Why are you mad right now?

[p0ke]

^ same here. When I started I just learned actual songs, and I practiced them a minimum of 8 hours per day, often up to 14 hours at best. I didn't care about lead stuff that much back then but my rhythm playing was tight af.

... And then I had a friend who asked me if I could teach him to play guitar. I agreed, but then he would just keep going "I can't believe you're that good, I'll never get even close". Then I'd explain to him that there's no way he could be as good yet, since he's played for like a month and only randomly for an hour or less every now and then, whereas I had played for 5 years at the pace I just explained. But he just insisted I must be inherently super talented, which I definitely was not. I just put the hours in.
But nah, he just wouldn't listen, quit and sold his gear soon after.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

I totally get the "make it fun" perspective. I spend very little of my practice time running exercises anymore, the majority of it is spent working on songs I've written or sometimes covers. But outside of jamming out new ideas or running sets, that time is very focused, using a metronome and timer. I work on specific parts of songs that I know I'm struggling with. It's no more "fun" than doing reps of my floor workouts in the morning, but I've done both enough to see the value.

Ultimately, there is no "fun" way to learn some things. The positions of the major scale, for instance. I work on them every day because I see the connection between what I want to do and how that knowledge will make my path there shorter. To me, that is "fun," or perhaps more accurately, rewarding, which is a kind of fun.

I had the same struggle when I was younger, though. I had very little interest in practice because I just didn't have that experience-based knowledge of the intrinsic value of focused practice. Eventually I just got tired of being a sloppy player and consistently performing beneath my potential.

 

[nightsprinter]

No power from 7am until 1pm and it got disgusting inside. Like a sauna. And there's minor home damage from a big ass tree branch thanks to the wind. What a great morning.

 

[SalsaWood]

No power from 7am until 1pm and it got disgusting inside. Like a sauna. And there's minor home damage from a big ass tree branch thanks to the wind. What a great morning.

Had a buddy get half his house caved in by a tree in a midnight storm a couple years ago. He bulldozed it and moved.

 

[nightsprinter]

Damnnn, yeah this isn't anything like that. Just a minor inconvenience.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I keep fucking up the finish on my xiphos. I'm just going to take a heat gun and scraper to the finish and start from fresh.

 

[BlackMastodon]

I keep fucking up the finish on my xiphos. I'm just going to take a heat gun and scraper to the finish and start from fresh.

I know you mentioned a spray booth but can't remember if you said you doing rattle cans or do you have a compressor/gun set up?

After doing a couple piece of furniture with rattle cans (not nearly the level of perfectionism as an instrument since its just for me), I figured that the cost benefit of investing in even a decent-ish stainless steel spray gun and compressor hits surprisingly early if you're planning to do more than like 4 jobs, especially since I already had a compressor that juuuust barely had enough CFM for my needs.

Not to say that humidity, debris, orange peeling, wet sanding, etc gets any easier with spray guns, though.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I know you mentioned a spray booth but can't remember if you said you doing rattle cans or do you have a compressor/gun set up?

After doing a couple piece of furniture with rattle cans (not nearly the level of perfectionism as an instrument since its just for me), I figured that the cost benefit of investing in even a decent-ish stainless steel spray gun and compressor hits surprisingly early if you're planning to do more than like 4 jobs.

Not to say that humidity, debris, orange peeling, wet sanding, etc gets any easier with spray guns, though.

I keep dragging my ass when it comes to purchasing an HVLP and a compressor, so this was done with spray cans. A large part of the problem with the initial finish is that I was applying the glitter spray from rustoleum WAYYYYYY too heavy in one go and then it was compounded by the paint cookies marring the finish when I would paint one side, plus it came out too silver looking and not black enough. I resprayed it this morning and used a black glitter base coat before the rainbow sparkle and it looks way better already.

 

[BlackMastodon]

I keep dragging my ass when it comes to purchasing an HVLP and a compressor, so this was done with spray cans. A large part of the problem with the initial finish is that I was applying the glitter spray from rustoleum WAYYYYYY too heavy in one go and then it was compounded by the paint cookies marring the finish when I would paint one side, plus it came out too silver looking and not black enough. I resprayed it this morning and used a black glitter base coat before the rainbow sparkle and it looks way better already.

Ah yeah I haven't tried anything but clear poly with my HVLP, so metallic/glitter flake is probably a completely different beast in itself. When I was applying the finish on my canoe paddles last fall I couldn't think of a good way to do it with the HVLP so I just settled for multiple coats wiped on, alternating which side got them, while minding the drip and overflow.

So all that is to say that I'm of no help and good luck.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Ah yeah I haven't tried anything but clear poly with my HVLP, so metallic/glitter flake is probably a completely different beast in itself. When I was applying the finish on my canoe paddles last fall I couldn't think of a good way to do it with the HVLP so I just settled for multiple coats wiped on, alternating which side got them, while minding the drip and overflow.

So all that is to say that I'm of no help and good luck.

Getting the glitter on was the hard part, now I just have to slap some spraymax 4k clear on it so it'll actually be durable.

Honestly I could have paid for an HVLP setup by now with all the goddamn cans I've wasted on this xiphos.

 

[nightsprinter]

Because I can't get through 60 days with a brand new window air conditioner in the putrid fuckswamp of New England without mold growing which forces me to pull it out, disassemble it (which voids the warranty, ha ha ha), and make a royal mess with mold killing bleach agent and two thousand paper towels and a pack of sponges while sweating my dick off, then having the pleasure of reassembling and reinstalling, all while praying no hardware goes missing. This happens every year. And I don't have the option for central air or mini splits.

Fuck summer.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Yeah, don't think clearing my cache for 8 tickets that are months old and still failing is going to solve anything, but sure why not. I love wasting my time.

 

[Kaura]

I cleaned my ears with q-tips this morning since they were itchy from all the dirt but now my left ear is completely deaf due the cleaning.

 

[nightsprinter]

I cleaned my ears with q-tips this morning since they were itchy from all the dirt but now my left ear is completely deaf due the cleaning.

Ouch... hope it's just wax coverage rather than damage. Ever use the debrox drops? I find they work really well after a couple applications.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I cleaned my ears with q-tips this morning since they were itchy from all the dirt but now my left ear is completely deaf due the cleaning.

Don't use qtips in your ears. They just end up pushing the wax deeper into your ear and causing the wax to push up against your eardrum (which is why you can't hear shit).

 

[Seabeast2000]

I cleaned my ears with q-tips this morning since they were itchy from all the dirt but now my left ear is completely deaf due the cleaning.

Sauna time

 

[nightsprinter]

Sauna time

Way too safe and reasonable. Let me take you back to my childhood where we fired up the old EAR SPLIFF

 

[BlackMastodon]

I cleaned my ears with q-tips this morning since they were itchy from all the dirt but now my left ear is completely deaf due the cleaning.

Don't use qtips in your ears. They just end up pushing the wax deeper into your ear and causing the wax to push up against your eardrum (which is why you can't hear shit).

100% this, you are way more likely to damage your ears by sticking q tips on there and you don't actually need to do it since they're self cleaning, if anything just clean the outside. I've also heard a bit of peroxide is fine to do.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Not using q tips resulted in me needing to have my ears cleaned. I suggest going to a doctor and seeing if the need a good cleaning, which they likely do.