What do you wish you would’ve done differently?

[Sascha Franck]

I just wish I knew what I was doing and why certain stuff works and other does not.

Any examples? Because IMO that's not all that hard.

 

[Eagle]

Oh and ear training things that are more complex than what I was doing at the beginning.

 

[Moondog Wily]

Are there things you wish you would have focused on more? Focused on less?

If you could go back to the day you first picked up the instrument what advice would you give yourself?

Are there things you wish you would have focused on more?
Yes! I wish I would have focused more on what music meant to me and did for me rather than focusing on the industry and it's F'd up ways. I literally did not choose a career in music at a very early age because of the "game" that this industry is. "Not who you know but who you blow", "payola scams" (yes, I am old), "produce in the latest trend or you will go nowhere", "if you are not one of the beautiful people, you will never make it", etc. Instead of focusing on that stuff, I should have been focusing on doing my thing and being the best musician I could be, regardless of what it might mean as a career. As a result, even recreational playing took a back seat in my life for decades. Stupid choice in retrospect, but my vision was blurred in part due to answer to next question.

Focused on less?
Yes! I wish I would have focused less on the party element in my teens and early adult life. I was still very involved with the music scene around me, but not as a participant, simply as a consumer for the most part (and the guy who many were afraid to party with because they could not keep up, heard it many times from many people). Had a great time, but retrospect indicates to me that I could have done more with that time!

If you could go back to the day you first picked up music what advice would you give yourself?
"You got this!", "Your good enough, smart enough and dog gone it, you don't care if people like you!", "You can party and still be jammin' with your friends!", "A career in music is a crap shoot, but you don't need to pursue it as a career!". I could write dozens more advice bits I would give myself (and others), but hey, I am living in the now and very excited about where the past 10 years has taken me musically, especially the last 2 years where I have committed more time and effort than I did in the rest of my life combined ;~)) Thank your Covid!

Looking back only distracts you from what's ahead for the most part, so I try to focus on the now and the future! Having a blast and have accepted the past!!

Now that I have typed all that and thought about it, I have to write a song on the topic! Thanks for the inspiration ;~))

 

[FuzzyAce]

1. Start playing at an earlier age. I didn’t pick up guitar until my last year of college, and I missed out on those years of teenage woodshedding.

I do think about that occasionally, but it's more of a 'what if?' than regret.
I didn't start playing til I was 17. The yrs from 12-16 could have been huge, but I was more into sports, which I don't regret either.

 

[Eagle]

I do think about that occasionally, but it's more of a 'what if?' than regret.
I didn't start playing til I was 17. The yrs from 12-16 could have been huge, but I was more into sports, which I don't regret either.

Allan Holdsworth was 18 when he started.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Allan Holdsworth was 18 when he started.

Ok, thanks?



I have no regrets, everything happened as it should have happened. Just casual thoughts about starting earlier as a player. I still find joy in continual learning and discovery and that's what it's all about.

 

[TSJMajesty]

I think about this one a lot. The trouble is, after a certain point, you need to find the right instructor. Not just a good player, but a good teacher - one who can identify your needs and address them efficiently. You've gotta kiss a lot frogs, as the saying goes.

Very true. It's what has kept me from bothering to look for the right one, and the right antidepressant.
A great player =/= a great teacher.

 

[mbenigni]

Very true. It's what has kept me from bothering to look for the right one, and the right antidepressant.
A great player =/= a great teacher.

The naturally talented player is sometimes the worst teacher, because he/she never had to think much about their process. I took lessons with a local blues/rock phenom for a brief while. Great guy, incredible player... but his answer to every question was, "I dunno, I just sorta do something like this... <plays something I can't play>".

A good teacher needs to have certain observational, analytical, and communication skills: qualities that are often developed out of necessity while struggling to learn one's instrument.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

I woulda worked much earlier on ear and time and spent way time shedding scale patterns.

 

[mavrick102000]

Music theory early on.

I started music at age 11, and I had some level of natural ability - picking up new instruments quickly was not really an issue for me.

