• Join the A7X Discord!

    We're updating the community and moving all social content from the community to the Discord. All lessons related conversations will still take place here though! Join the Discord below and view the full announcement for more details

    JOIN THE DISCORD VIEW THREAD

Midlife Reboot

Metallikahn

One Stringer
Mar 10, 2021
2
16
Hey all!

I just recently turned 40 (ugh... where the hell did the last 20 years go?!?!) and made the command decision to start from scratch, buckle down, and actually “learn” how to play guitar.

My background: back in ‘98 I decided the Trombone I was playing in the high school band was fine, but I’d always wanted learn guitar and shred! So I went out and bought a cheap peavey and a practice amp and started noodling around with no idea what I was doing. Literally... I thought properly tuned meant all the open strings were supposed to be the same note. Oof! 😂 anyway, after a couple very unsuccessful days and failing to be able to teach myself anything from the early dial up internet, I claim to the conclusion that my hands/fingers weren’t long enough for a six string guitar. OBVIOUSLY a 4 string Bass was the answer! Besides... I’d been playing trombone and sight reading bass cleft for almost a decade at that point, so... perfect logic! I made the trade, dicked around with it for a few days, and then pretty much never touched it again for around 7 years.
Made the excuse my fingers were too short and shelved the dream.

Just after college, I was really starting to get into Heavy Metal again, in no small part due to A7X, Atreus, and other bands that were really starting to kick off. Still remember the first time I heard Beast and the Harlot on XM (way before it merged with Sirius!😂) Before the song had finished, I pulled into the local Target, bought City of Evil, and spent the rest of the afternoon driving my Truck around with the CD on loop! A year or so later I got Guitar Hero 2 (had an absolute blast just being able to fake jam along to so many great tunes) and played the hell out of it before having a moment of clarity and realizing that tons of 8-10 year olds were picking up actual guitars, largely due to that game, and learning to play pretty well. My fingers might not be long, but they’re longer. than the majority of grade schoolers. At the time I was in my mid 20’s, had plenty of free time (ie... no kids/wife/etc), and a decent bit of disposable income. Intro my first REAL guitar...A Black Ibanez VBT700 V-Blade! I started trying to teach myself again, though with much better resources this time. I even took a few in person lessons (though the local teacher wasn’t great. Just a kid and virtually no lesson structure. “Here’s a couple chords. Here’s a scale. See ya next week.”🙄) on about the third lesson he hat me trying to do pinch harmonics and shit... by that point, I’d bought Guitar Pro and was basically trying to teach myself various song riffs by tab.
And so it continued off and on and further off for the next 6-7 years (over which my full on Metallica obsession took full root). In that time I picked up a Near mint Marshall JVM410H, a good condition 1960A cab, and a Hetfield signature LTD Snakebyte. Also did numerous upgrades to my Ibanez and other stuff. Even tried Rockband 3’s Squier real midi guitar controller for a bit. By 2014 I was only playing (not well) a few minutes every month or so.

I bought Rockband 2014 about then and that’s been my main go to for guitar since. My half stack is mostly sitting in a corner collecting dust. I mainly stuck to Rocksmiths session mode and just kept playing songs. Started getting into the bad habit of having a few beers, then loading up the game, and just jamming a way. I know what your thinking. “Oh no! Did he develop a drinking problem?” No... I just got to the point where I ONLY played the game after I had 6-7 beers, which is typically about once every 6-8 weeks. Soooo, yeah.... a couple years ago I decided to try the Bass again. Broke out that old peavey Bass and tried it on rocksmith. Hey! I’m actually not terrible at that! Lol I’ve even got a few songs I can 100%+ with the Bass! I managed to get a helluva good deal on Schecter Hellraiser Bass on Amazon warehouse (huge discount for a “damaged” headstock, that ended up just being scotch tape residue.) got a Bugera Veyron Tube head and a great discounted MarkBass 4x10 ported cab. Unfortunately... real life and bad habits have conspired to limit my Bass playing to rocksmith under the same conditions, but even further spaced out.

That brings us to today. Newly 40 and disgusted by the layer of dust that has built up on my equipment.... Not only have I crested the hill, I’m way over weight. I recently started back up at the gym, pushing around the heavy weights, and I need something else to help distract me from eating in the rest of my free time. I’m getting married at the end of June. I need to drop enough weight to fit into a penguin suit. I also wouldn’t mind being able to jam a couple tunes out at the reception. That’s when I came across this site! My biggest goal has always been to shred. Now here’s an artist teaching people to do that from the ground up. What a bonus that there are so many A7X songs on the list I want to rip out!

