Brian
Unfortunately I never really got that far.

And you never will until you do.

IMHO, one hour playing on stage is as valuable as 50 in the garage. So what is stopping you? Try it!

SSIV

I always pay close attention to these threads because I am a beginner. I've been noodling now since November when I got my first guitar and while I always enjoy playing, I'm coming to realize that if I'm ever going to get any good I need to do more, WAY more.

Who's going to tell you your wrist is in the wrong position when your noodlling by yourself, or the advice I recently got to, "practice while standing up because when you get on stage there probably won't be a chair there for you". I think to progress, you need to either take lessons or play with some people who know what they are doing who can help you along.

What's the point of playing music for yourself? It's like practicing skating, shooting, and puck handling in your backyard rink and never stepping on the ice with real goalies and players; how can you ever reach your potential without practical experience? Why would you practice unless you had dreams of flying down the ice and scoring a goal? (you got to expect a hockey analogy from a Canadian, I'm sure you can substitute your favorite sport)

Perhaps some of the accomplished players can confirm this analogy, but I have the sense that playing at home and playing in front of a live audience on stage is a completely different and immensly more exciting thing.

Frankly, the thought of playing in front of people scares the crap out of me, but if I had a dying wish (other than family related wishes of course), it would probably be to play a surf set in front of a real audience. I can't imagine learning the guitar and not wanting that, but that's just me.

https://www.facebook.com/index.php?lh=9353f9155b5ff32e14c998495fd00da4&#!/rich.derksen.7

I fogot to mention tabs, which is what this thread was about in the first place. I've been using tab to play songs, but I always feel like I'm cheating when I use tabs. Sure, I've managed to hack out some half-baked versions of some classics, but Zak is absolutely right, you're just mimicing a guitar player without really understanding what you are playing.

I'll go one step further and suggest that just using tab isn't a whole lot different from playing Guitar Hero. It's really just telling you which buttons to press in a certain sequence to "play" a song.

Every time I use tab, there's always some part that doesn't make sense to me, and I wind up as Brian suggested, using the actual song to figure out the notes and the melody. When I figure something out, I don't feel so much like I'm cheating.

I'm now embarking on improving by working with someone who knows what they are doing and learning what I can about reading and understanding music better. Although it sounds like it, I'm not completely slamming tabs, but for someone who is a beginning guitar player, I don't think tabs can take you very far on their own.

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Well you can get your first taste playing in front of a surf friendly crowd if you come down to the sg101 convention this summer. You can take part in one or two of the jams.

When you've got a single income family and two kids in grade school, trips like that are sort of out of the question. But if family budgets were not a concern, I would love to come to the convention. I have never been to a live surf show and I would be totally stoked to be there, it would take weeks to get the smile off my face.

Just checked, it's 33 hours of straight driving time to get from Winnipeg to LA (one way). I think I'll pass on that option. Would you like to hold it in Winnipeg next year? It's the geographic center of North America?! Of course that includes all that wilderness north of here up to the North Pole.

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Pappa_Surf

Well you can get your first taste playing in front of a surf friendly crowd if you come down to the sg101 convention this summer. You can take part in one or two of the jams.

When you've got a single income family and two kids in grade school, trips like that are sort of out of the question. But if family budgets were not a concern, I would love to come to the convention. I have never been to a live surf show and I would be totally stoked to be there, it would take weeks to get the smile off my face.

Sorry, we aren't letting you off that easy. Book a flight, you won't regret it.

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

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Pappa_Surf
Brian, why did the word "single" in my post become a hyperlink? I didn't do that.

I see no linky linky.

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea