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Post by Whiterook on Mar 28, 2022 17:01:09 GMT -5
After my mom passed away in 1974, when I was 14, a guitar appeared on my dad’s bedroom wall. I don’t remember the brand, but I do remember that it was busted up pretty bad. Still, I was fascinated by the sunburst pattern and wondered why it magically appeared. My dad dug it out from God-knows-where and hung it up, even though it’d been busted for a long time…not sure why it was never tossed away. You see, it was my mom’s! I never knew she played!!! My sister told me more about the guitar than my dad could bear to talk about; that my mom was self-taught and played for herself mainly, but occasionally to family. Apparently, “Buttons and Bows” was her favorite song, I was told. A few years later, I had my own car and on a trip to see my sister in Worcester, I stopped in a music store I’d passed along the way and looked around at the guitars. Finding one that caught my particular interest, I asked one of the sales folks to play it… I fell in love with that guitar, but it was far out of my price range. Many years last, and in the mid-90’s, I decided to finally fulfill that earlier wish I had — buy and learn guitar! My first try was actually with a guitar my wife had, but it was in pretty tough shape having been stored away for decades. On the advice of a co-worker at Fort Deven’s Army Base, I picked up a brand new Yamaha Classical, and stumbled around with it for several years on my own. It wasn’t pretty (my playing, not the guitar). I later sold it for a pin acoustic electric, which I still have, called “Starlight”. I found I was on a better path with that one, which had beautiful action to the strings! It was an Esteban-sponsored instrument, bought from a shop at home channel, of all things! I tried one teacher, but he was expensive and I didn’t like his teaching style, which was decidedly all business… so, I decided to self teach myself. I did’t get very far and decided I really needed to try a teacher again, and this time, found I was making decent but slow progress. I ended up buying a Dean acoustic guitar (yes, they make a few, though they are known for their electrics). It”s called “The Player”!  
The lessons went well for about a year, but was too expensive, so I stopped… then life got in the way (work, really), but I tried to keep moving forward. Now that I just retired last week, I am determined to restart and learn this beauty. |
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Post by josta59 on Mar 28, 2022 17:15:59 GMT -5
Good luck! I've been playing for seventeen years, so let me know if I can be of any help at all.
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Post by Whiterook on May 3, 2022 17:41:43 GMT -5
Good luck! I've been playing for seventeen years, so let me know if I can be of any help at all. Thanks, Scott! I appreciate the offer and I may have a question or two for you! I made some headway on learning the instrument a few years ago with a teacher, but it was tough schedule and money-wise. Now that I’m retired, I can spend a lot more time in the day with it and should be a game changer… the only thing that could hold me back being me investing the time. I taught musing for near two decades and the number one thing I always stressed was: Progress is dependent on practice! …out the time in! Now, I need to heed that sage advice. |
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Post by Whiterook on Jun 19, 2022 17:50:43 GMT -5
I’ve been decompressing in retirement, and healing up from a nasty fall… but I’m really itching to get restarted. I saw a segment on CBS Sunday Morning on Jim Croce, and his son, and found inspiration. Later, I came across another reference to Croce… I heed such signs! I’ve always been inspired by his guitar playing, songs, and life (tragically short though it was). Stephen Still is another, particularly his Stills Alone acoustic album, which I own… I was loading songs and albums on my new cell a bit back, and unfortunately couldn’t get it to load, due to the format… but when looking though the playlists, there it was… signs. So I need to act! This week, I’ll clean and tune The Player up, and start working on finger strength exercises. I have absolutely no calluses on my fingertips so, this is going to be uncomfortable for awhile  |
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Post by Whiterook on Jun 20, 2022 13:49:26 GMT -5
So those that know me well, know that I usually set the bar extremely high on a lot of what I take on in life. Always been that way and don’t see my way of changing it now! There are several songs that I want to play on the guitar, but the one I always wanted to play is the one I will start playing around with. I’ll be honest and say that, this would most likely be a long learn event for me, but there are so many cool individual learning experiences contained within the controlled strumming and chord work, that it’s a good steak to chew into!
