my name is Katha (pronounced like “Cuttah”), I’m 27, live in Germany and started my guitar journey in September '23.
Since then I’ve experienced a tremendous amount of joy while discovering my instrument, music theory, genres, playing styles and learnt how to deal with the frustration of needing to pace myself because my fingers couldn’t hold up and hurt like hell.
Luckily I’m over the stages of fingerpain now. I can play for 1,5h straight without having any issues.
Since November '23 I’m using Justins App and am enrolled in the acoustic adventure course by Paul Davids, try to transribe songs I want to learn myself, got a fair bit into music theory and started teaching myself how to sing as well.
I fell in love with the blues and fingerpicking and I’m working towards being able to play Colter Wall’s songs and my biggest goal is “Love me like a man” by Bonnie Raitt (for singing and guitar playing).
I’m looking forward to being a part of this community. Being self-taught can be quite lonely at times. And the magic of music lies in sharing and experiencing it together, doesn’t it?
Maybe I’ll even become brave enough to share something I’m playing or trying to play.
This is my guitar, which I adore. Its looks can be misleading on photos. It’s a little parlor with steelstrings, not a classical guitar as the headstock might suggest.
Welcome Katha, sounds like you’re making great progress on your guitar journey, and nice looking parlour 12-fret you have too.
There’s plenty of structure in the JG courses, not that there isn’t in the Paul David’s courses too; but being a relative newbie (2020) the pace of advance with PD was too much for me, although will come back to it one day.
Imo, JG’s course of study is better fit for me at this stage in my guitar journey; structure, pace, breadth, and depth.
Keep it fun …
Hi Katha, welcome from another German! Where in Germany do you come from? Seems as if you make great and fast progress! Enjoy your journey and all the good things you’ll discover along your way!
Thank you for your kind words!
I fully agree with you. Paul Davids course is quite fast paced. I’ve been working on the first fingerpicking lesson of his course for 3 weeks now. ^^ but that’s fine. I like the challenge and just take my time. But without Justin I wouldn’t be able to even try that one, to be honest.
He really helps with getting the basics down and building the necessary muscle memory and understanding what I need to work on to be able to achieve certain things.
Hello Helen!
Thank you for your kind words! I’m close to Cologne. Where are you coming from?
I wish you a splendid guitar journey as well, with lots of fun surpises and aha-moments.
Welcome to the JG community Katha.
Don’t know a geat amount about guitars but the one in your post looks like it might have story to tell ?
Keep it fun …
Thank you!
I’m not so sure about the story. Ibanez built these guitars in 2016 to emulate vintage guitars with some level ups, like better mechanics, an adjustable neck with the screw inside. …and they deliberately “ruined” the looks of the guitar to make it look like it’s already 40 years old.
So it’s hard to determine, which scratches come from the previous owner and which ones were already there.
But I’m definetly making sure that the guitar will have a story to tell in a few years.
Hello Katha. I am some months ahead of you perhaps on this journey, and just getting confident enough to say, “Yeah, I can play a guitar.” Living alone I share your above thought. Through the JG community forum, I am enjoying getting to know a group of folks from all over the world I would never have known about. I also found a Meetup group of guitar students and played with others for the first time recently. Endless possibilities…
Hey Katha, welcome to the community! Good to meet another German here. Apparently I was conceived in Germany although I have no memory of the presumably wonderful experience. I also have a parlor guitar with steel strings and a slotted headstock. Still getting used to changing strings on that headstock as all my other guitars are no slotted.
Fingerstyle is great fun and such a delightful sound
Hi Katha, welcome to the community forum. Have fun as you progress to finger-style and blues. You have a good guitar for acoustic blues and finger-style guitar.
Thank you so much for your warm welcome everyone. This seems to be a really kind and open minded community and I’m definitely looking forward to being a part of it. It feels sooooo good being able to communicate with like-minded people who are as excited about their hobby as I am.
Hello Tony!
Would you like to share any insights on what strategies you found helpful for changing the strings on your guitar? ^^ I just continued using the luthiers knot and keeping an eye on the placement of the strings, so that they don’t touch each other.
That’s John Davis of the Guitar Repairers shop in Brisbane explaining the technique. He’s a fascinating character and well worth following on facebook. His shop is the most eclectic guitar shop I’ve ever been to and he just loves his instruments. I bought my parlor guitar from him, he specializes in restoring old parlor guitars. Mine’s from 1927.
