Felix, from Southern California

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Hi there! I’m Felix, and I live in Orange County, California. Long-time classical pianist. I tried to learn the guitar, and a rock guitarist suggested I learn classical guitar first, so that’s what I did for a while. I’d get into it for a while (mostly using Mel Bay’s “The Complete Carcassi Guitar Method”), but I kept stalling out at barre chords and became convinced it just was not my instrument (I wish I’d seen Justin’s F-chord lesson on this that does a great job preparing students for how difficult the process is).

Tried learning drums, bass guitar, and synthesizers, all of which were interesting in their own way, but they never really grabbed me, and I also didn’t seem to have a knack for any of them. My drum teacher kept pressing me to learn songs, but I just kept doing exercises. The only song on the bass I learned was “Money,” and on the synths, I tended to find myself just tweaking and organizing patches and playing the same thing over and over again in them.

At this point, my piano playing got to the point where I could play and sing whole pop/rock songs, but I kept getting frustrated by not being able to rock out and how terrible distortion would sound whenever I tried to use it. And then my wife suggested I try out the electric guitar, pointing out that barre chords are easier on it due to the smaller neck.

And so it was! And then I also found that it’s the one instrument that I just keep picking up and playing around with every day! I had a hard time finding a good way to structure my learning, though. I came across this site per the recommendation from Guitar Junky. However, I just wrote it down in my notes but never got around to looking at it more closely until I found Justin’s great tutorial on “Summer of '69” on YouTube and realizing it was the same person!

I play a blue Ibanez RG6003FM paired with a Boss GT-1 multi-FX pedal (which I love so much that I never bother firing up my Reason DAW that I had originally planned to use for my FX). Since the Boss comes with amp simulators, I just run it to my keyboard amp (a Roland KC-550 I got for a great deal on CraigsList back when I lived in Austin, TX), or just via the headphone jack to my portable computer speakers if I’m on the go.

Anyway, glad to meet y’all!

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Hey Felix, great to meet you. I lived in southern california for about 5 years in the 70s, many happy memories from my time there. Great you are making progress, look forward to hearing more from you.

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Hi Felix Here’s a link to the 5 patterns of the minor pentatonic scale that we talked about in the other thread. Scroll down to each pattern and there is a lesson link beside each one. Don’t try and learn them all at once. It’s best to learn to use each on before moving on to the next one.
Each pattern is the same notes but arranged differently on different spots on the neck.

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Awesome, thank you so much!!!

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Hi (again!) Felix! Great to have you here, can’t wait to see how you progress! All the best with your journey! :slightly_smiling_face::+1:

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Hi Felix,
Welcome,and i hope you can keep it going on with the guitar ,have fun :sunglasses:
Greetings,Rogier

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Hello Felix and welcome to the Community! What a wonderful story so full with instruments…aaahh the piano :heart_eyes::heart_eyes::heart_eyes: I’m learning Classical Guitar as well as the Acoustic and since a couple of months the Uke :blush::blush::blush:

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Hello Felix, and a warm Welcome to the community :hugs:.
That’s a very interesting story - so many different instruments, you’ve already played. I’m certain, your musical skills and experience will help you learning to play the guitar.
I wish you lots of fun with your six-string-friend :smiley:.

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Great to have you here, Felix. That’s fantastic that you can play so many instruments - I would love to eventually be able to play at least a few myself. That’s awesome that your wife suggested the electric guitar, and that you eventually came across Justin’s site. IMO he’s the best thing out there! Cheers and welcome!

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Hi Felix,

Welcome to the forum. I’m just South of you in San Diego. I’ve been with Justin guitar 2 years or so. His lessons are great. Hope to hear a sample of your music soon.

Jeff

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Hello and welcome to our community Felix. :slight_smile:

Glad you finally managed to find a guitar that keeps you coming back for more.

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Hello Felix and welcome to the community. That’s quite a back story and I’m guessing that your musical education means you bring to guitar a good understanding of music, theory, chords etc. It is all about learning the foundational skills and building from there.
Oh, yes, and, given that you mentioned it as a weak area, it is all about the main reason we want to play guitar … learn songs, learn songs, learn songs.
If you need any help then just ask.
Cheers :smiley:
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide, Approved Teacher & Moderator

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“Oh, yes, and, given that you mentioned it as a weak area, it is all about the main reason we want to play guitar … learn songs, learn songs, learn songs.”

Well, it was a weak area for me on the drums, but one thing that has me convinced that guitar is really my instrument is that all I ever want to play or practice are songs! :slight_smile:

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Felix, welcome to the community forum. With your background playing piano, classical guitar and drums you have a good musical background to make progress. You alreay have the theory and have understanding of rhythm and harmony. I look forward to hearing you play some of your songs as your progress.

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Welcome Felix, glad to have your wealth of experience in the community.

A

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