Learning The Guitar - The Journey Of An Ambitious No Hoper Part 2 of 3
As I left my teenage years behind, I was playing my guitar more often. Having moved out of home into my own place, I now had the freedom to play at any hour and at any volume. Unfortunately, all I had learned was a greater variety of half licks and chord sequences to a larger number of songs and I still couldn't play any of them properly.
While enjoying the freedom to play more without interruption, I could never seem to find the time to take up proper lessons. I guess I had other things I thought were higher priority, yet at the end of the day, I'd still pick up my guitar and play through the few bits I knew.
I started to invest in some effects pedals and fooled around with different amp settings, being more concerned with how the guitar sounded than whether or not I could actually play anything properly. Around this time, I remember reading an article somewhere or other that said, if possible, you should try and learn some stuff on an acoustic guitar. The article said that the problem with learning on an electric guitar is that all the overdrive on the amp and the snazzy effects can hide your mistakes, making you think you are better than you actually are. If you can learn to be good on an acoustic guitar, your playing will be a million times better next time you pick up an electric one.
Not having an acoustic guitar, I turned the amp off and tried playing 'unplugged'. what a depressing sound. I realised that I had been kidding myself completely that I could play anything at all and that without the effects pedals to draw the attention, my playing was, there is no denying it, simply rubbish!
Gradually I started to realise I was getting bored with not progressing where I wanted to and found other things to do rather than practice. My dream of musical virtuosity took a back seat as I came to terms with the fact I couldn't play. Luckily work was keeping me busy and I threw myself into that to fill the spare time. deep down I still wanted to take up the guitar again but I also knew I'd need some additional inspiration or motivation to get me going again.
That motivation came in spades in my early thirties. I managed to land a big music store as a client for my marketing business. It was the music store I had bought my previous guitars from. This brought two huge benefits - One: I occasionally got to fool around with the shop gear including some pretty tasty and expensive stuff. Two: I was offered staff discount of anything that took my fancy in the store.
The business was going well and, having not played at home for ages having sold my previous guitar, I decided it was time to start again and get a new one. The temptation was overbearing and I was powerless to resist. I left the store with a shiny new cherry red Gibson SG and a 50 watt Marshall amp - a completely impractical amp for home use as it could have gigged a very large club with no problem at all.
Having got my prized possessions home, I plugged straight in. The Gibson was everything I had dreamed. I plugged in and Whoah! I think I might have been a bit ambitious with the amp. The windows were rattling with the volume set to 1!
And then I remembered I couldn't play very well. What had I done?
About the Author
'How To Learn Guitar Songs - The Journey Of An Ambitious No Hoper' is written by Simon Turner - an aspiring rock god, who succumbed to reality and instead became a marketing consultant, and who did learn to play in the end, with the help of some gifted and patient friends, and some proper lessons. http://www.howtolearnguitarsongs.com
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