# Do you miss that newbie satisfaction feeling?



## Mastodon (Apr 18, 2006)

I was just flipping through my music binder and I went way to the back. I started playing through the songs really slowly like I did when I was first learning and this question popped into my head.

It has only been 2 years but I remember when I had trouble transitioning from the single notes to the power chords in the opening of Master of Puppets.

I'm sure you still get a cool sensation of satisfaction when you nail something down but it was different when you were first learning. It was more of a feeling of "Yes, holy crap I'm doing it! I'm learning the guitar!"


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## maskofduality (Apr 18, 2006)

When I finally start shredding i'm pretty sure i'll have that newbie satisfaction. i'm pretty tired of only being able to do jazz/blues solos.


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## David (Apr 18, 2006)

maskofduality said:


> When I finally start shredding i'm pretty sure i'll have that newbie satisfaction. i'm pretty tired of only being able to do jazz/blues solos.


you know... it kind of just comes to you along the way. One day, you'll notice how far you've come, especially if you make video's of yourself. Sweeping has been the most rewarding technique for me so far.


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## maskofduality (Apr 18, 2006)

lol i've already noticed how far i've come (believe me going from soloing only on the high e and b back in 2004 to soloing up and down the neck hear and 2006 is a big accomplishment for me at least. my desire for shred is just where i want to go next)


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## Naren (Apr 19, 2006)

Don't miss it. Personally I like the feeling of figuring out a whole song easily by ear. When I was a newbie, I'd struggle through a tab getting the rhythm wrong and it would take a while to get it down and, even then, oftentimes I still couldn't play it right. Now, it's like


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## David (Apr 19, 2006)

maskofduality said:


> lol i've already noticed how far i've come (believe me going from soloing only on the high e and b back in 2004 to soloing up and down the neck hear and 2006 is a big accomplishment for me at least. my desire for shred is just where i want to go next)


I was just talking with Elysian about that. The switch to shred, is amazing. There's 6 months of frustration, then it kind of comes to you. Not just that, but understanding the guitar as a voice. Instead of vocals telling you a story, you can interpret the guitar, you can _feel_ it because you play it, and it shakes you to your core. Crazy things happen like you start listening to Mandy Moore because her vocals make you tear up, haha, and you realize that opera interests you all of a sudden. Notes become words.


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## Shannon (Apr 19, 2006)

Dude, I've been playing 22 years now & I still get those feelings of accomplishment. I love it when you just have one of those days when your playing is firing on all cylinders. To surprise even yourself is a wonderful feeling. You just pull this BADASS nugget of musical gold from your ass! I especially love it when this happens onstage. You get that "Whoa!" expression on your face & then you start wondering, "How the hell did I do that?!?!?"


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## Naren (Apr 19, 2006)

Shannon said:


> Dude, I've been playing 22 years now & I still get those feelings of accomplishment. I love it when you just have one of those days when your playing is firing on all cylinders. To surprise even yourself is a wonderful feeling. You just pull this BADASS nugget of musical gold from your ass! I especially love it when this happens onstage. You get that "Whoa!" expression on your face & then you start wondering, "How the hell did I do that?!?!?"



I get that when I'm jamming all the time. For example: There was this one time where I was playing with a drummer and bass player that I usually played with and we were waiting for this guitarist to get here, who none of us had ever played with. When he got here, he set up his stuff and said "ok, let's play" and I just started riffing this pretty cool song I was making off the top of my head and the bass player started to follow me and the drums came in right at the perfect moment. After another bar or so, the other guitarist came in with this great lead guitar over it. The quality of the sound in the room sounded more like something off a digitally mastered CD with great production than live stuff. The other guitarist is doing this crazy finger-tapped shredding that sounds great over my riffs, the bass, and the drums. Then the other guitarist switches into the main riffs I was playing and I, at the same time, switch into lead mode, playing a very different style of lead than he was playing.

Those are the kinds of experiences where you suprise yourself. I was thinking, "That main thing I was playing in the lead was awesome. How did I do that...? How did that go, anyway...?"


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## Michael (Apr 19, 2006)

I can still be really stoked by getting a new lick/riff down, but not as much as when I first started. It makes me want to learn more and more. When I see what I can accomplish with a little bit of practice, I just think "Hmmm, I wonder how many things I can get down if I practice for a little longer", and I'm always better for it when I finish practicing.

That's the great thing about playing guitar!


