September 5Sep 5 Proper warm up and posture is pretty fucking important, more so as you get old and decrepit like me. Edited September 5Sep 5 by Goredho
September 5Sep 5 2 minutes ago, Gourmand said: And if you do find the time to practice every day, sometimes for hours at a time, make sure you practice good posture from a sitting position so you don't give yourself a pinched nerve in your neck. It fucking sucks.
September 5Sep 5 1 hour ago, Goredho said: Proper warm up and posture is pretty fucking important, more so as you get old and decrepit like me. Tell me more, I'm all ears
September 5Sep 5 5 hours ago, Gourmand said: Tell me more, I'm all ears Not much to tell, really. As a dude in his mid-50s, I find it easy to overplay if I don't warm up and gradually get into a session or gig. I sit for a living, so posture is generally an issue, and put a 10lbs weight around my neck pulling me forward and it doesn't take long before I'm feeling it in my lower back. So I have a little stretching routing I do before any session. Mostly upper body stretches (hand, arm, neck, back), and some warm up finger/picking exercises I do to get things going. I'll avoid the tunes that really require an effort until later in a set. I have back stretches I do nightly for the lower back. I find all this helps a good bit to avoid feeling like I've "overplayed." Arm fatigue, tingling, pain. If I ever feel any of that, I'll let my arm rest a week and it goes away. I don't gig a lot, 4-6 times between Memorial Day and Labor Day , so it's not a big thing to deal with the physical limitations in that context. Most of my playing is writing/recording, and that's where I'm finding myself impacted if I don't adhere to these routines.
September 8Sep 8 What are some songs you guys like to play and sing? Since my wife made the commitment to learn one song in a year, I've committed to learning 30 new songs in that same time. It's sort of a bet. I know I'm not gonna make it but it's a fun stretch goal. And it was fun at our recent camping trip with a bunch of families to sing along while other people were playing. I think I heard Wagon Wheel 4 times in 2 nights. Some dude played American Pie all the way through. It was torture. I'm only learning songs that I like and I'm ignoring cliched campfire songs (Brown Eyed Girl, Let it Be, Sweet Caroline). I'm not at 30 songs yet. Here's what I got so far and I've already learned New York New York and Valerie: Valerie (Zutons/Amy Winehouse) New York New York & Oh My Sweet Carolina (Ryan Adams) Don't Change (INXS) Somewhere only we know (Keane) Take On Me Pancho and Lefty Everlong As It Was & Golden (Harry Styles) When You Sleep (My Bloody Valentine) Circles (Post Malone) People Watching (Sam Fender) Elderberry Wine (Wednesday) When the Party's Over (Billie Eilish) Friday I'm in Love Cough Syrup (Young the Giant) Fake Plastic Trees 1979 Diet Pepsi (Addison Rae) Interstate Love Song Payphone (Maroon 5) Summer of 69 Don't Dream It's Over
September 8Sep 8 Couple of clarifying questions: Do you already play the guitar? If so, to what level? Better stick to three chords and the truth kind of songs or can you play more involved stuff? Reason I ask is some of those songs you listed are a little more involved than others Can you already sing? Can you already deliver a song singing and playing at the same time? If you are learning all or some of these at the same time there might be different songs I’d recommend.
September 8Sep 8 I've been playing electric for a long time. I wanted to be Paul Gilbert when I was a kid and got decent, but the kids on youtube today blow me out of the water even at my best. I dabbled in acoustic and learned some songs in my teens and 20s in order to get laid, with varying success (the getting laid part). My trick was to learn the guitar part so well that I can have a conversation at the same time, and then singing it was easier. A couple of songs I remember playing and singing well were My Drug Buddy by the Lemonheads and Deperately Wanting by Better Than Ezra. I can sing okay. My head voice and my bridge really needs work though. Like right off the bat I know that the Keane song, Radiohead, and the Crowded House song are gonna be a challenge. I have to shake off the rust for sure, but should be fun. I'll only be playing for friends and family.
September 8Sep 8 So I know like 2 cover songs, but the first song I ever learned all the way through was You Shook Me All Night Long, and I can still pretty much play it today even after not playing it for years. Just burned in my brain. It's a pretty fun solo. Mother by Pink Floyd is a good one for working on your timing.
September 8Sep 8 On 9/4/2025 at 8:21 PM, Vanilla Strange Gato said: I don’t recall if this has been posted here before and I’m not going back to look. On 9/5/2025 at 3:42 AM, G650 said: On 9/5/2025 at 8:10 AM, Gourmand said: And if you do find the time to practice every day, sometimes for hours at a time, make sure you practice good posture from a sitting position so you don't give yourself a pinched nerve in your neck. It fucking sucks. There's a lady who has taught band and orchestra music for decades here, nigh legendary, who tells her students: "Practice doesn't make perfect; practice makes permanent." If you practice shitty habits, you'll make those shitty habits permanent. Practice good habits, and you'll make them permanent.
September 8Sep 8 24 minutes ago, G650 said: So I know like 2 cover songs, but the first song I ever learned all the way through was You Shook Me All Night Long, and I can still pretty much play it today even after not playing it for years. Just burned in my brain. It's a pretty fun solo. Mother by Pink Floyd is a good one for working on your timing. My man. I'm also in on the "never bothered learning many cover songs" train. On the bass, rather, since my guitar playing just started. Learned a few with a friend later in life, but before that... only wanted to do my own thing. And I'm still there on the guitar; don't want to learn others' songs so much. That said, I like how the main riff of "Crazy Train" gives you every major chord inversion on the D, G, B string, so it's a fun way to practice those.
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