Nikkid's Axeman

[JONNO_CELEBS]

I did wonder why you never said anything about me playing

So it was the leathers that done it huh B)

TY

Jonno B)

[NikkiD]

Awwwww... You know I love your playing too... it's just those leather pants are distracting!!!

[JONNO_CELEBS]

I know, I can't help being a sex god or is that sex dog

Jonno B)

[ezyryder]

sounds ok, what I am about to say isn't insults, just constructive critism. You should practice each song with a metronome more and study each note instead of "ad-libbing" them (it sounds like that anyway). If the note is an eigth, make in an eigth, if it's dotted, make sure you change it. Make sure you hammer-on/off properly and learn the weight of your strings perfectly for the bends. Another important thing is to know the fretboard off by heart, make sure your fingers are always perfectly fretted.

My advice for you is to study the songs closely. Learn a bar at a time from the notation and make sure you have it exact as the song (again, the metronome should never be forgotten, even for a professional), this will drastically improve your playing (which is good, don't get me wrong).

I really like the tone you have acheived but i've noticed when you get to had bars you tend to ad-lib and play random fast stuff, which is very common for people to do but VERY bad. When people begin doing this, they pick up bad techniques which at first seem ok, but eventual effect other songs and cause you to get lazy and the hand will weaken, including the pinki. I think, if you make sure you learn every bar properly and learn the techniques a bit finer, you could give some amazing preformances.

Sorry if that seems harsh, you're better than a lot of guitar-players I know so don't think I was telling you that you were "awful", as i wasn't just giving you some tips. Guitar lessons - for anyone new or old - always help.

[Afronaut]

Sorry dude, maybe i wasnt too supportive there, didnt mean to "shoot you down",
Let me try to be more into detail this time:

I was in a band, we fell out over musical tastes, they wanted to play chart stuff...........and I did'nt

I doubt you'll ever find ppl who have the exact same preferences or musical taste than you, playing in a band is a bit teamwork, bending over etc.
Im currently playing in a band with about 60ppl, we're doing an Elvis-show, kinda like Big-Band stuff, that means i gotta be able to play from the charts and stand on the brakes most of the time. With that many ppl, it has to be coordinated, horns playing in harmony etc, thats where the sheets are very usefull. Plus i the songs are composed differently than recorded versions, which means its not quite the same versions im use to. For example, most of the songs goes in Ab , Eb , Hb etc. because of the way horns are, its easier to play for them in Ab than in A, but for me, its wicked to play in those whacko keys, cant use open strings that much.
I know i could tune my Gretsch half a step down but we git songs that goes in C and G too, and i thought that i better get use to play in all the keys...
Im not educated for reading sheets but im learning more about it. It is a good thing to be able to read notes but not necessary... Example, in practising session with a lot of ppl, we jump a lot of back and forth in a song, starting in bar nr. 34 or 47 etc, its really fast to see where we start to play if needed,
"Standing on the brakes": Im use to playing in bands with 3 to 5 guys, playing with 3 guys is the easiest, one can goof around a lot, but take another guitarist in the band and guitarists gotta start planning what to play, where and how, unless, you're in a punk-band, he he... j/k
But in this Elvis-project, i cant play as much and as loud as i might want sometimes. Gotta think of the Big Picture, the overall sound. Whats the point of having nice horn-section if some Guitar-Slinger is gonna run over the with 120db?
so, im standing in the brakes and waiting for the solos... he he.

There is also the minor fact that I can't play in public

Thats a sort of thing that one can learn to overcome.
I've had few freaky moments myself too...

As for lessons,  Why do you think I never had any

Didnt say that you havent had any lessons, just thought it could be cool.
I've found out that the more one learns, the more there is to learn.
Its sort of a never-ending things... One cannot know all the is to know.

No one round here does it and I'm not travelling 30 miles and paying £10 for half an hour and some guy to tell me something I already know.

I thought you live in a town? Well, just shows how much i know.
Im currently giving guitar lessons for youngsters in this town, and im not teaching what they know allready, its been more like "What you want to learn and What you need to learn" kinda thing. One fellah wanted to learn to play Jazz, my advice was to learn to walk and then learn to run. Getting the basics together first etc. Plus there's a lot of talking about guitars, recording, sounds etc.
Its not school where one is more or less forced to learn stuff, its Private Lessons, more face to face thing, where Students needs are extremely important. (In a heterosexual way, one might add... )
Oh yeah, im sending you a bill of this lecture, muhahahahaaaaa....
10 bucks of 1hour is the sort of minimum standard pricing around here (150 Norwegian Crones to be axact.) I could easily ask more, but i wont, money is tight in these days, for anyone. (exept mr Gates and the likes perhaps)

And before you get high up about yourself, let me shoot you down,
I've seen younger players playing better that you (or me), probably never had school/lessons also. There's always somebody who is "better" than the other one. ( Depends who you ask )But if you have a jam session with other players, you're likely to walk out of it with new riffs, licks or whatnot stuff, something new.
In fact, there is no Best Players, just different...

