Frustrations Of The Frustrated Guitarist

Frustrated guitarists. How many there are. How many I've met, and played with. How many I've taught.

It's a shame, especially when it involves that most wonderful instrument of all, the guitar. The most common instrument in our culture. The one you can sling over your shoulder without a case. The one that can be strummed with your thumb, picked with a bread tab or a dime, finger picked (with finger picks - or not). The one that can be played as quiet as a mouse or as loud as a jumbo jet. The one that can sing, whine, roar, or tinkle. The one that can be chorded and melodied at the same time. The one so many get frustrated with and leave in the case.

It's a shame. It happens too much. It nearly happened to me. But I found a way to play guitar. I got good enough to go onstage with it. I even got good enough to front a band with it. I got good enough on guitar to show others how to play. But what a journey it was and continues to be.

My first exposure to guitar was when I was about eight years old. My older brother pestered our parents into submission. He talked them into getting him an acoustic guitar, with no case, and he used a bread tab to play it.

He stunk.

In fact, he got nowhere with it. So I gave it a try.

I stunk too, worse than my brother.

But I persisted and made maddeningly slow progress, to the point where I learned about five chords. I figured out about three pages of our EZ Book of Guitar. I was in my teens by now. The learning curve was a bit slow.

Later in my teens, I had developed a somewhat accomplished musical background, having played horns (trumpet, trombone and baritone) through elementary and high school. A chance to play in a paying situation steered me towards bass guitar. I picked that up reasonably easily. I got the paying gig.

Still, success on guitar, my first love and ambition, evaded me. By my twenties, I had barely progressed beyond those five chords and three pages. But, I thought to myself, how can this be? Here I am, a horn player, bassist, even a passable vocalist, and I can't get anywhere with the world's most popular instrument (and the one that gets the chicks!). I was determined to make this happen. So I started reading and researching, mostly guitar magazines. I discovered in every one, in every issue, they brought up the topic of alternate tuning, in some form or other. I was intrigued. I had a vague knowledge this existed, but never paid it any mind, thinking, if anything, it would make learning guitar even harder. After all, the EZ Guitar Method never mentioned it. But here it was, and what an impressive list of names was being bandied about - Jimmy Page, Ry Cooder, Joni Mitchell, Elmore James, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson. This alternate tuning thing seemed to reach back a ways. I became even more intrigued.

Several tunings caught my interest. I began to experiment with them. Right off the bat, it became clear that some tunings definitely made the guitar sound more. musical, at first strum, anyway. That is, those open tunings seemed to ring nicely. Reading and re-tuning, reading and re-tuning, I got to know a few of these alternate tunings (though I still could play hardly anything). The one that was easiest, I concluded, was open-D. Finally, I felt, I found I way I could actually learn to play guitar. The transition from standard tuning E A D G B E, was easy enough, to D A D F# A D. Playing chords suddenly became easier. Gone were the multiple finger positions I'd been struggling with, on just the simplest bottom position chords. Here was a major chord I could play, up and down the neck of my guitar, with just one finger. I went to work on open-D tuning with renewed vigor.

I didn't get "good" overnight. I don't think I'm that "good" a guitar player to this day. But - I got good enough to play guitar. Isn't that what a lot of people want? Not to be a wizard, or a star, or a god. Just to be able to play some guitar.

That's what I got out of open-D tuning. The fact that I could play anything at all was the confidence boost that kept me going, to a greater degree of competence. The "getting going" part is what I'm convinced frustrates so many aspiring guitarists. Age, by the way, is irrelevant. I've had students of all ages who would just love to "get going" on guitar. I found a way to do it, even after being frustrated.

Thanks again!
Frank

Comments

[01chardw]

well....no

[Exius]

wtf?

[adamsharpe]

stupid and pointless

[local_hippy]

bad writing..point was a lil good to explain but bad writing.

[Nicolaim]

that is probably the most shitty lesson i have ever read...

[dragoon_mage2]

i gained absolutely nothing from that what so ever.....i thought this was going to actually be a good read.....was i wrong

[Klara]

???? this is sooooo pointless

[##_Guitar-newb]

hmm, its not that bad....if your frustrated it shows you Shouldnt just give up and find other ways on the instrument to intrigue you!

