Jamming In

Jamming In

I tend to bounce from one activity to another. For about the last half-hour I have spent time jamming on my guitar. I find that this is a great method of releasing stress, boredom or other negative feelings. Once you know a few power chords and a few pentatonic scales you are basically ready to rock out. Then all you need is a good amp and a half decent guitar. I have found that if you have a good amplifier you do not necessarily need an expensive guitar. A couple of years ago I bought myself an inexpensive Les Paul imitation called a Renegade. It is amazing how good this guitar sounds when it is plugged into a Crate amp. There are two frustrations I find to practicing guitar. The first is getting the motivation to pick up the guitar. If you don't feel like practicing the guitar seems to weigh a ton. If you are in the mood for playing guitar it loses a lot of its bulky weight. It is often a challenge to keep one's practice time interesting. Sometimes it requires a lot of concentration if you are trying to learn a new song or even a new riff. It looks easy until you try to play it. While reading guitar tablature is much easier than reading standard notation they both require work. That's why it is often more fun to just practice power chords and pentatonic scales. It also helps if you have good effects either built into the amplifier or by using a good effects pedal. Changing your tones and levels of distortion can be an awful lot of fun.