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Hello everyone!
Been a member for some months now, so I thought it was about time I chimed in.
My name is Michael. I am 37 years of age, live in Denmark and have been playing the guitar for 12 years as a leisure activity. I started off playing the acoustic and then bought myself a fender strat 4 years to learn how to solo. I immediately fell in love with the feeling and the sounds of the electric guitar and spent many hours practicing scales and riffs. But as a lot of other people I seemed to get stuck in between theory and practice without knowing how to combine them. I had a teacher who was good, but expensive, so I turned to youtube to become a better player. At a point I realized that I spent too much time jumping from one youtube-instructor to the other and that I probably would be better off sticking with one instead of many. Out of the many, Robert’s style and information seemed to fit with my way of wanting to learn, so Masterguitaracademy is now my no1 source of knowledge.
However, after signing up as a member it turned out that I might have under estimated the time consumption involved with my becoming a father last year and becoming a house owner as well, so my guitar practice has been neglected quite a bit lately. I hope this summerholiday will give me a bit more time to dig in to some of the great lessons (the Danish summer-weather right now seems to be suggesting indoor activities).
Therefore: Any advice regarding how to combine a modern day family life with guitar practicing would be highly appreciated J.
Posted : July 3, 2017 14:51
Michael, welcome to you. The best man in my wedding was from Odense, Denmark, and my last name is Petersen with sEn so obviously my roots are Danish. So I always feel a connection there. I wish I had some advise for you. I hope others do. With a career and kids I don't know how people carve out time to practice. The only thing I hear people say is that they set aside a set time every day, time that absolutely can't be negotiated away, and stick to it. I do know that a few minutes every day will provide you more progress than not practicing daily and then "binge" practicing on the week-end. I suspect Robert will agree.
Again, welcome to you and good luck.
Posted : July 3, 2017 15:47
Welcome Michael.
Learning guitar is a life long commitment. I forget who said it, but learning the blues is easy.....mastering it takes a life time.
Enjoy the journey and enjoy MGA. You're in the perfect community to to get you where you want to be.
Posted : July 3, 2017 16:49
What an exciting year for you... new MGA member, new parent, new house!!! Man I would say you are a busy man. Best of luck with your family, home and guitar playing... I do not have the secret for getting playing time in... I still have the problem even now with a grown son and 3 grandkids...
Sometimes I am able to get up a bit early and get some playing in... this usually leads to my losing track of the time and getting to work late! 😉
Good luck
Posted : July 3, 2017 17:23
Welcome Michael.
I know exactly where you're coming from. I struggle with the same issues. I would say just try to at least pick it up everyday even if it's for ten minutes. You would be surprised at the progress you would make instead of binge playing on the weekends like matonanjin mentioned.
Just have fun!
Bill
Posted : July 3, 2017 20:24
Hello Michael!
Tak for at være her.
A good approach is to decide what you are most interested in. Example: theory, blues soloing, rhythm, technique, etc. Then, you choose a course on this website, and set out a few minutes each day in your calendar, and do the work. It could be learn and memorize the chord progression at first. Next step could be memorize the chord voicings, or the first 6 bars of a solo, and so on.
Make a point of finishing the course as best you can, before you move on to something else. There are of course exceptions - perhaps you need to practice the pentatonic scale a bit before the solo/licks make sense. You get the idea.
Make sure you feel like you are actually learning something. Always, always play what you learned at different tempos, in a few different keys, with different chord voicings, etc. In other words, what you just learned you should apply in different ways. This will make it stick longer to memory.
Final step before moving on to another course - record yourself! Then, you share that recording here and crack a BIG smile. 😀
Posted : July 3, 2017 22:43
Clayton reacted
Welcome Michael,
Greetings from Barcelona. A real pleasure to met you here...
I wish you nice experiences in MGA....
Esteban
Posted : July 9, 2017 10:50