scottro202
I'm walkin' here!!!
Here's a little exercise I kinda made up, which I got from this article from the creator of "The Universe" (The guitar, not the actual universe you numbnut 
)
Vai.com > Little Black Dots > Martian Love Secrets > Part 3: Emulating a State of Experience
Here's what you do.
1. Get a guitar. Any guitar, acoustic, electric, plugged into an amp, unplugged, 1 string, 100 strings, whatever you feel you play your best and "most honest" with.
2. Concentrate VERY HARD on one thing, that makes you very emotional. It can make you happy, sad, anxious, excited, pissed off, whatever. It can be a person you've met, a place you went, an event that happened, or even an idea. Don't touch your guitar yet (you may want to set it off to the side to help you concentrate).
Dwell on that ONE thing until it has made you as emotional in that one way it makes you feel (happy, sad, etc) as it can. The scroll down, don't scroll down or touch your guitar until you're as emotional as you can get from that ONE thing.
3. Pick up your guitar. Play the first original idea that comes to mind, that's not somebody else's lick/riff or one you've written/played before. Don't think about theory or technique, genre, or what settings your amp is on, or even if you're tuned or not. Don't think, PLAY! Transfer your raw emotions from your soul to the fingers to the guitar.
Doesn't that feel good? Hopefully you didn't cheat and look ahead, and you made a riff/lick that truly expressed your raw emotions from that one thing.
This can be a great tool in songwriting, or even therapy. I've done this before, and I've tried this exercise with a few musician friends I know. It can be the start of a great song, a way to relieve stress/sadness, or something to do when you're bored.
I highly recommend that link I posted, as well as the other 7 "Martian Love Secrets" from Steve Vai.
Happy playing, and rock on ss.org!
)Vai.com > Little Black Dots > Martian Love Secrets > Part 3: Emulating a State of Experience
Here's what you do.
1. Get a guitar. Any guitar, acoustic, electric, plugged into an amp, unplugged, 1 string, 100 strings, whatever you feel you play your best and "most honest" with.
2. Concentrate VERY HARD on one thing, that makes you very emotional. It can make you happy, sad, anxious, excited, pissed off, whatever. It can be a person you've met, a place you went, an event that happened, or even an idea. Don't touch your guitar yet (you may want to set it off to the side to help you concentrate).
Dwell on that ONE thing until it has made you as emotional in that one way it makes you feel (happy, sad, etc) as it can. The scroll down, don't scroll down or touch your guitar until you're as emotional as you can get from that ONE thing.
3. Pick up your guitar. Play the first original idea that comes to mind, that's not somebody else's lick/riff or one you've written/played before. Don't think about theory or technique, genre, or what settings your amp is on, or even if you're tuned or not. Don't think, PLAY! Transfer your raw emotions from your soul to the fingers to the guitar.
Doesn't that feel good? Hopefully you didn't cheat and look ahead, and you made a riff/lick that truly expressed your raw emotions from that one thing.
This can be a great tool in songwriting, or even therapy. I've done this before, and I've tried this exercise with a few musician friends I know. It can be the start of a great song, a way to relieve stress/sadness, or something to do when you're bored.
I highly recommend that link I posted, as well as the other 7 "Martian Love Secrets" from Steve Vai.
Happy playing, and rock on ss.org!
