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how long till u could really shred

japarti	Date: April 24, 2005 @ 11:33 PM how long did it take u to become fairly good at guitar and write your own goods songs and stuff im only just starting to get okay
gothian	Date: April 25, 2005 @ 12:41 PM mmmmm, that is a very subjective question, it depends a lot on what you want to accomplish and how do you practice (hours, techniques, etc) In my case I've been playing for 15 years and I can tell you I have a long way to go. Yes.... I write my songs, play live very often locally and in other cities and so on, but I know I have a lot to learn. I remember 12 years ago (or so) that I thought I was a great player LOL, some people told me so and some people tell me that now, but I don't buy it. I think I'm a decent player that can play almost everything I want, but I know exactly what my limitations are and try to work on them. Starting to play the guitar could take you some days, but becoming a great guitar player is going to take you all your life.
victorsskull	Date: April 25, 2005 @ 9:52 PM when I quit trying so fucking hard I started getting better I know thats fucked up but its true
BlackMage	Date: April 27, 2005 @ 1:13 PM I could make songs before I started on guitar. 'Til I could really shred? I don't know, it's not that hard. Just do some fast tremolo and you're shredding already. Yeah, what Vic said. Trying too hard really takes the edge away.
Traf	Date: April 29, 2005 @ 4:08 AM Shouldn't the question have been 'how long till you can really play?' It's much harder to play slow and controlled than shred. If I were you, I would concentrate on getting your feel and control first... and that takes a life time.. and what Goth and Vic said makes good sense. I don't think we ever get to that position where we are happy with our own playing. The more you learn, the more you realize there is to learn. I s'pose that's what drives us on to make ourselves better musicians. My honest opinion is that I feel people learn to quickly these days.. In the old days when I was learning, there where no books, cd's or videos to teach you and you struggled on for years before figuring a few thing out. But now, everybody learns all the advanced techniques within a year. So if I was you, I wouldn't be in a rush.. Just enjoy it and It'll all come in the end. Good luck..
MindSculpture	Date: April 29, 2005 @ 5:10 AM Well... good guitar playing and the ability to construct good songs are two different things. I agree with Traf . When I had classical guitar lessons, the emphasis was on developing a good tone. It is much better to be able to play slow with feeling than fast and empty sounding. Regular practice is the only way to ensure you develop as a player.
victorsskull	Date: April 29, 2005 @ 12:11 PM become one with the guitar grasshoppa
mdearing	Date: April 29, 2005 @ 2:18 PM I agree with everything traf said. It really boils down to what you want to do. If you want to play like Steve Vai, then you better forget about your social life and focus everything to your craft. For those of us who don't want to do that, you just have to put in the practice when you can. If you practiced real hard for a couple of hours a day and pushed yourself to get better from week to week you could make some real progress, but you never stop learning. Remember to make the notes sing and don't get to caught up on speed.
japarti	Date: April 30, 2005 @ 5:59 AM lol victor thanks for the replys im getting into hendrix stuff and working abit of theory modes ect. what u guys said is true ne noob can play lightning fast hitting every thing but the right notes... im a bit guilty of that but i also sitt down about 4 hours a day working on rythym stuff and playing slowly familirizing myself with the notes on the neck and im happy with how im goin at the moment wich is all that mattersrotate:
EvilPicnic	Date: May 20, 2005 @ 5:12 AM Dunno. It depends what you mean by 'fairly good'. I've been playing for 2 and a bit years, and I gig semi-regularly in a jazz band. I can't shred, but I can play fairly fast and can tap reasonably well. I can read and can comp along with just about any rhythm you gave me and any chords, which isn't actally that hard if you think about it. I can read the written rhythms in crotchets and quavers etc., and I know what the chord extensions mean in a note sense. I think I solo well, thinking melodically, using chord tones and generally creating an interesting solo. But I don't consider myself 'good', or even 'fairly good'. The moment you say to yourself,'Hey, I think I'm pretty damn good' is the moment you stop improving, and the moment you truly are pretty crap. I've seen guitarists who think they're so much, posturing, strutting around, and generally mouthing off, and they can't play for shit. It's the quiet guitarists, the ones who really put the work in, who are the real deal. Guitarists like Steve Vai, John Mclaughlin, Django Reinhardt, Frank Zappa. There is always room for improvement, and the right attitude will get you far in life.
jordanthegreat	Date: May 20, 2005 @ 7:16 AM what zakk wylde isn't great too? i think it doesn't take too long to learn to shred if it is your only goal. Just focus strictly on technique and theory and before you know it, you'll be shredding. I think it's more important to learn to play the guitar the way you personally want to, whether that be shredding or not. it all takes time, but eventually everyone gets where they are going.
Alecs	Date: June 2, 2005 @ 10:10 PM Hmm, I still can't shred, but I like to think I'm pretty fast for only having played a year and a half (Check out my song 40 Times Thus, about 1:10. That's the closest thing to me shredding I've got up. That was 3 months ago, or so.) I sucked horribly for a long time. My turning point was my first Zeppelin album. I started learning Page's riffs and becoming obsessed. It all clicked.