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## Mark. A (Apr 19, 2006)

It never really clicked when I got a song down, I just remember looking back and thinking how I thought I'd never be good and how terrible I was.


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## abyssalservant (Apr 19, 2006)

Shannon and Naren: +1.
We actually have this song in KHAZM that at least at one point felt that way every time we played it . . . I think the main reasons I haven't gotten that recently have been a combination of the loss of our other guitarist and me just being depressed and non-creative.
*overacting*
Oh my gods my life is misery. Stupid little goth . . . must kill myself yaaaaargh.
*/overacting*
I do get that every time I play something and my guitar teacher (Dave Shankle) likes it . . . *shrugs* it's all fun. If the "newbie satisfaction" feeling went away, why would I keep playing?


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## David (Apr 19, 2006)

damn shannon... 22 years... now I feel REALLY new... 3 years.


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## The Dark Wolf (Apr 19, 2006)

Short answer - no.


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## FredGrass (Apr 19, 2006)

LoL, I'm constantly getting that feeling, because I still AM a noob. I basically learn something new every day. It'll just be a little tiny thing every day, but the progress feels great. There's plenty more to come too cause I've been playing since last June or so and still haven't learned a whole song. Mad riffs, and little pieces of stuff, but I can barely play through this Chapter Four song, just the rhythm part. Aside from that I haven't learned a whole song. Fucked up, but when I make little baby steps it feels like I won the lottery so I love playing.


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## distressed_romeo (Apr 20, 2006)

Only from the point of view of realising how much I've improved these past few years. It's nice to imagine the buzz I used to get from figuring out Sabbath riffs, but the buzz from watching my fingers doing exactly what I want is better.
Shannon expressed it perfectly in his post.


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## 777 (May 11, 2006)

im just having immense amounts of trouble trying to speed up.......im my own worst critic butr god damn im slow, technique not v good either I think, ill be posting a video in like an hour look out for it and let me know what you think


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## Luan (May 16, 2006)

No way, I choose to be right here where I am with the guitar.
You always have better objetives


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## rogue (May 16, 2006)

when i first learnt killswitch engage - end of heart ache (the descent on the D string after the chorus) i couldnt for the life of me do it any where near speed. then now i can do it perfect with the palm muting and alternate picking no problem, its cool but theres still so much left to do that i do feel like a newbie


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## distressed_romeo (May 18, 2006)

That's the great thing about music; there's always something new to learn! As far as I'm concerned no musician should ever have any excuse for being bored...


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## Your Majesty (Jun 23, 2006)

I remember when I started out, I was really excited when I did get my first riff down and therefore, I do miss that feeling. But in all honesty, I would never want to go back and feel as if Iam a newbie to this all over. The learning curve was big for me and now that feel I do have a grasp on it, I would never want to give up that knowledge.

I remember my first guitar teacher was a complete asshole to me. Gave him the one finger salute  and moved on to another guitar teacher. My second teacher was pretty cool. Very informative, very technical, very patient - all the qualities I look for and like, moreover, I try to bestow those qualities onto my students.

The only thing I never liked was his negative opinion of playing a 7 string. He challenged me a few times as to why I felt, I needed to play a 7 string, when a 6 string did the same thing. I remember debating and disagreeing with him, that I then began to think..... 'maybe I shouldn't play a 7?"

I didn't want to be influeneced and that's when it was time for me to grab my gear, pick my 7 and get the fuck out! Thank god! 

I'm still playing a 7 and I wouldn't want it any other way!


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## Dive-Baum (Jul 3, 2006)

Shannon said:


> Dude, I've been playing 22 years now & I still get those feelings of accomplishment. I love it when you just have one of those days when your playing is firing on all cylinders. To surprise even yourself is a wonderful feeling. You just pull this BADASS nugget of musical gold from your ass! I especially love it when this happens onstage. You get that "Whoa!" expression on your face & then you start wondering, "How the hell did I do that?!?!?"



Agreed. I have never had the sence of acomplishment quite like the first time I read tab and learned to play a song (Welcome Home Sanitarium) but the feeling never truly goes away. We all love what we do. We have a passion for guitar and for music. When you have that golden moment and things just click, no matter what you level of playing, it just feels great. When that run you have been working on fits in with the riff you want to tie into it or you finally figure out the melody for that song you have had in your head. Those are great moments and the felling doesn't go away..unless you can't duplicate it again..DOH!!