I’ve decided to start right from the beginning, because my skills are that far out of practice. Not to mention, years of drunken pseudo shredding to rocksmith has developed some horrendously bad playing habits... for example, I just started the lessons the other day and the first actual playing exercise (the major scale) made me want to shout myself already! I’m trying to do it correctly... all four fingers, one per fret, and alternate picking my way up and down the scale.... Holy F! I literally had to do an 8-12 count per note just to get both hands to do what I wanted! And even then I managed to screw it up (my string skipping/switching is pretty horrible as well! Lol). I also came to the conclusion that my V style guitar probably isn’t the best thing for developing proper techniques. So I bought an Ibanez thinline Acoustic guitar. Much better shape for developing technique and a little bit tougher on the fingers to promote calluses! (I know, I know, but... still no kids! So I can afford it! Lol 😂)

Anyway, sorry for the long novel of an introduction! Writing it out like that has really helped me put my goal into perspective and get me more focused on staying on track with my practice and learning. It reminds me how I started, how far I got, and how much I’ve lost. Hopefully it’ll also help others, by showing that this program can be helpful to people coming from all kinds of learning backgrounds.

If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me, otherwise...

TLDR: Middleaged dude with better gear than talent half assed it for 20+ years and is going to start relearning from the ground up! 😂🤣 🤘😁🤘
 

Jeremy Healey

Hot Topic Tourer
Legend+
Legend
  • Nov 11, 2019
    258
    1
    843
    31
    Newfoundland and Labrador
    14
    Ahh yes the rocksmith route! I’ve been playing that since the original first released and gather a few bad habits from it as well. But this website has helped greatly with the small bit I’ve taken in so far. I’ve been here since the start but haven’t done a whole lot until recently. But I got to say this is probably my favourite place on the internet! Welcome! :spinning-guitar::syngates:
     
    Synner Endless Summer Collection
    Synner Endless Summer Collection

    Ed Seith

    Supreme Galactic Overlord
    Staff member
    Legend+
  • Nov 11, 2019
    3,882
    15
    6,602
    53
    Marana, AZ USA
    soundcloud.com
    35
    Welcome, fellow old!

    I'm 50. Started playing in the mid-80s, gigged heavy in the 90s and then kinda STOPPED for 10 years until I realized I didn't want to be someone who "used to play guitar."

    I'm better at some things than the first time around, and not as good at others. Age has limitations.

    But it's always FUN, and that's the important bit. ENJOY!
     

    Adin Shepherd

    Music Theory Bragger
    Nov 11, 2019
    480
    2
    927
    Melbourne, Australia
    Welcome! Great story, and one I can relate to in parts, many parallels to my experience (particularly the better gear than ability part 🤣).

    Rocksmith is great fun, but not a great learning tool on it's own. If you have it on PC and haven't done so yet, check out the custom dlc. Not to difficult to get set up and gives you a HUGE library of songs (even lesson/practice licks) to choose from.
     
    • Like
    Reactions: Metallikahn

    John Robinson

    Music Theory Bragger
    Nov 11, 2019
    367
    504
    Nashville tn.
    Hey all!

    I just recently turned 40 (ugh... where the hell did the last 20 years go?!?!) and made the command decision to start from scratch, buckle down, and actually “learn” how to play guitar.

    My background: back in ‘98 I decided the Trombone I was playing in the high school band was fine, but I’d always wanted learn guitar and shred! So I went out and bought a cheap peavey and a practice amp and started noodling around with no idea what I was doing. Literally... I thought properly tuned meant all the open strings were supposed to be the same note. Oof! 😂 anyway, after a couple very unsuccessful days and failing to be able to teach myself anything from the early dial up internet, I claim to the conclusion that my hands/fingers weren’t long enough for a six string guitar. OBVIOUSLY a 4 string Bass was the answer! Besides... I’d been playing trombone and sight reading bass cleft for almost a decade at that point, so... perfect logic! I made the trade, dicked around with it for a few days, and then pretty much never touched it again for around 7 years.
    Made the excuse my fingers were too short and shelved the dream.

