Questions I've always wanted to ask on the forums:

[BlueBowman]

What kind of music do you all play? What are you currently working on?

I play chord/melody fingerstyle. I enjoy playing everything from percussive, funky blues to Bach and Tarrega. A bit all over the place, really    Lately it's been Bach for fingerstyle and Joscho Stephan for flatpicking (I do love me some gypsy jazz!).

What music inspires you to reach for the guitar? This doesn't have to be some technical guitar wizardry, though there is a time and place for that. For the most part, I've grown to really prefer simple, beautiful melodies over a solid chord progression. If I hear something that moves me, I learn it from beginning to end until it's embedded in my memory.

I'd really love to hear from you all on these questions. 

[StringPicker6]

I just paid for an online course on the justinguitar.com website for solo acoustic blues. It's a good course, and I'd love to be able to play some lightning Hopkins style acoustic blues. That plus some British finger style music like Bert Jansch. Challenging stuff, but slow and steady wins the race.

[unclrob]

Because of nerve damage In my hands just getting to work I get about 19 min a day.Still fix'in guitars on my bench.A Stat,a Telly and a classical.

[B0WIE]

I'm building back endurance in my hands after rehabbing repetitive stress injuries last year. So, I'm not super focused on one thing. Each week I'm doing some acoustic, classical, electric, and uke. Mostly practicing licks to keep up various skills. Anything from the Message In A Bottle guitar line to Adelita to the Master of Puppets solo. Just a lot of things to exercise my hands and ears. Some finger style and some flat picked. Hoping things will calm down this year so I can get back to writing.

[Queequeg]

Fingerstyle. I was never very good with a flat pick.
(Strictly instrumental. No vocals.)

For exercise I play through Mister Sandman almost every day.

Recent pieces I have been working on:
Moonshadow
Fragile
Borsalino
Ripple
Up the Lazy River
Statesboro Blues/Shortnin' Bread

[BlueBowman]

I just paid for an online course on the justinguitar.com website for solo acoustic blues. It's a good course, and I'd love to be able to play some lightning Hopkins style acoustic blues. That plus some British finger style music like Bert Jansch. Challenging stuff, but slow and steady wins the race.

Commit and be efficient with your time, and you will definitely get there. I've been a bit of a day dream player lately, probably due to life events, but I'm trying to break that cycle by taking my own advice from the previous sentence! Hang in there.

Because of nerve damage In my hands just getting to work I get about 19 min a day.Still fix'in guitars on my bench.A Stat,a Telly and a classical.

A while back I suffered from similar injuries (see below) as Bowie, so you have my sympathies. I hope you can nudge that 19 minutes upward over time.

I've also gotten into doing a few repairs. Very gratifying, isn't it? It's given me more insight into how a well-made guitar might perform at its peak.

I'm building back endurance in my hands after rehabbing repetitive stress injuries last year. So, I'm not super focused on one thing. Each week I'm doing some acoustic, classical, electric, and uke. Mostly practicing licks to keep up various skills. Anything from the Message In A Bottle guitar line to Adelita to the Master of Puppets solo. Just a lot of things to exercise my hands and ears. Some finger style and some flat picked. Hoping things will calm down this year so I can get back to writing.

I dealt with a nasty case of forearm/wrist pain in both arms (tendonitis) a while back. Basically I was doing too much with my arms: boxing, wood working (building decks and carrying all the wood myself #idiot), and playing lots of fingerstyle guitar every day. I'm not 18 years old anymore, and my body STILL hasn't gotten the memo! However, I keep up my PT to this day. I'm sure you have a great program to follow, Bowie, but I found in the long run it was building strength (muscle) in both my forearms that finally rid me of the pain. I prevented a surgery in my left knee last year by using the same principle: I built muscle around the knee, and now I'm 99% pain free. Best of luck with it.

You seem to be all over the place musically, too. I think that's a good thing. Keeps things interesting, and most importantly keeps us inspired. And, yeah, get back to writing. I think it's the most important thing I do (certainly the most fulfilling). I've gotta get at least a minimal recording set up this year, so I can record and maybe share with you all some original music. I'd love some feedback. I don't play out as much as I used to, and I think being isolated in my musical bubble is unhealthy.

