Don’t know if anyone here needs this or not, but I found this article INCREDIBLY inspiring:
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Namely this comment:
“I would just listen to records and learn what I could, then just roll it over and over and over. I tried to take lessons once, and the dude was really good and he tried to teach me theory and all that $-t, but none of it made any sense to me. You know, to be just running up and down these scales when I could be playing f*****g Randy Rhoads or something, I just didn't find any enjoyment in it. I don't know what kind of enjoyment dudes get out of it if they already know what a certain mode is going to sound like, or a certain scale before they go to it. It's kind of like the cat's already out of the bag, you know? There's a certain amount of spontaneity that goes on whenever I'm jamming, and I don't think that part of my playing would be there if I did learn all that $h-t. But yeah, lessons didn't really work out for me, so I went to the old school, listening to records and learning what I wanted to learn.”
—————
Reminds me of a similar interview I read from Slash a few years back where he basically stated that he never played a scale when he was trying to learn guitar-He just tried to play along to songs on the radio and self-taught himself…
Sharing this not to dog on lessons or music theory, but I find it somewhat fascinating that arguably two of the best guitar players of their generation learned not by having someone tell them what to play or by formal training or playing a standard major or minor scale, but learned via repetition and playing along to songs…
I know I really struggle with worrying about accuracy and wanting to play a song “perfect” especially if I’m using a tab, but I think it’s easy to overthink it…
I didn’t try to play bass for a VERY long time bc I just assumed you needed lessons and had to practice scales which I hated doing when I tried to learn guitar…
Wanted to pass that information on just in case anyone here needs it…
Thanks! \m/
Invalid Link Removed
Namely this comment:
“I would just listen to records and learn what I could, then just roll it over and over and over. I tried to take lessons once, and the dude was really good and he tried to teach me theory and all that $-t, but none of it made any sense to me. You know, to be just running up and down these scales when I could be playing f*****g Randy Rhoads or something, I just didn't find any enjoyment in it. I don't know what kind of enjoyment dudes get out of it if they already know what a certain mode is going to sound like, or a certain scale before they go to it. It's kind of like the cat's already out of the bag, you know? There's a certain amount of spontaneity that goes on whenever I'm jamming, and I don't think that part of my playing would be there if I did learn all that $h-t. But yeah, lessons didn't really work out for me, so I went to the old school, listening to records and learning what I wanted to learn.”
—————
Reminds me of a similar interview I read from Slash a few years back where he basically stated that he never played a scale when he was trying to learn guitar-He just tried to play along to songs on the radio and self-taught himself…
Sharing this not to dog on lessons or music theory, but I find it somewhat fascinating that arguably two of the best guitar players of their generation learned not by having someone tell them what to play or by formal training or playing a standard major or minor scale, but learned via repetition and playing along to songs…
I know I really struggle with worrying about accuracy and wanting to play a song “perfect” especially if I’m using a tab, but I think it’s easy to overthink it…
I didn’t try to play bass for a VERY long time bc I just assumed you needed lessons and had to practice scales which I hated doing when I tried to learn guitar…
Wanted to pass that information on just in case anyone here needs it…
Thanks! \m/
