was a beautiful young woman and is exceptional at her current age thanks to modern-day plastic surgery, her voice and "Southern/Country Accent" kind of turns me off of her in more ways than one.). I am sorry for the really long post, once again.
[Edited 6/22/07 7:14am]

Brosephus stop bitchin and get in the woodshed, and keep woodshedding
Practice and time is your only friend.
i've been playing guitar for about 4 years now and i still fuckin suck...
but im alot better than i was 4 years ago...
musical talents just take alot of time to hone...
Prince was not always a good guitarist.
he's great now but thats because he's got over 20 years under his belt now.
patience

i will give you one shred advice though
If you focus on your rhythm playing now it'll make your attempt at lead playing even sweeter...
you should be a great all around player not just focus on one aspect...
keep praccticin,
and drop by the org artist forums and show us some stuff

FarrahMoan said:

EmbattledWarrior said:

Uh...I don't mean to undermind your post as I understood the rest, but who in the "BLUE HELL" is "Brosephus" and where did you get that kind of name from? I would also like to thank "babooshleeky" for being so sweet. You trynna give me diabetes, woman? Anyway, yeah, when you say "Rhythm Guitar", do you mean strummin' a guitar chord progression pattern like "Prince" does on "Lady Cab Driver", for example?

FarrahMoan said:

Brosephus
Bro - as in Brother
Sephus as in the jewish historian Joesephus
Brosephus...
Meanin old brotha or just a wierd way of sayin brotha lol
Rhythm is basically the underbelly of all things in music...
when it comes to the guitars it could be anything, Scratching, Playing chord progressions, playing a melody in a rhythmic fashion.
whattever
just being on tick...
the best place to learn about good rhythm is Funk 101...
listen to songs like graham central station Superbad by james...
You know what i mean by jeff beck
Just kissed my baby by the meters
its playing guitar in a percussivee fashion
A strong rhythm leads to everything groovy in guitar playing...
I know cats who can shred scales a mile a minute, but can't even play the simplest rhythmic lick like Sex Machine by JB
so RHYTHM, THAN LEAD, THAN MELODICLY COMBINE BOTH!

EmbattledWarrior said:

That's what I meant when I said, "Do you mean strummin' a guitar chord progression pattern like "Prince" does on "Lady Cab Driver", for example?" Because, I believe that "Prince" does the rhythm guitar on that track from "1999". Often, while on tour during that period, I think that "Prince" would often do the rhythm guitar on "Lady Cab Driver", while "Dez Dickerson" would actually do lead. Am I right on these assumptions?