Some Great Advice

Something I started doing the very day I bought my guitar was to try to play it. Well, I suppose, anybody would do that, but I REALLY tried to play it. We're talking, find the song, look up the chords, sing along kinda playing.

And just as quickly, I figured out how very much I couldn't play.

But I kept trying. Looking up song after song after song. I'd hear something on the radio that I really liked and no matter what I was doing, I'd drop that and sit down at my computer to look up the chords for that particular song. Sometimes I hit the jackpot and the chord progressions would be simplistic, and sometimes it was completely useless.

There was one song that had like 30 different chords. THIRTY. Talk about not gonna happen.

But the cool thing about doing this was how rewarding it was. I don't know about you, but I don't just want to play so I can say I can play. Personally, I'm more interested in playing because there is music out there that I really like, and I have friends who I can jam with. For instance, our friends like to go camping, and there's just nothing like sitting around a late-night fire with a bunch of friends and playing stuff everyone can sing along to.

I mean, that's the kinda stuff memories are made of.

So like I was saying: playing something you know, something where you're familiar with the tune, is just so cool. It really makes you feel like you know what you're doing; like you're that much closer to being able to just pick up your instrument and do whatever you want with it. As of right now, I must have about 15-20 different songs that I've found the chords to that I cycle through. I just pick up and play and try to make each chord sound better than last time.

And sometimes, I just strum through each chord whether it sounds good or not. Simply because I like the song and wanna play.

That's what it's all about, right?

And funny thing is, is that the creator of the Jamorama program advises to do this very thing; saying how utterly useless it is to learn to play the guitar if you don't have a workable outlet for what you learn. He even suggests joining a band from the get-go. Well, I don't think I would do that anytime soon, but I can really see the value in it now. Maybe it's the same as learning a new language: if you live in a foreign country, you'll learn their language faster and be able to use it quicker. Perhaps if you're in a casual atmosphere to play, you'll learn just from doing it over and over and over. And you won't be weary of it, because it's all for fun.

So that's what I've been up to lately. Just playing some of my favorite songs and feeling pretty accomplished when it sounds right. Generally, you can find the chords or tabs for maybe EVERY song out there (including ones that were around before the internet was). One site I've come to like is E-Chords. They not only have the chords for a TON of songs, but they also designed the site to where you can mouse-over the chords you don't know and see how it's shaped. A lot of sites just have the chords, and if you don't know a particular one, then you may have to refer to another site just to figure it out. That's frustrating. But E-Chords and others like it show you each chord structure, and that's really helpful.

Anyhow. You can do what you want with your learning, but I just thought that this was some excellent advice. And quite frankly, it's been a whole lot more fun than only taking lessons. I can apply more of what I'm learning, and enjoy doing it.

And that comes from the lesson maker himself, so I guess it's probably worth the time!