Haha! I sold lots of other things too. Would have sold my parents house had it not been a council house!
As long as you didn’t sell the horse to get a new guitar when you decided to attempt learning again
No, I kept him until he died as an old boy. The second guitar came and went, I think I gave it to someone.
I shan’t be parting with these guitars, in fact, I get the feeling that they’ll multiply
That’s a shame, animals make such a big impact to our lives. At least you’re back in the saddle as Tommy Emmanuel would say. And yes they multiply like gremlins, so hope you have plenty of floor space or wall space.
So against my better judgement, I looked at Nitsuj getting his electric lefty guitar that @artax_2 mentioned and sure enough I want an electric guitar now! The plan was to plug in my electro acoustic Baby Taylor first. But … I don’t know… my Christmas list is forming!
Oh another tactic for my blah times is to remember just how bad I was at the start! My lovely and very supportive other half often says how I’ve come on when I complain it’s all too hard. Reminds me that I declared the D chord to be impossible for my fingers. I think the same about the stuck chords, my two smallest fingers refuse to tuck up close. But slowly I’m getting these chords more and more.
Hard as it is, it’s all very exciting
Don’t you just love GAS
Had to look up GAS so I can’t be too bad… yet! Eight months into this journey, we ‘only’ have three guitars in the house and only two are mine. I do have a beautiful array of plectrums and a lovely shiny capo
I said that about the F barre chord but can now do it after about 6 months of practice. Nearly gave up on it a few times!
I started out saying I only want to own two guitars for the rest of my life- one acoustic and one electric. Well that went out the window pretty quick and now I have four. Three electrics and an acoustic. I mean, what happened!? Haha. GAS happened. Wish they made a pill for GAS like they do for gas.
Hola clay… isn’t that the truth… and if it ain’t difficult or challenging, it [probably] ain’t worth it… in all walks of life… truth in the learning and finding new ideas and techniques - as in Justins’ Honky Tonk Woman (in open G)… and Jimmy’s Kashmir in DADGAD… wow, a wellspring of creativity.
For years I tried to learn JJ Cales’ ‘Drifters Wife’… just couldn’t get it but wrote something new from the attempts at learning - then I discovered open-tuning - 'nuff said!
Croz
Picks are the entry drug…
And are the electrics lots easier to fret? I won’t hold you responsible if I have to go and buy one!
To be quite honest, yes. I measured the nut widths and all my electrics are 2mm narrower than the acoustic and while that is a tiny difference, it suits my short fingers a little better. And the strings are lighter gauge and that make a difference in the first three frets on the thickest strings. Plus the body is so much thinner it fits comfortably and feels really good. When you get to the F choud you may appreciate having an electric. Just be sure the nut width is 42mm or smaller and the neck is a nice thin neck to see the most benefit for small hands. That info should be in the guitars specs list, so read those specs as you’re researching or shopping. Whatever feels good to you while holding it, thats THE most important thing, regardless of nut width- that it feels good to you and sounds good to you.
I would just mention that the easiest guitar I have fretted was my classical. 52 mm nut. My hands are not big either.
It is the strings and action, followed by technique, I should think.
One other factor with electrics (although considerably less important) is the scale length. There are generally two standards (but I’m sure there are others out there) - the Gibson scale length at 24.75 inches and the Fender scale length at 25.5 inches. (I’m not getting out the calculator to figure out what that is in cm). Because there is less length on the shorter Gibson scale, the string tension is lower to get the same pitch. It would only matter a little bit on fretting, but it is very noticeable while bending. So, if you go looking for an electric, you might want to try guitars in both scale lengths to see which you prefer.
Yes feeling is important! I knew the Tanglewood suited me better than the full size acoustics I’ve tried before straight away. And I got the Baby Taylor because I tried it in the shop and found it fretted more easily for me. Sounded gorgeous too (sorry Ziggy!).
I’ll certainly try before I buy … if I buy…
Thank you. Yes, I’m guessing smaller will be better for me. Weight will be an issue too, at just a smidge under 5 foot! I believe they are a lot heavier than my acoustic babies.
Oh yes. My strat is nearly twice as heavy as my acoustic (3.7kg vs 2kg).
Not an issue when playing seated, but a huge difference when playing standing.
Hi Stacy, I’m currently at module 9 as well, and yes, I can very much relate to your struggles. 30 minutes are certainly not enough any more to practice everything. I’m now at about one hour a day for my practice routine.
After being on module 8 for a month, I decided to move on, although my chord changes to the stuck 3&4 chords were (and still are) far from perfect. But the rest was okay or even quite good.
So here I am now, struggeling with the F chord (and - funnily enough - even more with the Mini F), but happy to finally knowing all the necessary chords for practicing one of my current favourite songs (with many, many F chords in it ). That was a huge motivational boost - to be able to practice such a wonderful song. (Although, it will certainly take months of practice before I will be confident with my playing and singing .)
And with Christmas time already in sight, I’ve already started practicing x-mas songs. Some of the more traditional ones are not that difficult.
It feels so good to be able to play them without much effort. Something, that would have been absolutely impossible last Christmas .
Small fingers are an issue here as well. I’ve really tried hard to be able to mute the E string when playing the C chord - but I still can’t do it. I know, somewhen in the future I will. But right now I focus on not strumming the E string, instead .
Thank you for starting this post and your honest thoughts. It’s good to know, that these days happen to all of us from time to time .
There are many great and helpful comments here so I’ll keep mine brief.
Things that helped me learning in last two years:
Enjoying the learning process. I’m seriously surprised and happy some days that I can do something I’d previously found impossible,
Not worrying I can’t do everything. Or if I forget how to do something. There’s no exam!
Let the theory in a bit at a time when I’m curious about a chord or progression.
Do some theory when I can’t play my guitar.
Recording myself and sharing the result helped overcome my inhibitions.
Sing as well.
Playing with a friend for fun.
Encourage someone else to take up guitar! There was no one around so I persuaded 3 friends to learn as well. Playing together and teaching each other is a fantastic way to learn. (The single best motivator in my view)
Just playing nice progressions and relaxing without worrying about a lesson.
Knowing a bit about music makes live gigs more fun. Really listen and watch.
Leave guitar out of bag and ready where I can see it. It’s amazing how often I pick it up and play without it being a “practice session”
Hope some of this helps.