AMEN, VitaminE!! Well said!

Hi guys…..thanks for the replies.
Ok…to start, I went to http://www.beyondbedroomguitar.com, and read a bit of it. I don’t have any problems with anyone trying to help others….helping our fellow Man is a noble thing. but I do have some concerns regarding the way some people, however well-intentioned, offer 5,000 gallons of paint to cover one square foot of wall. All a guitarists needs to know is this:
1. Never go past a string, then back to it to pick it…pick it as you pass it. Alternate picking, sweep picking, WHATEVER….just don’t drive…to New York City from Los Angeles to get to Chicago. Alternate and sweep picking are meaningless if you don’t follow that rule. If you are passing the string and going back to it to pick it, you most definitely AREN’T sweeping! lol I know….sounds simple, but it IS simple! lol It’s so freakin’ simple, I’m amazed that everyone doesn’t know it.
2. Left hand stretching on the fretboard is ok, just don’t stretch too far, or do too much of it.
The ideas http://www.beyondbedroomguitar.com proposes are undoubtably well-meaning…..I’m impressed by the amount of work that’s gone into those concepts…I respect it. Playing guitar though, should be…playing guitar! lol I don’t wanna have to “look inside to my inner child”, or “explore the horizons of my spiritual music-ness”, etc etc etc. Playing guitar is freakin’ PLAYING GUITAR! lol I’ll never muddle it up with psycho-babble (I’m not saying that http://www.beyondbedroomguitar.com is psycho-babble). Guitar-playing is first and foremost “the manipulating of the strings by the fingers of both hands”. I don’t care WHO you are, but if you have no fingers, you ain’t gonna play, baby! lol You may do the Jason Becker thing, God bless him, but you’ll quite likely never be able to perform with the hands-on subtlety and exquisite feel of Stephan Grappelli. That takes actual finger-string contact. The playing primarly comes from the fingers, and THEN, after years of playing, hopefully the ability is relegated to the subconscious, where it can be recalled at the players’ whim. If the player has a mental, emotional, or spiritual issue, he may still play brilliantly, albiet machine-like…but brilliantly regardless, if his fingers and the muscles work properly. So, looks like the fingers win here! lol
A famous drummer told a fellow session player friend of mine…”Playing drums is just like walking”. See where I’m going here? Simplicity!! Complicating things does nothing but….well, COMPLICATE THINGS!! lol
That saying, “Just Do It?” Well…that speaks volumes. In my studies, I’ve seen boards, tribunals, committees, this that, etc etc etc….and 99% of them were manned by procrastinators, who would rather sit around, drink coffee, and chat, while someone else is waiting for an organ, or a family loses their house, or a family pet gets euthanized because of idiotic bureaucracy. All that crap is wasted energy. Playing guitar shouldn’t take anywhere NEAR as much energy as it takes! —-sheeeesh—-Look….playing should be more like the word, “playing”!!! lol I know it’s work to alot of us, which is why I want y’all to see that it doesn’t have to be an agonizing ordeal to play “Flight Of The Bumblebee”. I could do that at the age of 12, in my freakin’ SLEEP, which was unheard of back then (1968). Why could I do it? Technique!!! I didn’t have any of that bullsh*t “exploring the inner-child”, or “Rainbow Freakin’-Body- Sculpture”, and no “External Flagellate Phocase Disc Therapy”!!! lol
I just shut the f*ck up, and played with the right technique. I have no more ability than the next guy. My arms are like anyone elses. The only reason I can play at this level is because that’s what I did…I PLAYED, with thr right technique, while eschewing all that other useless bullsh*t. All the guys I knew who DID use all that crap, never reached any worthwhile level of proficiency, and are all doing other things now with their lives. Nothing wrong with that…I love them…they’re my bros…but the fact remains that they reached their level and I reached mine. I excelled, they dropped out. All this boils down to this one simple concept…TECHNIQUE!!!!!! What has boiled away, is all that other hogwash. Once you have the right technique, and it’s been relegated to your subconscious, you’re on your way, baby! You’ll play for a few hours, and blow people’s minds, and they’ll say “that was absolutely fantastic!”, and you won’t recall very much of it! You WILL know that it was pleasant, and that you felt good, but you won’t remember a whole Hell of alot of what you did for those few hours! lol That, my friends….is your muscle memory at work, and is your Subconscious playing through you. Famous studio player quote: “Stop thinkin’ an’ start playin'”. lol!! I’ve always loved that line! Look….when you get up in the morning, and go out to your car to go to work, do you remember how many steps you took from the house to the car? Do you remember EVERY step? No! lol That’s because you’ve “taken a step” so many hundreds of thousands of times in your life that your muscle memory and Subconscious take care of that for you. Your arm muscles are no different from your legs muscles. If you practice enough, with the proper technique, your playing will become as “second nature” to you as does walking from your house to your car in the morning! That’s not just my opinion…that’s fact. You don’t need to bullsh*t yourself with all these other Oprah Winfrey Show self-help techniques. Just freakin’ PLAY guys!!! Play with the PROPER TECHNIQUE, 4-5 (I used to do upwards of 10) hours every day, breathe properly, and practice proper posture, and you’ll have NO PROBLEMS….EVER! More tips: tap water is full of chlorine and flouride. Both are f**king POISONS. Fill a glass bottle with tap water, and put it in the fridge for a day. The chlorine will have dissolved, but the flouride is still there. That water is ALMOST drinkable. Take your 73 Essential Minerals. “One-A-Day”??? lol Couldn’t be more useless. Avoid MSG at all costs. Brush your teeth with Baking Soda. It neutralizes salivary acids, which attack teeth, and it’s cheap. Toothpastes do nothing but make $$ for the toothpaste companies. Take care of your body, because it houses your soul, and is the main conduit between what you “are”, and your guitar. Note: “Frame By Frame” by King Crimson is a good song to bugger around with if you wanna get into some primary forearm muscle tone.

Yours Truly, and thela hun jinjeet

Byng Bell