Personal Notes: Don’s Guitar Learning Log

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Hello my friends and welcome to a series of weekly reflections on my long and long-delayed musical odyssey.

For context, you might want to know that I’m a 68 year old retired Englishman who lives alone with a dog and some guitars. Some of that might be inferred from my hurriedly chosen log on - Don UK and 61. Wait a minute, 61? Yes, I joined the Justin Guitar website seven musically-wasted years ago. That time I reached the end of Stage one of the Beginner course and fell away in despair that I didn’t know how to play well already. I was not doing the work!

I’d been seduced by all of those courses that claimed that “Guitar is Easy”, or “Play your first song in ten minutes!” In fact I think this thing of ours is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and if I’d realised that back in 2018, I’d have managed it a lot better. (Or never have started, so I understand why they all do this form of marketing.)

Another more specific misapprehension that wrecked me back then was a belief that I had to practice until I got it right, whether a chord, a scale or a song. Wrong! Last year I read somewhere, or heard someone, or discovered the truth of the matter myself. I have to practice until I can’t get it wrong. I have to work at the thousands of individual units of learning until they are as ingrained in my muscles as walking. You might find it easier than that, but for me it’s uphill walking all the way up the mountain. And that’s OK because the views from up here are already magnificent and so far I haven’t even reached Base Camp.

I began this time just after Christmas 2024 by treating myself to a Yamaha Pacifica and a Fender Frontman as a seasonal gift to self. “I’ll have one more go and I won’t stop until it’s done!” I nailed my colours to the mast by taking out a life subscription to Justin’s app. “I might be a beginner for the rest of my life but I ain’t gonna quit this time!” And it’s working. Six months later I’m doing all right.

Last weekend I gave a tiny tiny concert to my daughter Sam and her partner Bill (names changed to protect the innocent). I had a ten song playlist which sounds really impressive until I tell you that I was using the app as a kind of kara-oke machine so I didn’t actually have to memorise anything but just play along with the machine. I was as nervous as a camel when it hears the swish of two bricks coming together, and then Sam mentioned that she intended to record it all to listen to either when I’m playing at the Albert Hall or I’m dead, I wasn’t clear which. That red light fever added considerably to the terror of the occasion.

Of the ten songs, I failed to even finish two. I fell off the skateboard completely and abandoned them. I can’t even recall now what they were. Another six were, to me, disappointing, though Sam and Bill were kind enough to tell me they sounded ok to them. This gig review sounds bad, doesn’t it?

HOWEVER! The remaining two songs were Hurt (Johnny Cash) and Speed of the Sound of Loneliness (the Alabama 3 version) and I lost myself in the words and the music and the old blue emotions welled up inside me and I controlled them and projected them and it was electric. Even my little dog freaked out because he thought I was upset. Oh yes! Clumsy and larded with bum notes, and pretty crude, and hiding behind the backing track as it all was, those two songs repaid me in spades for all the work I’d put in since Christmas. Magic, special magic.

Driving home, I swore that the next time I play to anyone I’ll know the songs properly and dispense with guitar-oke. It’s a brilliant part of the app and the fun I’ve had with it has kept a grin on my face for months but in performance? Nah, it’s not suitable. For one thing, I had to keep my eyes on the screen too much to be able to properly connect with my ‘audience’. So that’s my next big goal.

I will learn three songs properly so that I can play and sing them from memory to my friendly neighbour Linda. Shall we say by the end of September? There’s nothing like a deadline to get me motivated (one day before it expires?). That’s eight Saturdays to reach Base Camp. Gulp!

The songs are Bad Moon Risin’ because it seems to fit well with the evening news these days and is very easy. Another CCR song I love is Have You Ever Seen the Rain, because of that “Yeah!” which I just love to belt out at the top of my volume. The third one is House of the Rising Sun played a lot slower than the Animals did it and more like the original folk song. Wish me luck? Nah, better to kick my butt if I start to slack off and make excuses.

