Hey I did too. I wonder if we ever saw each other at a festival or whatnot. I was class of 2001…San Jose.
Man looking back on those years, so many kids were clueless when it came to following the chord structure. Not even the bass player (eventually the bass player in my short-lived band) understood a concept as simple as Am(A minor). He would walk and play C#, I mean come on. And our piano player was totally riding the easy train for those credits; her “playing” amounted to triads with no concern for higher voicings or improvisation.
Even in 2006 when I was whoring myself out to bands, some people just didn’t understand concepts of music that I thought were fundamental. (sigh) I wonder if the perception that the music industry is unforgiving is shaped by the people who aren’t really musicians anyway…
I graduated more recently. So I think it would be safe to say I never ran into you. We did go as far south as Anaheim though. Jazz was cool but some of the kids were just so oblivious to how to play. It worked out well when it was time to solo though. I ended up taking all the solos because no one else wanted them. :woot:
I’m glad I learned how each mode was based off of the major scale. Made things alot cooler.
Check out my band’s myspace. Let me know what you think of the playing. There’s a hip guitar player in some of the videos, if you fast forward enough you can see some killer guitar playing.
I’ve been playing bass for about 14 years. I teach in the evenings and play the clubs with my band The Janks. We’re opening for Stan Ridgeway at the House of Blues Hollywood next month…he had that song Mexican Radio.
I don’t know how well I’m progressing.
I’ve been playing for like… 2-3 months now I think, and I’m still learning how to go from chord to chord. Should I be farther along than this? I can go from E to A, and learning now to go from G to C to D, since the song I’m learning requires those 3 chords. I’ve been practicing at elast a half hour every day, USUALLY it’s an hour though. But It doesn’t seem like it’s getting easier. I still make the same mistakes when I’m switching chords, like my fingers end up too far away from the end of the fret, or sometimes I can’t fit my fingers on the strings correctly fast enough. It’s just frustrating that I’m making these little mistakes and I dont’ know how to fix them. Can anyone help?
Alternate picking is a matter of both practice and common sense. There are some guitarists who will tell you to alternate-pick everything. This is wrong. What they’re probably talking about is economy picking–rather than just down-up-down-up-etc., you can do two upstrokes in a row or two downstrokes in a row if it makes more sense. Above everything else, do not make it hard on yourself.
Once you focus on economy picking rather than strictly alternate picking, I think it makes it easier. Also, a metronome is essential.
For 2 years I had the worst tuner ever. First, I was way overcharged for it. Second, on the next week that I had it it started acting up, I would have to shake the battery around for it to work. Third it was inacurate it wasn’t even funny!! 3rd, it had a metronome but it only went up or down by 4 bpm lol… stupid POS.
It was this POS:
So, finally I decided to buy a new tuner. I saw a Boss one and the guys at the music shop gave it to me for $21 (cause I shop there so often lol). Man… this thing is pretty damn sweet. It is so acurate and always gives me a steady reading. Plus it has this awesome feature that when you let the note ring it will beep really low when the note is in tune, some may find it annoying but I like it. Plus the metronome goes up by 1s!!! Yay!!!
I’m happy.
Its this one:
They aren’t metronomes though. Only drawback. I have one as well and I think it’s RIDICULOUSLY accurate. For $20 or less, it’s great.
Anyone used an expensive $200+ strobe tuner?
http://www.buzzfeiten.com/
Also, anyone know anything about the Buzz Feiten tuning system? I’m considering having the mod done to my guitar but I don’t want to spend the money if it’s not worth it.
:rock: