Quitting My Job And Dedicating 8 Hours A Day For Practicing Guitar Options

[Daniel Realpe]

Happy New Year everybody !

Just want to bring an update to the whole story if you're interested. So, as it was probably obvious that the decision was pretty much taken before I even started the thread, I just want to tell you all that I started implementing it.

So, I talked to the management and told them what are my plans. I will stop working from April and start my journey from then. You may find this funny, (considering also the GMC Funny that I got) but I work for them for 6 years now and we know each other well enough to talk freely about this stuff. They know about this "hobby" of mine because it is not the first time we discussed about future plans, commitment to the IT business etc etc. Anyway, this time they actually encouraged me saying that it is the right decision and they are happy that I finally made up my mind and stopped lying to myself. Didn't see this coming to be honest, but it all good.

So.. Alea iacta est I guess. If nothing (too) unexpected happens, the financial aspects will be covered until April (as presented in the whole thread) and I can start.

Wish me good luck and thanks again for all your advices and encouragements.

I'm glad you've taken a decision that convinces you! You know we are here to help you in anything.

[rhoads]

Hi again,

Does anybody know what happens if I cancel my subscription for a period and then start again. Will I still be able to have back my forum user and everything that I gathered ? Especially the REC status.

The thing is that for the following 3 month that are left I literary won't have any time for GMC activities other that just visiting the website.
I tried to do another REC the last month but did not succeed and I know it will be the same for the next three month.
So.. no point of wasting 90 bucks. In April I am thinking of purchasing a 12 month subscription to save some money. I know I'll need it, both the money and the subscription

Anyways I want to know If I don't loose the forum user and everything.

Also I thing is the right thing to write this down in case anybody posts anything here. So he/she will know why I don't respond anymore. (Until April).

Thanks,

This post has been edited by rhoads: Jan 11 2011, 08:33 PM

[Gitarrero]

As far as I know, you don't lose your forum profile, as you can always enter the forum or register for it without having an active membership.
I don't have a clue about Rec, though...

[dark dude]

You definately don't lose your forum access, but I can't be 100% sure on REC.

[Kristian Hyvarin...]

My subscription was cancelled since I didn't have any money for a while. However, I still had access to the forum and even to the tabulatures in the videos (couldn't download GP files tho, which I found quite silly). And I got my old user back with no problems at all, so I think you'll be fine too.

[rhoads]

Good news in this case

[rhoads]

One more month to go

This post has been edited by rhoads: Mar 4 2011, 05:40 PM

[Michael AC]

I am a programmer here in the states. Have you considered going down to a 3 or 4 day work week? I try to get in an hour a day during the week then several hours over the weekends. It was harder when I was in a band, but it broke up so I have more time to dedicate becoming a musician and not just a guitar player.

I would love do the same as what you are thinking about. Mudbone made good points about efficiency of your practicing. Sometimes I think that my routine is tight, but you can always get into a rut that slows progress. (GMC is awesome for breaking that)

If you can financially do it and still take care of yourself and family, it would be worth a shot. It will take me longer, I have 4 kids to support so I can not financially take the risk.

Keep us posted on what you decide! Wish you well! Do we get discounts on your CD's when they come out? LOL!

[rhoads]

I tried that, for almost three years. I worked only 6 hours a day and the rest of the day for practicing. The conclusion is that you just exhaust yourself and loose all your social connections . The weekend or the the evening/night is not meant for practicing. Well it can be and it was for me but if you want to go pro (or have any change of becoming a pro, and this is what I want) you need to go all the way. All great guitar players did that.

If you practice guitar after 6-8 hours of work you don't assimilate much and it is just frustrating because there is always small things to do after work that will just reduce your practice time.

Of course I will practice in the weekends also but what I was trying to say is that you cannot base on those.

I know the feeling of being in a band and not having time to practice for yourself and feeling that you still have lots to learn individually before you can really play in a band. The truth is that you need both. You need (A LOT) of individual practicing but also a band who you can jam play with. Also it is good to go two workshops or whatever is available near you so you can interact with real people.

I am single and don't have much obligations and of course this is one of the reasons I afford it

If I will release a record I will make a discount for GMC members .

P.S. Two more weeks to go

[Nava]

Wish you best of luck
Great to see so dedicated players!

[rhoads]

Wish you best of luck
Great to see so dedicated players!

Thank you !

[rhoads]

Hi everybody !

This Monday was my last day of work and on Wednesday I renewed my GMC subscription. I guess it like when Caesar crossed the Rubicon river: Alea iacta est !

I started easy because my hands are still a little stiff but hopefully everything will go ok. I'll keep you posted with my progress and everything.

Rock on everybody !

[Marek Rojewski]

Wicked:)

[dark dude]

Hi everybody !

This Monday was my last day of work and on Wednesday I renewed my GMC subscription. I guess it like when Caesar crossed the Rubicon river: Alea iacta est !

I started easy because my hands are still a little stiff but hopefully everything will go ok. I'll keep you posted with my progress and everything.

Rock on everybody !

You've inspired me, Sir.

A good way of keeping you motivated/us posted, would be to regularly record short clips and throw them onto youtube.

[Fran]

Hi everybody !

This Monday was my last day of work and on Wednesday I renewed my GMC subscription. I guess it like when Caesar crossed the Rubicon river: Alea iacta est !

I started easy because my hands are still a little stiff but hopefully everything will go ok. I'll keep you posted with my progress and everything.

Rock on everybody !

Best of luck man!

[rhoads]

You've inspired me, Sir.

A good way of keeping you motivated/us posted, would be to regularly record short clips and throw them onto youtube.

No need to call me "Sir", it makes me feel old

And yes, I plan to do a lot of REC takes so you'll be hearing of me a lot.

Best of luck man!

Thanks a lot !

[rhoads]

Hi everybody !

Sorry for not posting anything here for so long. It was because I didn't really know what to write. Now I need all the help I can get

Let me tell you first what I did so far.

I felt that it was most important for me (when I started ) to work on my technique. Was an easy deduction: there was no point hoping to do all that I planned in this thread, until I am not able to do level at least level 4 RECs. It was simple as that.

So I picked lessons that contained techniques elements that I wasn't able to do and studied them intensively. I don't know what to say.. I see that I have progressed since I started but I feel that it should have been a lot more. Maybe I was overestimated my self at the beginning..

Please tell me what do you think.. honestly (this question is addressed to the instructors mainly ( which saw may progress in the REC takes

Also in the last three months I invested about 2 hours a day in acoustic guitar playing along with vocal training. Was also an easy deduction: there is no point of talking about being a guitarist/musician if you cannot pick up an acoustic guitar and play some Credence, or some Beatles, or something like that .
Maybe this was a wrong deduction.. I don't know but this is what I felt and what a lot of musicians told me.

Well.. I'm far from liking how my voice sounds (although I can pretty much hear when I am out of tune and I can correct myself) and regarding the acoustic playing, I plan to record some covers that I like and post them in the practice room so you can give me some feedback. (Just acoustic with no vocals for the moment )

What do you think of this ?

I am trying to create a repertoire that I can do when, you know, somebody tells you to just pick up the guitar and play something.
I am trying to do some Beatles songs, Hendrix, Credence, some romanian bands etc, but since I am alone and cannot do vocals.. it's driving me crazy. To be honest I have became obsessed with this.. Anyway, regarding this, I will start some vocal training with a vocal coach, in the "traditional" way because I just don't have enough energy to do it with online lessons.

Please tell me your thoughts on this too

Regarding the "band" aspect.. well things where are pretty bad. The guys that I was supposed to sing with where not serious at all and it turned out to be just a waste of time so I dropped it.
Actually, trying to form a band here were I live is just a waste of time. First of all there are no drummers in the house (there are a few but not available due to reasons that are not the subject of this post)
and beside that there are not enough serious people.. well there are a couple of bands that the are professionals and, you know, I can just watch. What I mean is that there aren't any individuals (of a close age to mine) that are willing to do be involved in something like this so we can grow together and learn from each other.

I did some jam sessions with some of the "pro" guys, that there were very helpful but there are something like once a month or so..

Don't know what to say about this..

Now I want to write down what I plan to do for the next period:

- continue with the REC takes, there are enough technical aspects that I need to fix.
- learn a lot of licks (and also create my own) for my improvisation
- start composing some riffs, rhythm, you know, something that I can call my own stuff
- start vocal training with a coach - so I can hopefully sing the songs that I like
- join some collaborations I think.

Regarding the financial aspects things are OK. If nothing goes majorly wrong, I will be able to continue like this for another year starting from now... but don't wanna talk about this, just keeping my fingers crossed

So, PLEAASSEE ! give me some advice.. sometimes I am really scared that I don't know what I am doing, or just wasting the time, and I cannot afford to screw all this up !

I hope I was coherent enough because it is late and my stomach hurts from my friends wedding yesterday

[SirJamsalot]

I've read this thread in its entirety. I'm still unclear on what the end-goal is? Just to be a better player? Do you want to become a studio recording artist? Become a rock-star? I get the gist that you want to be a musician for a living, but that's a pretty huge playing field. You won't make money performing until you can either draw a crowd big enough to make you a commodity at venues or take up teaching/bar tending on the side

You say your area is dry in terms of musicians. Then you need to relocate. No sense in living on Gilligan's island if your only audience are trees and only band-member options are monkeys. Start making connections online. Research music hot spots and go there. You say you can't sing - you're gonna need singer, so find one, which will likely necessitate your moving if hooking up with local music stores and instructors can't lead you to someone who sings. Same goes for the rest of the band.

Without stated goals, it's hard to make recommendations on this type of thing. If you don't have any concrete goals for you, then it's difficult to prepare a regimen to meet that goal.

If all your asking at this point is what should your practice regimen be, then I'd say grab a pen and paper, write down those basic things you need to do daily, add to that regimen a chunk of time devoted to improvising over different kinds of backing tracks, and time devoted to music composition / decomposition. Composition meaning writing songs, and decomposition meaning studying songs that have been written - what makes them cool, what makes them popular, etc., and of course learn to play them.

If I had 8 hours a day, I would be in a music school learning to read and write music. I'm not a huge music theory buff, but I see the importance of being able to read and write music. But my goal is pretty straight forward - become a gigging studio musician. Money and fame are not my goals - I treat it all as a personal goal to see how good I can become at something I love. It's the challenge that pumps my nads

So what's your end game?

Hi everybody !

Sorry for not posting anything here for so long. It was because I didn't really know what to write. Now I need all the help I can get

Let me tell you first what I did so far.

I felt that it was most important for me (when I started ) to work on my technique. Was an easy deduction: there was no point hoping to do all that I planned in this thread, until I am not able to do level at least level 4 RECs. It was simple as that.

So I picked lessons that contained techniques elements that I wasn't able to do and studied them intensively. I don't know what to say.. I see that I have progressed since I started but I feel that it should have been a lot more. Maybe I was overestimated my self at the beginning..

Please tell me what do you think.. honestly (this question is addressed to the instructors mainly ( which saw may progress in the REC takes

Also in the last three months I invested about 2 hours a day in acoustic guitar playing along with vocal training. Was also an easy deduction: there is no point of talking about being a guitarist/musician if you cannot pick up an acoustic guitar and play some Credence, or some Beatles, or something like that .
Maybe this was a wrong deduction.. I don't know but this is what I felt and what a lot of musicians told me.

Well.. I'm far from liking how my voice sounds (although I can pretty much hear when I am out of tune and I can correct myself) and regarding the acoustic playing, I plan to record some covers that I like and post them in the practice room so you can give me some feedback. (Just acoustic with no vocals for the moment )

What do you think of this ?

I am trying to create a repertoire that I can do when, you know, somebody tells you to just pick up the guitar and play something.
I am trying to do some Beatles songs, Hendrix, Credence, some romanian bands etc, but since I am alone and cannot do vocals.. it's driving me crazy. To be honest I have became obsessed with this.. Anyway, regarding this, I will start some vocal training with a vocal coach, in the "traditional" way because I just don't have enough energy to do it with online lessons.

Please tell me your thoughts on this too

Regarding the "band" aspect.. well things where are pretty bad. The guys that I was supposed to sing with where not serious at all and it turned out to be just a waste of time so I dropped it.
Actually, trying to form a band here were I live is just a waste of time. First of all there are no drummers in the house (there are a few but not available due to reasons that are not the subject of this post)
and beside that there are not enough serious people.. well there are a couple of bands that the are professionals and, you know, I can just watch. What I mean is that there aren't any individuals (of a close age to mine) that are willing to do be involved in something like this so we can grow together and learn from each other.

I did some jam sessions with some of the "pro" guys, that there were very helpful but there are something like once a month or so..

Don't know what to say about this..

Now I want to write down what I plan to do for the next period:

- continue with the REC takes, there are enough technical aspects that I need to fix.
- learn a lot of licks (and also create my own) for my improvisation
- start composing some riffs, rhythm, you know, something that I can call my own stuff
- start vocal training with a coach - so I can hopefully sing the songs that I like
- join some collaborations I think.

Regarding the financial aspects things are OK. If nothing goes majorly wrong, I will be able to continue like this for another year starting from now... but don't wanna talk about this, just keeping my fingers crossed

So, PLEAASSEE ! give me some advice.. sometimes I am really scared that I don't know what I am doing, or just wasting the time, and I cannot afford to screw all this up !

I hope I was coherent enough because it is late and my stomach hurts from my friends wedding yesterday

[rhoads]

Thanks for reading it all SirJamalot

After I went to bed I realized that I haven't written this down, although it is starting to be pretty clear in my head.

So for starters, I don't wanna become a rock star. I would like it but it is not going to happen.

The overall goal is to become good enough so I can do the following:

- teach, in the traditional and/or online. I like it and have absolutely no problem doing it
- get in professional band. You know a band that has a regular gig in a bar and plays to different events (covers and or own material).
- and yes, I also thought of being a studio musician but.. I don't know so far if this will be achievable.. but I would really like it.
- other music/guitar related activities that I haven't found out yet (but I know that they exist)

and of course write my own material, but I placed it at the end because I know I won't be making any money from it

I know I have to leave this place (I will gladly do it) and I am making all sorts of connections but I still feel that my level is far from where it must be so I can start making use of them.

Unfortunately I cannot afford a music school, I would like it but..

So my main problem now is that I am still far from where I am supposed to be (technically, musically, guitar-isticaly, you name it) in order to start doing any of the above. And I want to be sure that what I am planning to do for the next period (what I wrote in the previous post) is a good plan.

[SirJamsalot]

Well let's clear away the negative dross first. There's no reason why you can't be a rockstar, just like there's no reason you can't be rich. Self imposed limitations and small thinking will defeat you at the outset. Don't listen to people who view these things as pipe-dreams - they're the ones who are small minded. Position yourself in the best places where opportunity knocks the most and you'll be more likely to have it knock on your door.

You apparently have a confidence problem - low self esteem. You think you're not good enough. So how can we jump this hurdle? Learn 10 cover songs. Learn to sing and play them. Start simple - everyone loves CCR - Proud Mary for the win. Go to an open mic, and sign up then play one or two of them. Perhaps there will be someone there who would like to sing on your behalf. Regardless. If you can play a cover, then you're good enough to start playing. The more you play at live venues, the faster you'll learn what that's all about and your confidence will grow. The sooner you get in front of people, the sooner you'll have objective feedback. RECS are great, but they're not live. You need face time to hone your skills in a live setting.

You also have an income issue which may prevent you from moving to where opportunity knocks. So create opportunity where you are. Let's invent one right now. You want vocal lessons right? You're going to pay someone to coach you. Open up the phone book (I'm dating myself here.. 42 .. they used to have big books, yellow ones, that had phone numbers in them when I was a kid ). Call every vocal, guitar and drum instructor in your area and say "I want lessons - but I don't want them by myself. Can I work with you to combine some of your students into a band - I'll pay for my lesson, but I want my lesson in the form of a band - and I want to learn cover songs with other students." Now you can put your learning into a live setting, and who knows, maybe the instructor will want to partner with you to start something if you present a good story - which I think this is - who can deny that playing with others is superior to locking yourself in a room for hours on end?

Anyone can come up with all sorts of great ideas to learn AND make money. But it's not the ideas that make money. It's doing the footwork to make those ideas happen. Even a bad idea can become a good idea in practice with persistence.

Make sure that the ideas you have, put you in direct contact with people who have connections, facilities, equipment, instructors, kids' parents, venues. You don't have be a guitar god. You just have to be better than those you instruct and mucho enthusiasm.

Food for thought.

Thanks for reading it all SirJamalot

After I went to bed I realized that I haven't written this down, although it is starting to be pretty clear in my head.

So for starters, I don't wanna become a rock star. I would like it but it is not going to happen.

The overall goal is to become good enough so I can do the following:

- teach, in the traditional and/or online. I like it and have absolutely no problem doing it
- get in professional band. You know a band that has a regular gig in a bar and plays to different events (covers and or own material).
- and yes, I also thought of being a studio musician but.. I don't know so far if this will be achievable.. but I would really like it.
- other music/guitar related activities that I haven't found out yet (but I know that they exist)

and of course write my own material, but I placed it at the end because I know I won't be making any money from it

I know I have to leave this place (I will gladly do it) and I am making all sorts of connections but I still feel that my level is far from where it must be so I can start making use of them.

Unfortunately I cannot afford a music school, I would like it but..

So my main problem now is that I am still far from where I am supposed to be (technically, musically, guitar-isticaly, you name it) in order to start doing any of the above. And I want to be sure that what I am planning to do for the next period (what I wrote in the previous post) is a good plan.