Good one, Steve! I’ve learnt so much within those last years about not to give up, I might be the biggest fool of all !
I love the story about your grandfather. I’m no friend of those “life countdowns” either.
Maybe I’m a bit too much on a sentimental journey right now… , in my own situation, I shouldn’t care about such “small” things anymore, but there’s yet another story behind the surface. Thanks for your reply and the thoughtful words!
@TheMadman_tobyjenner Toby! You made me smile with your idea of a little revenge !
As tempting as it might sound, I’m fully aware that 80% of it was simply a chain of unfortunate circumstances and in general, I’m zero resentful in my personality.
For me, it was just another hint, that others, even when they live close to me, can’t sometimes understand my connection to music and the related sentiments and the least my love for guitar .
So I’ll save my energy to learn to play some blues… !
Best wishes to you in lovely France. I once had a little trip to Normandie and several longer stays en Bretagne. Just beautiful !
@Silvia80 Sorry to read about your not so happy christmas days, I hope everyone gets well soon!
I’m sure this experience won’t reduce neither my love for music/guitar nor my motivation to practice. Maybe just set the focus in the right place!
Thanks for the encouragement, Silvia, as long as there’s music, there’s joy! If there’s anything in this crazy world that’s able to connect people - it’s music!
I enjoyed reading it the most ( no …i m not a sadist ), especially because of how you wrote it, and also very good that I feel your disappointment, and that of course does not make it fun to read … the fear or the feeling of perhaps the last time makes me a little sad… usually those days that go completely differently and simply go wrong (in a really messy way) are the best ones later… I certainly don’t dare say that now… but I wish so fiery …
And the realization that some and even most people close to us give little or no attention or appreciation is hard…not nice …crxp and sometimes even painful … for me here too,
luckily the most important ones are very happy for me … My girl and most you here
Fortunately, I read that you can throw it off a bit… but I still wanted to “een hart onder de riem steken”
Thanks Rogier for the nice words! As aways, you definitely got the point !
Sometimes I guess, we are expecting too much from others concerning appreciation…
I think others simply don’t see HOW much effort it takes to learn a piece and therefore can’t value it so much .
Hi ,Are we just chatting in two threads … about to have tea and some fruit here …
Yes, this
is simply the main reason for the success of this site (combined with decency) ,
Some fools expect me to play my Stairway intro and make it sound like Jimmy Page or Angie flawlessly and with the smoothness of Keith after 4 years of guitar
Sorry to hear about your Christmas music disappointment Andrea. However, I really enjoyed your post and have to admit I did laugh at your comments about it all becoming like a Christmas comedy movie. In my mind’s eye I saw you and your Dad continually popping up from behind the door with guitar and harmonica and song sheets only to be overruled by other family members wanting to do other things.
Seriously though, don’t wait/hope until next Christmas to create a musical memory with your Dad. Get together with him soon for a meal or whatever without the rest of the family. Press the red record button on your phone and capture that guitar/harmonica moment! Your family will look back at it in years to come and laugh with fond memories of it all.
@sairfingers Ha, ha, part of it reminded me of some slapstick comedy ! It wasn’t all too disappointing, just the music part, with all the other stuff we had quite some fun .
Thanks for the very wise words and advice . I really consider to do something like that !
@SteveL_G99 Hi Steve, nice to see you here! I read your latest log entries yesterday and was excited to see you’ve done Silent Night too. Unfortunately, I couldn’t open the videos, I get a fault signal. I’ll try later today, maybe it works then…
Concerning the Micro Plus, I don’t want to heat up any GAS attacks, but I really, really love that tiny little wonder machine! I guess the main differences between Micro and Plus are, that the Plus supports some more amp models and even more important, you have the chance to control the whole process via the Fender Tone App, which is great, as you have the whole signal chain layed out and are able to step into the chain at any point. This makes the whole thing a lot more “understandable”. I don’t regret a sIngle penny spent on this piece of kit. You can run a BT through it and together with the amped guitar signal send it to an amp or monitors and the sound is great and almost 100% what you would hear through headphones!
@Ontime I hope I haven’t been to rigid with this… what I wanted to say is that I, in my case, already lost precious time in focusing too much on things I thought I should learn, because others might expect me to do this.
I this case, I actually learned a lot from polishing up those christmas songs, especially Silent Night is good training for fingerstyle skills.
I just will get even more specific in selecting the main songs I’m working on. I’ll pick my songs because a) I love them and they motivate or inspire me, b) they take me ahead, c) fit into what I’m currently learning, d) are recommended by Justin .
But there still will be a part, I maybe learn just to please somebody. Sharing music is a great thing but not always valued .
but something is improving in my house…today my husband said entering the kitchen “Can’t you play something happier at least? With all the good Music is out there!”
At least he spoke and just didn’t as usual
I must admit though, this song I’m learning is 100% pure Nostalgia
Oh, that’s hard! But it’s real progress, when the playing at least gets noticed…
Same here , had a little conversation with my husband and asked him, if he knows what I‘m currently practicing or learning…or which songs I’ve already learned…
Answer: oh yes, I can hear you playing upstairs. Finito .
(but we can talk for hours about everything other than guitar , weird )
What happened to the strat you bought for your husband? Did he ever play?
Hi Andrea, that was a touching story!
I hope sincerely that somehow, that 25% number increases!
And that you’ll have plenty more of those joyful moments with your guitar!
All the best, Dominique
Sorry to read that.
But you know… guitars are very patient…they can wait for decades to get played…and maybe one day, you’ll surprise us all with an almost perfect electric blues piece .
Thank you! It has come to a halt in december. We had great moments, but we’re 4 individuals with our own stories and struggles, we have been more talking about life in general than writing the song. I think that dividing into groups of two would have helped. But then - I don’t mind, I’ve got to know (yet just a little) three great persons and I still believe the song will be finished
Oh, and now I realised others who replied here lately were refering to chrismas, so I went back to read what happened to you. That’s sad!
Reading your story with the lost moments and Steve’s reply with his grandfather’s walnut forest I thought that could make for some nice song
Hi Dominique, thanks for the update! Nice to read about the slightly off piste creative process of writing a song together. But who knows? Writing a song isn’t maybe “planable” and maybe, with time one or all of you’ll get back to it, because “muse” steps in again? I bet, it was a great experience anyway!
Concering my own story: yes, it was a bit frustrating, but there can always be taken something out of it, that’s why I wrote about it.
I guess quite a lot of people have similar experiences along their path…and the only real bad thing would be to get demotivated. I’m not… I love my guitars and my journey .
.
Good one, Steve! I’ve learnt so much within those last years about not to give up, I might be the biggest fool of all 
, in my own situation, I shouldn’t care about such “small” things anymore, but there’s yet another story behind the surface. Thanks for your reply and the thoughtful words!
!
!
!
), especially because of how you wrote it, and also very good that I feel your disappointment, and that of course does not make it fun to read … the fear or the feeling of perhaps the last time makes me a little sad… usually those days that go completely differently and simply go wrong (in a really messy way) are the best ones later… I certainly don’t dare say that now… but I wish so fiery …
.
! “I can buy myself flowers…” 
… about to have tea and some fruit here …
! It wasn’t all too disappointing, just the music part, with all the other stuff we had quite some fun 
. I really consider to do something like that 
but something is improving in my house…today my husband said entering the kitchen “Can’t you play something happier at least? With all the good Music is out there!”
.
!
Sorry to read that.
That’s sad!