[dimebag7]

Yeah honestly i doutb anyoone wants to hear about this, how is this a lesson?

[phoenix_88]

it's in the guest column section....

doesn't HAVE to be a lesson now does it.
however it is slighty a life lesson into not giving up and if one thing doesn't work... try something else.

[meyer914]

a touching story. That being said, I didn't get anything useful from it.

[Metalhead_Jams]

seems like you just found a shortcut. Can you get any variety with that kind of tuning?

[Craigo]

That was brillant! I've always, always wanted a auto-biography on a unregistered user who I don't know.

Fucking fantastic. Two Stars.

[kevinm4435]

State your main point at the end of your article. There were also several noticable typos.

[apparition]

I thought that was a good article.

Metal Head- yep lots of people use open D : Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, The Teaparty to name a few. open tunings are awesome. Its not just limited to chords you have new open strings you can incorporate into your leads. Open strings always sound better than fretted ones.

Everyone thats trashing this article: He states at the bottom that he intention wasn't to become a wizard/god/star so why would he be trying to train one ? I thinks it was a good article for people in a rut/frustrated or just looking for new sounds.

Great Job Frank I'm glad you found a way to enjoy playing guitar. (so many people just give up like you said)

[NowTheWorld]

The redundancy of the title frustrates me to... frustration =P
Kinda pointless article. Basically, you're saying that if you aren't motivated to play guitar... then take the easy way out by playing major chords in an open tuning?
At that point, why not just powerchord your way back onto the guitar?
Besides, different people have different ways of being motivated. You completely ignored WHY people should be motivated (unless you count the "sex appeal" of guitar).

[our band rules]

I've gotta say, the articles okay but you do say you wouldn't even call yourself good at guitar although you claim to have to taught people and had students. This would seem off putting to me, as to progress to a certain level i would like to have at least a good guitar teacher.

[Metallica708]

hmm.... interesting and all... but what was the point in it all?

[#1 Guitarist]

in one word.....TERRIBLE

[Rosencrantz]

Slightly pointless but still interesting

\M/

[tanman]

Congratulations on finding the easy way out. One finger chords produce immediate results, whereas chords in E tuning (and other tunings for that matter) ask you to move up to four fingers independently and simultaneously. This exemplifies a huge problem in North American society. There is a way to do something which requires a bit of time and determination, consequently being a much more gratifying process to complete. Or you can just crap out and do what works without any effort.

My point: When will people begin to push themselves? Progression is vital, yet to so many it is unattainable because so many are so lazy.

[AWguitar]

I'm sorry but that was just an utter waste of my time.

[SethMegadefan]

Good for a story. Bad for a column. I was honestly interested, but overall it doesn't work very well for a column. I thought you would offer several motivational suggestions. But it was just from your personal experience alone, so it was kinda lame. Like I said, not a bad story, but I don't think it works as a column. Most people probably won't learn too much from it. 5 stars

[trepkos]

I found it in intriging, it is a lession because it means you gotta keep looking for an answer to your problem, in this case it is a different tuning.

[X.Y.U]

THIS IS STUPID!!!
YOUR SAYING THAT WE WILL LEARN GUITAR BY GOING TO OPEN D?!?!?! WTF!!!

[DaveGilmour1189]

kinda a roundabout way of telling us to play in alternate tuning

[Pyro128]

Damn, Open D, that's the secret to success all along. When you're too damn stupid to learn a G Major chord, just tune to Open D and you'll soon be playing with the best of the best. I'm sure Simple Plan could use another guitarist.

[thetearsibleed]

wow person who wrote this article, wanna cookie? honestly we're all so damn proud of u, almost giving up like that, well u know what, go bak to ur damn trumpet and "passable" singing

[Rivers]

Pyro128 :
Damn, Open D, that's the secret to success all along. When you're too damn stupid to learn a G Major chord, just tune to Open D and you'll soon be playing with the best of the best. I'm sure Simple Plan could use another guitarist.

Lol preach it brotha!

