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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ Best Musical Advice You Ever Got
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 22 2010, 09:03 PM
What is the best musical advice you ever got and from whom did you get it?
Posted by: jafomatic May 22 2010, 11:53 PM
"Music can be made at any skill level."
Y'know... I can't remember if that was Steve Vai or Shawn Lane. One of those two guys.
Posted by: Sollesnes May 23 2010, 12:34 AM
Hm. The ones I can think of now:
"Any monkey can play an exercise at warp speed with a metronome and rudimentary practice. Making music is a completely different thing."
"When I was kid, all the guys with the really pristine, expensive gear sucked. The guys with the beat up, ratty old guitars could play the shit out of them. That left a huge impression on me. The guys sitting around polishing their guitars were the guys that couldn't play. So advice-wise, I would say get any guitar that works and play all the time. Play the thing and don't worry if the sound is not right or it doesn't look as good as someone else's. You gotta play music as much as you can. All that other bells and whistles stuff will come naturally."
Both from Friedman
Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 23 2010, 04:01 AM
It's hard to tell. It goes with age as well I think. For example, when I listen to great guitar players and musicians today, their words get a whole new meaning, always something new to learn. Always keep listening, keep learning, that is the key for progress.
Posted by: Staffy May 23 2010, 07:37 AM
"First, get an education. Second, play music for leisure and fun. If You're good enough You will succeed anyway. In either way Your life won't mess up...." -my father.
Strange enough(!), I didnt listen to this, so I dropped school for a musical career and ended up (by now) as a software programmer instead. However I was lucky to have both a good musical career and a good work, even that I'm self-taught in computers, so I guess he was a little wrong.. 
//Staffay
Posted by: Joruus May 23 2010, 08:30 AM
I dont have any nice quotes like others 
But i do know i got lots of awesome advice from:
-Steve Vai in his masterclass (if you can ever go, its great, for newbies like me but also for good guitarists)
-Lots of people on GMC
edit: and Sollesnes quote gets a me a lil worried about my lovely Jem and what i can play on it ... 
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 23 2010, 10:23 AM
"Less is more" - I think I heard this one from Victor Wooten...
Posted by: Staffy May 23 2010, 05:50 PM
Victor Wooten said that???
Are You sure it wasn't the other way round, eg. "More is less"....
//Staffay
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 23 2010, 06:12 PM
Are You sure it wasn't the other way round, eg. "More is less"....
//Staffay
Yeah he said that
I know what you mean - he is playing so flashy and dense all the time but I remember watching a video with him and some drummer where he discussed musicianship and told that he would often make a complicated bass line and then go through it and "delete" all the unnecessary notes in order to find a simple yet working bass line. He says he does that all the time. Later on I heard this from other sources too Its very true, we often tend to go for something with "too much in it" rather going simple yet effective way/path.
Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 24 2010, 01:34 AM
Just the right man to give this kind of advice
Posted by: Todd Simpson May 24 2010, 04:52 AM
Something Branford Marsalis said (That he heard from his legendary father).
"Players who play for applause, that's all they get".
The story goes that Branford was showboating big time during some gigs when he was young. Lot's of applause. But wasn't getting invited to "sit in" on gigs or sessions so he wasn't making much money.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a BIG fan of virtuosity on ones instrument, but it has it's place. Beating everyone over the head with your chops is not always the best approach.
Todd
Posted by: Kristofer Dahl May 24 2010, 07:25 AM
This is an awesome thread idea Bogdan!
Mine would be when my private instructor told me from the very start to start mixing styles and influences. Instead of just choosing three favorite guitarists and nailing all their stuff - I started listening to jazz, commercial pop, shrapnel, rock, heavy metal (etc) and I tried to actively borrow the elements I liked from all these styles.
I feel that having had this mental approach from the very start has helped me a lot.
