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[Dexter]

Hey guys,

The names' Dex. I just wanted to come and drop a quick line and say hello from Ontario, Canada! I've been playing guitar for 3.5 months now, and I love every minute of of every waking day of it.

I enjoy just about all genres of music, but what really tickles my fancy and a perfect example of the type of music I want to play would be none of other than Joe Satriani with the song Searching. I just love those Wah sounds and the way they're used so smoothly with the melody.

When I can play music that makes the hair on my back stand up, I'll know I've made it where I want to be.

This is how I've pretty well mapped out my guitar journey thus far:

Basics:
[x] - Learn basic open chords (d,a,e,g,c minors, majors, suspended and 7th's)
[x] - Work on barre chords (e,a shaped)
[x] - Learn the Am pentatonic scale
[x] - Learn a few licks in the pentatonic scale
[x] - Learn the 12-bar blues
[x] - Practice getting my bends in tune (semi tone, tone, curls)
[!] - Practice technique (hammer-on, flick-off, more bends) !!!!
[ ] - Practice w/ a metronome (I need motivation to just turn it on)

Learn Say it Ain't so by Weezer IN FULL (every guitar part):
[x] - Learn the intro riff (good barre chord practice)
[x] - The bridge w/ distortion
[ ] - The second bridge w/ distortion and unison bends (hard to switch from the barre chord to the unison bend position )
[x] - Learn the intro mini-solo
[ ] - Learn the little jazz lick
[!] - Learn the solo (got all of it but the last bit - I have a hard time reaching from 16 to 21 on the b string (index + ring finger)
[ ] - Play the song w/ a backing track, in time!
[ ] - Play the song on top of my backing track recording, but with the other guitar parts.

Intermediate:
[ ] - Learn some theory about scales, phrasing
[ ] - Start adding some intermediate techniques to my practice schedule
[ ] - Transcribe videos of people playing on youtube while watching them (where tabs aren't provided)
[ ] - Transcribe songs off the record (just the rhythm)
[ ] - Transcribe songs off the record (just the solo(s))


In a nutshell, the above should get you up to speed with my playing ability. [x] means I've done it, and [!] means it's in progress, but not quite there yet.

Before I started investing time into Say it Ain't So, I used to just play intro's to songs that I liked, but that never really got me anywhere. They were mainly just ways to practice technique and blurt out things that sounded like music for the sake of accomplishment. The greatest thing that I've learned so far is definitely to play a song all the way through. There is so much to learn from doing so.

About 3 weeks ago, I made one of the best decisions and bought myself a Fast Track Pro ($150 off eBay because it was b-stock). Combined with my Mexican Stratocaster, a pair of headphones and Guitar Rig 3+Pro Tools M-Powered - I can emulate expensive amps without disturbing the neighbors (I live in an apartment).I love recording even though it's not a masterpiece - because a year or two down the road I'll be able to compare my progress, laugh at my mistakes, and have a boat load of recording experience from my own home.

Yikes this post turned out to be a bit longer then I anticipated - so I must be getting back to work . Oh the joy's of being a Web Developer!

Take care guys, and practice hard! I'm looking forward to some learning goodness and meeting some of you!

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

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This post has been edited by Dexter: Jul 28 2009, 05:19 PM