Jonathan Lemon Is Ax’ing You a Question
New Yawkers are known to ax questions. I’ve got an ax question of my own: at what point does someone become a master ax man?
It might provide some helpful context to describe that the ax in question is the guitar, not an actual ax.
Ax to Grind
This is the maiden article of another unrealistic goal of mine: to be a master ax man.
This goal has been on-again, off-again since I was about 14. I know the main chords that are used for the rhythm of 90% of all popular songs. So I could play at campfires, barbecues, etc…if I got an invite to one, brought a guitar, was asked to play, and knew any songs.
That’s my main problem. When I practice, I usually noodle around. I’ve historically lacked disciplined to learn and actually memorize songs.
Proof that I Own Guitar Stuff
On the awesome side, there’s never been a better age for amateur guitar enthusiasts. Gear quality, options, access, and prices have never been better. For a couple hundred bucks someone can put together a sophisticated-looking rig, start tossing around $10 words like “rig” and “boosted mids,” and look like someone who might know what he’s doing.
Also, music stuff has an active secondary market (read: used instruments) where you can get great deals if you know what you’re looking for. I have no data on this, but I’d be willing to bet “learning to play guitar” is second on the list of most-broken New Year’s Resolutions behind losing weight/going to the gym more. Whatever the reason, resolution breakage has worked out great for me.
Here’s my current set-up for proof that I’m entitled to use $10 words like a poser:
Hit List
I’ve taken a new approach in this guitar go-round. Rather than messing around with random chord progressions or trying to turn scales into music, I’m just going to learn songs. “Learning to play songs” is what I really meant when I told myself in the past that I wanted to “learn to play guitar.”
It’s time I focused on this distinction.
I’m starting to think that playing songs is just a better approach to learning anyway. It’s more fun and is a practical way to approach musical elements such as keys and rhythm. And let’s face it: when you tell people you play guitar, everyone’s first follow up question is “What songs do you know?” For a long time my answer was “None…but do you want to hear these random chords I put together?”
As such, I’ve put together my first list of hit songs to learn. Here are my first 5 targets:
- Cherry Cherry — Neil Diamond
- Live performance of this song has a high bar
- Eleanor Rigby – The Beatles
- Next to You — The Police
- JAR — Green Day
- Just What I Needed – The Cars
These songs are all very straightforward and I can play them all right away (sans solos)…as soon as I memorize them 🙂
Squirrel!
Another problem I’ve encountered historically when trying to learn songs is getting distracted by new songs. I’ll hear a song I like on the radio, or remember a riff I like, etc. At that point I’ll abandon a half-learned song for the new song, and around and around it goes. That’s a pattern for a lot of unlearned songs.
So I resolve to not touch any other songs until the first batch is done. My resolutions are usually like everyone else’s: they don’t have the best track record. But it’s different this time, I swear!
Finally, after I’m done with the 5 songs above I’m going to move on to… haha, nice try brain! Read the above sentence again.