LMosD4rk51d3	Date: June 7, 2005 @ 10:06 AM lol, ive been playing for 5 years and i dont think i can shred...i try... I can write my own songs though...have been able to for longer than ive been playing.
Bhairava	Date: June 17, 2005 @ 6:02 AM Well I've been playing for about 2 and a half year and I would say I'm good for how long I've been playing but for what I want to do and what I do I continually get depressed because I can't get whats in my head out of the guitar. I don't think you ever finish learning gutitar because it goes on forever in what you can learn. I play a bit of shred and improvise mostly and learn a bit of theory too. If you check out my song Black Out I would say thats the culmination of 2 and a half years of playing at least an hour a day minimum 2 hours a day ideally and 5-8 hours if I am doing it excessivly. That would be about 1/4 time shredding 1/4 time song writing and 1/2 time just improvising and messing around. I'v only recently got into learning theory too. Shredding is only so much and I concentrate on writing songs which is much more important then shred. You want to be a musician and not just a guitarist and so be able to manipulate music in whatever form. For instance Jimi Hendrix has people that surpase him at techincal guitar fair enough but no one did as much for music and could manipulate sound in the same way completely out of the blue. You should only get as techincally profficiant as too accurately get whats in your head out. Slow players that get all their notes in the right places are better then fast players that just stream out notes. Infact I would say people that can play slowly and get as much emotion into their playing and tension as playing quickly are the better musicians by far. I would say the majority of shredders I've met can play really fast but can't write a good song untill around 4-5 years and some wont ever write a great song thats just straight shredding though and not mixing other styles. I would also be cautious of just learning songs note for not and not ever improvising becaue that can become and endless loop of never being original. Of course you have to do it to some degree. Man am I babbling on!!!
GreatGooglyM...	Date: June 19, 2005 @ 4:22 PM With doing right things, you can become very efficient guitarist in quite short time. I've been playing electric guitar for 3 years and I can play fairly fast. However, I discovered shred about half a year ago and at that time I started to think more about the technical aspects of playing. I still can't shred perfectly (like Cooley, Fareri, Vai, Gilbert etc. You get the idea), but I think I have pretty much the basics down. Before that, the fastest solo I could nail was probably the solo from Master Of Puppets. Now, when I can play fast or should I say shred, I can't still write good songs. I don't lack inspiration or ideas, but I can't finish anything. Mostly I just have fun and shred and don't do anything "reasonable".
koiulpoi	Date: June 22, 2005 @ 7:53 AM What I did, I picked up the classical guitar. So rewarding. I never really cared about being able to play fast - I'm trying to play it right and play it smoothly. If you can make your instrument sing, it's much more impressive than if you make it scream. No, I can't shred. I haven't tried, either.
GreatGooglyM...	Date: June 28, 2005 @ 8:24 AM You know what kouilpoi? Shred IS technical and fast licks played clean, right and smoothly. Yeah, and I don't anyone else who makes his guitar sing better than Steve Vai or Al DiMeola.
GreatGooglyM...	Date: June 28, 2005 @ 8:25 AM ...and Lunitari's post was really stupid. You think you can shred, when you do just tremolo picking??? I hope you were just joking...
Alecs	Date: June 28, 2005 @ 11:39 AM "If you can make your instrument sing, it's much more impressive than if you make it scream." So true! So many people concentrate so hard on shredding that they forget how to just straight out PLAY the damn thing.
GeneHilbert	Date: July 6, 2005 @ 12:21 AM Speed comes with years of experience, study, effort, dedication and sacrifice. No short cuts - it doesn’t matter how fast you can play crap. If it sounds like shit, doesn't make musical sense or have direction - you're just pissing in the wind - Quality over Quantity. Practice hard and speed will come.
BlackMage	Date: July 6, 2005 @ 6:32 AM "...and Lunitari's post was really stupid. You think you can shred, when you do just tremolo picking??? I hope you were just joking..." Well, I guess I confused it with something else then. Chill. I'm much more in bass anyway.
Traf	Date: July 6, 2005 @ 6:49 PM People shouldn't worry so much about speed.. We could go on a typing course and come back a month later being able to type at a million miles an hour, but it doesn't mean we can write a good poem or book..
japarti	Date: July 15, 2005 @ 11:17 PM yea true , u guys got ne tips on song writing i cant write songs for shit how long did it take u to be able to write good songs???
Alecs	Date: July 19, 2005 @ 8:41 PM traf that's possibly the best analogy i've heard in my life
mos	Date: July 21, 2005 @ 12:12 PM Wait, thats not cool. First asking how long did it take to shred and than say : 'how good can you play and write?' thats not cool. since a lot of shredders cant write, and after all, a lot of jazz musicians totally pwn the best shred songwriters. ( And most of the time they have a better technique as well. ) And my original songs are now at a level which sucks compared to how much better my writing will be over 5 years. So compared to then my writing isnt even 'fairly good'. Same with my playing. Very not-cool questions if you ask me. Mos

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