I’m on holiday with no guitar, no bass and in so far as I can see, no piano in the hotel. The need to do something musical is present (I can’t just sit by the pool and read a book - really I can’t) and there’s only so much theory I can digest. So time for a learning log.
“What’s going in it?“, I imagine a packed Wembley Stadium chanting.
“Wembley………I’m so glad you asked?” I roar back into the mic.
A bit of my musical history - aka “how I got here”.
AVOYP
Originals maybe (when I get round to recording them)
An occasional band video (it has to be occasional as it is unlikely to happen often on guitar)
Maybe a bit of useful theory as I find it, and some I already know from piano and bass that translates well to guitar
My plan for the consolidation periods……and presumably what I actually do in those periods.
It’s about time I posted some playing. This is a link to my first AVOYP. The main learning feedback was along the lines of - your strumming is a bit jerky (I agreed). I think it had improved by the 1st Justin Guitar open mic I played (in February as i recall).
My parents bought a piano when I was about 6. It was a tall one in ebony (I’m not sure if it was ebony, or just black) with, (I think), real ivory keys. Unfortunately I just didn’t connect with the instrument. I suspect it was a combination of largely uninspiring teachers (or at least ones that didn’t inspire me) and me being far more interested in playing various ball games. I stopped having piano lessons when I was about 12.
I also had my 1st false start with with guitar at about the same time. One of the school’s classroom teachers offered to teach a group of kids. Myself and my sister were 2 of the students. Unfortunately all the others gave up. The teacher, quite reasonably I think, decided to stop the lessons - free lessons for me and my sister probably wasn’t the best use of his time.
When I was about 15 my dad and sister bought an organ. They hardly ever touched the instrument. I taught myself chords in the left hand and read (mainly) single line melody lines so that I could play stuff I wanted to. This was the 1st time I connected with an instrument.
When my wife and I bought a house, we had a list of things to buy - beds, sofa, TV, oven and similar non essential stuff😀. “Organ” was about number 256 on the list. I saw one advertised in the local paper, and it became our 3rd purchase. My wife still likes to tell the story😜.
I carried on playing the organ into my 30s. In my early 30s I jammed (on keys) with some work colleagues. The chord knowledge I built on the organ, was a big plus for this. We formed a band and gigged several times a year for several years.
I bought an electro acoustic guitar in the early noughties. I bought a tuition book and learned a most of the open chords plus the barred E shape.
I never really connected with the instrument. I learned a few songs and pretty much played those for the next 20+ years.
I picked up some bad strumming habits. My chord fretting was ok though. So when I came to Justin’s lessons I think it has helped that I’ve been able to do the fretting hand stuff relatively easily. So, whilst getting rid of an engrained bad habit (strumming in my case) is never easy, I have been able to focus on it without having to worry too much about fretting.
I like the sound of this guitar and look forward to more recent recordings to follow. Strummed cleanly and rhythmically, I’m too much a beginner to critisize something, just very nice to listen to. Congratulations on the launch of the Learning Log, a helpful step I think, I will follow it.
Cheers