welcome 
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Welcome Erika. I think cats are not music lovers. When I start playing, mine hides in the closet and yowls. That doesn’t stop me! Have fun playing and meeting people on the forum.
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true
mine started to stress and went bald on his belly from over licking himself … Had to buy medecines to calm his nerves 
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Welcome to the forum Erika
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Happy Birthday Erika! and Welcome to that Party!
♫⋆｡♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ.
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Welcome aboard Erika,
Hope you enjoy your guitar journey ‘To affinity and beyond’ 
(I’ll get my coat 
)
How cool. And with Christmas next week, you should have another one on it’s way… 
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Welcome to the forum Erika and happy birthday. I hope you have many happy years of playing and for starters you have found the best place to begin your journey.
Back in 96, my wife bought me a Squire Affinity for my 40th and I then spent 17 years going round in circles before stumbling on Justin and this wonderful community. Reckons that means you get a 17 year head start.
Rock on and don’t worry what the cats think, they’ll come round !
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Hello Erika & Welcome!
So cool to start at 40 & to have found Justin along with this wonderful Community! My story is similar to Toby’s above except that I was about 35 & didn’t find Justin until a couple of years ago… what a difference his lessons have made to my playing! You’ve definitely found the right place to learn!
One thing I always suggest to “newbies” is to go get yourself a stand or wall hanger. If your guitar is close to hand, you can pick it up & play when you only have a few minutes… I like to play/practice while the coffee’s brewing in the mornings! That extra 5-10 minutes here & there will make a difference in your progress - guaranteed!!!
Good luck with your guitar Journey!!!
Tod from New Mexico
BTW - you don’t even have to plug it in - just playing your Squire Unplugged will help you to make gains with finger coordination/dexterity & your rhythm! 
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Welcome Erika
What a great idea for a birthday present
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Hi Erika hope you stick in and enjoy this community cheers Hec
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Thanks for the welcome! And yes, it’s a stratocaster.
Robbins is my name through marriage, but maybe you’re related to my partner’s family!
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Thanks for all the great advice! I’m working from home currently, so hoping that will make it easier to make time for practice during work breaks.
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Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and all the great tips! I’m really looking forward to getting started and being a part of this community!
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HaHa! I get more practice time in at work than I do at home!!!
Pics from my office at work:
Again, those 5-10 minutes while I am waiting for the computer to finish something so the next step can start is super-useful!!!
Besides, the boss teleworks so he doesn’t have a clue what anyone on the team’s doing… we get the job done ahead of time anyway, so he probably wouldn’t care anyway!!! 
Where in CA do you call home, Erika?
My wife & I love to vacation in SoCal… the beach “calls” to us almost as much as guitar calls me!!!
Tod
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Hi Erika, welcome to the community forum.
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Looks like a great office setup!
We are in Glendale, which is very close to Los Angeles. Sadly don’t make it to the beach as often as I’d like, though.
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Hey Erika, welcome to the community. I lived in the great Los Angeles area in the late 70s and got married in San Francisco in 2000 so have a lot of great memories from my time in California. Look forward to hearing more from you, learning guitar is a great experience, wonderful rewards once you get your groove.
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Hello Erika - happy birthday happy new guitar day, happy COmmunity debut day!
Welcome to JustinGuitar and this fantastic community. Please take your time to look around and get to know the wider space.
https://community.justinguitar.com/categories
We are a supportive and encouraging group of students and guitarists from across the world. Essentially, we are all here for music and to improve as players. We truly are a ‘community’. Members help and support one another and a friendly, positive attitude underpins this. We hope that all - young or old, experienced or new players - adopt and foster the pay-it-forward ethos that Justin personifies and embedded all those years ago when he started the website and forum.
Also, please make sure to read the community etiquette announcement for some important information and guidance.
Richard
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Welcome, Erika! This is a great place to learn!
I also live in CA and have a cat who is entirely unimpressed with (but thankfully not bothered by) my playing. While not necessary for Justin’s course, I have found that my grade school knowledge of how to read music is helpful, especially for rhythm – I’m sure your foundation there will pay off!
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Hi Erika
Welcome to the community! 
It’s a very friendly, helpful and supportive place
Happy birthday! 
An excellent birthday gift too! 
You can’t go wrong with Justin’s lessons, especially working through them sequentially from the beginning. I’ve found this is the best way, having tried both this and jumping around all over the place
My cats used to leave the room when I practiced too, and one even slapped me around the face! 
They got used to it though
Looking forward to hearing more from you 
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