The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #129485 Message #2907487
Posted By: Rob Naylor
15-May-10 - 10:03 AM
Thread Name: Learning The Guitar: Frustration
Subject: RE: Learning The Guitar: Frustration
Thanks everyone for your input. It's very much appreciated.
Will: I may well take you up on that kind offer!
Bobert: What happens with all musicans who continue to work on the rote memory of finger pickin' is simple: One day yer pickin' hand will just tell you to "fuck off"... That's right... It will decalre it's independence and from then on it will do what it knows to do and you will have almost no control of it [...] Just do it and until then mash out chords if ya' gotta perform or jam... We all did it this way, believe me...
That's very reassuring. All I've got to do now then is pack in enough hours of practice for my right hand to give me the finger!
Nick: If you can do it - and want to - post something for criticism. You'll know if it's your super best or how you normally play or worse than you play. People are very nice but also very honest here.
I think I'd like to do that. Is there an upload area on Mudcat, or will I have to do something like create an "artist" page on "ilike", upload to that and then link it here?
Old Vermin: Not clear from the above if you, Rob, are playing with or in front of other people yet. If possible, do - with is great for company and learning and in front of is a very useful discipline. Terrifying at first, but it and you get better.
Mandotim: I had a gig last night, and I was playing a tune on mandolin that I know inside out...until I started to think about what I was doing!
I've played at a couple of sessions, after taking most of the evening each time to pluck up the courage. One time went "sort of" OK. The other was pretty much a disaster...I tried about 3 different tunes at various points in the evening, and except for one that I managed to stumble though (and I *do* mean stumble through) as a duet, they wer appalling. I did exactly what Mandotim notes above: started thinking about tunes that I know well. Then I did everything else that's "wrong": re-starting after flubbing a chord about 8 bars in, then stopping further in still, apologising and re-starting from the stop point. Then just stopping half way through the 2nd song when the nerves got so bad that I couldn't keep going. Funnily enough, I played the piece perfectly to an audience of 2 other guitarists in the corner at the end of the night!
Not managed to pluck up the courage to try again yet at any of the 4 sessions/ singarounds I've been to since the "disaster", even though the last one had a very benign "crowd" of only about 8 people and an MC who gently encouraged me to do "something" each time the turn came round to me. I'm planning to try again at the next session I go to, but I'm turning to jelly at the keyboard just thinking about it. I figure Keith Donnelly's "Breakfast Blues" is easy enough to play and sing at the same time, and the lyrics groan-worthy enough to disguise any shortcomings in my performance, so I'll start with that and if if goes well, try something a bit more musical :-)
Thanks again for all the comments/ pointers/ advice. Lots to think about.