General Music Chat

1) Practice what you DON'T know.
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2) Think about 3 goals before practice:
- Things to master now
- Things to master in few weeks to a month
- things that may take a year or two to master
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3) Practice every day, if even for just 10 minutes.
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4) Practice different things (in a different order) from the last practice.
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5) Make sure your guitar is in perfect tune.
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6) Stop before injury, or you will limit future practices.
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7) If you play all originals - learn a new cover song. If you play all cover songs - compose an original.
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8 ) If you don't know any bass patterns - then learn one.
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9) Try playing a new chord every so often. Practice it until you remember it.
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10) . . .
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(ok, guys - I'm handing the reins to you . . .)

If you like metal, rock or fusion, then watch this before your next practice
http://www.licklibrary.com/Webcasts/8/May+2010

if you only listen to soft rock, or jazz, or swing, or polka, or country, or or or... then don't.

Practice with your eyes closed.

I watched part of that video . . .
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But not eveyone plays hard rock and metal.
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So, - glad you're keeping in mind that a lot of guitarists prefer to play blues or jazz or folk or classical or funk or R&B or swing or boogie or Southern Rock or Ballads or Celtic or Dance music or Easy Listening or New Wave or - or, or, or . . .
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Man, they must have sold a hundert billion of those ...
Everybody has at least one ... just like it.

Jsantos you made a great point about practice.
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And - a picture is worth a thousand words.

Heard good things about the Pandora pocket multi-effects. Kind of curious how the built in backing tracks are like.

Heard good things about the Pandora pocket multi-effects. Kind of curious how the built in backing tracks are like.

They are kinda cheesy, but they do provide a drum and bass track to play along with in different styles.

The amp/speaker modeling is the best feature of the one I have. The downside is that it's too noisy to use live.

here's another must-see video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrL5APQHMxY&feature=watch_response

How many beginners here lose tempo when they hit the chorus?

How many beginners here lose tempo when they hit the chorus?

The chorus, for me, is where I can re-calibrate if i happen to get a little off tempo.

How many beginners here lose tempo when they hit the chorus?

Heh - I've been there . . .
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If you lose your rhythm at the chorus or bridge, you're ruining it for your audience.
If they're really supportive of you, they won't mention it . . .
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. . . just be aware of this, though . . .
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You might have to practice the transition from the end of the verse through to the beginning of the chorus over and over again, until it's smooth.
Try p;aying the last 2 chords of the verse through to the first 2 chords of the chorus, repeatedly, until the timing is perfect.
Don't settle for 'until the timing is pretty good,' - because you might be kidding yourself.
Aim high.
A bullet drops over distance: aim high, and when it drops - it'll hit the bulls-eye.
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You might even have to slow the entire song down to the speed of your slowest chord change, until that part of the song is as smooth as it really should be.