[Kenkthulhu]

Here's a tip: write your article off-line and get someone to look at it before you post it. Save us all the trouble of doing that for you.
I didn't even know what "open D" is until I read the article (thanks for that), but you could have said it in one line. Instead, the underlying tone of your article seems to be "Don't try this at home, kids."
Another tip: name dropping does not add to an article; it detracts. I am sure great guitarists did not start on open D. And BTW I am getting pretty sick of articles that throw in Hendrix, Page, Young, van Halen, etc. in an effort to justify the author's comments.
So to everyone, just wait for my article for frustrated players "All Up Strokes: the only way is up baby!"

[Cleared]

YES!!! I will now throw away all my theory books, sue my music teacher, learn one finger chords, and bag some chicks. BTW, which finger do you use?

[skateguitar7654]

Oh yeah now that was great. Real genius. Who wouldve that of something as philosophical as open d tuning?
Oh gee, that was real swell. Great job Frank. Wow. Im so motivated to pick up my guitar now. Im a lot less frustrated.

WTF? This guy probably refers to a gig as a little concert for a bunch of five year old. Frontman of a band. HA!

[Mad_Gouki]

plenty of successful bands use alternative tunings, and hell, its true it is easier to play in alternative tunings, but honestly i dont see how it would really help you improve, it just allows you to avoid learning chord fingerings, which are important, and all of those guitar gods who played in alternate tunings im sure knew all of the barre and open chords, and probably a lot youve never heard of

[greece_lightnin]

you hear that kids! the key to the guitar is one-finger chords. it's bad he is writing this, but he also teaches it to aspiring guitar students? that is just bad

[greece_lightnin]

you hear that? the key to playing guitar is the one-finger chord. its bad enough he is mocking the style and skill of guitar but he is also teaching this!

[mcrasher]

this was ok i started when i was eight and by the sound of how far i got before i decided to stop reading is dont give up but im 12 and i sound better than you lol well keep workin on it man i just did a live performance reeeeally awsome dude pretty ok artical though

[HelpMeImHungry]

all this article says to me is "i was kind of too lazy to work through the first days and learn to sound good, so then i just retuned my guitar so i could play it with one finger."

[s/ash]

open d is a cheater way to play guitar. learn the real way or don't play at all!

[zeppelin420]

go to hell frank

[ZoSoII_13]

Guys i think you missed his point. He used it as a starting ground to build himself into a more competent player. He obviously doesnt do this now. He used it as a confidence boost so he could motivate himself to play. Besides, I think he has the right idea, using alternate tunings to keep a person interested.

[idontcare0606]

ok dude open string way to easy u might be able to impress a 2 year old wit tat no offence but i did open once in my life an it sucked ass cause it was to easy nothin ever comes ez in life tats y i rock this lil town now /m/

[Nybb]

I don't get it. You had an interesting story going and all of it sudden it just ended. And it ended before you really got any kind of point across. I have a feeling that this would have been great if you had kept going and established some kind of moral or something.

[jamstation]

tanman wrote:

Congratulations on finding the easy way out. One finger chords produce immediate results, whereas chords in E tuning (and other tunings for that matter) ask you to move up to four fingers independently and simultaneously. This exemplifies a huge problem in North American society. There is a way to do something which requires a bit of time and determination, consequently being a much more gratifying process to complete. Or you can just crap out and do what works without any effort.

My point: When will people begin to push themselves? Progression is vital, yet to so many it is unattainable because so many are so lazy.

nice one tanman

[MelodicEntity]

**crickets chirping**

[jhoule]

MelodicEntity wrote:

**crickets chirping**

Yeah I'm sorry but this is plain lame. What happened here?

[Broken-pick]

boo!guitar frustration happens to everyone!i think you're only 12

[PLUCK]

stfu he shared an interestin guitar experience, I liked it.

[maxter0]

hahahaha

[henza_x]

great story about ur life..
now why dont you like..end it..

[paul_wilson]

Tanman, stfu. Its a article on a way he found to get intrest in the guatar when he couldnt quite play it normally, why is it that you assume he's North American? And why is it that you have to sing Americans out? Is it impossible for other peoples to do what you said?

By the way, im Australian not Amerian so im not biast.

[MetalNick]

So aussies play the Guatar?

This article, as it likes to be referred to, made me feel good. i've not been playing since i was 8 and now in my twenties, i've only been playing 2 years now. I only play one finger chords in songs i must to be accturate. BTW, the name is wrong to. It should be 'how open D tuning saved my life'. Because i only got frustrated because of this half arsed title.

