I just had my first lesson with a guitar teacher and I can already tell it’s going to be a massive help to me. Within the first five minutes he helped me understand that my picking technique was not quite right and helped me see that I was placing my thumb wrong on the back of my neck. I’ve spent the last seven days trying to focus on just fixing those things and I’ve already noticed an improvement.

My biggest struggle now is slowing down the songs I’m trying to learn into small chunks and learning to play those perfectly. Like, I know in my head what the song is supposed to sound like and I am having a hard time stopping my brain from telling my fingers and my hand to pick/strum it at the speed my ears hear it at…it feels so slow to learn it with a metronome and it is really discouraging me.

I'm really upset about this. I really enjoyed it over there.

Recently got a bottle of Black and White scotch while in Mexico. It was cheap and it goes down smooth. Tastes excellent with a cigar. Probably going to enjoy that tonight.

I didn’t read Artemis, but I read Hail Mary after giving into the hype. I enjoyed the premise and the ideas but…good god, the dialogue just about had me tossing the book across the room every page. It came off so juvenile and whiny and really turned me off of giving the book the same levels of praise I was seeing online.

The only ones I haven’t read here are A Secret History and East of Eden. Need to change that soon, it sounds like, because I adored the others! Tomorrow x3 was astonishing.

Babel has been on my list for a while! Need to give it a bump to the top soon.

Have you read Yellowface? Or her other series, The Poppy War?

Hey I dig it. Some Grisham hits the spot for me.

However, I’m a lawyer myself so sometimes it’s hard for me to read legal thrillers because I want to escape real life….

The Blacktongue Thief has been on my list for a while. Maybe I should dive into that one soon.

Legends and Lattes I read and…only sort of enjoyed. It was fun but I felt overhyped. Maybe I’ll check out the Irregular Witches recommendation instead!

I’ve never heard of the Slice of Life comic, but then again, I haven’t really gotten into manga before.

EDIT: sorry for the million comment notifications. The app I was using freaked out on me.

For sure, I’ll check in with you after I get around to finishing it!

Oh interesting. Good to know! I dug The Stormlight Archives (still need to read the latest one…), but couldn’t get into Mistborn at all. Maybe I’ll give Skyward a go. If it’s YA it should be a fast read and I’ve heard good things!

Currently reading Lords of Chaos about the history and influence of Black metal in Nordic countries. Super interesting stuff.

I’ve also been digging Kings of the Wyld, a fantasy book about a a group of old mercenaries who have to “get the band back together” to save the lost daughter of one of their members. Lots of fun “band” and “music” references throughout, and it’s also funny and has a lot of heart.

I’m going on vacation next week and looking to read some interesting - and easy- nonfiction. I guess you could say I’m looking for “pop nonfiction” or “airport nonfiction”. Stuff that’s informative and easy to read for the average reader. Recently, stuff I’ve enjoyed in this vein includes: An Immense World by Ed Yong, Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, and Caste by Isabel Wilkerson.

^^anyone have any suggestions along those lines?

Ah got it. Thanks for sharing!

I’ve felt the same way! Everyone I’ve interacted with so far has been friendly, helpful, and welcoming. Much less snark and pretentiousness than I experienced over on that other site.

Ah, got it. Thanks for linking that information!

I’ve never been a PC gamer (mainly cause I have always been in the Apple ecosystem), but have always wanted to get into it. Have felt like I’ve been missing out a lot.

I’ve considered a Steam Deck, because I’ve heard so many great things, including that it’s helped reignite passions for gaming in many people! But my concern is that I already am so busy and struggle to find time to sit down and game with my Switch or Xbox…I don’t know if getting a Steam Deck would even really make much of a difference in helping me play more at this point. Could be a pretty costly investment for myself if I don’t end up using it a ton.

Anyway, that’s my two cents. If you are gaming regularly and want to be able to do more “mobile” PC gaming, it’s probably a good option!

I know this is several weeks late but I wanted to respond and THANK you sincerely for this. I’ve been listening to the songs listed on the playlist and have discovered some new stuff I really enjoy. I only wish that (a) I could listen to this Bloody Roots episode and (b) there was an actual playlist of these songs streaming somewhere!

