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RandalFlagg
Stranger
Registered: 06/15/02
Posts: 15,608
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Guitar Inspiration
#3861207 - 03/03/05 02:54 AM (19 years, 21 days ago) |
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How do you get it? I get it very rarely. Usually it only comes after I have practised for over an hour by playing repetitive stuff and songs I have played a million times before. All of a sudden, I feel my guitar juices flowing and I experiment a little. Sometimes, I get "in the zone" and sometimes I don't. When I am in the zone, it is awesome. I can completely control everything I do and everything I do sounds good. I can learn anything I want to quickly.
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SneezingPenis
ACHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!111!
Registered: 01/15/05
Posts: 15,427
Last seen: 6 years, 10 months
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I just randomly hum melodies. Most of them suck, but every now and then i will whistle or hum one and realize later that i liked it. Then i work on it in my head until i get the urge to pour it out of me.
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spores
haploid
Registered: 02/18/99
Posts: 2,486
Loc: Washington
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really getting "in the zone" for me usually involves some quantity of psychedelics drugs, heh. mushrooms are like musical steroids and probably the best substance I have found for this.
not really during the comeup and peak, but on the comedown when you're in a state of very hightened awareness but the mind is really clear. I think it has to do with mushrooms (and other psychedelics) hotwiring the 'fight or flight' response in your system, resulting in very good coordination and hearing, among other things. that also would explain why you don't want to sleep or eat while tripping. anyway, what I feel is my best and most creative guitar playing is done on the comedown from mushrooms. I've noticed this for a while and have meant to make a post about it in the past.
If I don't wanna trip, I'll just basically do what you said and go over a bunch of shit I know to warm up, then start playing around with some chords, scales or music I wouldn't usually play.
DH
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joecrab
Moon Child
Registered: 01/11/05
Posts: 317
Loc: The Beautiful Suwannee Ri...
Last seen: 18 years, 6 months
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Re: Guitar Inspiration [Re: spores]
#3861708 - 03/03/05 09:39 AM (19 years, 20 days ago) |
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i have three or four jam riffs that i always fuck around with. after a min ill go off to something and add something to that and so forth. it just happens for me
-------------------- and the moral of the story is, don't try to meditate on methamphetamines
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kake
The answer to1984 is 1776.
Registered: 05/06/99
Posts: 2,782
Loc: The 66th harmonic
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Re: Guitar Inspiration [Re: joecrab]
#3861960 - 03/03/05 10:54 AM (19 years, 20 days ago) |
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I've found some of the most important elements are very subtle, often forgotten.
For example, I always clean and "lube up" my strings a little bit before playing. You'd be surprised at how hard it becomes to really fly through scales and such without first setting your strings up with as little resistance/friction as possible.
I also find smoking some nugget greatly helps me get into the flow. It doesn't make me feel more creative per se, but it really gets my music flowing and eliminates a lot of dissonance (or maybe it just sounds that way cuz I'm stoned, who knows)
I also like to practice the scales I'm going to jam to before I start playing. If you haven't memorized all the scales yet, this is essential. You need to know where you're going to be going before you take off (profound, yet subtle)
-------------------- The answer to 1984 is 1776.
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Soularize
slanted and enchanted
Registered: 02/11/05
Posts: 1,178
Loc: United States
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Re: Guitar Inspiration [Re: kake]
#3865927 - 03/04/05 12:38 AM (19 years, 20 days ago) |
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yeah, when i get stoned something happens in the musically creative part of my brain; basically i think i just become much more emotional, and in turn my guitar playing becomes much more pure, passionate.
I think pot's also great for allowing your mind to experiment in total freedom, cause normally our creative brains have filters. When you're stoned, these filters almost become non-existent (to me anyway). There's a gap you know, between pure sounds in your mind and soul, and then transforming these pure notions into actual music coming out of your guitar. Duane Allman said right before his death that this gap was almost non-existant; he'd hear precise melodies and notes in his head, and those sounds would come out of his guitar exactly how he envisioned them.
I dunno, you just gotta believe man. And practice!
-------------------- "All but one man died. There at Bitter Creek. And they say he ran awayyy." - A little show called Branded
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faslimy
Dead Man
Registered: 04/04/04
Posts: 3,436
Last seen: 8 years, 2 months
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Re: Guitar Inspiration [Re: Soularize]
#3866178 - 03/04/05 01:52 AM (19 years, 20 days ago) |
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smoking bud + improvisation = fun
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Zekebomb
sociophagus
Registered: 08/24/03
Posts: 1,164
Loc: BC province
Last seen: 16 years, 5 months
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I seem to have musical ideas at random, whether or not I'm sitting at an instrument. that's why I try to have a blank book handy at all times
kake: I always clean and "lube up" my strings a little bit before playing
is there 'special' guitar string lube, or you just use good ol KY?