Fingerstyle. I was never very good with a flat pick.
(Strictly instrumental. No vocals.)

For exercise I play through Mister Sandman almost every day.

Recent pieces I have been working on:
Moonshadow
Fragile
Borsalino
Ripple
Up the Lazy River
Statesboro Blues/Shortnin' Bread

Fingerstyle instrumentals are my kind of music. Thanks for adding that list. I'm not familiar with some of those songs, but I'll check them out.

[William2]

Being retired, I probably have more time to play than many of you. I usually play 2 hours a day. This includes some technical work, concentrating on areas of piece I am working on, then just running through pieces I know if time permits. My current classical pieces include the Sor Studies, Brouwer Etudes Sencillos (1-9), and Villa lobos Preludes and Etudes. I like the American songbook standards and here I play arrangements by Laurindo Almeida, Barry Galbraith, and Chris Whiteman. I'm also looking at some Celtic arrangements by Lindsay Straw and Celtic Pieces arranged by David Russell from his Message from the Sea CD. And I've just started reading through some ragtime by Lasse Johansson. I've been fortunate not to have hand issues. But I do range of motion exercises which address tendinitis and trigger finger. I will say having played the lute for 30 years before returning to the guitar, the lute has kind of ruined my classical technique and I find it difficult to play without planting my pinky on the soundboard. But I'm working on it LOL.

[Silence Dogood]

Cool thread idea, BlueBowman! 

Like many here, I have vast musical interests, and if I'm not careful I'll lose what I know in one area by focusing too much on others. 

I keep a steady rotation of:
* songs I sing on acoustic
* old tunes (mostly Irish) on my mandolin
* jamming 80s music on my electric

Been focusing on playing faster on electric mostly of late.  But it all comes and goes and the focus is always shifting. 

[unclrob]

As for playing styles I've always concider my self a sideman so it depends on who I'm playing.Though I lean towards funk soul and motown.

[Riverbend]

I've been playing guitar for nearly 60 years (just turned 69), and with some periods of barely playing and some with almost daily practice. For the last few years, I try and play every day for at least 45-60 minutes. I have a standing monthly gig that's been absolutely great as a motivator, so I find myself drawn to not only practicing songs I've known for years, but also to something new as often as I can. Arthritis in my right hand has slowed my fingerstyle to the point where I'm spending a lot of time with a flat pick, something I'd done little of until the last few years. In light of that, I've been drawn to songs like Something Coming To Me by The Gibson Brothers, and Crossing Muddy Waters, by John Hyatt, and really enjoying the process of articulating with the pick. It helps that I also play a little mandolin, so the pick is not a complete stranger, although the approach between instruments I find to be more different than similar. Guy Clark's The Cape is another on the new list, the Dead's Ripple, as well as relearning the long forgotten Mr. Bojangles of Jerry Jeff fame. I've also really come to appreciate a tablet, and the apps Songbook Pro and Ultimate Guitar, though the list of music that somehow sticks in my memory banks is growing steadily.   

[BlueBowman]

Being retired, I probably have more time to play than many of you. I usually play 2 hours a day. This includes some technical work, concentrating on areas of piece I am working on, then just running through pieces I know if time permits. My current classical pieces include the Sor Studies, Brouwer Etudes Sencillos (1-9), and Villa lobos Preludes and Etudes. I like the American songbook standards and here I play arrangements by Laurindo Almeida, Barry Galbraith, and Chris Whiteman. I'm also looking at some Celtic arrangements by Lindsay Straw and Celtic Pieces arranged by David Russell from his Message from the Sea CD. And I've just started reading through some ragtime by Lasse Johansson. I've been fortunate not to have hand issues. But I do range of motion exercises which address tendinitis and trigger finger. I will say having played the lute for 30 years before returning to the guitar, the lute has kind of ruined my classical technique and I find it difficult to play without planting my pinky on the soundboard. But I'm working on it LOL.

