Guitar

As long as I can remember I've wanted to play guitar.  For most of my life this manifested as an interest in playing acoustic guitar only and ranged from just wanting to chord along to wanting to play two line parts fingerstyle (which I actually started learning to do in the mid-1990s...I can't imagine trying any of those songs now). I was never really interested in electric guitar or in effects or any of that.

But somewhere along the way I figured out that things that are really hard on acoustic guitar (like barre chords) are really easy on electric. And that made me want to play electric more. But when I play electric it always just kind of sounds lame.

A few years ago I bought a Marshall digital effects modelling amp on a whim.  It's design was kind of shitty though and it didn't really do what I wanted it to do.  I ended up selling it (something I rarely do). Then about a year ago someone gave me a multi-effect pedal. This too...poorly designed, hard to use, and didn't do what I wanted.

For about 3 years now there's been this little 1.5 Watt Vox amp sitting in the GRC storage. It was battery operated and looked broken. Everyone ignored it. I'm pretty sure it got throw around a few times...maybe even kicked. It really just looked like garbage. Finally, this summer I decided to take it home and see if it worked at all. Not only does it work...it is the best amp I've ever played through. It has tons of effects that are easy to use and sound great.  To me, it sounds better and more powerful than a 30 watt amp. Bonus, I found the power adapter for it. It quickly went from the worst amp that camp owned to the best. And now I'm hiding it.

Things that I've never understood before about electric guitar and effects are beginning to make sense.  Palm muting...other stuff. How different effects work and how you use them.  I've been depressed lately and it occurred to me that something to shake me out of my rut might be to take some electric guitar lessons. But last night I was goofing with the Vox and figured out about a dozen miracle concepts all on my own. Game changers.  And then it occurred to me...

...really I just need to play more.

Not "practice". Just play. Hold the thing in my hands and fuck around. Try stuff that doesn't even make any sense. I've been trying to make this so structured...memorize scales, memorize chord patterns...but none of that even really matters. Just make noise. The stuff that sounds good...do it again. The stuff that sounds bad...try not to do it again. For sure there are things I could benefit from, like basic pick control exercises...but most of it is just unstructured play.

Anyway, who knows if I'll go anywhere with it...follow through at all.  But it is a revelation to think about approaching something not from the perspective of "trying to do it right and get better" but instead from the "fuck up a whole bunch until something sounds cool" perspective.