For me, I’ve been listening to In The Shadows by Mercyful Fate and have been enjoying it a lot. Wasn’t super familiar with MF before so I’m exploring their discography.

Last week, another user shared Endless Battle by Wytch Hazel with me and it’s been my favorite song I’ve heard in a long time.

Finally, discovered Crown Lands today...they're like a modern day Rush revival...I am quickly getting addicted to this. Their recent album, Fearless, has extreme 2112 vibes.

Still trying to “find my place” here but I am enjoying the whole thing. Lots of awesome discussions popping up and great conversation here.

I had never heard Black Metal with a folky twist, so this record is really intriguing to me. Thanks for the suggestion!

All Fantasy Everything. It’s so good and makes me laugh harder than anything else I listen to. Sean, David, and Ian feel like some of my buddies now and I look forward to listening to it every week. If there’s a new episode, it’s the first thing I listen to.

Dungeons and Daddies. NOT a Bdsm podcast, but a dungeons and dragons podcast. The hosts are all so incredible and have the best chemistry. The story develops in such a realistic and emotional way, with tons of laughs along the journey.

Metal Up Your Podcast. A podcast hosted by Clint Wells and Ethan Luck, focused entirely on Metallica (so obviously, you’d need to have some sort of interest in that band/metal). This podcast does tons of deep dives into the band’s history, album commentaries, top 10 song lists, tour/show recaps, and even reviews and deep dives into other albums released by other Big 4 bands (Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax). The hosts are musicians themselves and close friends so there’s a lot of awesome music creation information and hilarious bits. Highly recommend.

Okay, Harvey Milk is really cool - I had no idea that a band could sound like this. It's awesome stuff.

I was familiar with Godspeed you black emperor and love that kind of stuff. Have to be in the mood for it, but when I am, it hits just right.

Thanks for introducing me to Periphery! I am really digging that album you suggested. I've also been playing Ashes in the Wake on repeat since you suggested it. Great stuff on there.

Thanks for pointing me to them. Another user commented about Lamb of God and suggested starting with Ashes in the Wake and working forward. I really enjoyed that album and will keep exploring their music!

What is your favorite Lamb of God album? And do you have any other "groove band" recommendations?

Okay, this is awesome. I really appreciate you introducing me to this! I am totally digging it.

Shining is awesome! That whole Animal album is great.

I’m really into Baroness (Purple is such a killer record!), so I’ll check out Stam1na next. Never heard of Soen or Textures so they’re on my list now too.

Thanks for introducing me to Kylesa! This is really cool and I’ve been listening to them all day.

I thought so! Hopefully we can all share some ideas and get into some new stuff.

I’m going to miss r/guitar and r/guitar lessons. As someone who just started getting back into playing guitar, those two subreddits were ESSENTIAL treasure troves of tips, information, and guides to learning, practicing and enjoying guitar. Hoping to find / develop something similar on Lemmy…

It also seems to genuinely help foster conversation and discussion. No one is posting or reposting just to karma farm.

I’m super excited for the potential this has. Happy to be here and hoping to help build a great online community with you all!

Oh for sure. I am very appreciative of the dev and everyone working to help shape it into the best version it can be! My apologies if my post came off as snarky, it wasn’t intentional.

Ah ok, good to know! I get that it’s all early and still in development. I really enjoy the app so far - but the messages and notifications features would really make it top for me!

Yep! That’s what I’m seeing and it is pretty frustrating.

I’ve been bouncing between Lemmy and Tildes to see which I prefer. I am having a hard time with deciding. I vastly prefer how Lemmy has the reply to a post box right underneath the body of the post, whereas Tildes requires you to scroll to the bottom of ALL comments to make your own reply.

I like that Lemmy has the ability to create a ton of different communities and sub-communities. Tildes has like ~music, but nothing below that (like ~metal or ~indie). So Lemmy seems to have more of a curated community feel.

I think I like the UI of Tildes more, as of now, but Mlem is a promising app (I just wish there were notifications for comments to my posts/replies on the app. Maybe someday!)

Holy shit, thank you for this explanation! This was the simplest way I have ever seen it explained and was super helpful. Very appreciated!