[john446]

I had a comment but I think everyone else covered, so ditto.

[local_hippy]

Well People its an ARTICLE not a lesson or something

[Atreideslegend]

this should be a thread not an article

[fluidtrailstar]

so you found that different tunings make playing the guitar a bit different!?!?! this guy must have been stoned of his tits when he wrote this! what a fool!

[Hangar_18]

this article was supposed to be about frustrated guitarists but it just ended up being about how "good" this guy got

waste of writing

[Hotfox_07]

Wow.....That was a lot dumber than I thought it would be...the whole thing was a waste of time. "Frustrations of a frustrated guitarist?" All I got out of that was the fact that some guy wanted to tell us about his life and how great the open D tuning is. True, there are advantages to using open tunings, but it limits you. This was horribly stupid. I feel like either jumping off a cliff or overdosing on Tylenol....Either one would kill the headache that I have now that I've read this.

[pentagram_man63]

Some interesting points but fairly misleading. You cant just open tune your way to being 'good' at guitar.

[grunger1805]

i want the ten minutes of reading your dumbass article and the following lambsting comments on said article back

[dannay]

you people are heartless, what's wrong with you? 3/4 of this website is pointless, thats why i enjoy it. give the poor man a break

[guitarslayer79]

you didnt even tell the weak how to do it.you just talked about yourself the whole time.

[matchbox]

dannay wrote:

you people are heartless, what's wrong with you? 3/4 of this website is pointless, thats why i enjoy it. give the poor man a break

i agree with dannay. the guy didn't have to say anything if he didn't want to but he did anyway. and besides the site admins obviously thought it was worth posting or else they would have just ignored it. how would you like it if you told practically the entire world something and they all just spat in your face? Ignorant bastards. learn a little compassion.

[matchbox]

dannay wrote:

you people are heartless, what's wrong with you? 3/4 of this website is pointless, thats why i enjoy it. give the poor man a break

i agree with dannay. the guy didn't have to say anything if he didn't want to but he did anyway. and besides the site admins obviously thought it was worth posting or else they would have just ignored it. how would you like it if you told practically the entire world something and they all just spat in your face? Ignorant bastards. learn a little compassion.

[ironwill]

nice moral lesson...never give up...lack of technical lessons,though...thanks anyway...

[The Fiddler]

It's a partial biography that the author hoped to inspire people with...give him a break...

[WrappedInCold]

I THINK THE BIOGRAPHY IS A LIE, HE'S PROBABLY A MEMBER TOO EMBARRASED TO USE HIS OWN TO NAME TO SUBMIT A PRETTY WACK ARTICLE

THANKS FOR MINIMAL EFFORT UNREGISTERD

sry for the caps, i wanted people to read that cuz i too crave attention...

[GuitarGodJames]

tanman wrote:

Congratulations on finding the easy way out. One finger chords produce immediate results, whereas chords in E tuning (and other tunings for that matter) ask you to move up to four fingers independently and simultaneously. This exemplifies a huge problem in North American society. There is a way to do something which requires a bit of time and determination, consequently being a much more gratifying process to complete. Or you can just crap out and do what works without any effort.

My point: When will people begin to push themselves? Progression is vital, yet to so many it is unattainable because so many are so lazy.

i see your point, but what the hell does it have to do with North American society?

[toha33]

I like it a lot, you people are being harsh on the person and that's horrible.

[<GibSoNmasTeR>]

Any retard who needs to read this shouldnt be on this website

[EpiSG-PeAVey]

MetalNick :
So aussies play the Guatar?

Ever Heard Of Keith Urban? and its Guitar*

this article was interesting. it was probably to inspire people who get pissed at standard tuning and the chords are too difficult for them. hes showing them another way to do things.

[BrokenDstring]

its a life lesson, more or less lacking anything of how to play the guitar but still a good message especially for any younger readers.....

[RustyGold]

The best way to play guitar is behind your back. *_*

That's how relevant this thread was.

[RustyGold]

The best way to play guitar is behind your back. *_*

That's how relevant this thread was.

[hellblazer_666]

Wow!! you couldn't learn more than five chords and three pages of an EZ guitar book... that is the suckiest thing I've ever heard. And you teach people? What the hell do you teach them?

