Recording for practice

[dellison]

Hello,

I kind of started talking a little bit about this in that other thread I posted here. But I thought I would ask the question in a different way.

First, I am a newb learning guitar, I just went over my first year of practicing and playing and I can honestly say it has been an interesting and rewarding year. Out of the entire year I think there was only 5 days that I didn't pick up a guitar (part of that was when that F/22 crashed in California) and work on something and I generally put in a least an hour (if not more) a day.

So the question is, how important is recording your progress in the learning process? I have a very crude recording method where I use a crappy USB microphone routed into Apple's Garage Band to record. It works and it's kind of cool to hear your own stuff, but it's a pain in the butt to setup and use and as a result I don't do it very much. In some ways the analog days of past year you just stuck in a tape and hit record were probably easier (do they even sell tapes anymore).

Is "hearing" yourself import? Does it really matter? I would imagine the best method is to work with other people to get instant feedback (which has turned out to be extremely difficult to coordinate).

Anyway I would appreciate your thoughts!

Thanks!

Duane...

[Strat-o-rama]

Duane,
Strictly my opinion: don't worry about recording yourself unless you want to lay down some chord patterns to practice leads to. As a new player, you're doing the right thing by practicing. Don't waste precious time dinking around with recording gear. Practice, practice, practice. And when you're done with that, practice some more. You'll find you learn and then hit a plateau. It seems insurmountable, but that's when it's time to take on new material to learn. Like an athlete, no pain (for music the pain is in making those fingers and brain and ears work together), no gain. Also, like an athlete, rest is needed. Give yourself a break for a few days and go back. You'll be surprised at what you "assimilate" during down time. Be patient and keep at it!

[Dennisthe Menace]

Ah! Duane, I'm glad you asked this differently, in which this will be a whole new Ball Game,and you are going to have fun with it!!
When you are done reading this, go back and reread Trent's posting, I'm with him 1,000%
In addition to his post and to answer your questions....

how important is recording your progress in the learning process?

It will depend upon if YOU think it might help you. A simple cassette recorder is all you really need if you decide to go this route. Playing back a recording of your self will let you hear any mistakes that you might of made (when you thought you played it perfectly ). It will also tell you if your tempo might be speeding up or slowing down while playing, or accidentally hit another string at the same time you were plucking the correct string. You can still buy cassette tapes at Walgreens and probably any other place that sells cassette recorders (they still exist ).

Is "hearing" yourself import? Does it really matter? I would imagine the best method is to work with other people to get instant feedback (which has turned out to be extremely difficult to coordinate).

It does 'matter' and is 'important' as far as hearing yourself, otherwise you might never know when you are ready to go up another level ....................
Duane, playing with other musicians will always help you get 'tighter' in your playing, your dynamics, timing, etc. But being that it is difficult to get together with a few others, then maybe this just might be where the cassette recorder would come in quite nicely. You most definitely do not need a multitrack recorder. I think Mel and I were thinking along the same lines as far as maybe you were wanting to record the different parts of tunes. That fun will come later .
But whatever you decide, just remember what Trent said. "Don't waste precious time dinking around with recording gear." Another words, DON'T LET THE RECORDER BECOME THE INSTRUMENT, in which you are spending more time setting up and tearing it down as opposed to playing the guitar. But if you do decide to record, just keep it simple with a cassette recorder

[Strat-o-rama]

I forgot about youtube as a learning tool!
Back in my first years of learning guitar there was no such thing. You would try to drop the needle on the record at the exact place where you are working on the song. You quickly learned to "see" the right point on the record, because the texture of the lead guitar parts would look different from the rest of the song. Then came cassettes. Much easier!
Yep, it was tough back then....and we had to walk six miles thru 4 feet of snow every day just to get to school...uphill....with a 60 mph wind....without a jacket... bare foot.


I haven't started picking off Youtube yet. But I think I'm gonna start. Maybe I'll cop some of Deke's cool rockabilly licks. I like that Happy Birthday youtube from Culver City.

Very inspirational post, Desert Surfer!

[Desert Surfer]

Thanks, Trent for your compliment.

[Veenture]

Nice post Desert Surfer, I'll get in the queue behind Duane

[dellison]

Everyone has made really pretty good points but I think the comments about being able to objectively listen to yourself to really gauge how you doing is a pretty good point. I also agree that getting too involved with the process of recording is/would be a problem. That was kind of my thought about some of the more complicated recording options like using a computer or using something that you have to mic.

That was part of the reason why I was thinking one of those smaller self contained units like the Tascam DR7 or DP004 would be pretty nice because the "setup", if you could call it that, is basically pressing the button and then going to town.

I am going to have to re-think the videoing idea that Desert Surfer brought up though... That's pretty easy to setup and just press and go and even that video of dubtrub and my brother worked out really good and that was shot with my wife's point-n-shoot camera.

I would also like to comment on you older folks on one thing, I am recently had a talk with my dad about that... I can not imagine trying to learn guitar without all the options available now-a-days. There are websites (like jamplay.com and justinguitars.com) that are dedicate to teaching. You add in the tab books and web sites plus the endless number of DVDs and youtube videos and the wealth of information out there is truly staggering. I think if I hadn't had all those resources I would have probably given up in frustration, or I would have had to find and pay an instructor (which I am still considering). So my hats off to all the folks out there that did this the hard way and persevered to make it happen.

Duane...

[Dennisthe Menace]

Duane posted:

I would also like to comment on you older folks on one thing, I am recently had a talk with my dad about that... I can not imagine trying to learn guitar without all the options available now-a-days.

....and we are still learning...

[Chemo]

I agree with others that for it is not vitally important to get the fanciest recording gear possible. But I seem to consider recording more important than others.

Is "hearing" yourself import?

To my opinion, it is extremely important! I still remember the first times I recorded my playing: it revealed so many things to me, and things I could develop and grow as a guitarist. "Wow! That bend was out of tune! I never would have guessed" ... "My timing - I'm late. I need to fix that" ... and so on.

Does it really matter?

Oh yeah.

One idea is to wait a day or two before listening to the recording. It could help you "step out" from the playing situation, and help listening to it from the audience point of view.

I would imagine the best method is to work with other people to get instant feedback (which has turned out to be extremely difficult to coordinate).

Yes, getting to play with others is good in this sense also. You're going to have to remember though that when playing with a band, everyone is busy playing their own instruments, and it will require a lot of attention - even to a point where the ability to comment others' perfomances will become very limited.

Edit: being able to listen to your playing is important when playing with a band also. Most good bands that I know record surprisingly much their rehearsals and gigs.

[dellison]

Okay, so with the folks that say recording is important how have you been doing it?