Best advice about playing music that I heard when growing up

[Reverend Conehead]

The best advice I got when I was growing up learning to play the guitar was as follows. I don't remember who said this to me, or the exact words, but here's the gist:

Don't play to prove how great you are. Play because you enjoy it and have fun with it. Learn to play music that fills your heart. Do the same with music that you write. It's not about being great. It's about the love of music.

 

[nobody]

The best advice I got when I was growing up learning to play the guitar was as follows. I don't remember who said this to me, or the exact words, but here's the gist:

Don't play to prove how great you are. Play because you enjoy it and have fun with it. Learn to play music that fills your heart. Do the same with music that you write. It's not about being great. It's about the love of music.

Pfft...it's also about getting the girls. Come on, man!

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Pfft...it's also about getting the girls. Come on, man!

Ha ha ha ha, I'll admit -- it helped me with that A LOT in high school.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Also play a guitar that you like and is comfortable for you.

I think some young people start off on a terrible guitar where the string action is way too high esp on acoustics.

 

[Creeper]

My advice is learn to do it the right way. Learn the basics, the right techniques and methods. It may seem tedious in the beginning but it will accelerate your learning down the road. I started playing bass guitar and after a few years to picked up a six string just to play songs I liked. There was so much good rock n roll in the late 60s. I got good at those songs but I knew I was limited by not learning some of the fundamentals correctly. Trying to learn the right things later in life seemed very difficult for me.

 

[Vtwin]

Jam with people who are better than you as often as possible.

 

[VaqueroTD]

Pfft...it's also about getting the girls. Come on, man!

As a teenager, you see the dude playing his guitar with chicks sitting in a circle around him, and you learn quickly.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

My advice is learn to do it the right way. Learn the basics, the right techniques and methods. It may seem tedious in the beginning but it will accelerate your learning down the road. I started playing bass guitar and after a few years to picked up a six string just to play songs I liked. There was so much good rock n roll in the late 60s. I got good at those songs but I knew I was limited by not learning some of the fundamentals correctly. Trying to learn the right things later in life seemed very difficult for me.

I agree with that. I'm all for practicing to become as technically proficient as possible. Combine that with doing it because you love music, and you're in for a great ride.

 

[Creeper]

I agree with that. I'm all for practicing to become as technically proficient as possible. Combine that with doing it because you love music, and you're in for a great ride.

And today it is so easy to learn the right things. Go to youtube and there are plenty of videos that are helpful and move at a good pace. When I was young there was nothing. You read books or magazines about how to play or you bought the record and learned by playing along with the record. I remember replaying the same pats of songs over and over until I got it exactly right. Hours and hours of practice and repetition. Today you can find a video of some random guy showing you note by note how to play that same song.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

And today it is so easy to learn the right things. Go to youtube and there are plenty of videos that are helpful and move at a good pace. When I was young there was nothing. You read books or magazines about how to play or you bought the record and learned by playing along with the record. I remember replaying the same pats of songs over and over until I got it exactly right. Hours and hours of practice and repetition. Today you can find a video of some random guy showing you note by note how to play that same song.

It's the same for me. I started learning to play in 1978. At first, I could only learn a song if my guitar teacher taught it to me. However, he taught me how to sound songs out be ear and to read tabs and sheet music. And to tune! You had to get really good at manual tuning back then because most people couldn't afford electronic tuners. There were bands that sucked even though they knew how to play songs correctly. They only sounded terrible because they were bad a tuning. I quit playing in 1983 and restarted in 2018. Man, was I surprised at how much help there is to learn!

 

[IndieCowboy]

As a teenager, you see the dude playing his guitar with chicks sitting in a circle around him, and you learn quickly.

Don’t be like this dude lol