[IlIk2plygUItAr]

You write really choppy. Like this. It gets annoying. Try longer sentances. More than three words. Good article. I liked it.

[Ash_Lawrence]

Can I have my 5 minutes back :/

[AestheticGuitar]

I like alternate tunings. Yay for Sonic Youth! hah

[Fcrunner1337]

,.|.. >.< ..|.,

[(sic)kid]

I didn't learn anything, and nothing interesting was remarked... Kind of a waste of space, really. Doesn't do much to help the frustrated guitarists out there.

[SteveHouse]

Fcrunner1337 wrote:

,.|.. >.< ..|.,

GOD DANG IT! I WAS ABOUT TO DO THAT, YOU NOB!
whateva, i second this guy.

[The UG Squirrel]

This technique doesn't work. But, whatever floats your boat...

[GrungeMonkey]

thats just stupid.

[eskim_manel]

.|....wtf? it's just stupid

[Mr. Clean]

Almost every guest column is like this ( -_- )

[BrokenDstring]

\m/(>_

[theonlybman]

Wow all of you shut the hell up. This was a great article about a guy that struggled so much with the guitar, but still defeated his frustration and worked through his struggle. But most of you are so ignoratnt that unless a guest column is telling you how to finger pick it's not worth reading. This is a much more valuable lesson than learning how to finger pick, it's about learning how to deal with frustration and keep progressing when it seems pretty hopeless.

[billhook]

yea.....same here i agree with u drop d taught me alot

[Craigo]

theonlybman :
Wow all of you shut the hell up. This was a great article about a guy that struggled so much with the guitar, but still defeated his frustration and worked through his struggle. But most of you are so ignoratnt that unless a guest column is telling you how to finger pick it's not worth reading. This is a much more valuable lesson than learning how to finger pick, it's about learning how to deal with frustration and keep progressing when it seems pretty hopeless.
POSTED: 03/04/2006 - 12:26 pm / quote |

I disagree. I think it was a article which had some thought - but held no conclusion or advice - two vital things needed in every article like these.

1 Star for doing it. 2 Star for the slight effort but ignoring everything else needed.

[GiantRaven]

The real irony is that it require more skill and effort to actually tune to an open D

[wallyyfm]

this might be the WORST SUGGESTION

[Metalology]

Craigo wrote:

That was brillant! I've always, always wanted a auto-biography on a unregistered user who I don't know.

Fucking fantastic. Two Stars.

lol

[xX Maverick Xx]

Yeah but if thats the only way u play guitar, ull get bored with it. The auto-biography was unnecesarry though.

If you dont believe hes a guitarist for a band, well theres people like the guitarist for Linkin Park that suck worse than this guy, and they make millions, which bugs the shit outta me

[matttt]

wow this shows the hard work of a man to learn guitar and going against the frustration. after about ten years of starting he finally managed to play guitar and why dont you just practice like everyone else does
and cope with your frustration. you sound like one of these people who tries a bit of guitar, stops and picks up bass instead because guitar was too hard for them and bass guitar doesnt use chords that much, if at all.(correct me if im wrong about the bass bit, im a person who plays more guitar than bass)sorry man but all the great guitarists probably didnt learn to play guitar after about ten years

[SP_NIRVANA]

As a bassist and a little bit of a electric guitarist myself, I find this article inspiring.

[Ampeg J]

I will gladly correct you on the "Bass Bit".

It is easier to start out on, no doubt, but it all depends upon your goals with the instrument.

I see no need to point out the many Bassists that could prove my point.

I am a natural Bassist, it was my first instrument and in my mind the only one that matters.

I did however, learn gutiar well enough to help with my songwriting, and 4-tracking.

As was pointed out before on this thread, alternate tuning is used by Keith Richards, and hell, he only used 5 strings. That's a fairly competent player too.

Don't be so quick to judge. I don't care HOW a guy gets from point A to point B if he does it ON TIME and ON KEY.

[OverInfluenced]

Truly lifechanging, I think that anyone playing for more than a year has already experimented with different tunings...

[rayIII]

Rosencrantz wrote:

Slightly pointless but still interesting

\M/

yup.... and i was able to play solos after 6 months... wtf dude?

[black_sabbath85]

The worst articel ive ever read!
You should go to grade 1 and start over.