Jon Bon Jovi’s, “Wanted Dead or Alive”
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Post by josta59 on Jun 22, 2022 10:31:59 GMT -5
Wow, cool! You can do it!
When you get good at it, send me a recording and I'll record some vocals over it!
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Post by Whiterook on Jul 3, 2022 10:25:16 GMT -5
So I’m back underway! I’d bought “How to Play Guitar 3 in 1 Beginner Series: The Complete Course for Beginner Guitarists. Learn Chords, Exercises and Tab” (Kindle Edition), by Joseph Alexander.  So here’s the deal… WOW! This was the kick start I needed, and I feel fortunate I stumbled into it. Actually written for electric guitar, I worried for a moment that I’d bought a pig in a poke, but figured hey, it’s TAB, Chords, and Strength Exercises… it has to be transposable to acoustic, right? It is  I started with the first book on Tablature (TAB), which I already knew, but has been a long time since I used learned it; I never actually used it! …my guitar teacher taught me by chords and strumming, never any picking or TAB. I’m glad to report, I’d not really forgotten anything, but did need a reintroduction. What truly blew my mind however (well, more blown than usual  ), was the book a part of the book I did t know was in there, which was traditional music reading and theory… You see, I knew how to read basic music from my drum & bugle corps days, and youth days with my drum kit; and when I started to teach drum & bugle corps, I taught myself how to write and compose percussion charts (if it can make music by being hit, I can write for and teach it!). Well, the lessons on music writing surprised me not only in being in that book, but how much I’d forgotten about! …I mean, the last time o wrote and taught percussion was in 2000! It all came back though! Anyway… I’m good to read TAB again! Where I’m at now is, using book two and three together… learn a Chord, learn a strength exercise. For the Chord, I started with Em (E Minor, not me, haha… but fitting, no!?!). I’m using a guitar pick…now with that, I was introduced to using one with that guitar teacher many years ago. I had figured going into this that, I probably need to buy a few, since the ones I had were missing at that time (I since found them). I bought a set of Dunlop Tortex in differing thicknesses, and a set of Dunlop Fins. All the Dunlop picks are amazing… what a difference; though I found a set of Gibson picks in medium, that cake with a cleaning kit I’d bought back when I bought “The Player”… those Gibson picks are great! Anyway, I started strumming quarter notes in Em with alternate open strums, feeling out the position. It came quickly (it’s an easy Chord) so, I tried a few up/down strumming patterns with accents and damned if it didn’t sound musical! I found it interesting that this is a primary drive of Joseph Alexander, in that he says anyone can play mechanic chords and become bored of quickly, but it’s more fun to learn something that sounds musical, followed by actual music! When I went downstairs after my first practice session, my wife told me it sounded great, and very song-like! Another part of that session was, I gained “pick confidence” immediately. What I mean by that is, when I first started playing with a pick in those face to face lessons so many years back, I was never confident or comfortable with it. I think one of of the reasons this happened now is, I was using the wrong pick this many years back! …the pick I used was extremely ridged and hard, with not flex… bad for a beginner! …that’s more for a seasoned electric guitarist most likely, for fas5 picking on individual-picked strings. So for the third book, I chose the first exercise, which was picking the 6th string and fingering frets 1, 2, 3, and 4 with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers per fret. Simple enough. I modified it a bit by then walking the pattern up the strings, and moving to the next four frets for a repeat. There wasn’t a lot of cleanliness to those quarter notes… lots of buzzing here and there, but Alexander states clearly that the object is strength and control… don’t get crazy about the buzzes! Im shooting for 20 minute practice sessions every day, 15 minutes on chord work and 5 minutes on strength/control conditioning. If I can get a second session in, I will. I’ll build from there with adding another 10 for a half hour session. I figure a nice gradual start while I build finger strength and calluses. I’m very excited and psyched! I feel like I’ve gained a lot of ground towards where I left off, and will probably be back to where I was very shortly. I’m using this thread as a pseudo journal… however, I actually did add a new journal to an app I have on my iPad that has other journals, and am finding it useful. |
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Post by josta59 on Jul 3, 2022 16:53:26 GMT -5
This is very exciting! I'm proud of you. And I thought it was so funny that your first chord was fittingly "Em"!