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## nitelightboy (Jul 13, 2006)

The longer I play, the less frequently that happens, however I still get that awsome sense of "Holy mother of God". Before, I would get that feeling everytime I could pick a passage cleanly, or figuresomething out that was cool. Now, I'm a little less amazed with myself, however, that doesn't stop me from pushing myself to see if I can get that feeling again, and again.


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## Drew (Jul 13, 2006)

The "Wow, I'm making music" thing was kind of cool initially, especially since prior to picking up the guitar I always considered myself very UN-musical, but do I miss that? No. The feeling of jamming out with a band or a backing or something, and ripping of a wild legato run and then a detached part of you stopping and thinking, "wow, that was actually a legitimately good run, something that wouldn't sound out of place on someone else's CD" is at _least_ as rewarding as the first time I nailed the "Come As You Are" riff. 

Guitar's the sort of thing where you never stop learning - there's always something to find rewarding, it's just the stakes get progressively higher as you go along.


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## Your Majesty (Jul 13, 2006)

Drew said:


> Guitar's the sort of thing where you never stop learning - there's always something to find rewarding, it's just the stakes get progressively higher as you go along.



I agree. I experienced that when I stopped playing a 6 string guitar and moved to playing a 7 string guitar. Best decision and a rewarding one at that.


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## nitelightboy (Jul 13, 2006)

I think one of the best things for me was when I finally landed my HD147. I plugged in, played around a bit and thought "OMG, that's MY TONE!!!" That alone inspired me to spend many hours jamming until my fingers were dead!


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## Zane (Jul 19, 2006)

I Get that alot 2 expecially because i have been playing for only a year,
first thing i learned was the zelda game boy tune on an acoustic and i was like yes something that sounds a little like music.
just today i learned the whole natural scale and spent seven hours doing it and I feel awsome for that acomplishment.


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## distressed_romeo (Jul 19, 2006)

^ That feeling rocks! I get that whenever I accomplish something on the piano these days!


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## Drew (Jul 19, 2006)

Zane said:


> I Get that alot 2 expecially because i have been playing for only a year,
> first thing i learned was the zelda game boy tune on an acoustic and i was like yes something that sounds a little like music.
> just today i learned the whole natural scale and spent seven hours doing it and I feel awsome for that acomplishment.



Seeing as that flies in the face of every stereotype one would expect of a guy with a Korn avatar, let me just say that you, sir, rock. e-rep your way.


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## Zane (Jul 20, 2006)

Thnx


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## Metal Ken (Aug 28, 2006)

You know whats better than that newbie feeling of satisfaction? "The Burn".. when you get done practicing and it feels like your hand just ran a mile. to me, thats way cooler than any other feeling on guitar, cause you know you're pushing your limits


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## Jason (Aug 28, 2006)

Metal Ken said:


> You know whats better than that newbie feeling of satisfaction? "The Burn".. when you get done practicing and it feels like your hand just ran a mile. to me, thats way cooler than any other feeling on guitar, cause you know you're pushing your limits



or when you play a riff within a band setting..and you just get chills when everyone else starts playing along perfectly.


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## Sebastian (Aug 29, 2006)

Well.. im still learning... so... its fucking awesome that i learn/ already know some of my favourite songs...


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## 2powern (Aug 29, 2006)

I love the feeling of doing something new. I've hardly been playing in months, and I just sat down with some friends last weekend to jam, and I was playing faster/cleaner/crazier than ever before.
I'm going to attribute it to me forgetting my meager (sp?) knowledge of theory and just playing from the heart (groan).
And beer.


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## Ancestor (Aug 29, 2006)

No, hell no. I miss being young, though. Ha!! My girlfriend used to tell me that I was practicing picking in my sleep. That shit drove me crazy. I'm still not right.


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## JoryGriffin (Oct 4, 2006)

David said:


> I was just talking with Elysian about that. The switch to shred, is amazing. There's 6 months of frustration, then it kind of comes to you. Not just that, but understanding the guitar as a voice. Instead of vocals telling you a story, you can interpret the guitar, you can _feel_ it because you play it, and it shakes you to your core. Crazy things happen like you start listening to Mandy Moore because her vocals make you tear up, haha, and you realize that opera interests you all of a sudden. Notes become words.




That is officially the most motivating post i've ever read in my life... Skipped past it a gew times... everytime it gets me playing guitar


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