So lovely to read this Gordon! Rogier is right…
1 Like
Hi Silvia,
Thank you for your kind words
and it is indeed wonderful that we still look at and tell about the beautiful things around us through the eyes and with the enthusiasm and amazement as we were as children (and like so many others here in this community and sometimes to a greater or sometimes lesser extent as long as it fire is still glowing and then it will ignite again of its own accord 
)
Thanks too 
1 Like
As promised Nicole @JokuMuu
*WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME
The exact time and how long it will take are difficult, but this happened in March and it wasn’t until the end of August (started here 20 august 2020) that I knew that it wasn’t quite… 
…the right way…
March 1, 2020, after the E-D-A chords, I was finally able to put the C on the fretboard and from that moment on the guitar became more than an Occupational Therapy device for me, and it was time to look for lessons … I think within a week I found /I read something about a Pentatonic stuff or GHAGE (???) thing or something that would change everything and you really HAD to learn all that quickly to make supper easy etc etc etc, I found a schedule, had it printed out and after many hours a day (sometimes more than 5 alone on this subject) learned about 1 pattern every 2/3 days…(well learned, you know what I mean now ) …
the sound on the A note and that man with all the flashy things projected on the fretboard sounded so so good and smooth and even though I was sure at the time that I would never be able to learn that if I started that scheme 3 frets back or 5 forward all Simply move the patterns up and you can play in any key 
But my biggest dream to start at something like fret 3 at the top and end somewhere around fret 15 was close, in fact I COULD DO IT… kinda but… I had unraveled the large fretboard 
… I thought…
Even asked my musical friends why they had never told me this before about how everything worked with the guitar 
Ooo days later I saw that there was such a thing as 5 Major scales with many more notes on paper 
… oke I going to put that in my head too and Learning the guitar was mainly intended to help me feel so tired in the evening that I could think about it in bed and fall asleep quickly, which to this day still often works well, but not always…
I think it took about 4 weeks before this was memorized and I was able to put my fingers down at a low level and if I didn’t do things from pattern 1 to 3 I didn’t get lost…hours to spare really learn guitar? yes Those I lost …more weeks if you add up the hours to how long I continued to get a better hand on it 
If you convert that into someone who only has 1 hour to spend a day, it is a real waste of time…
I conclude,
Do I regret it? No, it was the best period of my life, while I was ill and disabled, I was able to learn something again and had the full conviction that I would learn to play the guitar well and I was in no hurry…I slept well and was able to enjoy a day every day little more …gooood times
Nicole, because I was going through my old papers I saw so much of what I wrote down that I thought was important and it looked so complicated and ooo will I ever learn that… in 20 years??? …I have certainly forgotten a lot and still have a lot to learn, a lot, but what seemed difficult at the time I put aside without stress or whining, continued quietly with Justin and most of it will happen naturally as long as I stay smile, what I can’t do now I can probably do next month or next year if necessary… or like Tears In Heaven which I started with Justin in the first week (and Layla and Stairway ) (yes, that wasn’t convenient either 
), and now almost, sometimes for six months not tried then 5 days and not again for a long time…
So I colored these things out and then started learning from this point on…See warning at the beginning of this long story 
I have also done this with some Arpegios and Modus in series and parallel (thank mother earth For Richard who created light in the deep darkness for me in Modus land)
Started with this one,
And than this
That I survived those first months with the guitar… This seemed so logical at the time… Great memories of it as if it were just last week
Greetings
5 Likes
Hi Rogier, a great read.
Oh so true, and one of the hardest lessons I learnt.
1 Like
Aah… Yes, yes. It was the A note on the thin e-string fret 5 that got me hooked on experimenting with the Em Minor Pentatonic, when I first ventured out of the open shape. There is something special about that note, I just can’t put my finger on it (though physically of course I can).
You are right. Time constraints. That’s a very important factor. It’s so much easier to invest time in learning more about the notes on the fretboard and scales now. It won’t be possible after my vacation, I fully realize that.
It’s good to learn from the experiences of my elders (you are a bit more than two years older than me) and of course of those who went before.
And that’s the most important part. It’s not wasted time. It had to happen as it happened 
1 Like
Hi Tony, @TonyHS
Thank you,
It is of course much easier to stay relaxed if something doesn’t work out if you have as much time as I do, I realize that very well, but I must also say that in the past with real work the crazier it became and everyone really got stressed because trucks on strike or broke with stuff that didn’t arrive, staff/manpower sick, etc… I always remained completely calm, which I learned early on that it’s better to put that energy into things that I can influence… and as far as playing the guitar is concerned…well it’s just the guitar … It’s not like we have to step onto a stage next week or month…OOoooo wait…YOU DO …
I’m a little jealous of you as you know
Hi Nicole @JokuMuu
I’ll keep it short for a change after that blurb above in response to your post
Thanks
Greetings 
2 Likes
Nothing to be jealous of. I am just very lucky to have a friend who likes to play guitar, whenever possible. This week’s playing will be stressful though as we are playing one afternoon this weekend. I don’t know when, I don’t know what we are playing. Hopefully I will find out on the day. He has just become a grandfather for the 5th time yesterday and he is working nights and days at the moment, so I can’t hold it against him. 