Cheers, and keep up the playing:

-GS-

[j4y3m]

[monkfi5h]

*Watches Sweet child o' mine*



Thats the coolest thing I have ever seen

Better than I could ever do it Jonno

Rock on!

edit: Nice Dancing man

[JONNO_CELEBS]

Ok guys

@EZ.....I thought a guitarist would notice my cheating

@GS........I did.nt meant "Why??.......Do you think I ain't had lessons" I meant Why do you think I ain't had lessons, meaning I hav'nt ever

Ok, here's how it is, probably only you two will understand what I mean here.
I started playing 4/5 years ago, 1st thing I wanted to do was play Layla
But I learnt the chords instead cos you got to start at the bottom right?
Once I felt comfortable I wanted to play lead, I don't enjoy all rythm, that's why I don't like new stuff, not enough lead
I will be honest, I have no idea about 8ths 16ths scales etc, I know the pentatonic scale as you can see from my little bits on the end, just go up and down it and add some bends , hammers etc. It's not flashy I know.
I cannot pick a song out by ear, I'm tone deaf as Nikki will tell you from my singing I would love to learn more but I just want to play when I get the chance, so learning the boring stuff never happens (bad of me I know)
To be absolutly honest, I never said and never thought I was that good, I see others playing in music shops and think "Jesus, I wish I could play like that"
I asked for honesty and you have given me that, Thankyou.
May I ask out of curiosity how long you 2 have been playing??

I truely feel alive when playing but I can't play that well I know, but it's all about enjoying it yes, I will learn more as I go and want to know all the in's and out's, but learning them is not easy on your own and there is no one within 25 miles that can help, all the players I know tell me I play better than them anyway, so that's no help to me at all

I will say more about this later when I have more time to study your comments

@Monk..........cheers dude, very nice of you to say, and I will answer your pm when I get back ok

Thanks guys, it's nice to have some honesty as aposed to "Oh wow you're wonderful"

No offence to those that do tho

Jonno B)

[ezyryder]

Sorry, Jonno if I sounded mean. You are good and far better than some will ever be, you have progressed well from magazines. Im guessing you used Total Guitar? Great for learning and getting good songs.

I wouldn't say you were tone deaf myself and if you were, that can be changed. The saying "you've got it or you don't" is bull, if you listen to the notes of guitar enough and experiment for hours with what does what, eventually you begin to feel the notes and the music will work for you.

You say you feel alive when playing, that there is a sign your not tone deaf, means you feel the music and it does work what you played. I remember once I saw someone play and done the whole open mouthed, closed eyed playing (they were playing voodoo child [slight return]) they were a whole second out of time more than less and thumbled every second note and couldn't cover for mistakes. They were putting on an act obviously. But By what i heard of you (havn't heard much granted) you can recover and keep time to an extent (to get a song just right, it usualy takes a stricter study of the notation, or tab). Be careful, as watching the video you do get "lifted" away sometimes and forget to listen (can't be helped, its a sin of every single guitar player from hendrix to slash... your ability at this just improves with practice).

I know what you mean about rythem-guitar, I myself don't care for it either, but it's just as important I feel. You should learn the chord progression of the song before any solo, it gives you the perfect feel for the song.

I suggest getting www.guitar-pro.com from kazza of course, and then using www.mysongbook.com to get the tabs. Playing with this program and listening to the bar at a time (its a midi system) will teach you some of the theory and give you a easier experience at learning about the notes and how it should sound. Another good thing with it is the ability to mute instruments and play along.

So once you get this program, get some books too and learn your scales, learn your theory and make sure it sticks. In a few months after learning how scales fit together and stricter time-keeping, you will be shocked at your preformance difference.

The music shop scenario, I hate that. Don't let that put you down as first, most often they only know one song that well, their other preformances are terrible. Othertimes, they are those freaks who pick up everything instantly and make us people feel worthless.

Keep up the good work, and trim these left hand nails as far as you can and always make sure there is no dirt beside the fret wire, as you get nice tone from your hands it's a shame for anything to wreck it.

So basically, what i meant was if you get that program, books and learn the stuff and be strict about each song instead of looking at the tab few times then do "predictive playing" you will take a large large learning curve and then things will be a whole load easier.


edit: sorry if this makes no sense, i typed it fast.

[Jackstermj]

Originally posted by JONNO_CELEBS@23 September 2003 - 14:50


I truely feel alive when playing but I can't play that well I know, but it's all about enjoying it yes, I will learn more as I go and want to know all the in's and out's, but learning them is not easy on your own and there is no one within 25 miles that can help, all the players I know tell me I play better than them anyway, so that's no help to me at all

I will say more about this later when I have more time to study your comments

Thanks guys, it's nice to have some honesty as aposed to "Oh wow you're wonderful"

No offence to those that do tho  

Jonno B)

@ what you said there!!

I've seen every video on that page of Jonno playing guitar and I think he's great. I know sod all about guitar's really, but I'm learning. I love hearing guitars, love watching people play them and just love guitars with a passion....and after seeing Jonno play on many videos....I will never fail to be impressed...sorry but that's just my opinion!!

Good to see other opinions though and advice!!