[idontreallyknow]

thankyou for informing us that you suck and tune differently

[robin89]

im just beginning to learn guitar, but i wont continue if it turns me into an over critical up-my-own-ass self important snob.
the point of this article wasnt to teach you how to do specific things, it was just to offer beginners or 'frustrated' guitarists hope that you can get into guitar eventually, and he backed this up with his own experience.
whats the point in a tab website if you are all so ****ing amazing anyway? so you can all brag about how great you are 'i was soloing after 6 months'. go you. have a gold star yourself.

[ace_lester]

Ano toh?? MAALAALA MO KAYA??? hehe..nyc story.. But i thought i could learn something out of this..Too bad you need to evolve in a hard way.. Anyways keep up the good work.. Playing a guitar is not that hard..Its fun and easy..Dont get discouraged so easily.. \m/

[Vapress]

Yeah we all learnt a lesson from this. FRUSTRATION!!! Aren't you all frustrated after reading this article? That is the feeling all get when we started learning guitar and handling hard chords or scales. I think this may be what the author is trying to tell us.

[slow.hands]

It's ok i guess as something to read and be entertained with, but as a lesson.. i dont think it works that well.. but anyway i like reading it.

[0012@theCIA]

you just wasted 4 min. of my life, thanks a lot 1 fricking star.

[Alex S.]

I don't get it....whats the point of this again? To tell us your story of how you came upon the guitar. I don't think anybody really cares

[thsarge]

Kill me.....

[Eric 666]

guys just leave him the **** alone alright, jesus all you guys ever do is criticize people, this article is an inspiration to people.

[Muse-addict]

So, what did we learn? If you stink hard enough to anoy even yourself, try to tune the guitar so that even a retarded child accidentaly can hit a chord.
The cheer sillyness...

[ginger balls]

bag o shite article this is your life on john prescott would be more entertaining. just pick up your guitar and strum your back doors off it dont matter if its out of tune. it dont matter if its out of time cause were all cool..... rock on

[guitargal10]

That was very bad indeed. It did not really help anyone or make any sence. I sucked then I tryed alternate tuning--like what the hell?

[Gman400]

Wow....that was....stupid. I'm sorry, I really feel bad for this guy. I mean I get his point and all but....I couldn't play good my whole life so instead of learnign to actually play i just changed the strings so I wouldn't HAVE to finger anything? .....so what happens when you wanna play an actual song?

And this guy is teaching people???? WTF STOP HIM!

[redhotsexmagic]

i'm gonna go and bash my head into a wall for about an hour and try to forget i read that crap.

[Riryoku]

...what...the...****!? *shakes head*

[Bassfreack911]

waste of time

[SethMegadefan]

It's not like open tunings are necessarily lazy, to anyone who said that. In many cases, it's virtually impossible to play a song without tuning differently, and Jimmy Page used alternate tunings (including open D) quite often.
Though I do agree that learning initially on open tunings is wrong... but there's absolutely nothing wrong with using them after you already know standard.

[altronataku]

Wow...these are some terrible advice and examples. You can't play well on the standards...so you decide to cheat? Yea, you're a great teacher. I'm sure everyone who had the fortunes to be taught by you went on to become great guitarists.

[SlashRules]

redhotsexmagic wrote:

i'm gonna go and bash my head into a wall for about an hour and try to forget i read that crap.

lmao.....that's wicked funny..but oddly enough...sounds like a good idea

[flamingfrets420]

well,,,,,i see what he's saying. if a person is having trouble playing then make it easier yea. but the people who take the easy road never turn out to be any good. y wouldnt you want to be a guitar god????? overall i think this article is a piece of crap and should be taken down immediately

[FBpro80]

if your frustrated with guitar why are you trying to play it anyway??? i mean if you want to learn to play do it, don't wait ten years and then figure out that you can use one finger to make people think you're good. i say that if people want to play guitar they should pick one up and learn how and if they get frustrated and don't want to play anymore then let them quit

[tanman]

I can't believe I'm defending myself on someone else's thread. First, I'm not "singing out" Americans. I'm singing out a North American social issue: laziness. Also, I'm not assuming the author is North American. I can safely say, however, that the author has a very North American attitude (get where I want as fast as possible with little devotion). No, it's not impossible for other ethnicities to share these traits, but they are predominant in NA. Finally, please don't tell me to "stfu," as you are perpetuating the very problem I am addressing with my contributions to this thread.

