Watching TV, Guitar in Hand...

But you can’t bring your guitar.....

 

Emotional support guitar!

 

You'd be surprised how much you can learn playing along with the TV. I did that constantly for the first five years or so when I started playing.

I don't do it any more, it annoys the wife.

- D

 

Noodling tends to be frowned upon in public theaters...

 

yeah. I do that too!

 

Just ask Pee Wee Herman.

I have a guitar and amp right next to the couch.
Most of my TV watching is done with a guitar in hand.

 

Nah. My lovely wifeling has a little hearing loss and the hardest thing for her is picking dialog out of background noise. She surprised me with a uke to keep and play in the living room but it makes it hard for her to hear. Sadly.

Bob

 

Yep. Same here.

 

I used to do that until my wife (at the time) complained during Shaft (Richard Roundtree version) everytime I stepped on the wah-wah. There's a LOT of wah-wah in that film.....wacka-wacka!

 

My wife can't stand it when I do that, so I don't any more.

But back when I started playing guitar as a kid, I'd play along to commercials. My thinking was, "I've got 30 seconds to pick out the key signature and figure out the changes." I think it was good ear training. The downside was my repertoire had a lot of commercial jingles in it. You know, like...

Do you know exactly how to eat an Oreo?
Well, to do it, you unscrew it, very fast
'Cuz a kid'll eat the middle of an Oreo first
And save the chocolatey outside for last

At the music school in Boston, they called it a violin
I'm glad I'm back in Nashville, where it's a good ol' fiddle again
Me and my RC, Me and my RC
What's good enough for other folks just ain't good enough for
Me and my RC...

Both of those examples were typed from memory, while singing the jingle in my head as I typed.

 

I did that many years ago when I was single.

 

Playing in front of the TV is good training. It teaches you to play faced with distraction. There's the chick you can't take your eyes off of. There's the two coworkers having a conversation about their boss that can be heard above the music. There are the two idiots one expletive away from a bar fight. Playing in front of the TV will teach you to play through all of that. I practice with Big Bang on. I can watch Penny, ignore Wolowitz and Koothrappali, get the physics jokes, check the math on the white board, and not miss a lyric or note. And TV is 20 minutes of commercials to the hour giving you plenty of time to actually practice.

 

Go with Crossroads, The Commitments, Honeysuckle Rose, The Last Waltz, etc.
Put the boob in Boob Tube!

 

I get up early every morning ,grab a cup of coffee and a guitar and head for the TV
This is my time

 

So you plan on taking your guitar to the movie theaters and playing along with the music while 007 galivants around?

 

The Magnificent Seven
Yule Brenner, Bronson, Coburn
is really fun to play along with.
I'm looking for a spot in one of our tunes to insert a few bars of the theme.

 

I’m a tv player too but only commercials and credits, I get the stink eye if I play during one of her shows.

 

I play in between pitches.