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slydevil
May 18th, 2000, 08:18 AM
Stone,

I just wanted to think you for the wonderful amount of information you provide, it's really been a great help. I picked up the guitar at a young age and played with the experienced (older) folks of my family and picked up things like chords and a scale here and there never really learning names, just patterns and the sounds of those patterns. I've played in many bands, even in a top 40 band for my highschool, never really had a problem playing - learned abit more stuff in guitar I/II/III that was taught in school, but the teacher there really just provided you with a place to sit and jam with yourself =P

After highschool I went off to the military and spent 8 years there and neglected the guitar - it hurt me deeply, but there really wasn't much room for it being in the corps and deployed what seemed like constantly heh. Now I'm a free civilian again, enjoying life, the air, my wife... it's great, so she talked me into getting equipment again (I sold/pawned most of what I had before leaving for the corps). So I get me some new stuff, a nice lil amp, sweet sounding/playin guitar and was happy. I come home and start playing, well of course my fingers are raw, halfway through *trying* to play some SRV it got unbearable hehe. So i started looking on the net, seeing what tab was out there cause i knew it would take me awhile to just pickup stuff by ear again..

While looking around I seen the stuff at tabcrawler (links alot to guitartricks), guitar trickz, and wholenote forem.. i really dove into the theory stuff cause i knew that is what i was missing, i wanted to know more than just how to play someone elses music, and the (for me) inevitable play to it sounds right routine for my own stuff. I'm not knocking the other sites, and they do have some nice material to read, but you, you do what most don't - you explain the why for the most part.. when you say it's not good to tune by harmonics (5th and 7th frets) you explain it, hell i thought it was kick ***, i read all the history on how the tuning came to be as it is today, why normal tuning makes powerchords seem a little off because of the slightly flat 5th .. hey, it all makes perfect sense, thanks.

I never knew what in interval was, name wise, I'd see stuff on sights like 1,2,b3,4... and just shake my head wondering ***. You did a very great job making those numbers make sense. Now when I play, and practice scales and their modes i find myself tickled, a whole new world has opened up - took me a few weeks to get my fingers toughined up again. But it's going great, sometimes now when I'm playing the fingers just know where to go, it's really uplifting. I have a job so i only get to practice 6-7 hours when i get home during the week, but am getting 10 or more on the weekends now ( at first i couldn't, my fingers would turn to jello, though i had the drive to keep going, it was like playing with wet noodles hehe).

I still have one problem though, my damn pinky finger, if im playing with 2,3,4 combo of fingers it does just fine, hovering above the strings, but man if i try a 4,2,1 or a 4,3,1 or even a 4,3,2,1 ole pinky finger gotta point to the sky and when i roll down 1,2,3,4 - even if it's not pointing to the sky it gotta jump to the sky and try to 'slam' the string it's going to play.. i been really working on the pinky alone, and it feels like it's starting to listen to me better.. it's just that it burns out fast (forearm muscles really burn) , i reckon that's a sign that it's a weak lil pinky eh? Guess i just want you to tell me that it'll obey me eventually - i just need to practice right? =)

Thanks again for your theory in your lessons and making it all, make sense. You've opened up a new world for this old guitarist.

Sly


[please watch the language - SD]


[This message has been edited by StoneDragon (edited May 18, 2000).]

ghodaddyyo
May 18th, 2000, 10:16 AM
Hey Sly,

I came to this site in about the same way you did. I played alot when I was younger but slowed down until recently. I was asked to play guitar for a company awards banquet which I did great, but working with a trained keys player during this stint made me want to know more about my guitar. I watched this guy chord chart a song we were learning WHILE LISTENING to it! Totally accurate! This guy hardly rehearsed either! He would show up at the last minute of our rehearsals, keep up the rhythm and improv some great melodies. This is when I decided I needed to understand theory. I can't contribute much to the theory discussions now, but I always read them and try to dissect them. One day I'll be able to post something of substance to the Theory page.

Great having you onboard!

StoneDragon
May 18th, 2000, 12:41 PM
Thanks for the compliments guys... I'm glad that people are taking advantage of all the work I'm putting into the lessons.

I used to have an unruly pinky too... what I did was bend my pinky to the angle I wanted and then used tape to hold the finget in that position. It drove me crazy having my finger held bent... but it worked... it forced me to relax the finger or I was gonna go nuts http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/movingeyes.gif

Strat-n-Paul
May 18th, 2000, 12:50 PM
It almost sounds like pain was involved on that one! At least you didn't pull a marine on us an say you broke it yourself, and then reset it the way you wanted it, and all that with only a swig of Jack Daniels! http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/lol.gif

StoneDragon
May 19th, 2000, 01:36 PM
I was checking it out last night...

My pinky is a good inch shorter that the rest of my fingers.

I don't know if this is true for anybody else..... but I still find that my pinky has to make exagerated movements from the base knuckle in order to function. The other fingers are much more able to remain slightly curved.

This is especially true when I play on the lower strings and higher up the neck.

This is not the same thing as pinky-pointing to-the-sky syndrome which is caused by holding too much tension in the hand. I play with extremely relaxed hands. I used to demonstrate this to my guitar students by playing something and while I'm in the middle of playing have them reach over and flick the pick out of my fingers or stop one of my finger on its way to a string.

Strat-n-Paul
May 19th, 2000, 01:56 PM
Starting out as a bass player as a kid, I had to use my picky a lot to reach the notes I wanted to; So I don't have a reach or strength problem there. What I catch myself doing occasionally is making a fret reach with my pinky that I sould be using my ring finger for! Kind a weird huh?

MrSamson
May 19th, 2000, 05:30 PM
That is weird man...but I can't imagine the old pinky doing well with a sick 2-step King Albert trademark bend....

Or do you inject steriods into your fretting pinky....

http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/smile.gif

Say, wasn't there some guitarist that had something on his fretting pinky because it had been damaged...I want to say it was chopped (accidently) a little short...anyone know anything about this...

StoneDragon
May 20th, 2000, 11:32 AM
You could be thinking of Toni Iommi (Black Sabbath).... he had the tops of his middle and ring fingers ripped off in a welding accident so he has to use some homemade finger tips in order to play.

MrSamson
May 20th, 2000, 01:11 PM
that is what I was thinking of...

Strat-n-Paul
May 22nd, 2000, 06:51 AM
I still use my ring finger to do bends, it's only on scale runs or when I'm playing closer to the nut especially on the 6th and 5th strings.