Hello from Nancy in Scotland - I've finally stopped procrastinating!

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Hi, I’m Nancy I’m form Scotland and I finally forced myself to stop procrastinating.

A bit about me. As a child I remember that our house was always filled with music, waking up to the sound of my dad playing Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Al Jolson, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Elvis, and being the youngest of six my musical tastes were also influenced by my three older sisters and two brothers from Englebert Humperdinck, Neil Diamond, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin there wasn’t a room in our house without music blaring (and sisters singing into mirrors with hairbrushes as microphones and brothers playing air guitar)

I still listen to all the above but additionally developed my own tastes ranging from glam rock bands like Slade and Sweet to ELO, Yes, Rush, Motorhead, Iron Maiden and Whitesnake to name but a very few and my favourite guitarists include Gary Moore (I’m lucky enough to have met him in Glasgow in my late teens), Ritchie Blackmore, Alex Lifeson and Michael Schenker. I will also add Tommy Emmanuel to that list although I’ve only been aware of him for the last 3 years or so, I’m blown away by his skills and his music.

I’ve sang as an alto in a local choir for the last 17 years and we perform repertoire ranging from Eric Clapton to the Hallelujah Chorus. I’ve always wanted to play guitar and I can’t for the life of me figure out why it’s taken me until now to start.

I officially retire on 30th September (early retirement I’m 58) and around last September I picked up a guitar left behind by my daughter when she moved out, I had it restrung searched YouTube and found Justin Guitar. I’m extremely grateful to Justin for giving the gift of guitar lessons free to anyone who wants to learn; the structure is just what I need, and the delivery is superb he really is a gifted teacher. I’d have given up by now if I hadn’t found this site, and who knew it came with the bonus of this supportive community I’ve loved reading the posts and have picked up loads of tips along the way. The AVOYP’s are fabulously entertaining. I’ve been an audience member in the last two open mic’s and what a showcase of talent they are, it’s encouraging to see what can be achieved with hard work and commitment.

My goals are to be able to play and sing at the same time (who knew it was sooo… difficult); to post my first AVOYP by the end of the year and as I’ve just subscribed to the music theory course and the strumming techniques course to delve into those too. I can read musical notation but just enough to get me by at choir. As I’ve seen requests in other introductory posts for a sneak peek at guitars I’ve posted a picture of my Freshman and Taylor GS mini acoustics and the Fender HSS Player Plus that’s a newbie and was a retirement present from my husband and yes I now know the GAS is a real thing :grinning: :heart_eyes:

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Now to get to practice……

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Welcome Nancy, I believe you are on the right path and in the right place!

Your experience with music will surely make things a lot easier, but anyway there’s lots of helpful folks here that have probably gone through whatever issues one can have learning guitar so feel free to ask around.
About the courses, I’m on module 5.2 of the theory one and it’s fantastic, can’t say about the strumming one but I’ve thought about doing it as well, instead of noodling :sweat_smile:

And those are some good looking guitar, especially the Mini, I have a soft spot for that one!

Cheers, welcome again

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@KevinKevan Thanks for the welcome Kevin it’s kind of nerve wracking posting an introduction but glad to finally have done it I have a soft spot for the mini Taylor too it just screams play me :grin:

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Hi Nancy, your story and background is a terrific read, thank you for sharing!! I love you setting out the ambition on the AVOYP, it’s a step well worth taking and a journey in and of itself, I look forward to it when you get there :slight_smile:

You’re absolutely right in how much more difficult singing and playing is than you imagine it to be, one of the most often repeated “discoveries” I’d say along with playing standing up (well for me at least on that one!)

Lovely trio of instruments there too. Welcome!! :+1:

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Welcome to the community and thanks for the introduction. You got to meet Gary Moore? So cool to hear that, I’m a big fan of his. Playing and singing at the same time is certainly harder than playing but for me it didn’t end up being as hard as I thought it would be. You really need to know the song you are trying to sing along to very well on the guitar first. And pick a song where the vocals start / align with the chord changes. And good luck!

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Thanks Mark I figured I needed to set a date for the AVOYP I’m terrible for putting things off but once I’ve committed then I know I’ll follow through (doubt very much I’ll be singing though :joy:). I’ve tried to stand and play it’s just not happening - yet! but I’ll persevere :crazy_face:

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Thanks Tony yes I met him at a record signing in Glasgow I’d arranged to meet my friend after Uni and she ran late we got there just as the band were leaving and as bold as brass she shouted hey wait- we came here to see you I was mortified but it worked they stood chatting for about 10 min and signed the album’s for us

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Welcome to the forum Nancy. I am glad to see that age is not a barrier to your learning guitar. A lot of us are older adults who had past experience of trying to learn guitar and failing just to find Justin’s course and succeed. Take each lesson one at a time and you will achieve all of your goals. I suggest to do a lot of research on singing and playing guitar. To do so, you have to take baby steps. First get the music from the song down, then write down where the chords change (put the chord above the lyric) on paper. Then strum just the chord as it changes and step three will be keep a steady downstrum in time while making the necessary chord changes and singing. This takes a lot of time and practice. Step 4 is the hardest, one I am still working on, and that is to mix in different strumming patterns to improve quality of the song.

Try to record yourself and your progress just to look back and see how much knowledge you’ve gained each week and month. I wish you the best of luck and hope to hear you play at some point. I love the guitars you shared too- very beautiful and great choices.

Jeff from California

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Hello Nancy and welcome to our community. :slight_smile:

Those are some nice looking guitars and that was a wonderful story. Enjoy your journey.

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Thanks Jeff you’ve given me some great advice, I agree about taking it slowly I already made the mistake of jumping onto new modules too soon and hadn’t consolidated the previous module properly so had to backtrack, I’ve learned my lesson there. Recording my practice is a great idea maybe I’ll get lucky and one of them will be good enough to post before my target date :grinning:

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Welcome to the forum Nancy

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Thanks Stefan I appreciate the welcome :smiley:

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Thanks Rick it’s good to finally have introduced myself :smiley:

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Hi Nancy, I enjoyed to read your introduction. It’s never to late to start learning guitar. Wish you lots of fun and happy hours with your guitar family!

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Thanks Andrea I’m looking forward to putting in some hard work and seeing if it pays off :grinning:

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Hi Nancy,
Welcome,even though you have already read at least 3 days here, :face_with_peeking_eye: … you are not really " new" anymore, :blush: … But a nice story, I wish you a very nice retirement here :sunglasses:
Greetings,Rogier

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Thanks Roger it’s taken me a while to put myself out there but I made a promise to myself that I’d do it before the next open mic (this will be the third I’ve signed up to be in the audience for) and I didn’t want to remain a mysterious stranger haha - better late than never :blush:

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Hi Nancy, and a warm Welcome to the community :hugs:.
Reading your story was a real pleasure :smiley:.

So we have already seen each other, as I’ve been in the audience as well. What a wonderful institution :star_struck:.

I’m also fairly new to the guitar, and my big goal is to play and sing songs at camp fires and similar occasions. It’s an exciting, but definitely not an easy journey :slightly_smiling_face:.

Wish you lots of fun with your beautiful guitars.

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Thanks for the warm welcome Nicole :smiley:

It’s great to have something to work towards and I hope you achieve your goal soon, I’d love to hear about your progress along the way :smiley:

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Welcome Nancy! I enjoyed your intro, and best wishes on achieving your goals!

And wow, those are some beautiful guitars!

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