New Lessons, New Amp, New Post

I'm amped for my new amp.
Vox 4W Class A Tube Amp.
Lovin' it! 

I just love sayin' it!  "Four watt, Class A tube amp."  Sounds like I know what I'm doing, doesn't it?  Hahaha!

For our 19th anniversary, Jeff came through on his promise to buy me a new amp.  He's such a good guy!  I became more and more disenchanted with the Peavey Blazer the more I played on it.  My teacher John, played around with it when I took it in with me and he concluded it was just a cheap amp.  Being as how it was ten years old in September, that doesn't surprise me.  We spent a good deal of money on the guitar and at that time knew even less about amps than we know today.  But the Blazer wasn't giving me consistent sound and it has too many knobs for somebody like me.  The one good thing about the Blazer is that it has a "headphone" connection that the Vox does not have.  Sometimes those headphones comes in handy.

So Jeff and I headed up to Hanahan to see Michael Davis at Ye Olde Music shop.  www.yeoldemusicshop.com   John had told me what a nice guy he was and that to get what you really want, that's the place to go in the Chucktown area.  Michael knew exactly what I was looking for and though he had to order it, I got it in a few days for a great price.  He even threw in a DVD lesson and some picks!  He's got some nice guitars up there.  (pant-pant-drool)  But he's right--I've already got a nice guitar!

So now I'm set, right?   I've been studying major and minor scales, trying to pick them faster, all with the intent of teaching me how to play lead guitar.  John and I tried this a while ago, but I'm just not hearing it.  And I told John so.  "That's okay," he said.  "I didn't expect you to, yet.  You will, though.  In time."

(sigh)  All right.  Whatever.  He's trying so hard to make a "real" musician out of me.

In the meantime, I watched Michael's DVD lesson and he had some pretty good tips on rhythm, stated in a way that made sense to me.  You may remember that's one of my weak spots.  And he taught a section of "finger picking."  One of the songs was "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas.  Man, I just did not get it!  I asked him about it when I went to pick up the amp and he wrote it down for me.  It sounds so pretty, and it's one of the goals I had set out to master, but it "plum eluded me," as Jed Clampett would say.

I started taking hour-long lessons in September.  John and I talked about the new amp (which I took in to show him the next week--he loved it!) and that brought the conversation around to Michael, the shop and the DVD lesson.  So we went directly into a lesson on finger picking with an exercise to practice.  That gave me a better chance of success because there was no hint of "Dust in the Wind" in what I was doing to Michael's lesson.  Hahaha!!  Sorry, dude.  Hahahaha!!

Eventually I got it and with a little warm-up, I can play it pretty well.  And isn't that what's been happening all year?  I think John's completely over-reaching my skill level and voila!  On the third day or so of practice, I start getting it.  It's encouraging.

For now, during breaks in the picking lesson, I continue practicing all my songs.  I have a great time with AC/DC's "Hell's Bells"--that's so much fun--and Eric Clapton's "Cocaine."  I easily get the chords on "Cocaine" but I still lack any filler skills.  As in, chunka-chunka.

Gotta love the chunka-chunka!

Bending Lead

I think I've mentioned the pentatonic scales.  If you want a definition, you'll have to look it up.  But I have been practicing them and though I'm not very fast I've gotten some faster.  More importantly, however, is practicing the down and up string strum technique.

Stringstrumstringstrumstringstrum.  Hahaha!!  That's hard to say.

Anyway, John wanted me to practice listening to the relationship between the notes so he could start teaching me "lead."  Now, the nephew Conner, achieves this seemingly without effort.  He's all up and down the scales, bending strings and filling in the blanks with good licks.  Me?  Not so much.  Again, I will attribute this to the difference between a "musician" (that would be Conner) and a "technician" (that would be me.)

Eric Johnson

Knowing what a fan of Eric Johnson I am, John told me that he plays a lot of his leads in these scales so that afternoon as I chopped vegetables with the stereo on in the background I was able to hear EJ playing lead within those scales and I thought, Cool.  It's sort of the way a writer begins to read differently because they're not only reading the story, they are also able to pick out particularly good or bad writing.

I recorded myself playing a blues phrase over and over and then played it back to practice lead scales on, but I didn't feel I was very successful and honestly, the whole idea doesn't interest me that much to begin with.  I'll leave that to the true musicians.  I can bend strings pretty well, but my rhythm-deficiency limits my success with that too.

I am, however, making some progress with "Johnny B. Goode."  The epiphany I had while writing a previous post of this blog related to the string-strum method mentioned above.  The last three notes of the second bar (and the same phrase thereafter) were being executed neither with rhythm nor skill.  And then I realized I should be strumming down and up instead of just down.  It's made a lot of difference.  I'm still not very good at it, but it's coming along.

Chuck Berry

I also changed picks for "Johnny B. Goode."  I looked for my Joe Bonamassa picks because I knew they were small and heavy but I only found one.  WTH?  I know I gave Conner some, but did I have to give him nearly all of them?  Sheesh!