I guess the downside is that I personally never learned to play any of these styles very convincing...but that was never my goal either. I always prefered mixing =)
Posted by: shredmaster1393 May 25 2010, 12:09 AM
the best musical advice i was given was from my cousin, he said to me " dont just play to impress someone, play what comes out your heart and what you feel, and thats the best thing about music". when he said that he changed the way i thought about playing guitar. and the cool thing for me was seeing that when we are improvising and just playing random stuff, we are like talking to each other through the guitar. when we are asked to play for our family we dont have any written songs together, we just improvise and it seems that we have been working on songs together for months, but we haven't. anyways the quote from him was the best advice i have gotten.
Posted by: ZakkWylde May 25 2010, 12:26 AM
Some swedish guy (can't remember his name) once said that you don't need any talent to play guitar - you just have to practice!
I think that guy who said that now runs an online guitar lesson site of some sort^^
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 25 2010, 01:01 AM
I think that guy who said that now runs an online guitar lesson site of some sort^^
This is a great advice (I know who said it hehe)! Its so true and yet so many people think they can't do something. And its so wrong as you can do anything if you want to and put your mind to it and practice!
Posted by: fkalich May 25 2010, 04:34 AM
From neurological research. Two greatest principles;
1) In the final analysis, your goal is to establish synaptic mappings which manifest themselves in performing at a virtuoso level. Doing the correct things automatically establishes the mappings. Doing the incorrect things automatically does the opposite. You become what your practice habits are. The good news is, these poor synaptic mappings fade away with disuse, and more effective ones will be established with great practice habits. This principle is violated in many ways, quite commonly. One of these is making mistakes, playing so fast you have some areas where you slop it out. When you do that, you just reinforce that kind of play. It does not go away magically, you just keep ingraining it. This is one reason I consider practicing with backing tracks more than just occasionally is counter productive. People tend to gloss over their flaws, cover them up. But they don't go away, it is just lipstick on a pig when you do that. You will still remain a pig, no matter how long you go at it that way. Maybe a faster pig, but still a pig.
2) The better you concentrate, the much faster your brain is cable of learning. A person may think that they concentrate, but honestly, I don't think many people even know what high levels of concentration are.
Really capable teachers here followed these principles, I am confident of that, even if they did not think of it in this fashion. For example in an earlier time, Kris said to use a metronome, but keep it simple. He knew that going beyond that was just going to take you away from concentrating on your actual play. However I think people want the quick fix today, and backing tracks give them that, give them an illusion that they are more skilled and artistic than they actually are. I play just a bit with those for fun, and think they can be helpful if not used too much. But for the most part I follow Kris's original advice if I want to use a pace maker.
Posted by: NoSkill May 25 2010, 04:45 AM
"HA! You're a guitar OWNER!" - my brother.
It influenced me to try and become a guitar player.
Posted by: thefireball May 25 2010, 05:33 AM
Guitar players are not Juke boxes. We can't sound like other players. If you want to hear the way the original sounded you should go listen to the original record.
This helped me see that I can't sound like other guitar players even if I have the same equipment. I must remember I have my own tone and that everybody will sound different.
Posted by: maharzan May 25 2010, 05:42 AM
Oh man I am a monkey... 
haha..
Anyways, I remember someone (jafo?) posting this
Anyone can do it in 1 month --- Emir Hot.
Posted by: jafomatic May 25 2010, 06:02 AM
haha..Anyways, I remember someone (jafo?) posting this
Anyone can do it in 1 month --- Emir Hot.
I think someone in my MTP group used to actually post in threads. Emir maybe?
Posted by: Adrian Figallo May 25 2010, 06:59 AM
HAHAHAHA, and i was thinking the same
"Players who play for applause, that's all they get".
WOW, true.
My dad once told me "if you try, try and keep trying and you can't still do it... try harder"
Always works.
Posted by: zen May 25 2010, 10:37 AM
Hmm, there are so many.. "Focus on accuracy and speed will come" is probably my fav one that I learnt from GMC.
BUT ... I may have come up with a few of my own over the years... (as I have to live upto my nickname) .. So here goes nothin !
- Find a healthy balance between self criticism & confidence .. Individually, both can be damaging to your guitar learning.
