Few months ago I wouldn’t expect me being here, or touching guitar.
It’s all a bit of coincidence. Relative out of the blue asked me if I wouldn’t like to play guitar a bit, on guitar they had for years, but did not use it. Without me giving any concrete answer couple days later the guitar arrived. And since it was already here… why not look around how to actually play on it?
After some research it turned out any natural musical abilities are not necessarily required, but it mostly comes down to practice. That did not sound complicated! I’ve been wrestling with depression (outcome is not yet determined) more than half of my life, so something new, what can be used as advantage is always a plus. I don’t mind at all any boring technical or repetitive exercises. Actually initially I was focusing on them, instead of playing practice songs. This was due to how my songs playing sounded. Since then it got slightly better, or my ears are more used to ruckus.
Even initial exercise attempts were brutal. Pressing strings was hard and painful. Everywhere there were warnings that it would hurt at first, but when I would feel finger tips burning for few days after short practice sessions, something felt not right. After additional research I figured out the guitar had gigantic string action, which I wouldn’t be able to easily adjust myself, due to no truss rod. So more regular practice commenced once I got new acoustic () guitar, as other one also was acoustic (and I didn’t yet watch Justin’s video recommending to start with electric). Just then another weird construction decision of the old guitar revealed itself - flat fretboard. Difference in playing on the two was like night and day.
Welcome Krzysztof. It sounds like you have figured out several important aspects of learning guitar in a very short time and found a suitable instrument. It’s good that you like the boring, technical details of learning music theory, the fret board, etc. Attention to detail and practice, practice, practice will get you to the day when you can say, “Yes, I play the guitar!”
Welcome to the community. Glad to hear you are making progress. I remember the early days of finger pain from high action steel strings very well. Glad to hear you got better guitar with better action.
For many of us, our progress has been tied to focusing on songs. That was certainly the case for me. As a long time sufferer of low level depression, the guitar certainly gives me relief from that. If I feel a worsening bout of the black dog, I grab my guitar, play some of the many songs I now know and invariably feel better within 15 to 30 minutes.
Hello Krzysztof
Welcome, nice to meet you
Good to hear that you’ve got yourself a nice guitar with a better set up.
I started on an old guitar with very high action too. I think it might be what caused tennis elbow from having to squeeze so hard on the strings.
I agree, playing guitar/music is an amazing help for depression and many other things.
Wishing you a lot of fun on your guitar journey
Hello Krzysztof and welcome to our Community! What a lucky coincidence to have that guitar from your relative…it seems like it’s really given the La to your journey and I hope you will find here among us a wonderful chance to share some of it!
Hi Krzysztof, welcome to the community. I am happy to hear that you found a guitar that is easier to play. I wish you lots of fun as you learn to play songs on the guitar.
That did not sound complicated! I’ve been wrestling with depression (outcome is not yet determined) more than half of my life, so something new, what can be used as advantage is always a plus. I don’t mind at all any boring technical or repetitive exercises. Actually initially I was focusing on them, instead of playing practice songs. This was due to how my songs playing sounded. Since then it got slightly better, or my ears are more used to ruckus.
