three hows and a what

[OzziePete]

how long have you been playing?
Since 1974. That was when "Smoke on the Water" and "Stairway to Heaven" were modern pop music! Yes that long ago.

how long did it take you to become good? (albert king apparently practiced for 5 years by himself, before he played to another soul!)
Ha ha, who says they are good!? On my good days I'm average to OK, on my bad days you don't want to hear it. Think my guitar playing is nowadays part of a more larger package, as I like to tinker with recording @ home and those projects usually end up as production epics, with arrangements etc. thrown in. But I have always loved playing guitar, just not a great player of it though.

how many hours do you practice a day?

Well, I did try to get up to a decent proficiency in 1983 as I thought I was going to get into a group, and I practiced about 2 hours a day for 5 days a week. But nowadays, I have little time for practice but in any lead up to a recording project I might do at home, I usually practice the parts and write so that usually bumps up my time with the guitar to about an hour a day. These days practice is sporadic.

Well

and what kinda music do you play?
I try to play a lot of different styles or at least attempt it! I am hopeless at reggae and jazz doesn't thrill me at all. My main fall back style is probably a mix up of Rock & Electric Blues, with perhaps a bit of brash punk attitude thrown in. But I write in a more 70s to 80s pop style when using lyrics, and my music only stuff has been considered by some as nearly late 70s Prog Rock (which I hate!). :dontknow:

 

[hannaugh]

>I'm studying the blues genre

can you expand on this pls? what exactly does the study involve?

I'm taking an online blues course at the moment.  It covers everything from rhythm patterns and variations to lead and improvisation.  There is a section about the different regional styles too.  I'm finding it very helpful and I'm learning a lot.  When I'm done with it I definitely won't be an expert, but I figured it was a good place to start. 

 

[vtpcnk]

hannaugh, you might want to check out "blues you can use". it is a very well structured (and a slim) book on the subject. john ganapes also runs an online forum for it. i worked on only the first book for like 7 months and it was quite informative. fyi ...

 

[hannaugh]

Awesome, thanks man!

 

[lafromla1]

>I'm studying the blues genre

can you expand on this pls? what exactly does the study involve?

I'm taking an online blues course at the moment.  It covers everything from rhythm patterns and variations to lead and improvisation.  There is a section about the different regional styles too.  I'm finding it very helpful and I'm learning a lot.  When I'm done with it I definitely won't be an expert, but I figured it was a good place to start. 

Which course are you working with if I may ask?

 

[Edin]

how long have you been playing?

how long did it take you to become good? (albert king apparently practiced for 5 years by himself, before he played to another soul!)

how many hours do you practice a day?

and what kinda music do you play?

Guitar since 1982.
Bass since 1987.

Play since 1987 with good musicians and they didn't kick my ass yet.

Some days no practicing, some days 4-5 hours.

'60, '70, '80, rock, hard rock, fusion, jazzrock

 

[TonyW]

On and off since 1968 never had a lesson play by feel

I think i am going ok then i listen to Rory Gallagher  :icon_scratch:

I dont really practice but i prbably play about 3 hours a day

Blues mainly Delta style but its my own feel, Blues/Rock all my own style and Rootsy folky country rockish thingy, whatevers coming out

:icon_thumright:

 

[D-rock]

8 years, started in 2001 when i was 10

Good is a very ambiguous word. There are some players that can shred like no tomorrow, but lack something essential to good guitar playing. Soul. There are the players who can only play five notes, but they can play those fives notes with so much feeling, so much passion, it can be the greatest sound you have ever heard. And I think that any good guitarist does not refer to him/herself as "a good player" but is humble and always yearning to learn new techniques and striving to become a better player.

usually around 1-3 hours

rock, blues, punk, shred

 

[Wyliee]

how long have you been playing?

how long did it take you to become good? (albert king apparently practiced for 5 years by himself, before he played to another soul!)

how many hours do you practice a day?

and what kinda music do you play?

Guitar off and on since 1982, bass off and on since 1984.  Bass more on than off.