- If you think that you have 'mastered' a technique or a piece, you probably havent
- Dont compose somethin fast just for the sake of it, chances are it will sound s@#T, no matter how well you execute it.
- Learn to be a musician, not just a guitar player .. Humility, Respect for other musicians and music types are all equally important to be a great musician.
- Whoever said that serious guitar learning was ALWAYS 'fun' was either lying or was on a happy pill.
I know .. I should be meditating somewhere in the Himalayas ... NO freakin idea what I'm doin with a guitar !!
Posted by: audiopaal May 25 2010, 10:50 AM
"Have fun"
Posted by: piporz May 25 2010, 10:58 AM
1) In the final analysis, your goal is to establish synaptic mappings which manifest themselves in performing at a virtuoso level. Doing the correct things automatically establishes the mappings. Doing the incorrect things automatically does the opposite. You become what your practice habits are. The good news is, these poor synaptic mappings fade away with disuse, and more effective ones will be established with great practice habits. This principle is violated in many ways, quite commonly. One of these is making mistakes, playing so fast you have some areas where you slop it out. When you do that, you just reinforce that kind of play. It does not go away magically, you just keep ingraining it. This is one reason I consider practicing with backing tracks more than just occasionally is counter productive. People tend to gloss over their flaws, cover them up. But they don't go away, it is just lipstick on a pig when you do that. You will still remain a pig, no matter how long you go at it that way. Maybe a faster pig, but still a pig.
2) The better you concentrate, the much faster your brain is cable of learning. A person may think that they concentrate, but honestly, I don't think many people even know what high levels of concentration are.
Really capable teachers here followed these principles, I am confident of that, even if they did not think of it in this fashion. For example in an earlier time, Kris said to use a metronome, but keep it simple. He knew that going beyond that was just going to take you away from concentrating on your actual play. However I think people want the quick fix today, and backing tracks give them that, give them an illusion that they are more skilled and artistic than they actually are. I play just a bit with those for fun, and think they can be helpful if not used too much. But for the most part I follow Kris's original advice if I want to use a pace maker.
Great point of view :)
Posted by: stratman79 May 25 2010, 11:31 AM
when talking about producing and selling records I was told this gem.
"if DJ's ain't playing it it ain't worth s**t"
very true its to easy to get invovled in what you think is is musically cool but if its not rocking the clubs and get getting good rotation on independant radio stations then you prob won't sell many copies
take off your musicains hat and put on your punters!!!
Posted by: Keep_Rocking May 26 2010, 12:27 PM
I think that guy who said that now runs an online guitar lesson site of some sort^^
Man! this advice really changed my mind!
Nice one!
Four advices to any "aspiring guitarist" from Joe Satriani:
-The ultimate goal is playing music, lifting people's spirits. The practicing is supposed to help you do that.
-There's no substitute for practicing.
-Find out what is like to play for human beings.
-Never write a song sitting down because you may not be able to play it standing up.
BTW, Nice topic Bogdan!
Posted by: purple hayes May 26 2010, 02:25 PM
"Wash your hands before playing the piano." - My grandmother (played the organ at church for as long as I can remember)
Posted by: Gitarrero May 26 2010, 05:12 PM
"Fake it till you make it"
Posted by: ruben_mcn May 26 2010, 06:37 PM
Don´t wash your hand right before a playng sessions .. if do wash them wait 15 min before you play !
Picked this up in GMC Forum ( I bealive it was from staffy´s most ruined finger competition )
Posted by: Artemus May 27 2010, 12:57 PM
Reminds me of a piece I wrote by the same name: http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=67012
Well, probably the most helpful advice that I received, as I recall, was "stop thinking about it - just play it!"
Posted by: Kristofer Dahl May 27 2010, 01:01 PM
Well, probably the most helpful advice that I received, as I recall, was "stop thinking about it - just play it!"
Hehe sometime advices conflict - one of my favorites is "The more you think the better you are going to play" (Marty Friedman). This one is referring to guitar theory though.
