Hi my name is Jeff and I live in San Diego, California. My music background is at age 10, I learned to play drums for a while and years later when I first picked up a guitar I still had the counting 1-2-3-4 and 2/4 drum beats still in my subconscious. In 2005 I picked up my first guitar from a guy named Troy Stetina, who sold beginner guitar packages online. He was not much of a teacher for beginners so I had no lesson, but his claim to fame was teaching the guitar player of Creed. Troy plays awesome and I saw his band once, but way above my skills set. My playing was beyond awful, with nothing but overpriced books or tips from the local guitar playing drunks at the beach. My landlord once threatened to evict me because the noise was so bad. I tried for a few years and did not get much better. The only positive I can really say is I knew most of the chords fairly well (G-C-D-A-E major and minor) and I could play the rhythm of Every Rose Has Its Thorn, but had the nasty habit of strumming to the exact word.
After a few years of failure and hopelessness I eventually gave up and stored my guitars in the garage and there they stayed until around a year and a half ago when I found Justin guitar playing a basic Johnny Cash song online. I looked up the website and thought hey Justin is about my age, has an impressive teaching style, and if Brian May is backing him he can’t be wrong. I have now gone through all of beginner grade 1 and 2 and the music theory. I skipped over most of the blues lessons thinking I can come back to it at some point. After posting a few songs here I found I really need to backtrack some and work on strumming. It is not easy to put yourself out there knowing you are not sharp enough for an audience yet, but I am glad I did. I love the feedback and it is really difficult to get the timing to exactly match the real tempo of a song. Thanks guys for the honest feedback.
My ten year old daughter Jessica is starting lesson 1 on Justin Guitar after Santa Claus was nice enough to get her her own Fender/Squier mini strat. I am trying to find some music fitting to her generation that she would like to learn. First one I found was Pompeii- has like 4 chords. I am not sure if she is too fond of it though. open to ideas.
Thanks for the background, Jeff. You are doing well and will just grow through focus on the basics.
Lovely that your daughter is keen. There might be some kids songs on Justin’s websites to be played on a uke…I have a vague recollection of that. And chords are chords. May be for an even younger audience.
Always good to review and revisit no matter how far down the line you are. Things you take for granted get a bit rusty and just need sharpening up now and then. Good to hear you’re back story and look forward to hearing how you progress. Enjoy the ride. Cheers Toby
Welcome aboard Jeff! I love it down in SD – the whole scene, vibe and the food is off the chain. I sport my Pacific Beach hat all the time – had it for years. Yeah, it’s touristy but there’s some nice places to stay out on the beach. I need to get away soon! Maybe do some surf fishing this time out.
It’s been a while – too long to be sure. I’ll get down there this year. At the very least I want to grab a new hat and some B-Roll for a video as I did in Oceanside: Oceanside: Stacked and Delayed
I know it’s an odd title but I was playing around with stacking an analog delay into a digital delay, and caught some synth type of tones.
Hi Jeff, I can’t believe it has taken me so long to pop in to your ‘introductory’ and say hello officially.
I’ve been watching your avoyp videos and keeping abreast of your progress, albeit discretely from the sidelines. As you have found, there are so many helpful and supportive folk here who are willing to encourage and assist.
Good luck to your daughter too! Cheers
Richard
Thank you for the warm welcome. Yes, many of the members here offer encouragement and support as we progress in learning. I have not posted much lately, because I have been at a standstill in progress. I think I need to figure out a way to get down my timing and consistency correct before trying to learn the next lesson levels. have tried playing with a metronome and watched all the lessons about it repeatedly and nothing is improving. I guess that will happen at some point. Thanks for checking in and have a good day.
I would love any help or suggestions. You’ve probably heard most of my song samples. The strumming is often uneven and melody is not played in even time or the correct time. Do you think I am picking songs that are too complex to practice with? Should I step back to something more basic? Maybe I am overthinking it and just need to work at feeling the music. I watched a video a gentleman posted of Wonderwall the other day and I wondered why I am not able to play that song in time. He did fantastic other than maybe sounded a little fast in tempo. I should be able to do that too. I am all ears to any recommendations of exercises to practice and develop. Thanks again for the offer. I know it is late at night in your area by now so no rush. Have a good night Richard.
