I started to play guitar when i was 15 years old. I went to take lessons (one hour per week) for about one year, then somehow dropped it. I played a few chords now and then over years, but my guitar was basically in the bag most of the time.
About two years ago i started playing again now and then, and since about half a year, i play at least once a week. I missed it a lot when i really think about it, and am happy to be playing again now. I don't take lessons tho, and i never play songs that already exist. I just play my own stuff... most of the time its not even "songs", it's just playing random stuff... it's a bit like "meditation" for me sometimes.
I always got bored from just playing alone. Because of that, i started recording some basic stuff on the computer about two years ago. I simply looked for some beats, then played something along to them. Having this on playback, i could record another melody, playing along. Etc. Basically i'm just trying to "replace" a band here, which i dont' have.
The problem for me was that i had no microphone, so i recorded with my 10W marshall amp. I went from the headphones out to the line in of my pc. Which is something you shouldn't do, and results in a bad and weak signal. I could record the signal (with crap quality), but it wasn't good enough to work with programs like "guitar rig" or "amplitube".
It was enough for some fun. I never really had the intention to make songs. I record only for the reason that i don't want to "play alone". However, it was fun to record those improvisations. The downside was the guitar always having the same sound (since i couldnt do anything with the weak signal). And all recordings sounded the same somehow, not to speak about the quality.
From time to time i thought about what to do... what would be the right way to record/use a guitar with your pc. But i never really investigated on the subject. Until about a month ago, when i started to look around for a solution.
After some research i bought an M-Audio JamLab, but wasn't really happy with it (yeah, it was a quick "research"). I then decided for a "Guitar Effects Console" from Zoom. Actually, there is this guy called "mattrach" on youtube. He listed his gear, and i liked the sound of his recordings, so i just bought what he was using.
It's a device that you can use together with your amp, or connect it to your pc via USB cable. This way i can finally record in decent quality... plus i can finally use effects and have some different sounds. I never liked to use software for making music (amplitube, etc), since for me, it somehow "kills the atmosphere" of sitting there and making music.
So i'm really happy about this purchase. I can have all the sounds and effects on a physical device, and then use the pc, only to record what "comes out of it". This way i can actually just make music, without having to bother with programs and settings...
I still didn't record something serious tho. It's as i said, i just record so i have something to play along. And since it's always random stuff... improvisation, there are always mistakes. Wrong notes, chords, timing, etc.
However, now that i have a good quality, i think i might try to put something more serious together... sooner or later (still messing around with all the effects i can use now).
For an example of an less serious recording/improvisation, have an ear full of the attachment (as i said... there are mistakes, i've warned you guys!).
It's still low quality tho, since i had to put it down to 80kbit to fit the max. attachment size of the forum.
*Personal guitar story/rant over*
@Migz:
It sounds nice. What i could hear is that you sometimes have these little breaks when going for the next chord. However, this will disappear with the time, since it's all about practice. You play clean and nice, and i think you'll get better and better in no big time.
What i would suggest is to either use a metronome, or play along to beats, which you can find online, and play on your pc, stereo, whatever. It's good to get a feeling for the rhythm. I played without for a long time, and i felt like i had to work alot on my rhythm when finally using them. It's sometimes hard to find good beats tho (or i am just bad at looking for them). Besides, it is much more fun to play along to something anyway!
@robt:
I've only listened to "new tune" so far, but i really like your style there! *takes off his hat*
PS: Let's make this the LFS Forum Members Guitar Recordings Topic! :rock_band
cant work out why.
come on upload your newer ones