Until next week, (because I only want to spend time here on Saturdays), don’t forget to boogie!

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Reading your recent posts, I couldn’t help thinking: Don should start a Learning Log.

For a moment I still thought that I should write an according comment, but dismissed the idea as too intrusive and went back to learning music theory. Then I took a break from PMT, checked the community page and couldn’t help smiling :slightly_smiling_face:

What a great start to your Learning Log!! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:

Your plan sounds ambitious yet perfectly realisable. Great song choice as well. I look forward to following your progress :slightly_smiling_face:

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Good luck with your preparations, nice songs.

What do you consider the job done? :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thank you for your retrospective according comment. I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I don’t mind if you or anyone else is intrusive. Isn’t that what we call it when the truth is uncomfortably true?

I’m finding that music goes very deep within. That’s where the power comes from and that’s also where the stage fright and the vulnerability lives inside us.

I’ve actually been reading your log with great pleasure. I like your insights, at least one of which I’ve taken for my own.

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Hi Boris, that’s a wicked question! It’s the kind of thing I like to ask people when they are being a little wooly in their thinking. :grin:

The job will of course, never be done because I’ll move the goalposts off to the horizon every time I score. However, my current ‘ultimate’ goal is to play professionally in the old troubadour way. I want to find the skills and courage to stand by the roadside in a market town and sing for my supper. I want to busk.

It might be just one time and then move on to something else or it might be something that I’ll develop. On the other hand, maybe I’ll get diverted. Perhaps I’ll fall in with a band or something which I haven’t yet dreamed off. Who knows? Not me.

Technically and musically, I want to be able to carry a song on my own with just a guitar. Chords and a riff will do to begin with but finger-styling in that triangle where the blues, country and rock and roll edge up to each other would be magnificent.

All of the above are far distant dreams but they are so BIG that I can see them quite clearly from here.

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I asked the question expecting you didn’t give much thought about it, but I stand corrected. You set your goal really well. Keep practicing and playing, I am sure you will get there! I look forward to seeing your progress.

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So do I mate, so do I! :rofl:

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Glad to know that you found something positive in my very messy Learning Log.

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A very entertaining read @DonUK61!

“I was nervous as a camel when it hears the swish of two bricks coming together.”
I had to get AI’s take on this phrase, which is on the graphic side.
*For those not familiar with the process of bricking the camel, I should explain. You take two large bricks, one in each hand, and when the camel is drinking in his supply of water, you apply the bricks to his testicles in one sharp clap. The resultant intake of breath, and consequently of water, ensures the camel is adequately provisioned for the long journey ahead.

I bet your poor dog cringed when you typed that!

While I do subscribe to Justin’s advice to practice new things until you can’t get them wrong, I also learned something from a friend who is a retired professional guitarist, bassist and drummer. He said I was focusing too much on getting each chord or phrase right, and I need to just loosen up, play freely and strong, and get through a song even if there are mistakes. I have found that doing so helps me relax and keep playing and see which sections I need to work on slowly and methodically to play without mistake.

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Excellent advice in my opinion. I think there’s far too much stress in the course to ‘Practice Perfectly’ and I for one have found that philosophy a hindrance. Perfection is an impossible goal for anyone, especially me, and when I hear Billy Strings in an interview saying that he often makes bum notes but nobody notices, I shout out that GOOD ENOUGH is good enough for me too. (Almost by definition, asyoumightsay.)

Nonetheless, at my stage in the proceedings, if I can get the fingers to make the chord good enoughly on their own and without bothering my consciousness too much, then it’s a lot easier for me to loosen up and play freely and strong.

p.s. I was actually thinking of a different camel joke but if you find that one too, please don’t spoil the mystery for everyone. Let them hunt it down for themselves. :rofl:

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Nah, he’s too polite to read over my shoulder and anyway, he was building an Airfix kit at the time. :grin: