For anyone wanting to learn to play guitar or in the process of learning guitar.
I'm Wesley Rose, guitarist and bass player extrordinaire! I've been playing guitar since 2004 and even though I took a few years of leassons, I am mostly self taught, in that I figured almost everything I needed to myself. I thought I'd share my knowledge with the world. I'm not going to be your teacher and tab out everything for you and tell you exactly what to play and how to play it (Besides, I don't have guitar pro), but I will give you some cool tips and advice. Any other questions, I may answer in a later blog!
Here's some basic advice for people wanting to play guitar. Before you get started, remember:
1) Playing guitar will not guarantee you a girlfriend. Right now, the girls are mostly into hip hop, country, folk, and dubstep/techno/house. They may come around if you're an all around nice guy and maybe playing guitar will make you more open and confident, and maybe they will even like how you play (She's a keeper... just kidding). Also, don't write a song about a specific girl if you don't want it to come back and haunt you later. If it sells somewhere down the line and makes your band popular, that's fantastic, but if it doesn't, it could cause some turmoil.
2) Playing guitar will not guarantee you popularity. Once again, hip hop, pop, and dubstep/house/techno are what's popular. If people look beyond musical differences and like you for you, those are true friends. If they like the same music as you and share similar interests in other things as well, but they think you're an asshole, that's too bad for them (If they like your music, have the same interests, and like you for you, they're keepers!). I'm a lot less popular than some, but more so than others, and I find University and Adulthood is less of a popularity contest. Once you start judging others for the colour of their skin, their clothes, their hair, their music, or their religious beliefs, you alienate people, though it can be hard not to.
3) Playing guitar will not guarantee you a band. You might think you're hot stuff early on because you can play some licks, but being in a band requires knowledge of rhythm, melody, and chordal harmony (very basic theory) to become part of a cohesive group and make competent music. It also requires you to get along with your bandmates and follow their vision, or maybe they're open to suggestion and will play one of your songs or create a song out of one of your riffs.
4) Being in a band will not guarantee gigs. I got very lucky with Whiskey Rose. They seemed very incompetent at first and I knew nothing about bass at the time, but I listened closely, followed the chord changes and rhythms and everyone was impressed, then at our first show at a wedding, when we were unsure about when to go on and just threw our amps and drum kit in the middle of the hall, we had somewhat of an idea of what we were doing. That said, we only jammed twice before and we weren't very good, but it was a learning experience. By the time we got our first real gig at DV8, we really rocked. In order to get gigs, you must be very assertive, you must practice until you sound really cohesive and always be in touch with the bar promoters to make sure you get booked.
5) Playing gigs will not guarantee you money. I'm currently broke after jamming and gigging almost weekly. All the money we made from gigs has went to either keeping our favourite bar open or towards renting jam space, making t-shirts, and now pressing a demo. Once you sound great and build a fanbase, more people will be coming to the show, thus, you will see more money. Once you start selling t-shirts and stickers and patches and demos and whatever else, you may have to invest into getting them made, but eventually you'll start seeing even more money.
6) Musical ability will not guarantee you a job. Getting a job and keeping it takes MUCH patience, quick learning and thinking, lots of knowledge and skill, a good resume, a good first impression, or all of the above. Most likely, you will also be hired based on experience as well. Let's say you want to work at a music store. Do you have any retail experience? How well can you handle the pressure? I'm assuming you know a lot about guitars and music? Other musical instruments? Did you look like a street urchin when you walked in the door? What does your resume say about you? What life experience can you apply to working?
7) Just because you have been playing a musical instrument for a while does not make you smart enough for university. If you're willing to handle all the classes and study and put effort into your schoolwork whenever possible, do it. A degree is worth a lot! However, if you can't handle the class workload and you'd rather work at your job and make some money little by little and work your way up, that's fine too.
8) Always have a fallback. Being a musician has worked out for many. By putting effort into it, they've earned all the money and fame and perks they desire. However, many have put all their effort into the music and are only popular on Youtube or Myspace or Reverbnation or whatnot, or they may be still playing the club circuit and aren't quite making a living that way. In that case you could either wait for the opportune moment to get a record deal, or make your living from your day job. Gig money could always go to your guitar or amp collection and the rest can go to rent, bills, food, taxes, and entertainment. Savings are important as well.
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