Happy New Year to all!

This is the time of year we would normally make a list of our plans, only to forget them a few weeks later. It’s natural, everyone does it. 

For me, I am realistic. I am not keen to set goals that I won’t keep. That is a benefit of being old. But this year I have set myself a simple one that is tied to my age and associated deteriorating conditions. 

“Can I get my pinky working properly?” That’s all. Sounds simple but I developed a method that relied on the pad rather than the tip of my pinky and while this worked, it put so much pressure on my 1st joint that it is no longer practical. In fact it is so painful that I won’t try it. So… I am working to change this. 

What brought this about was Dave’s excellent lesson on Wish You Were Here. I learned it years ago and overtime stopped playing it. I realized it was because of the way I positioned my pinky and the stress it caused. 

Well, I am still here, so a day above is a day to work on something. If I can correct this fretting, I will say “job accomplished” and maybe be able to play a pure classic once again  

I hope that whatever your goals are for ‘26 they are successful!

All the best!

Bill