    Just after college, I was really starting to get into Heavy Metal again, in no small part due to A7X, Atreus, and other bands that were really starting to kick off. Still remember the first time I heard Beast and the Harlot on XM (way before it merged with Sirius!😂) Before the song had finished, I pulled into the local Target, bought City of Evil, and spent the rest of the afternoon driving my Truck around with the CD on loop! A year or so later I got Guitar Hero 2 (had an absolute blast just being able to fake jam along to so many great tunes) and played the hell out of it before having a moment of clarity and realizing that tons of 8-10 year olds were picking up actual guitars, largely due to that game, and learning to play pretty well. My fingers might not be long, but they’re longer. than the majority of grade schoolers. At the time I was in my mid 20’s, had plenty of free time (ie... no kids/wife/etc), and a decent bit of disposable income. Intro my first REAL guitar...A Black Ibanez VBT700 V-Blade! I started trying to teach myself again, though with much better resources this time. I even took a few in person lessons (though the local teacher wasn’t great. Just a kid and virtually no lesson structure. “Here’s a couple chords. Here’s a scale. See ya next week.”🙄) on about the third lesson he hat me trying to do pinch harmonics and shit... by that point, I’d bought Guitar Pro and was basically trying to teach myself various song riffs by tab.
    And so it continued off and on and further off for the next 6-7 years (over which my full on Metallica obsession took full root). In that time I picked up a Near mint Marshall JVM410H, a good condition 1960A cab, and a Hetfield signature LTD Snakebyte. Also did numerous upgrades to my Ibanez and other stuff. Even tried Rockband 3’s Squier real midi guitar controller for a bit. By 2014 I was only playing (not well) a few minutes every month or so.

    I bought Rockband 2014 about then and that’s been my main go to for guitar since. My half stack is mostly sitting in a corner collecting dust. I mainly stuck to Rocksmiths session mode and just kept playing songs. Started getting into the bad habit of having a few beers, then loading up the game, and just jamming a way. I know what your thinking. “Oh no! Did he develop a drinking problem?” No... I just got to the point where I ONLY played the game after I had 6-7 beers, which is typically about once every 6-8 weeks. Soooo, yeah.... a couple years ago I decided to try the Bass again. Broke out that old peavey Bass and tried it on rocksmith. Hey! I’m actually not terrible at that! Lol I’ve even got a few songs I can 100%+ with the Bass! I managed to get a helluva good deal on Schecter Hellraiser Bass on Amazon warehouse (huge discount for a “damaged” headstock, that ended up just being scotch tape residue.) got a Bugera Veyron Tube head and a great discounted MarkBass 4x10 ported cab. Unfortunately... real life and bad habits have conspired to limit my Bass playing to rocksmith under the same conditions, but even further spaced out.

    That brings us to today. Newly 40 and disgusted by the layer of dust that has built up on my equipment.... Not only have I crested the hill, I’m way over weight. I recently started back up at the gym, pushing around the heavy weights, and I need something else to help distract me from eating in the rest of my free time. I’m getting married at the end of June. I need to drop enough weight to fit into a penguin suit. I also wouldn’t mind being able to jam a couple tunes out at the reception. That’s when I came across this site! My biggest goal has always been to shred. Now here’s an artist teaching people to do that from the ground up. What a bonus that there are so many A7X songs on the list I want to rip out!

    I’ve decided to start right from the beginning, because my skills are that far out of practice. Not to mention, years of drunken pseudo shredding to rocksmith has developed some horrendously bad playing habits... for example, I just started the lessons the other day and the first actual playing exercise (the major scale) made me want to shout myself already! I’m trying to do it correctly... all four fingers, one per fret, and alternate picking my way up and down the scale.... Holy F! I literally had to do an 8-12 count per note just to get both hands to do what I wanted! And even then I managed to screw it up (my string skipping/switching is pretty horrible as well! Lol). I also came to the conclusion that my V style guitar probably isn’t the best thing for developing proper techniques. So I bought an Ibanez thinline Acoustic guitar. Much better shape for developing technique and a little bit tougher on the fingers to promote calluses! (I know, I know, but... still no kids! So I can afford it! Lol 😂)

    Anyway, sorry for the long novel of an introduction! Writing it out like that has really helped me put my goal into perspective and get me more focused on staying on track with my practice and learning. It reminds me how I started, how far I got, and how much I’ve lost. Hopefully it’ll also help others, by showing that this program can be helpful to people coming from all kinds of learning backgrounds.

    If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me, otherwise...

    TLDR: Middleaged dude with better gear than talent half assed it for 20+ years and is going to start relearning from the ground up! 😂🤣 🤘😁🤘
    Well hell..slide over and let a 53 year old bastard slide in here..i started playing tab and had some bad habits too..start at lesson one,take your time and dont rush,and by all means read syns tips at the bottom of the lessons and you will progress quicker than you think.
    Welcome to the family...there are some badass players in here so if you need help just ask..there is no flaming or making fun of people here..we all started where you are right now.
     

