Monday, July 14, 2008

Guitar : definitely not my cup of tea!!

I have been a music lover since childhood. Over the years I have come across a good many number of musical instruments and loved all of them. But the instrument which fascinated me the most was the Guitar. It has always been my childhood dream someday learn to play a guitar like a rock star. People say learning to play guitar is difficult and easy at the same time. In my last vacation I thought of doing something about it, atleast initiate this learning process...so as a beginner I took an acoustic guitar.

I still remember what it felt like when I was first learning guitar...majorly frustrated, did'nt expect it to go this way. It requires lot of finger strength, stamina and patience..well requires tonnes of it...seriously. Its not that easy as I thought it would be - big time misconception.

You need to practice it daily (5 out of 7 days minimum) for at least an hour. If you want to learn quickly, you must force-feed your brain with guitar. This entails learning how to have a good ear for changes in sound/pitch/intonation, comfortably positioning your body (including leg, back, shoulder and arm positions), strum-hand coordination and technique, etc..etc..Pressing down on the strings harder will be painful, and will make your fingers hurt.

I actually tried my best to fulfill all the requirements but the major reason for my failure was in the practice department, I was unable to fulfil this because of the tight academia. Practice makes perfect isn't just some old wives' tale. Well another reason is bit unusual but pretty true in my case.

I always have had problems with constant breaking guitar strings which makes me go infuriated. They say it is actually attributed to my playing style, simply playing too hard on my guitar strings. Whatever!! Mostly after finishng college I'll again switch back to guitar and try to achieve what I longed for!!


44 comments:

Anish said...

Sigh..
Thanks for revealing it is so tough.. I was thinking of going for it too this summer.. cudn't do that.. :-(

Now I dnt feel that bad about it.. :-)

Unknown said...

hehe..dude it is tought, nothing is easy in this world!! But if u hav trust, committment and confidence in urself, definitely u can learn anything..even a guitar can be mastered >>

Roger DJ said...

Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. I glad you enjoyed the video. I enjoyed visiting yours. Your illustrations are great and really compliment the posts.

Tarun said...

bindas ..

alx said...

yeah Anurag
it's really tuf until its mastered
i can relate so well since my room mate s a guitar freak n always has some sweet tunes cumin out of it.E1 i wanted 2 learn n perform in d college which im sure s not to be

well narrated

md said...

okay!!! I am a singer....i too wanted to master an instrument at least... yet to man... May be some day i will.... and continue with ur efforts to learn guitar......

Unknown said...

@ tarun, alex and varuna

thanx, hope i'll master it someday!!

Vibhore Gupta said...

must say... u hav a talent in u and the best part is u kne abt it... awesum cartoons.... and as far as learning guitar goes... i hav also drowned in the same sea

Unknown said...

thanx vibhore!!

Malady said...

Anurag,
I love the way your pictures depict the foreground vs. background. very cool!

Sukanya said...

hey!! first time at ur blog..
have to say.. lovely sketchings!!

abt guitar.. yea its realy diff.. my finger tips were cut trying to hold down the strings!!
n i luv long nails.. i hv to kp'em chopped fr the guitar..

kp postin.. will b bk fr more sketches :)

Unknown said...

thanx malady for commenting over the focus blur effect!!

Unknown said...

thanx knatchbulley and hope to see u back at my blog-space>>

Chronicler said...

samehere wanted to learn guitar and play like a rockstar..but only if wishes had wings pigs would fly... life just keeps you busy... :)

Zatil said...

Yea, learning to play the guitar is not easy as I thought it would be..I simply do not have the patience. That's the only prob I have, I guess..

Holly said...

Thank you for visiting my blog.

I must say, you have a brilliant talent for drawing, you'll make a wonderful architect :)

As for the guitar, I took it up so many times. I had my guitar outside in the shed for a period as I was working in another town and living in town mostly and didn't have much space in my room where the shed was. My calf Clancy (he's no longer a calf, this was years ago) decided to chew big chunks out of my guitar and alas it's no more.

I used to play Clarinet and Alto Clarinet. I sing, I dance, I love music to bits. I really should get back into it again.

Kudos to you mate, I'll be reading.

Unknown said...

thnx for visiting my blog mate!!

Rob Nixon said...

Are you going to school in India as well as from there?

Cool Blog and thanks for hitting mine up man!

Rob

Nick said...

Hey it's Nick from Nick's Movie Reviews. I saw you posted a comment on my blog and I thought I'd return the favor. Guitar has never been my strong suit either. I tried learning to play but I didn't have the patience. Neither did my friend who was teaching me. I hope you'll return to my blog frequently, and I will stop by yours as often as I can. Tell your friends about me and I'll tell mine.