Posted by: Artemus May 27 2010, 01:09 PM
It can often seem like that is the case, but often the conflicts are not conflicts at all but just refer to different aspects of playing and understanding. I'm a huge advocate of analysing your playing throughout practice, and running a critique of every aspect of playing. The advice that I received about not thinking so much was concerned with playing something a speed. I'd done everything by the book in terms of practicing - metronoming, keeping a journal, recording myself, analysing my playing, breaking it down.. &c. The trouble was I couldn't break past a certain speed barrier.
The reason was I was concentrating so much on so many things at the same time, my mind and fingers wouldn't keep up. Since I'd done the hard work and built up the muscle memory, "letting go" resulted in my being able to play said lick without any difficulty. However, I believe this was only possible because I'd spent the time learning it properly, so it was just a case of trusting in my fingers going to the right places without having to consciously tell them where to go. Without the right amount of dedicated, analytical practice, I'm sure this would not have been the case.
Posted by: Daniel Realpe May 31 2010, 04:46 PM
off the top of my head:
what J Petrucci says on that Rock discipline video:
"Resources are out there, you just have to go and get them and build up on whatever you want to do" (in other words)
"All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness" E. Tolle
BUT ... I may have come up with a few of my own over the years... (as I have to live upto my nickname) .. So here goes nothin !
- Find a healthy balance between self criticism & confidence .. Individually, both can be damaging to your guitar learning.
- If you think that you have 'mastered' a technique or a piece, you probably havent
- Dont compose somethin fast just for the sake of it, chances are it will sound s@#T, no matter how well you execute it.
- Learn to be a musician, not just a guitar player .. Humility, Respect for other musicians and music types are all equally important to be a great musician.
- Whoever said that serious guitar learning was ALWAYS 'fun' was either lying or was on a happy pill.
I know .. I should be meditating somewhere in the Himalayas ... NO freakin idea what I'm doin with a guitar !!
Ok, this is my new favorite:
"Find a healthy balance between self criticism & confidence .. Individually, both can be damaging to your guitar learning."
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 31 2010, 05:28 PM
I heard recently a good one from Anthony Wellington :
"Learning the instrument is like counting to infinity, when you get to 1000 you are no closer to mastering the instrument then when you started. You play because you like it." - that's for all the ones worried about their progress
Posted by: Gitarrero May 31 2010, 07:54 PM
That's a nice one, Bogdan!
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 31 2010, 07:57 PM
Just read it few days back in a magazine...I was thinking - he couldn't put it better then that. We never stop learning the instrument...
Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 31 2010, 10:04 PM
Here are some Miles Davis quotes that are all excellent and inspiring, I love listening to him talk, he was a true genious.
“For me, music and life are all about style.”
“Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself”
“Don't play what's there, play what's not there.”
Posted by: Vasilije Vukmirovic Jun 3 2010, 11:57 AM
"You're doing it all wrong!"
After one year of guitar playing, guy said to me after listening to my playing. Because he was skilled guitar player I listened to him, and started again. I mean, almost everything was wrong, alternate picking, tone....
Posted by: SirJamsalot Jun 7 2010, 01:54 AM
Try to play what you hear in your mind - don't over-analyze it - my interpretration of the real Zak Wylde.
Along the same lines : Marc Schonbrun, in his music-theory book, stated that Music Theory is great for analyzing and communicating to others what happened musically - it's not so great for composing music.
Much like a type-writer is great for quickly writing down ideas, and grammer is great for analyzing sentence structure to determine what happened, no one begins writing a story by opening up a grammar book and finding what rules can be used to glue words together correctly. It comes from your creative mind.
The benefit of Music Theory comes when you study music that has already been created. If you study music, you lock into your mind what *was* played, and how it sounded - thereby opening up your ability to know how to play it and that such a sound exists - that way when you are creating, you have a new sound discovered in your mind opening up new possibilities.
So, study music theory to help you know you instrument and what has been created - throw your theory away when you are writing music - except maybe to jot down notes for others to follow along with!
That's how I think about it anyways.
Christian A.
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