    Metallikahn

    One Stringer
    Mar 10, 2021
    2
    16
    Wow! Thanks everybody! You know your in the right place when you get such a nice welcome! Been plodding along a little slowly this week. Between the gym and a few other projects I've only been able to squeeze in a few minutes each day, BUT I am seeing a little progress. I'm mostly making my way up and down the major scale with the correct fingers and maintain the alternate pick on each note. Sometimes I flub on a sting on the way down and double clutch a pick direction, but I'm managing to get through it fairly clean 80% of the time at a reasonable rate. Been practicing the major C chord, as well. Ugh... Open chords were one of my worst areas and my wrist, forearm, and finger tips are reminding me why! Lol (probably didn't help that I hit forearms at the gym before practicing! 😄

    Anyway, I'm keeping at it. Having never really done much on an acoustic, it really is like I'm starting fresh. Just found a new bad habit I picked up in RS. Holding the neck at way to high of an angle when I would sit on the couch playing the game. If I hold it way up in the air, the C chord is pretty easy to fret and I don't have any dead strings when I ring it out a note at a time. When I drop it back to level, like you're suppose to, my grip goes to hell. My fingers fret/mute multiple strings and when I correct them, my wrist/forearm get instant sore! And about the time I get everything right, my fingers are killing me from the strings digging in. Lol.

    Lucky I know what all the issues are and it mostly comes down to muscle memory and the fact that the correct supporting muscles were never built up and used correctly before.... Soooo practice practice practice! 😂

    Anyway, I've got some questions I could ask, but I'll throw them up in a new post on the proper board. I also got in to the gearitis mode again and grabbed a good deal on a 2 channel Acoustic Combo amp, which I should have by the weekend. Never really had anything I could hook a mic up to before, so it's going to be fun to play with! It'll be fun to hopefully tie in some old Karaoke skills with what I learn here.
    Welcome! LOVED your story! 👏
    Also wow, you're a Metallica fan too! 🤩🤘
    Understatement! Lol 😂🤣 Here's a pic of my truck! 😉😁🤘
     

    Attachments

    • EDF8EF52-A99E-4BA5-A420-293D2EE4B5EF.jpeg
      EDF8EF52-A99E-4BA5-A420-293D2EE4B5EF.jpeg
      144.5 KB · Views: 123
    Synner Endless Summer Collection

    Batbia

    Music Theory Bragger
  • Jan 11, 2021
    229
    1
    838
    23
    Brazil
    1
    Wow! Thanks everybody! You know your in the right place when you get such a nice welcome! Been plodding along a little slowly this week. Between the gym and a few other projects I've only been able to squeeze in a few minutes each day, BUT I am seeing a little progress. I'm mostly making my way up and down the major scale with the correct fingers and maintain the alternate pick on each note. Sometimes I flub on a sting on the way down and double clutch a pick direction, but I'm managing to get through it fairly clean 80% of the time at a reasonable rate. Been practicing the major C chord, as well. Ugh... Open chords were one of my worst areas and my wrist, forearm, and finger tips are reminding me why! Lol (probably didn't help that I hit forearms at the gym before practicing! 😄

    Anyway, I'm keeping at it. Having never really done much on an acoustic, it really is like I'm starting fresh. Just found a new bad habit I picked up in RS. Holding the neck at way to high of an angle when I would sit on the couch playing the game. If I hold it way up in the air, the C chord is pretty easy to fret and I don't have any dead strings when I ring it out a note at a time. When I drop it back to level, like you're suppose to, my grip goes to hell. My fingers fret/mute multiple strings and when I correct them, my wrist/forearm get instant sore! And about the time I get everything right, my fingers are killing me from the strings digging in. Lol.

    Lucky I know what all the issues are and it mostly comes down to muscle memory and the fact that the correct supporting muscles were never built up and used correctly before.... Soooo practice practice practice! 😂

    Anyway, I've got some questions I could ask, but I'll throw them up in a new post on the proper board. I also got in to the gearitis mode again and grabbed a good deal on a 2 channel Acoustic Combo amp, which I should have by the weekend. Never really had anything I could hook a mic up to before, so it's going to be fun to play with! It'll be fun to hopefully tie in some old Karaoke skills with what I learn here.

    Understatement! Lol 😂🤣 Here's a pic of my truck! 😉😁🤘
    Welcome to the family! And your truck is so cool 🔥
     
    • Like
    Reactions: Metallikahn