I’ve played bass guitar for years and in multiple genres, but most recently I’ve stepped out of my bass comfort zone and started learning guitar. I have really taken to guitar and am learning with a 40-hour Udemy course by a professional guitarist and via numerous videos on YouTube, progressing very quickly and practicing a lot. My kids have already talked about how good I’ve gotten in such a short time, and my wife thought it was music playing from my PC.
Having lost my ability to practice martial arts due to my spinal condition, music has filled the space left behind, and I may be just a tad obsessive about it. I will say being used to bass helped me in my guitar practice greatly, it wasn’t really new territory, just different territory honestly. So, what are some of my goals on guitar;
- Blues (Mainly Mississippi delta blues)
- Classical music on the axe
- Rock (all subgenres)
- Metal (all subgenres)
- Lead, rhythm
- Soloing
So far I have learned a ton of techniques, power chords, chords, and arpeggios, I am learning both the 3nps and caged systems and have begun working on putting it all together. There is so much to the guitar, it is a lifetime learning experience, which is the same reason why I loved learning martial arts for 30+ years. I look forward to each practice session as if it was water and I’d spent all day in a desert, and there are literally dozens of guitars and pieces of gear that I want.
So, where I am right now in my guitar journey is an obsession, wanting every guitar I see, bass wise, I have two I’ve been eyeballin’ as well. I don’t buy expensive guitars and basses, instead, I buy inexpensive ones and upgrade them with exactly what I want in them… I am 100% DIY when it comes to my instruments. Buying expensive instruments and realizing you want to change something about it seems counterintuitive and wasteful to me, especially when you’re buying them because of a name on the headstock.
I would rather pay less for an instrument and have money left to do all of the upgrades I want than spend everything on an instrument and have to upgrade it later, but that’s just me. I’d rather have a solid no-name body of an instrument with high-quality components (pickups, strings, tuners, bridge) of my choosing than one twice (or more) the amount that I would still need to change something out.
I am also a stickler for non-conforming instrument bodies, flying V, my burning fire, BC Rich Warlocks, etc… that touch of “outside the box,” and “not normal,” is very alluring to me. Nothing is wrong with standard strats, teles, PSRs, stingrays, and the like, but if it has a unique paint job or a different shape, I’ll be drawn to it tenfold more.
That out of the way, I want to say that I absolutely love playing guitar and bass, and nothing brings a smile to my face quite like “getting it,” while practicing. Nailing down a riff, getting a technique, or understanding a theory feels like winning the lottery to me and is wholly rewarding. Music, namely guitar and bass, have filled the void left behind by my no longer being able to engage in the physical activities I once did.