I could sight read well, but I was a note reader in the end. I never new the why behind music, just that I could see and hear that it was "correct".

Reading and guitar never really came into the sphere of reality for me. I played mostly by ear and brute force repetitiveness to figure things out. And then tablature became more common, which kept me away from learning the fretboard and reading.

I still don't quickly know where the notes are on the neck, but I've been working on being able to learn it more quickly. That's sort of handy if you want to attempt to read music and play.

 

[la szum]

Those who can do. Those who can't teach.

 

[Moondog Wily]

Those who can do. Those who can't teach.

And those who can't do either (looking in mirror while writing this) simply fumble around in the dark!

 

[HomespunEffects]

I’d have incorporated piano into my learning. Now 40 years later, I’m trying keyboard and music theory is so much easier with a keyboard layout.

 

[Bruce]

I’d have incorporated piano into my learning. Now 40 years later, I’m trying keyboard and music theory is so much easier with a keyboard layout.

It is the ultimate compositional instrument. You just can’t bring one to a campfire.

 

[la szum]

I wish I would have been just as inspired by "the Greats" (fill in your faves here),
but didn't compare and measure my skills (or lack thereof!) to theirs as much.

 

[Brandon7s]

Oh man, there's so much I would do differently, but I'd say the only thing I truly regret is taking a 20 year or so break from taking lessons. I kept up my mechanics, but I essentially lost all forward progress and if I had know I could be light-years ahead of where I am now if I had not taken such a hiatus on proper lessons.

My other regret is broader: I wish I had friends who were as obsessed as I am with playing music. But I made no effort in my younger years to meet other musicians or to evan see live music regularly. I should have put in more effort to meet people with which I could play music. Being homeschooled meant that I had only a couple of friends growing up, and then not going to college meant that my social life became nearly non-existent until I met my significant other many years later.

In any case, I'm taking lessons again. And I'm getting into jazz a bit; not for the musical quality's of jazz itself but as a vehicles for playing with other musicians and for improvising. I'm starting at square one and learning to play the blues first. But my goal is to start playing live at jam nights and whatever else I can get into after about 6 months of lessons. I'm going that helps with finding musicians of similar interest to play with and potentially make some friends along the way.

Another possible answer: I should have fully learned all of the notes on the fretboard, AND every 2-point interval shape. Those take time to fully internalize and I should have been working on those much earlier in my life as a guitarist.

 

[TSJMajesty]

2-point interval shape.

What is that? I'm thinking I know what it is, but by another name...?

 

[Achilles]

Allan Holdsworth was 18 when he started.

Not to be anal, but he was 17.
He also grew up with a dad who was a semi-pro jazz pianist which I'm sure helped shape his melodic sensibilities.


I wish I'd learned hybrid picking early on and also learned more chord theory.

 

[Brandon7s]

What is that? I'm thinking I know what it is, but by another name...?

Probably? I'm referring to understanding the interval between any two notes by visual recognition. For instancing, if I play an A note on the low E string, knowing immediately that the skipping one string going up and playing on the same fret (5th) gives me the m7 (aka b7) with A as the root.

Doing this, along with fully memorizing all of the notes on the fretboard, will give a similar musicial foundation as what all pianist learn straight out of the gate. When I had a go at learning keyboard over the recent years, I found that the fact that I always knew what note I was playing was very satisfying and useful.

 

[TSJMajesty]

Probably? I'm referring to understanding the interval between any two notes by visual recognition. For instancing, if I play an A note on the low E string, knowing immediately that the skipping one string going up and playing on the same fret (5th) gives me the m7 (aka b7) with A as the root.

Have you ever heard of "A.C.E. Guitar Method"? It has an entire section devoted to learning the fretboard note/interval relationships, and starts by covering simple octaves. It's the best, most easily-grasped, method of explaining this stuff I've ever come across. It's free to download, but the author asks that it not be shared, so all you'd have to do if you want it, is a Google search, and it should come up.