[RMC06]

I have just wasted 3 minutes of my life.

[fuege]

shiet! me too!

[jokylemc]

Changing the tuning of any instrument can be useful. It creates a new challenge, a new feel, and a new sound. I do this often(2 or 3 times a month) and it keeps me on my toes, gives me a different sound to work with. These negative comments I've read must be from people who are incapable of working with any tuning other than Drop D and standard. They should realize that a musician often gets frustrated like any artisan and must change their surroundings, their influences, and their medium in order to keep a progressive edge. Creating is divine and requires struggle and change, it is never easy.

[joen00b]

I figure if millions of other guitarists can play something, then I better learn how the Hell to do it too. Odds are I'm better than some of them, or at least have the potential to be better than some of them, but others I'll never be able to touch. It's the difference between old AC/DC and old Dream Theater songs. Pick your battles to win the war.

[-=JB=-]

I reckon its good, tells me to keep goin even though im worse than crap on a stick

[x_themetalfan_x]

How about some constuctive criticism *******s? Fucking don't bitch unless you have something useful to tell the author!

Could have used more details and a definitive point.

[Sanitarium24]

Yeah, you could have expanded on the end, and the title was a little deceiving.

[private]

and wut part of this teaches you not to be frusterated?

[fox69]

mmmm i thought he had a really long intro, but that was the whole thing?????
we wanted an article, not a god damed autobiography

[zoltan256]

there isnt much about frustrated guitarists here.... its more like, "Frustrations Of Me" or "My Frustrations"instead.

[November Now]

I dont think many ppl would have used ur way of fixing the problem. It'd be almost impossible to lern a scale in that tuning anyway so there go's ur soloing.

[ramsay]

WTF... perseverance is the only way.

[FBpro80]

all i gotta say is that this guy is getting a lot of air time for a lesson that almost everyone hates. why is he even on the main page? this isn't a guitar lesson the only thing it can be considered is a lesson on how NOT to teach

[pyro8857]

dude, we dont not need you to share your gayness with us. Now, don't you have something better to do with your time? Such as, eat your own helmet cheese?

[[+]]

OK, it´s true that others tunnings sound diferent,are easier to play for SOME stuffs, and bla, bla bla, but anyhow, I think that as a guitar player (or as "guitar player poryect") you should try to take things seriously and sit you ass down to practice and learn no matter the tunning you are using. Yeah, playing a mayor chord on open D with one finger in easy. What about others chords? Let´s add 7th, 9 and 11. Is it so easy now?. If you say "oh... major chords are too damm hard on standar tunning", I honestly think you are not gonna go nowhere with your playing.
If you play a couple of popular songs for your friends that´s probblaly ok, but if you pretend teaching someone or leading a band, stop cryin´, sit your ass down, practice, play and understand that not everything (not just on guitar playing) is that easy...

[acoustic-fish]

give the poor guy a break. hes trying to help, north american or not, and if you can learn anything fron it, then its not a waste of time. show some empathy, people!

[BassSurfer]

you guys have to stop.. man he dedicated his time to writing this. it helped some... so all stfu

[BassSurfer]

you guys have to stop.. man he dedicated his time to writing this. it helped some... so all stfu

[TMA-2]

i'm glad mr. frank wrote this. all the angry comments it produced were more entertaining than the article itself. btw, that's a very lazy method frank. you're not gonna impress anyone who knows anything with one-finger chords. oh and as Cleared said, which finger DO you use? lololol

[legendarytoby]

No wonder everyone here is trashing you dude. You suck, u should be ashamed of yourself for even calling yourself a guitarist your just some average douchebag that wanted to learn the guitar cause it was popular and to bag chicks and impress people. You sicken me. You have absolutely no determination, so what if you bought a couple guitar mags you have no heart or soul. You didnt even have the right to call yourself determined. A real guitarist strive to be the greatest they can possibly be, not average. Ive only been playing for 6 months Im not great or good (but Im sure as hell better than your sorry ass) but I try my best every time I practice which is everyday. I can only practice about an hour a day because Im a full time college student. So I got two words for you and your article "SUCK IT!!!"