Not sure how to define good.  There are always better players than me.  I can always find situations to push myself as a musician and find there is always room to grow.

30 minutes-ish of very focused practice about every other day.  Can be anything from playing through standards to working on new chord voicings. Lately I've been focusing on tieing certain chord voicings to scalar patterns.  I'll squeeze in scales and arpeggios through the cycle whenever I can, even unplugged.  It's good to keep the fingers limber.

Mostly contemporary church music or jazz standards.  Right now I'm playing in the pit at a local playhouse for a musical.  It's got show tunes, oldies, punk, and reggae all in the space of a 2hr show.  I'm doubling on bass and guitar for the show so I'm constantly switching instruments.  Musically and technically, it is quite the challenge.

 

[hannaugh]

>I'm studying the blues genre

can you expand on this pls? what exactly does the study involve?

I'm taking an online blues course at the moment.  It covers everything from rhythm patterns and variations to lead and improvisation.  There is a section about the different regional styles too.  I'm finding it very helpful and I'm learning a lot.  When I'm done with it I definitely won't be an expert, but I figured it was a good place to start. 

Which course are you working with if I may ask?

I'm doing the Guitar Tricks one.  I had my doubts when I started, but now that I have a subscription for it, I'm learning a lot.   I have had a couple of teachers in the past, but they weren't that great because they didn't teach in a logical progression or really show me anything all that useful.  It was more like "here, learn this song".  I'm more of a DIY kind of person anyways, so the online course is working out well for me.  It's basically a series of videos with a written version of each lesson to print out, followed up with an mp3 backing track to practice with.  

 

[MUYFUE]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
how long have you been playing? about 15 years

how long did it take you to become good? (albert king apparently practiced for 5 years by himself, before he played to another soul!) As soon as I got my Peavey Tracer for christmas in 7th grade, I went out and jammed with my freinds. Nobody had ANY idea what we were doing! To this day we make it up as we go along. One of our songs is really angular and weird and I can only play it AT tempo, no slower. So about 15 years and counting arty07:

For real: It took about 4-5 years of playing with tons of freinds and bands for me to get "comfortable" and develop my own musical style. After those first 4-5 years, I considered myself pretty good "mechanically" that is, physically...trying not to say Technically, cause I still can't play the Skwigelfian Mode! Fingers can only get so fast, so I never concentrated on that. After a few years to get me started, the music that I write is of much higher quality.  :icon_thumright: 

how many hours do you practice a day? Not everyday, sometimes I am lucky enough to play the same song twice all the way through! When I can, I like to put in at least 90 minutes. The every so often Saturday I can jam for 4-6 hours.

and what kinda music do you play? PanSepulTallica! Thrash, Metal, Punk, Hardcore, Whatever C.O.C. is, So yeah Basically METAL.

 

[smavridis]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
how long have you been playing? about 15 years

how long did it take you to become good? (albert king apparently practiced for 5 years by himself, before he played to another soul!) As soon as I got my Peavey Tracer for christmas in 7th grade, I went out and jammed with my freinds. Nobody had ANY idea what we were doing! To this day we make it up as we go along. One of our songs is really angular and weird and I can only play it AT tempo, no slower. So about 15 years and counting arty07:

For real: It took about 4-5 years of playing with tons of freinds and bands for me to get "comfortable" and develop my own musical style. After those first 4-5 years, I considered myself pretty good "mechanically" that is, physically...trying not to say Technically, cause I still can't play the Skwigelfian Mode! Fingers can only get so fast, so I never concentrated on that. After a few years to get me started, the music that I write is of much higher quality.  :icon_thumright: 

how many hours do you practice a day? Not everyday, sometimes I am lucky enough to play the same song twice all the way through! When I can, I like to put in at least 90 minutes. The every so often Saturday I can jam for 4-6 hours.

and what kinda music do you play? PanSepulTallica! Thrash, Metal, Punk, Hardcore, Whatever C.O.C. is, So yeah Basically METAL.

i like you already!  :icon_thumright: