Hail!

I remember subscribing here back when Kristofer was the only instructor, which is a long time ago. Since then I see the site has developed into something incredible, and I am quite staggered by the amount of content there is here now!

I've been quite demotivated to continue my playing for a long time, but my interest for guitar began when I started listening to metal 8 years ago with Metallica and Slayer. Since then my tastes have developed quite strongly into the obscure and the underground, focusing heavily on black metal. Back when I began I had a juvenile fascination for the guitar, I wanted to be the guitar hero on the stage I guess, watching James and Kirk on my Metallica live DVD's. Back then, however, I also recruited several friends into my newfound favourite music, but they ended up forming their own band, without room for me (their musical direction deviated strongly from my increasingly obscure tastes as well). I had no teacher, nor mentor back then, and my practice was all on my own. One day, one of my sisters' boyfriends turned out to be a guitar fanatic, practicing 9 hours every day. He came over once, and played Joe Satriani's Satch Boogie flawlessly in front of me. Seeing a player do this right in front of me felt great, especially when he said he could help me learn over webcam/msn a bit. However, as I was still in my juvenile fascination mindset, I had a hard time following his hardcore attitude. When I told him I wished for it to be more as a hobby than a way of life, he rejected me and said I would never make it as a guitarist unless I practiced seriously and hard. We didn't talk anymore after that argument, but he helped me develop quite a bit nonetheless. A few months later I discovered this site while searching for some tabs over on Ultimate-Guitar.com. Kristofer helped spur my motivation with his words here on the site, so I subscribed and began smallscale practicing his lessons. However, I was in a difficult time in life, with many things going on, so the guitar suffered from loneliness most of the time. Eventually I almost totally gave up, just practicing speed and coordination, and learning some songs by ear an hour or two a week.

So I sit here, today - after many years of doubt and clouded vision, with full certainty, that I will not stop, I will not give up, and I will fill my days with determined practice once and for all. A year or so ago, I abandoned my initial future aspiration, and spent time thinking about what I could see myself doing in ten-twenty years. So my juvenile guitar dream was discarded, and a serious, blazing desire to compose and create began. I am at the moment keen on learning piano in addition to the guitar, and eventually move on to violin. I have done a course in basic studio technics, and will over time gather some home recording and mixing equipment to play around with. Basically, I wish to work as a musician. I do not have a goal to live off my music, as that is something only a few are able to do. But I do wish to have my dream fulfilled, so it can complete my life aside some tedious job rather than end up as a gaping void in an uninspired life.

Musically, I am quite naturally talented. I am able to learn songs completely by ear, and I constantly feel the urge to create. My only bump in the road is that I always have ideas to music in my head, but I do not always grasp the technical or theoretical proficiency on my guitar to let those ideas out on my fretboard. I come here with determined goals, and with strong hopes that I will be able to give my ideas life.

I am on my free initial month right now, but I have little doubt that I will continue my subscription after my quick look around the site as it is today. So I look forward to learning and shredding alongside you all, and I'm glad you read this far. Which leaves me with only one favor to ask!

I wish to build a fundamental understanding of music theory and work on my technical skills. I wish to learn the fretboard by heart, with scales and notes and all that may include. I don't really know what level I'm at, as my practice thus far has been unstructured and all over the place. I guess I'm around intermediate at the moment. So, my favor to ask is this; Could someone help me out by suggesting which lessons would be good to start off with that I could drill into my initial 2-4 hours of daily practice? I wish to set up a list of lessons to follow in a daily routine, until I am ready to progress onward from that point. I am impressed, but also rather confused by the amount of video lessons under each level. So some quick starting help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Luciferi

Welcome back!

Reading this thread is almost like reading my own guitar biography... haha.

I was here back when Kris was the only instructor as well and signed up again a couple weeks ago after a couple years of not playing.

One thing that I noticed about myself and my playing is that I had really big dreams, just like you, but I realized recently that I never practiced effectively. I didn't stick to a warmup routine, too often I didn't practice new material and challenge myself, and when I got tired of playing the stuff I knew, I got bored and gave up. I also discovered that I would only practice something until I could play it, not play it perfectly - and overall I think this made my playing suffer. I didn't slow things down and use a metronome.

I've found that since I have set myself in a plan to do things 100% correct (being timing, bends, vibrato, metronome etc), a warm up, practice a GMC lesson, and then do something fun like work on a song, my motivation has been sky high since returning. I can't wait to get home every day and play my guitar.

Definitely check out the REC Program, too! That's been super motivation for me as well. I really like being able to upload videos of my playing and receive not only a grade, but critique from the instructors here who I look up to and respect greatly.