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kake
The answer to1984 is 1776.
Registered: 05/06/99
Posts: 2,782
Loc: The 66th harmonic
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Re: Guitar Inspiration [Re: Zekebomb]
#3866224 - 03/04/05 02:01 AM (19 years, 20 days ago) |
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there is but I'd assume KY could work also. I use something similar. there are also products like this out there:
http://www.ducksdeluxe.com/ddaxwax.html
similar to stuff professionals like to use before performing, although it is expensive. Stay away from oily common stuff, like moisturizer or vaseline or anything, as they'll cause buildup on the strings.
-------------------- The answer to 1984 is 1776.
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Zekebomb
sociophagus
Registered: 08/24/03
Posts: 1,164
Loc: BC province
Last seen: 16 years, 5 months
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Re: Guitar Inspiration [Re: kake]
#3866315 - 03/04/05 02:26 AM (19 years, 20 days ago) |
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man I never heard of that stuff, I'm gonna try it out, word up
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nonoman
ambassador
Registered: 06/25/04
Posts: 1,326
Loc: the wood
Last seen: 5 years, 10 months
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My muse shows itself pretty much as you described. Bud helps also .
I've recently picked up the guitar again after a 5 year break, and I wanna try a light dose o cubes w/a jam session.
When I did it before, I drank a good cup o tea and went to band practice not knowing how much I had consumed. We got nothing done cuz everybody else was laughing too hard at me. Apparently I was immensely entertaining...
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WhiskeyClone
Not here
Registered: 06/25/01
Posts: 16,509
Loc: Longitudinal Center of Canada ...
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I often find myself playing cool new stuff when I just take a pretty normal chord (major/minor/dom 7th) and play around with it. Hammer on one of the notes, add an open string, change the voicing just a little bit. See what happens, but the most important thing is to just listen to what you are playing. It sounds obvious, but I know I've spent hours noodling without even listening objectively to the notes I played.
Try playing around with different times signatures. Nothing too complicated, just try playing a three-chord progression in 5/4 or 7/4 or something.
Another trick is to take a simple song you are familiar with, and rearrange it. Play the same chords, but use different voicings, or replace a strummed chord with an arpeggio or a riff that represents that chord (i.e uses basically the same notes.)
Also try just playing single notes in a scale. Pick some interesting scale (harmonic major or minor is cool) and play a few notes from it, focusing on the delivery rather than the actual music. Use slides, tiny little bends (less than 1/2 step), harmonics, ... anything that changes the music slightly will give you new sounds.
Try things that wouldn't occur to most guitarists: hammer onto open strings at higher (11th, 12th) frets; bend entire chords; move open chord voicings up and down the next while still playing the open strings.
One thing I often do is really cool but requires the right equipment. If you have a delay pedal that gives you a decent amount of delay (three seconds or longer), you can set it so it decays very slowly, and repeats whatever you play indefinitely. Just play a single chord and try to time it so it repeats cleanly, without a gap or overlap. Then you can add notes and things here or there, building a song right before your ears. Then of course you can add crunches of distortion or feedback, making some NIN-style music.
Try just jamming on a single chord. Any chord, just alter the timing and rhythm. Really get into it. A dose of THC may help you find this groove.
Try playing your own riffs along to a CD you like. Find the key and play around; it won't take too long to come up with something that fits.
Of course, if you've got two guitars, it's cool to designate one of them as your "alternate tuning" guitar. Try DADGAD, Open A, Open E, look some up on the Web. That'll definitely open some doors for you.
The best advice I can give you is to try playing things that you've avoided because they seem difficult or uncomfortable. All guitarists limit themselves in this way, and all can gain much by deliberately challenging themselves. Try some insane jazz voicings, see what happens.
Let us know if you discover something.
-------------------- Welcome evermore to gods and men is the self-helping man. For him all doors are flung wide: him all tongues greet, all honors crown, all eyes follow with desire. Our love goes out to him and embraces him, because he did not need it. ~ R.W. Emerson, "Self-Reliance"
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Silversoul
Rhizome
Registered: 01/01/05
Posts: 23,576
Loc: The Barricades
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As an ADHD kid, I have a prescription for dexedrine, a kind of amphetamine. While the stuff is meant to help me concentrate on schoolwork, I've found it also makes me more creative. Many of my songs have been written while on the stuff. I still wouldn't recommend it to anyone, as the comedown is a bitch.
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