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Posted by: mattacuk Sep 25 2007, 06:44 PM

Soooo, im still waiting for my replacment amplifier as my new one blew up! Havent been able to practice seriously for days and im worried ill loose my skills

Im sorta lost to know what to do with my free time, I thought maybe GMC'ers could give me some sensible suggestions to keep me going!!

Posted by: benhowell Sep 25 2007, 07:21 PM

Practice without an amp

Work on things you know you need to work on and might not normally-Chord voicings, movable shapes, notes on the fretboard, the possibilities are endess!

-Ben

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Sep 25 2007, 07:27 PM

I'd say check out theory - but you always do anyway

A few days won't hurt Matt, in fact you may even find an improvement when you come back to it.

Posted by: Robin Sep 25 2007, 07:55 PM

Indeed.

Posted by: Ben N Sep 25 2007, 08:06 PM

play on the clasic guitar if you have it
its good somtime to do it because its alot more easy to play
on the electric after you play on the acoustic or clasic

or maybe its just me

Posted by: MickeM Sep 25 2007, 08:08 PM

Play unplugged and make distorted guitar noice with your mouth

Posted by: DeepRoots Sep 25 2007, 08:11 PM

maybe if you invested in a small mini-practise amp. Those small 1 watt marshalls you can carry round. They've probably got more advantages as well as this particular situation. around £20 i think.

Posted by: mattacuk Sep 25 2007, 08:25 PM

LOL, wow i didnt expect so many replys. I did actually buy an Orange mini amp but 2 days shredding and thats now hissing and screaching at me so has to go back too. I think i may just do what MickeM suggest and start makeing guitar sounds through my mouth!!

Posted by: Pavel Sep 25 2007, 11:27 PM

You can easily forward the signal out of the pedal to your PC sound card!


Don't worry, you won't loose skills. In fact you'll be more willing to play once you get the amp and your practice sessions will be much more productive. Taking some rest is very useful.

Posted by: mattacuk Sep 26 2007, 12:47 AM

Thanks pavel, everyone - these words of encouregment mean alot to me!

Posted by: Resurrection Sep 26 2007, 05:28 AM

Great advice Ben. I try to throw in a regular "unplugged" practice session as I find it can show up some small technique problems that aren't always obvious with full amplification.

Posted by: Asphyxia Feeling Sep 27 2007, 04:48 PM

Pocket Pod + Headphones!

Posted by: Scott Gentzen Sep 29 2007, 04:50 AM

I don't practice nearly enough but I do it without my amp most of the time because the amp isn't in the part of the house where I am most of the time. It's another excuse not to practice if I gott ago downstairs and turn it on and plug in, etc before playing anything.

I run scales and some chromatic left-hand exercises without the amp pretty much every time. As a new player, there's a lot of things I can be working on that have no need for amplification. I can work on pinch harmonics if I really want to on the amp, but I still should be working on the strength and agility of my left hand and its coordination with the right...which doesn't need an amp at this point.

Posted by: muris Sep 29 2007, 07:58 PM

Practicing unpluged is really good.
You need more power to hear what you play and when you plug it after thet,
you're burning all over the fretboard.
Acoustic is fine tho.