But as you say, I will just chill and it will all turn out alright on the night (afternoon)
1 Like
Hi ,
Always a healthy jealousy, I normally say, the one without envy (made it up myself, but that doesn’t matter)… 
By the time you play at Wembley Stadium you should know that a little earlier… 
I wish you lots of anticipation and a great day again
Greetings
1 Like
Hey Roger.
Enjoyed catching up on your Log. Lovely photographs and experience.
Not much I can say. We do have birds that come to visit occasionally. Our house is near a golf course which I think provides a great environment for birds.
Now for visiting fauna, tough to match my brother’s experience. He lives in north east Brazil, in a village on a large piece of land, some of which is left natural. He sees monkeys, birds, lizards, snakes, spiders and the rest. Have to say I am glad that I don’t encounter 8inch tarantulas on my front door when they have lost their way in the rainy season.
Take care, my friend
1 Like
Lot’s of birdies, eagles and the odd albatross?
6 Likes
Always quick off the mark, James
2 Likes
Rogier, it is nice that you are able to play guitar in such an inspiring location. I will have to try that sometime, as I have only played guitar in my house.
1 Like
Rogier, that is already sounding good to me. I will definately take a look at that song.
1 Like
Hi David, @DavidP
Visiters here yesterday afternoon and quickly read what you had written on the phone (the phone starts up with JG and the guests were just outside the garden, so it was still socially desirable )
And when they came back we talked about your country and a little longer about your brother and his surroundings…this
That’s where everyone draws the line
I have had several in my hands, including snakes and monkeys on my back, and in Italy as a teenager I caught snakes and lizards, etc., all in the knowledge that they were not poisonous animals…
But almost everything in that rainforest is made to eat you and otherwise to keep you painfully at a distance
Still, I would have liked to have been around the edges of it, but luckily there are great nature filmmakers with great cameras these days.
Thank you for your nice words and stopping by
Greetings,
Hi James, @Socio
I wanted to type that too, but I hadn’t heard of albatross
Hi Steve @SteveL_G99
Thank you for your nice words and the listening
To be clear, there in the forest I do not have and are not allowed to play the guitar … and when I am there I only need silence and just the rippling of the water, the chirping of the birds and the occasional a quiet plane that is flying over …
I play outside between trees and colorful plants and flowers in my garden, which are most of the other photos I post here …
Thanks Steve for dropping by
Greetings,
Old Pic With old tiles still …the bumpy roads times
Less old pic and not close the colors as on my phone (???)
Lokale wild life here
Looking for
2 photos just taken from photos, but these are framed behind glass, hence the reflection (can find the originals on my wife cam … they will come)
This can be done with much better photos and more animals from the wild life in the garden, but I will probably bother you with that later … but to get back to David’s story… it doesn’t get more dangerous unless you want to cuddling with the hedgehog we saw again yesterday,
Greetings and have a nice day
6 Likes
Beautiful garden Rogier. I’m very jealous this year. We’ve had the worst Summer weather I can remember. The flowers have been battered by rain and the ground is sodden. We’ve had two maybe three BBQs so far this summer! Normally at this time of year I’m giving tomatoes away to friends and neighbours. This year I’ve barely had any. It’s been so damp and cold that they are already showing signs of mould that I wouldn’t normally expect until late September early October.
Global warming! Up here in Scotland climate change would appear to mean the Jet Stream has changed course and all we get is an increase in rainfall. I’m currently looking out at this!
3 Likes
Hi Gordon,
Every time I post photos of the garden I think ‘when will I get to see something of Gordon’s garden again?’ I haven’t forgotten your photo before.
How sad to read that it is so terribly rainy, it is always extreme in Scotland with 270 rainy days on average, but it could be worse I read now
But but but… also with this terrible rain it is a very beautiful amazing model garden, the terrace the plants in the pots, the shrubs in the borders with the plants ,the gras …and Oooo that view so far with the trees… My wife and I are now looking at your garden with appropriate jealousy … here we call it an award-winning neighborhood garden… 
I’ll just buy a gun and shoot the rain dancers for you…
Thank you very much for sharing your garden
Greetings
2 Likes