John Tuggle, in his article on practicing:
In front of the TV with a twinkie in one hand and a Dr Pepper by your side, checking your smartphone for who commented on your recent monumental Facebook post is NOT practicing. Of course this is an exaggeration, but I think similar situations happen to many people.
If you’re serious about getting better, then go in a room by yourself and spend 30 minutes concentrating on becoming a better guitarist. These 30 minutes by yourself will do much more for you than the situation I just described above.
If you think you don’t have enough time to practice, then try not to spend so much time on guitar forums researching the tone differences between different pots. In reality, it’s not going to make that much of a difference. I know a lot of you are busy, but I think time can be found if you are willing to sacrifice some things such as TV time or Internet browsing.
Ouch! Sound familiar? It does to me. In his article, Tuggle offers some good advice on getting out of a rut if you’ve found yourself “practicing” but not getting any better.
SO TRUE!! NOTE TO SELF-PLAY GUITAR-DON’T SPEND TIME ON FACEBOOK!!
Couldn’t agree more. Hanging out on guitar websites can be a nice way to take a break between practice sessions, but a large part of your tone/sound comes from your hands, not your gear or your settings.
Practice… focus… improve!
oh yeah,
I I had spent half the time playing and practising
as I do tinkering / reading about them / browsing
the Internet about em / modify ’em /
I would be a half decent guitarplayer 🙂
but then on the other hand I would know a lot less about them *lol*
Admittedly, watching TV while practicing guitar riffs is one of my weaknesses.
As far as gear is concerned, there are distinct electric guitar tonal qualities which do require particular gear. Fortunately, one can reproduce 99% of all classic sounds with a basic setup. I like having amps that produce American and British (Marshall more than Vox for me) tones. Also, having a least one guitar with single coil pickups and another with humbuckers are a must. My PRS can’t sound like my Strat and vice versa.
I agree, Ed. I find myself getting a little too engrossed with finding new gear and new sounds, so much so that it often gets in the way of playing. I’ve got several guitars, so, for me, finding “new” sounds is more an excuse to buy more guitars, which is an admitted weakness of mine.
I have been playing guitar for around 13 years now and I constantly tell people that the one tip I have for them, as obvious as it sounds, is practice. You really can get a lot better by going through your scales and finding different ways to think about the scales you already know.
I have only been playing guitar for about 7 months now, although i had a brief but unsuccessful go when i was a kid. I now have got my passion for music out through my guitar at a decent level perseverance is the key and i find my self getting better slowly but surely so dont give up.