Lotta good stuff there, William. I've had several fellow players suggest I check out the Sor studies. It's on my list. There's a few names that are new to me. I'll definitely check them out!

Cool thread idea, BlueBowman! 

Like many here, I have vast musical interests, and if I'm not careful I'll lose what I know in one area by focusing too much on others. 

I keep a steady rotation of:
* songs I sing on acoustic
* old tunes (mostly Irish) on my mandolin
* jamming 80s music on my electric

I spent many years playing the electric. I am so, so happy I don't have to lug that heavy Twin Reverb around anymore! If I do get back into electric guitar, I think I might lean into the hollow bodies. What electric guitar are you playing?

As for playing styles I've always concider my self a sideman so it depends on who I'm playing.Though I lean towards funk soul and motown.

I love it. That stuff is embedded deep within me. I should thank my pops for that. All he listened to was blues, funk, soul, and Motown.

I've been playing guitar for nearly 60 years (just turned 69), and with some periods of barely playing and some with almost daily practice. For the last few years, I try and play every day for at least 45-60 minutes. I have a standing monthly gig that's been absolutely great as a motivator, so I find myself drawn to not only practicing songs I've known for years, but also to something new as often as I can. Arthritis in my right hand has slowed my fingerstyle to the point where I'm spending a lot of time with a flat pick, something I'd done little of until the last few years. In light of that, I've been drawn to songs like Something Coming To Me by The Gibson Brothers, and Crossing Muddy Waters, by John Hyatt, and really enjoying the process of articulating with the pick. It helps that I also play a little mandolin, so the pick is not a complete stranger, although the approach between instruments I find to be more different than similar. Guy Clark's The Cape is another on the new list, the Dead's Ripple, as well as relearning the long forgotten Mr. Bojangles of Jerry Jeff fame. I've also really come to appreciate a tablet, and the apps Songbook Pro and Ultimate Guitar, though the list of music that somehow sticks in my memory banks is growing steadily.   

It would seem we all have a diverse list of music we like to play. Even more diverse than I imagined. And I'm very impressed by all the multi-instrumentalists on the forum. You all are a bit more adventurous than me. 

Scheduling a gig is a sure way of keeping motivated. I hope to get back to it later this year.

[Silence Dogood]

I spent many years playing the electric. I am so, so happy I don't have to lug that heavy Twin Reverb around anymore! If I do get back into electric guitar, I think I might lean into the hollow bodies. What electric guitar are you playing?

Yeah, lugging around a heavy amp is no fun.  I don't gig but only play at home, and almost always through headphones on my Boss Katana amp (it's not a fancy setup). 

As far as guitars go, I have a Jackson Dinky (two humbuckers) that is so much fun to play.  Being an 80s kid, I always loved these kinds of guitars.  I know to a lot of people they aren't very respectable, and they can even get laughed at (even the guys that played them back when I was a kid don't usually play them anymore) but I like it.  It's a lot of fun to play, and on the Katana's "brown" setting, it sounds killer.  I could never figure out how to make all that online tone-library stuff work; I just use the amp as-is. 

I also have a Guild Manhattan hollowbody.  It's a recent Korean model and not vintage.  Flawless build quality and just a really beautiful instrument.  I don't play it very much, but when I get in the mood for some reverb-soaked runs, it's perfect.   It looks like Guild has discontinued this model now.  These were being sold for around $1300 when they were on the market.  A couple years ago Sweetwater ran a blowout sale on them for $800 and I got one.  Absolutely killer guitar. 

[StringPicker6]

I always got overwhelmed by amps and pedals and dials on electric guitars. I don't consider myself an excellent player, and to start messing around with electrics got me into analysis paralysis. I absolutely love them, but I stopped trying to get into electric.

[BlueBowman]

Yeah, lugging around a heavy amp is no fun.  I don't gig but only play at home, and almost always through headphones on my Boss Katana amp (it's not a fancy setup). 

