Apologies if this is in the wrong section, but wanted to share a couple “wins” from this week and this seemed like the best place to post.
Started branching out from the beginner songs in the lessons and looking up tabs and chord charts for artists I like. Justin was right, even with just A, E, and D there are a lot of songs to play. I was absolutely delighted to find a few favorite songs that work with the chords I know so far. (“Just Like Fred Astaire” by James is a personal favorite I’ve been playing lately.) So I’ve finally discovered the joy of playing along with favorite music and starting Spotify playlists of those songs. I’m awful, but having a great time doing it!
Going along with the first win: I’ve been using a Fender Mustang Micro Plus headphone amp for all my practice, though I also have a Roland Micro Cube. Still a bit shy to play out loud, even though my husband is the only one to hear it. (Which is weird to me since I was a band geek since I was 11 and had no choice but to practice out loud through “the suck years” with my family in the house…but I guess with age comes awareness of subjecting people to the sound of the learning process!) But I figured out how to connect my tablet to my external amp so I could play along with music, and am starting to break out of that “shy to have someone else hear it” stage. Somehow having a “backup band” makes it a lot easier.
My husband has been my biggest cheerleader in my guitar journey. He has an old acoustic his parents got him when he was in his teens and said he wanted to learn how to play guitar. But he never learned how to play it because he wanted to learn electric and they got him the acoustic instead. I’m a firm believer that you have to like the guitar, and that will encourage you to pick it up and learn it. Well…he came to me a few times and humbly said he started looking at electric guitars and found one that he really liked. The fact he came to me a second time to say that he was “looking at that guitar again” told me how important it was to him. So we went out this week and got him that guitar, plus all the necessities to get him started. He even keeps it on a stand by his computer so he can pick it up regularly…and is at that point where his fingertips hurt. I’ve hooked him up with a few lessons videos to get him started, but will have him here at Justin Guitar soon enough. I’m SO proud of him! And can’t wait to jam with him as we continue to learn!
Anyone else have any wins you want to share? Finally conquer that song you’ve been working on? Played for the first time in front of others?
I am in the home stretch for my electric guitar and electric ukulele builds that I began in September of last year.
Big win of the week was getting them both playable and setups done so they actually feel nice to play.
The only thing holding them back from being totally finished are the control knobs. I’m currently working on those and expect to have them finished in a few days.
I haven’t been playing as much lately since I’ve been working on them so much. So when they’re done, I’ll be able to put more time back into playing and practicing.
Allie if you would like to keep track of you guitar journey you can start a Learning Log and keep everything in one easy to access personal thread. Kind like a diary or personal log.
Some members even post videos of their guitar journey to keep a visual record of they’re progress.
2014 was a critical year in my guitar playing adventure, even though I’d been playing for several decades before. It was in 2014 when I got my first looper, the simple TC Electronic Ditto. It allowed me to quickly and efficiently record any chord progression I could think of and practice soloing over it, giving a considerable boost to my soloing skills. A milestone on my learning path, truly…
That was so nice to read, Allie!
And it’s so satisfying to motivate someone else to start something as great as the guitar
For me… I don’t think I had some great wins, but … haha, finished tax declaration so I’ll have more time for guitar this week, and will repair a busker’s (or I should rather say singer-songwriter) broken guitar, soon taking part in some songwriting half-guided challenge, so I’m never out of great guitar-related tasks too.
Wish you Allie and you others here another productive week with lots of guitar fun
PS. @Coda You remind me to use my looper again! Thank you!
It’s another looper one for me. I’ve used one for a while in the same way as @Coda Tomasz describes. A few days ago I recorded a new chord progression and did some overdubs for the 1st time. The 1st over dub was triads, the 2nd overdub was using different chord voicings (the C7 shape played in different positions on the neck).
Allinea…I like your plan.
I actually learned a few chords and have found some songs that use the ones that I am more comfortable with. I started playing “Hallelujah” and “Hotel California” back in 2020…badly, but I can form all of the chords fairly well. I believe it is time for me to take some baby steps and stick with 3-5 chord songs.
I found some “play-along” guitar videos that I can slow down to a crawl. I will try playing along with them on some of the simpler songs.
I hope you and your husband are jamming together real soon!
I just want to say that when you begin playing together, record as many of the sessions as possible, you will learn from them together and, more importantly they will become a treasured memory.
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