Fresh start

Hi All,

I have decided to start my guitar learning afresh with you guys, as you seem to have a great lesson structure. Because I am now a retiree I have been doing guitar again with some determination but not enough direction. (Did some playing in my 30s as well but I was pretty time poor then).

I've really enjoyed my first 3 days with GT and Lisa's teaching style has a lot to do with it.

The following notes I made as I have never seen these mentioned so clearly before.

- the concept of fanning the strumming hand out to be more aware of all the strings to the touch - i like this as i am trying to learn without staring at my hands so much

- the importance she placed on the opposable thumb idea and not letting the thumb slip up over the nut,

- she described the way vibration tuners work. they seem to work independent of room noise, unlike the built in tuners in guitars? did I understand that right?

- i finally understand how easy it is to work out chord scales by doing the majors first then the minors, and how insignificant the vii chord is, or at least she hinted that was the case for beginners

- also I hadn't heard 'counting down' described so well and how the counter can dictate the tempo so easily.

Plus everyone seems pretty friendly on the forum, as music can involve a lot of subjective opinions.

regards to you all

W

I agree with you. I love the teaching here. Although I am not a total beginner I started fresh with GF1 and I'm so glad I did. I had only learned how to strum chords in the past, and although I can play lots of songs, that gets boring. I wanted to really take a formal, well rounded approach to learning guitar, and I already see after a short time that I have found that here.

Funny side note. My wife was teaching violin lessons last night, and teaching a newer student Ode To Joy. When she came home I was playing Ode To Joy lol. We both got a kick out of that.

Hi phm,

I'm totally in the same position as you, knowing songs but needing a path to go along. For example today playing along with Lisa and pretending to be Johnny Cash with those root notes on chords. Before this I was hitting the wrong strings on open chords for years and not caring. So having that slower strumming discipline has been interesting and helpful.

And very soon we move on to power chords, familiar but should be great fun.

You have another musician in the family ? Lucky you.

W (aka Warren)

Hey again Warren. Yes my wife, and both of her parents are musicians. She is a violinist, but plays some guitar which is where I learned. Funny story, when I was in the second grade about 500 years ago it seems. I got frustrated trying to play the recorder. A teacher told me that maybe music just isn't my thing. That stuck,,,,for years. I never even considered learning to play music until I met my wife. When we met 7 years ago I told her that I am not musically inclined. She called BS on that and asked if I wanted to play music, and that answer was yes, guitar. Soon she bought me an entry level acoustic and started teaching me chords. She told me straight up that guitar is not her main instrument, and if I wanted to advance I would need to seek instruction. But in the mean time we have had a blast playing Jimmy Buffett songs on the porch, as well as tons of other songs you can just strum chords to. I had put off going further than that for a long time. But now something just welled up inside and I really want to learn guitar, and more about music. After learning to read tabs on here, last night I sat down and (with some trial and error) played the Star Spangled Banner. It needs work,,,,but I did it! I actually played a song by playing indevidual strings. I never dreamed I would be able to do that. I have a long way to go but man is this fun. Last night I also learned the G major scale and am going to move on today or tomorrow to the next lesson. This is so much fun, and I'm in this for the long haul now. No more on again off again if I can help it. At 45 years old I'm learning a new way to play.

Hi again pmh,

Your wife sounds like a treasure. And I agree with her not to listen to people being dismissive or discouraging. And having a porch and family member to jam which is great.

I have nobody else in my family who played but had a (by all accounts) brilliant pianist grandmother - Chopin, Beethoven, you name it. So maybe some natural inclination runs in the family. I seem to be the only one interested.

Jimmy Buffett eh? I saw him - from a distance - at the Blues Festival at Easter this year. I got up to Byron Bay this year and had a ball. Lots of 50s and 60s types like me. I live down south in Canberra so decided to do the trip up there by train, the traditional way.

It was like that with the Doobie Brothers, by that stage of the festival we were pretty tired and there were about 3000 people in front of us when we got there. So we watched them from the back in comfort. All great insiration for us aspiring guitarists though.

cheers W

That is awesome Warren. The coolest time I had around celebs was ironically several years ago at the NRA convention in Charlotte. Some friends of mine worked with Ted Nugent, and during the convention we spent a large part of the day helping to get ready for his show there. It was a great fun time. He jammed for us a little before hand. We ran some errands with the crew, it was all around cool and they (he and his family and crew) are the nicest people in person. This was way before I ever started playing music. Funny thing is when Ted was warming up, he looked at me and asked me if it sounded a bit "tinny" to me. LOL I had no idea how to answer that one and played it off. I said " I'm on the fence, what do you guys think?" looking at the stage crew

Experiences you'll always remember phm. So do you live in the Carolinas?

Warren, yes I do, born and raised, how about you?. So this week is coming along great. After my lessons and practice, I'm taking the instructor Lisa's advice and doing fun playing with things I know and come easy to me. For fun last night I learned a pretty cool country lick on my acoustic. It's almost blues like but fits well with country. This gets more fun each day, and my confidence is growing. And as a bonus, I realized last night that my finger tips are now like leather lol. I can play about as long as I feel like it now without finger tip soreness being an issue.

I'll add that this came about in a funny way. I injured my hand a little while back and during my last follow up with the Dr, I was wearing a Taylor guitar shirt. He asked if I played, and then said I should start playing again as physical theropy for my hand. Starting in short sessions and work my way up. Well not only did my had start feeling better quickly, but it lit a fire inside me to take guitar seriously.

Great you have had a comeback phm, I've had a similar story. I retired in 2013, played in a haphazard way but after a gym leg injury I managed to rest for too long and weaken my arm muscles. I developed tendonosis. It was very frustrating getting constant arm pain after trying to fret notes so decided to play slide for about 18 months. It ended up being useful doing that light touch style and also trying out alternate tunings.

But this year a new physio found a postural problem was the cause. Now I do exercises each day, the arm pain is all gone and I was ready to play again. I have to stand up more often and practice not looking down so much.

Its interesting your Dr said to play more, and I learned you have to play the right way.