Are You Where You Want to Be? - General Discussion

RE: Are You Where You Want to Be?

jerseychicadee — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 17:57:23 +0000

It doesn’t get any better when they are 35 and 36 either!

RE: Are You Where You Want to Be?

Eric Reinhardt — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 17:53:32 +0000

@jerseychicadee my kids will try and ask me questions while i am in the middle of a song, and they dont take a hint when i ignore them till the end of the song. The just stand there saying "dad" louder and louder.

RE: Are You Where You Want to Be?

jerseychicadee — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 03:02:46 +0000

My family hate, no, HATE, my even touching the guitar while they’re home! I even bought one of those little pocket practice guitars. They complain about that. I’ve started saying, “paybacks MF’ers. I worked night shift for 30 years. I could easily stay up all night and play so be grateful for what ya got!”

RE: Are You Where You Want to Be?

k2kwiat — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 02:26:00 +0000

That clarinet background is huge even if it’s been years. I watch others in ensemble play that struggle with so much that we band geeks just know. I figure the mechanics of playing (and singing) are hard enough. I’m glad I don’t fight with the notation or tempo or terms or base theory. Sure, I wish I really had learned to play the piano!

JChick: I’m guessing you’re ready for at least Fyres?

For the record, my son makes fun of me singing anything honky tonk or twangy. Hard to lose the nasal midwestern accent. But, I try...

I’m really working hard on tone too. Same issues, C Chord (and C/G), F, three finger G, B7, on and on. Not to mention barre chords and I’m only using maj and a few minors and only on a few rock songs. I love Devin’s reminder that “you can always mic good tone”. Not sure I want to mic anything yet though!

RE: Are You Where You Want to Be?

jerseychicadee — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 01:42:54 +0000

I think because I hear the plinks and dings I don’t recognize how much better I DO play now versus a few months ago. I hate power chords. My C chord is a mess. My 1st and 2nd fingers fight like a couple kids in the back of a station wagon. The F chord is aptly named. For a COVID warrior, I feel I’m doing well. I can play a couple recognizable songs by Guy Clark, Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt , Johnnie Cash, Randy Travis. I still wear flip flops, no cowboy boots, yet...

RE: Are You Where You Want to Be?

Susan Wagner — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 01:27:29 +0000

I guess any time spent playing is better than not playing at all. Keeps the fingers limber and all that. I'm just all over the place though, trying this and that and getting discouraged when I can't play certain things. Recently I've been really trying to stay focused.

I have some music background, too, having played in band (clarinet) many, many years ago in school.

RE: Are You Where You Want to Be?

k2kwiat — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 01:17:13 +0000

@shysue

Right, I believe the “junk hours” count though!

I find it useful to estimate to give me an idea of where I really stand. For example, we’ve talked about playing standing up. Ok, to really be chording totally by feel let alone finger-style or flat picking, I’m not there at all. But, I’m only 16% of the total way there... ok, Ken, work on the standing/by feel skill...

Sure, I’m impatient as I’m sure all of you are. But, due to my horn background and athletic endeavors, I’m sold on the 10,000 hour commitment. Quite frankly, it makes me work harder!

RE: Are You Where You Want to Be?

Susan Wagner — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 23:33:39 +0000

I've been playing off and on for quite a few years, but I wouldn't even know where to begin with regards to how many hours I've played. I have a lot of "junk" hours I'm sure, where I wasn't really focused and just playing around, you know.

RE: Are You Where You Want to Be?

k2kwiat — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 16:08:14 +0000

As I verbosely replied earlier, I reflect on this topic quite a bit.
Sue touched on it but how many hours do each of us estimate we have into the instrument? I personally think Gladwell’s 10,000 hours till mastery has merit.
So, how long have you been playing and then an honest assessment of how many hours total over that time? And, since most of us seem to be adults with many of us over 40, I think it’s relevant to one’s self assessment whether you had music education during earlier formative years? Too deep to cover why but it is an important Q.

Ken K2 Ass:

How Long: 14 months

Hours estimate: 1600

Formative music background? Yes

So if I’m assessing honestly I’m 16% of the way on my journey? Hmm, I’m a noob.

RE: Are You Where You Want to Be?

Susan Wagner — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 17:50:11 +0000

@dom Yep, I'm dreading my first experiment with recording myself, but I will do it in the next 6 months or so. 😐

Regarding the shoulder, I had sort of a similar experience a couple of years ago. We had an active day - bicycling, rode the motor bikes, went swimming afterwards. That evening, I couldn't lift my left arm without massive shooting pains. I tolerated it for a couple of days but ended up going to an orthopedist because I was convinced I had torn my rotator cuff after looking up the symptoms I had. He x-rayed it and found no injury like that, but said I had a lot of inflammation (which I'm not sure if you can sure if you can actually see inflammation of soft tissues on an x-ray, but it was his expert opinion anyway).

A steroid shot in the shoulder joint worked miracles for me. It was just amazing how much better it felt. Generally I try to stay away from steroid type remedies but this really worked well and I haven't had issues with the shoulder since.

Don't know if that would help you, I'm sure your doctor knows what's best for you. Hope it's feeling better soon and you can play again!