So, it's been about a year

…since I first joined and about 16 months since I started playing again after my lengthy decade and half+ break. This was me then (this is only vid I can find from back then):

And this is me now (pardon the mix, some of the takes I forgot to mute the camera mic…):

The above video was something I threw together to demonstrate a couple of EJ presets that I made on the Fractal. They’re free on the Fractal FM3 section of their forum if you want to check them out.

Anyways, I’m 1 lick from my initial goal when I joined this place (playing Desert Rose and All About You Solos up to speed) but what I learned in between then and now has been a huge boost for my ability to play for real again. I was stuck with blocks of 15-20 minutes before I’d have to rest for another 20-30, and even less time to actually practice since that put a lot of stress and tension on my hands. And after watching and rewatching a lot of the videos and reading this forum, I started to get a handle on not just how to move forward but what caused all of my injuries to begin with. Now, I try to play damn near all day every day, and fit a bit of actual practicing in there when I can. If I didn’t have to walk down stairs to go to the bathroom, I would probably take it with me!

So, thanks @Troy and @tommo and @joebegly and all of the other members here that gave me pointers, encouragement and didn’t shun me for my usually unnecessarily lengthy posts lol

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You sound GREAT!

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Man that’s awesome. You sound incredible! Based on the above I consider you an elite tier EJ imitator. You’ve beat your “final boss” (see, I read your posts :wink:)

Congratulations! I know you’ve worked really hard on all this.

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I still gotta nail THAT run in All About You though… lol And there’s one in Lonely In The Night that’s pissing me off, but the rest is great.

The whole journey was really tough in the beginning, but as my strength and stamina increased, a lot of my innate things started to come back. I can’t really throw down like I used to but things like the Metropolis run and the Erotomania run are good when I’m well warmed and stretched out. And Satch’y lines are easy again. As long as I don’t push it, I’m fine.

I still often have to “think” USX when I’m doing it but not as much as I did. I’m spending most of my playing time trying to write an album (5 songs ready for drums, 3 or 4 to go!!!) and relearning theory. That stuff hasn’t come back yet lol

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NICE!!! Really well done! Sounds totally awesome!

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Do you have a direct link to your preset downloads? I’m getting closer to finding them by searching the fractal forums lol! Getting impatient though… :slight_smile:

Edit: I think I just found them…

The “Live” version has changed a bit. Version 2 is posted somewhere towards the end of that thread, but there is a 3rd version (which is probably actually version 50) that only I possess…

I can send it to you if I’m able to do it on here. Or email or whatever lol

It’s just more organized and refined. I did some messing around with putting a barely audible FaceFuzz in front of the Tube Driver and a T808. I do think I tweaked it more for my liking than EJ’s actual sounds. If I had an EJ Strat, I’d dig deeper but I’ll never get any closer without driving myself insane hahaha

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I can believe it! lol! This is why I don’t do many recordings anymore. I obsess over the mix/tweaks too much. And I don’t have time these days for that.

:eyes:

Not sure what the upload rules are here…probably just images/mp3s and stuff. I’ll DM you my email address cuz I bet you’d NEVER ever guess it on your own.

As an outsider, I’d say…just take the W and keep playin yer geetar lol! What you’ve got sounds great!

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