As far as guitars go, I have a Jackson Dinky (two humbuckers) that is so much fun to play.  Being an 80s kid, I always loved these kinds of guitars.  I know to a lot of people they aren't very respectable, and they can even get laughed at (even the guys that played them back when I was a kid don't usually play them anymore) but I like it.  It's a lot of fun to play, and on the Katana's "brown" setting, it sounds killer.  I could never figure out how to make all that online tone-library stuff work; I just use the amp as-is. 

I also have a Guild Manhattan hollowbody.  It's a recent Korean model and not vintage.  Flawless build quality and just a really beautiful instrument.  I don't play it very much, but when I get in the mood for some reverb-soaked runs, it's perfect.   It looks like Guild has discontinued this model now.  These were being sold for around $1300 when they were on the market.  A couple years ago Sweetwater ran a blowout sale on them for $800 and I got one.  Absolutely killer guitar. 

Cool hollow body. I think I'd like to go that route but maybe use P90s instead of humbuckers. I relish that cleaner tone. Eastman semi-hollow bodies also seem to get some respect.

I always got overwhelmed by amps and pedals and dials on electric guitars. I don't consider myself an excellent player, and to start messing around with electrics got me into analysis paralysis. I absolutely love them, but I stopped trying to get into electric.

I lived in that world for a long time, but I always tried to keep things as simple as the situation would allow. I think my pedal board was the busiest when I had a TC Flashback delay pedal, my Klon, a vintage Tube Screamer, and a volume pedal. But I was mostly playing funky blues with a little rock, so I could get a way with it. Speaking of simple, I think that's why I've gone all in on acoustic. Me and a guitar; skies the limit 

[Silence Dogood]

I always got overwhelmed by amps and pedals and dials on electric guitars. I don't consider myself an excellent player, and to start messing around with electrics got me into analysis paralysis. I absolutely love them, but I stopped trying to get into electric.

I know what you mean.  Back in the day when I was heavy into electrics I went nuts with pedals and gadgets, as well as lots of different guitars.  It's all very distracting.  I got rid of all that stuff and now just have the Katana and my two electrics (though like I said above, I hardly play the Guild).  I plug in, dial in some reverb/delay, and jam.  I'm sometimes tempted to get back into the tone-chase but I resist and just go back to jamming.  It's a lot of fun and it seems to do me good to play electric aggressively.  I always feel like I've had a workout when I'm done. 
 

[William2]

Lotta good stuff there, William. I've had several fellow players suggest I check out the Sor studies. It's on my list. There's a few names that are new to me. I'll definitely check them out!

Check out the Brouwer Etudes. I love their brevity and how they work on one technical aspect. I stopped at number 9 as the following etudes just seem to be more exercises on the same thing. Here is Lindasy Straw playing a few. Maybe she stopped at #9 for the same reason LOL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiuyv7TlNu4

[BlueBowman]

Lotta good stuff there, William. I've had several fellow players suggest I check out the Sor studies. It's on my list. There's a few names that are new to me. I'll definitely check them out!

Check out the Brouwer Etudes. I love their brevity and how they work on one technical aspect. I stopped at number 9 as the following etudes just seem to be more exercises on the same thing. Here is Lindasy Straw playing a few. Maybe she stopped at #9 for the same reason LOL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiuyv7TlNu4

Will do. Her Brondel sounds heavenly.

[Myopic Squirrel]

Great question BB! Very impressive reading the range & scope of the posters.

As a permanent beginner my playing is a mixture:

- basic finger exercises (spider walk & scales) and major key chord progressions in an effort to mitigate the tremors. Have good days and better days, sometimes playing 1 1/2 hours.

- favorites of Allman Bros, Bob Seger, Dead, John Denver, CCR, Eagles, Dylan, Springsteen et al & folk songs. 

- and noodling. Love just experimenting with chords & triads up the neck. 

Until the Larrivees, I never "got lost" (experienced "flow") in a guitar - where there is no sense of time and it's just notes or chords or music. YMMV but for me the sounds of a "better" guitar made all the difference.

[unclrob]

In my electric gigging years I think i own every peddle made since the seventies,never had a peddle board just a bunch of wire,Owned a bunch of elctrics but I'm a tele guy.

[StringPicker6]

I love telecasters. The headstock looks so cool!