Unknown said...

@ nick..
Ya u wrote a post about hellboy-2, how could i jus' ignore that...n ya neither did I got that patience!! lol!!

sylleia said...

I think the best way to learn guitar is willingly, but laid-back. I've been playing since I was 13, without any formal training or rigorous practice schedule. I looked up some tabs for my favorite songs, and strummed away.
But there's absolutely nothing wrong with a strict, rigorous riff workout! haha ;3

By the way, I looove your sketches! They're awesomely cute. :3

Unknown said...

hey thanx>>

Pranay said...

hehe.. its not that tough yaar..
yes it needs a bit of patience..
m a beginner myself..
u'll get a hang of it soon.. initially it takes a toll on u.. and never mind those fingers.. they'll adapt to it..
and heyy.. the illustrations are simply mindblowing yaar!!! i thnk m blogrolling ya... m amazed.. really..
u are already an artist!

peter said...

um also a big music lover ...but when it comes to guitar ..i think my fingers are too soft ....(he he)

though i prefer being a vocalist but definitely one day i wud learn it and play it .....

1st ever guitar i hold in my hand was a Hawaiian when i was jus 3-4 yrs old ..my father had bought it ....and since then i see it hangin on the wall ...though my father learned it ..i never gave a try ...i always wanted to play electric one ....and i think i wud in near future ..



plz do gimme some feed back on my blog tooo


www.peter-blogvibes.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

thanx pranay>>

ARZ KIYA HAI said...

haha. many ppl start and get frustrated and leave.hope u carry on :)

Alisha said...

guitar guitar.. lol...
i sing well.. n thts my career and passion combined............. but... guitar... nopsh... dnt even knw how to hold it properly...lol

Anurag said...

Hi there .I am your namesake ...hehe..dude I love your template .love the way it's written anurag at the top and the sign at the end .....guess doing 2-d animatics really helped ..eh ?

Unknown said...

thanx anurag!! I guess it better I answer to ur question on ur blog!!

Comfortably Numb said...

a boy: the guitar :: A music lover: I was kurt cobain

Cheers!

Ashutosh said...

Good one!

Barkswell said...

Hi ~

Thanks for visiting my blog - I am so new to this that it is very special when someone comments. I see you are new to it, too. Don't give up on the guitar - and don't give up on your blog - it is very entertaining and gave me a view from a different part of the world. I thank you for that especially.

Unknown said...

U r most welcome barkswell!!

Anonymous said...

On the contrary, I think all you need is a passion for guitars. My brothers are freak of them they have base, acoustic, semi acoustic and electric, all of them. they started off after metric (class 10) now they've just gotten themselves in engineering univ. ans they play awesome :) so its not about a rigorous practice, its about consistency and passion of it, the the practice sessions will drive fun, No? why strictly 1 hour? you can take 10 minutes just to refresh yourself and make your fingers familiar with the strings.

another point, why using fingers? my brothers always used Pluck, a hard cardboard flat piece in triangular shape, of one inch side lengths (I forgot what it was called) and use it to play :)

I have something telling me that you will play well one day :)
Keep trying
keep writing

best of luck.


And thankyou for your comment on my blog :)

asbah.

Ash D said...

Dude ur drawings are cool!!!!!!!!!

Unknown said...

@asbah,
thanx for sharing ur thoughts...from the next time whenever i sit with the guitar , definitely will keep in mind whatever u said...

Anonymous said...

i can totally relate to this. i even bought a 5k guitar...but now its covered in cobwebs...

The Lover

http://soulintoxicated.blogspot.com/

Kris Sab said...

A good post man...In my child hood days, I wanted to become a great violinist..Bought a new violin as well..but with in a week, realized that it was not that easy to learn.. So dropped my idea to become VIOLINIST...

Ur drawings are also really nice :)

Unknown said...

thanx kris...nice to hear from u!!!!

Anonymous said...

I know how that feels...My guitar is under my bed!!! :( It really requires patience ..Unfortunately, I have none!

CRD said...

what u said is very true man. requires a lot of patience. my sis learnt it,on her own tht too..

i tried my best..even bought a book. lost interest very soon :(

still imagine myself playin like a rockstar though :P

anusha said...

even i wanted to learn it .bt didnt even have the courage to ask my parents for it due to my tight acamedia! now learning tht its difficult i shall postpone it to a few more yrs!!

Angel said...

sure buddy u will get it !
By the way awesome header image.

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