There are a few lessons on warming up, check those out! I use the one from Marcus Siepen and the Right Hand Basics I right now because I thought of all the lessons, these two gave me the most variety without spending hours on a warmup.

As for theory, here's a link to Andrew's "Where To Start" thread in his Theory Board:

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...?showtopic=3351

Hope this helps and happy guitaring!

Welcome back... Indeed, if you want to play like Satriani, you will have to practice like him.. 16 hours a day

Welcome back to GMC man .... I also join a long time ago when Kris was the only instructor... I left and came back ... Looks like we are in the same situation here

Cool introduction mate! Great to have you back with us!

What a long and interesting introduction! And you mentioned one thing I already proposed in the "make gmc better" competition: we need a lesson planner! There are so many lessons that a beginner is overwhelmed by it...
In your situtation, I'd try out some metal lessons (levels 4 to 6) to really see where you are right now with your playing skills. Choose a rhythm lesson, a solo lesson and maybe two etudes that focus on different techniques. This should get you started.
By the way, welcome back to GMC!

welcome back to GMC brother!

Hey man, Nice intro!! Welcome back to the family!

Welcome back man, you have everything on GMC to improve your skills ...

Cheers everyone, thank you for your assistance, your tips and kind words!

Tomorrow I've scheduled a 6 hour tour through a set of lessons, and I'm eager like a kid for candy.

Welcome back man. Your story sounds a bit similar to mine.

I like your attitude and clarity of thought.

In order to really benefit from this community, it would be great if you could share some of your recordings with us. If you dont have any, it's great time to start recording some videos to track and monitor progress and get feedback from everyone. Dont wait for the best quipment to record, start with whatever you have.

Try to set your goals based on your strengths and weaknesses, example which technique would you like ot incorporate the most in that 2-4 hours of practice etc and what styles of music do you wish to prioritize on.

It's always difficult to pick up the axe again after a LONG gap coz that horrible feeling of regret creeps in, since you have to start from scratch again. But it will go away with time (not completely though.. unfortunately). Focus on your goals and your practice only and it will work out. (Just stay away from watching the 17 yr olds shred )

Velkommen tilbake

Great intro man!
I'm into quite a few blackmetal bands as well, although I like alot of stuff from the happiest pop to the darkest corners of music

Wish you all the best with your practice!
Have fun!

awesome introduction man! welcome back

welcome back

Welcome back I must echo the sentiment of the other instructors and say we are thrilled to have you! I'm an instructor here doing live video chat lessons. We are having the next one this Saturday at 4:00 E.S.T. please join us and feel free to contribute and ask questions. We are focusing on alternate picking but any question about guitar will be answered. Until then..

Practice!
Todd

Welcome back!

If you got new motivation, you should definitely spend some time analyzing things that you don't know, and work on that. I'm not sure what you do atm, what music you play, or what kind of a guitar player you want to become, but it's definitely important to have that vision, and to determine what it takes to achieve those goals. In general, you can practice technique (never too much of that! ), theory, rhythm, songwriting, possibly singing, it's always good to know to sing at least a bit, practice improvising, tweak your gear, finding the right tone, recording yourself, these are all ideas.. To witch extent you will do what, it's up to you..

Welcome back! I think I'm going to like you : p.. (Black metal ist krieg!) I hope you will have a good time here!

I've got a Roland Cube 40, a BOSS GT-8 to play around with and I'm currently playing a Cort Katana guitar (got it dirt cheap off a friend ). I'm keen on moving over to a PC-based amp/effects system, as it's a lot more practical.

At the moment I've set up this set of lessons in this order as a start, and I'll move on from there as I progress. I'm able to play basic chromatic patters pretty quickly, at around 100bpm, but I want to lay a more sturdy foundation on even the very easy stuff, so I'm starting very basic on the pure technical exercises. At the moment I'm considering the theory part as optional, as my first priority is just getting the playing flow going.

_______________________________________________________________
~Warmup~

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guit...-marcus-siepen/

~Technical exercise~

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guit...ht-hand-basic1/
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guit...ndependence-II/

~Playing exercise~

Rythmn:

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/rhythm-gu...c-metal-rhythm/
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Metal-...t-Hand-Workout/

Solo:
https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guit...entatonic-solo/

Other:
-

~Theory exercise~

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...?showtopic=3351
_______________________________________________________________

I guess that's a decent start, any additions are welcome, and thanks again for the help so far.

This post has been edited by Luciferi: Apr 15 2010, 11:46 PM

Where in Norway are you from?

I live in Oslo. : ]

This post has been edited by Luciferi: Apr 16 2010, 08:36 PM