Hi Everyone! Iām Angelique and I live on the Florida coast. Iām an adult beginner and picked up the guitar for the first time about a month ago.
Iām part of a very musical familyā¦ well, everyone except for me. Apparently, I talked about my guitar dreams and wishes so often that my hubby surprised me with my very first acoustic guitar. Most Awesome Gift Ever!
Iām in Grade 1 and finding joy playing, learning, and practicing everyday. Everything except for the finger painā¦ seriously - nobody warned me! I knew I was hooked during the intro course riff - when my personal brass section joined in for my very first surprise jam session . Iām enjoying taking the lessons on this platform where I can progress at my own pace from home.
My dream is to strum my guitar on the beach with friends and participating in our impromptu piano bar sing along evenings at home. Iām excited to learn mellow acoustic versions of my favorite songs, blues, rock, jazz, and some Latin thrown in for good measure because channeling my inner Carlos Santana sounds like a pretty solid life goal.
Iām super excited to be part of this community, learn from everyone, and share my journey. Looking forward to chatting soon.
What an amazing and thoughtful gift. That is a girft that will last a lifetime.
This is absolutely possable with Justins instruction. Follow his videos and use the parctice assistant. Set it up amd do your dailys as I call them you will be up and running in no time. How exciting. The first year can be challanging for some butnit is really and exciting time. Because there are so many achivments
This community is super supportive, use it and dont be afraid to share. Good constructive help is hard to find out there, but you will find it here without judgment or drama. These folks are a fine group of people. They have helped me on my journey so much.
Welcome Angelique! Youāre in the right place. How lucky you are to have a brass section to jam with! Looking forward to hearing from you as you advance in your journey.
Welcome, Angelique. This is a great place to learn. I started as a complete newbie 2 years ago and I think Iām doing great. Nice hubby you have there, too.
Thatās awesome. The great thing about the guitar is if you stick past the initial finger pain, and get a song or two working, then you are on your way.
I remember many many years ago being in awe of a guy who was able to pull out his guitar at a bbq and keep us entertained for quite some time. Now Iām that guy and youāll be able to sooner than you think.
Excellent goals to go for and JG/this community is an excellent place to do so
Finger pain? it will pass.
Meanwhile, make sure not pressing the fretboard with all your might but just enough of a touch to make the chords ring out nicely. Donāt obesess of it though, most of it is just physical conditioning.
Hi Angelique,
Welcome here and I wish you a lot of fun
Because everyone assumes that this is logical ā¦thin, hard strings and pressing them in your fingers for a long timeā¦everyone, well, every six months or so, my wife is always surprised that it hurts her fingers so quickly and then she quickly goes back to the pianoā¦
Keeping the Journey FUN is the key! The more youāre enjoying playing & learning, the more you want to pick up your six-stringed buddy & play. The more you play, the better you get & the more enjoyment it brings!!!
Learning brings lots of peaks, valleys & plateaus - but just keep going & before you know it, youāll be playing simplified versions of those ācampfireā songs thatāll sound great out on the beach!!! Enjoy!!!
Tod from (beachless ) New Mexico
P.S. Pics of your new guitar are always welcome!
We love to see gear pics here in the Community!
As Lieven mentioned, try to train yourself to use the least finger pressure required to fret the string, as squeezing too hard will make your fingertips hurt more than they should, and will prevent you from quickly changing from one chord to the next.
If the fingertip pain doesnāt subside within a couple of months, I suggest you consider changing your acoustic guitar strings to the thinnest available, which is usually an āextra-lightā 0.010" - 0.047" Phosphor Bronze string set. If you have the means, have a guitar tech change them for you and also adjust the āactionā (which is the straightness of the neck and the height of the strings) to accomodate the thinner strings. You can always switch back to thicker strings later if you want to.
. Iām enjoying taking the lessons on this platform where I can progress at my own pace from home.
ā¦thin, hard strings and pressing them in your fingers for a long timeā¦everyone, well, 
every six months or so, my wife is always surprised that it hurts her fingers so quickly and then she quickly goes back to the pianoā¦ 
) New Mexico