Hello from Austin, Texas

Introduce Yourself
#1

Hello, fellow code crackers!

I picked up the guitar again after a 27-year break when my twin brother (who never stopped playing bass guitar and playing in bands) convinced me to help him audition for a singer who was starting a tribute band that plays music my brother knows I love. I still had some gear and wanted to reconnect with my brother, and so I said yes. IT WAS HARD to start that journey again but I have managed to get (and keep) this crazy thing going!

I have stuck with continuing to try and grow and perform as a guitarist, and at the same time I am now hitting a wall with my playing - my picking sucks! I have never really felt like “a shredder”, but know that the next step in my evolution is better picking - so I am here after continued failures at achieving better technique on my own through YouTube videos (at least that is how I found Troy and Cracking the Code!), virtual lessons, and just simply frustrating myself with a metronome and a lot of hope and fortitude!

Thanks!

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#2

Welcome to the group!

Do elaborate - what is the music you love?

#3

I am the guitarist for a Stone Temple Pilots tribute band - love STP and specifically that guitarists use of non-standard chord voicing’s in a rock context. I have studied this guitarist almost exclusively for 3 years now and can hear how he (and his brother, Robert) crafted stories inside those chord progressions - and each song seems to have a lesson built into it. While he is not the fastest soloist, and doesn’t move too far outside of the pentatonic frame, Dean’s “get in, immerse, get out” approach to soloing has always kind of been my bag.

I was never much into the 80’s shred guitarists and the extended soloing (one exception - EVH forever!), and gravitated towards rock from the late 60’s and 70’s, skipped much of the 80’s style riffing (unless the band started in the 70’s), and leaped straight into the 90’s and beyond styles of guitar.

I think it may have been this way because I started as a singer, had trouble “playing fast”, and ended up playing rhythm guitar. I never really thought I could attain the ability to play guitar well and put it aside in 1988 for 27 years - but I always kept a guitar and an amp, so something was percolating on a back burner somewhere in my spirit. Now I love the guitar more than ever and want to make it an important part of my life. It’s a personal statement and a gift to my self-esteem throwing down my doubts and fears of “not good enough”.

Sorry I strayed from your actual question.

#4

Man I love STP; the playing AND the tones! I got into chorus for the first time in the last couple years, ended up blending some detune with my clean tone to get it.

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