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Post by Whiterook on Jul 5, 2022 13:24:57 GMT -5
This is very exciting! I'm proud of you. And I thought it was so funny that your first chord was fittingly "Em"! Thank you… I truly appreciate that …and I thought the same thing on the Em! |
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Post by Whiterook on Dec 2, 2022 21:19:57 GMT -5
I’ve done some solid work with reading and YouTube, but it’s been slow going, as I’ve been distracted with lots to do as a retiree with time to do all those things put off for so many years around the house, lol… those Honey-Do lists have a way of piling up! Given that, I’d slacked off considerably, coming to the realization I need a little more than YouTube can offer (it’s a very jumbly way to learn things)…
I needed to light a major ignition in the afterburners, and I’d been getting the feeling that I need more structured instruction…so, I signed up with JamPlay today! They had a holiday sale and bought into an annual subscription. There’s a 30-day cancellation escape hatch so, I figure I’ll try it out, self-teaching, but with better resources at hand! At around $5 a month for the year, versus $55 a week in person, this seems a good deal!
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Post by josta59 on Dec 7, 2022 14:46:57 GMT -5
Good for you! I'm sure it will help.
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McCoy
Sergeant
Posts: 227 
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Post by McCoy on Mar 10, 2023 12:50:17 GMT -5
I'd love to be able to play guitar but sadly I lack the needed dexterity in my fingers so it'll never happen!
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Post by Whiterook on Mar 23, 2023 15:58:43 GMT -5
I'd love to be able to play guitar but sadly I lack the needed dexterity in my fingers so it'll never happen! A good guitar shop can work on the bridge to bring the strings close to the fret board and easier to press down. Also, a classical guitar uses nylon strings, which can be similarly fit. You never know…maybe that’s a work a round? They also have finger strengthened devices (like those old grip squeezer thingies) that might help in general, even if you don’t try guitar. For me, I have problems with my left thumb, and was worried it’d impact adversely, but it hasn’t…it’s not quite like the grips and dexterity I had as a drummer back in the day, but where there’s a will, there may be a way. |
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McCoy
Sergeant
Posts: 227
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Post by McCoy on Mar 25, 2023 15:37:26 GMT -5
I'd love to be able to play guitar but sadly I lack the needed dexterity in my fingers so it'll never happen! A good guitar shop can work on the bridge to bring the strings close to the fret board and easier to press down. Also, a classical guitar uses nylon strings, which can be similarly fit. You never know…maybe that’s a work a round? They also have finger strengthened devices (like those old grip squeezer thingies) that might help in general, even if you don’t try guitar. For me, I have problems with my left thumb, and was worried it’d impact adversely, but it hasn’t…it’s not quite like the grips and dexterity I had as a drummer back in the day, but where there’s a will, there may be a way. The problem with my dexterity in my fingers or rather lack of it is that I can't form the various accords with my fingers. The digits don't move freely from each others on my hands... |
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Post by Whiterook on Jun 14, 2023 8:15:23 GMT -5
I’ve been reengaging with so many of my hobbies and interests since having free time back, but I’d yet to get acoustic guitar back I to the mix. Sometimes, something can be so vexing that it just halts you in your tracks, frozen like block of ice! Definitely right, with the word ‘block’. It’s been an artist block.
Enter Dave Matthews and a blast from the past.
From the very beginning of my quest to teach myself acoustic guitar, starting decades ago, really… I had several songs that met certain criteria, which I wanted to tackle. One of those Artist was Dave, and one of his songs swam to the top: “Crash Into Me”
…this may be a good start. I noticed there are some lessons in JamPlay which I’ll be checking out, too!
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), was the book a part of the book I did t know was in there, which was traditional music reading and theory… You see, I knew how to read basic music from my drum & bugle corps days, and youth days with my drum kit; and when I started to teach drum & bugle corps, I taught myself how to write and compose percussion charts (if it can make music by being hit, I can write for and teach it!). Well, the lessons on music writing surprised me not only in being in that book, but how much I’d forgotten about! …I mean, the last time o wrote and taught percussion was in 2000! It all came back though! Anyway… I’m good to read TAB again!