New Chords with Jimi and Duane

Jimi Hendrix

Okay, so now I'm gonna go back and pick up some of the stuff I skipped.  There were some interesting lessons in there--chords I not only didn't know, but a few of which I wasn't sure my fingers would perform for me.  As with all the other things I've learned along the way, practice proved to be helpful.  Duh.

These lessons brought me a new chord that looks difficult but one I managed to learn quickly.  Turns out, this was one of Jimi Hendrix's go-to chords.  If you think of "Purple Haze" or "Foxy Lady," you'll know which chord I mean.  It is E7#9 and I thought it would take me forever to be able to get it, but I haven't found it that hard--thank goodness.  However, since I've only learned that lick in "Purple Haze," I can't say I wouldn't find a different chord change to it more formidable in another song.

Duane Allman

When I played it for John the next lesson, he said, "Good.  Now remember just what you did there and apply it in this week's song.  How about "Melissa" by the Allman Brothers?"

Well, who doesn't like that song?  I mean, what a great song, right?  There were several chords in this song that were new to me, but I was up to the challenge.  There were two new E-shaped chords with odd (to me) fingering, two new barre chords, a chord I'd played before but didn't know the name of, and B7, the relative (finger-wise) of E7#9.

So, "Melissa."  John wrote out the whole song and I do alright with it, but the chord changes between the A and the Bm trip me up as does the change between the Cmaj7 and the B7.  I'll keep working on it.  It really is a great song.
The following lesson we changed direction and he showed me a technique I had watched guitarists do and thought, How do they do that?  This is where they use their thumb to press the 6th string (See John?  I do listen.) while playing a chord with the other fingers of the left hand.  Eric Clapton's "Lay Down, Sally" is the one I got for this and if I can keep from overthinking it to get ahead of myself I'm not doing too badly.  And let's face it, it's a fun song to play.

Eric Clapton, early days

P.S   If this posting looks funny and not quite right, you'll have to forgive me.  It looks totally different in "edit mode" than it does in "preview."  Too many pictures, I know, but whaddaya gonna do?  As usual, I totally don't know what I'm doing here.  D'Oh!

"Dirty Movies" and DADGAD

Well, it hasn't been quite two months since my last post, but a lot has been going on and I'm going to skip over some stuff.  Actually, not all that much has been going on.  I often find myself in a heat-induced coma after I walk the dogs.  I wake up to find myself on Facebook playing a mindless game as the hours tick by.

I'm still taking guitar lessons and still having fun with it, though I admit I'm not practicing enough.  When I first started, I made it a point to practice at least an hour a day.  Sometimes I got in more, sometimes a little less.  Mostly, pretty close to an hour on-the-dot.  Now when I practice, I still strive for that hour, but there are some weeks that I only practice five days.  I think I had one week where I only practiced four days.  That's not gonna get me anywhere.  And I might as well quit paying someone to teach me if I'm not willing to put the work in.

But I am still having fun.  Learning new songs.  Learned a bunch of Zeppelin which is way fun--"Whole Lotta Love," "Heartbreaker" and "Livin' Lovin' Maid."  Now we're studying alternate tunings and I got "Kashmir."  It's in DADGAD.  When John showed it to me, he said, "Man, I could play this all day."  And now I see why.  I swear this song is addictive.  It's not all that hard to play, (once you practice it a while) but it is hard to stop. 

And I must move on.  The next week (that would be last week) we went to Drop D tuning which is DADGBE.  The song is a deep cut from Van Halen's Fair Warning album called "Dirty Movies."  I thought I might have the song on the Best of Both Worlds CD, but it's not there.  I knew, however, that I had the vinyl.  So I pulled it out, uncovered the turntable and played it.  It didn't sound anything like what John had played.  Certainly not anything like what I was coming up with from what he'd written in my practice book.  Oy.  "Mean Streets" sounded more like what I was playing and of course, I told him that at my lesson this week.

He was like, "No, this is "Dirty Movies.  Listen to it again."
Van Halen's "Dirty Movies" played by some guy on YouTube. The part I'm learning starts at about 1:10.


So I did.  Over and over, until I finally thought I maybe heard it.  That sounds convincing, doesn't it?  The truth is, I could hear part of the riff, but the main part eluded me.  I couldn't get the rhythm of it and just couldn't hear it through the vocals.  I tried to tape it on my digital recorder, but I sure couldn't hear it any better with its sorry sound.

So I had lunch.  I must've needed the nourishment because as I ate, the thought occurred to me that I might be able to find a video on YouTube and actually see EVH playing the song.  Well, you know, (shrug) I thought that might help.  And there were videos of the song.  (Turns out there aren't any videos of Eddie Van Halen playing the song, but check out the link above.)

But I didn't click on them.

Because--and thank you Google search--there were actual lessons posted on YouTube for this very song!  The one I clicked on was by a guy named Doug Steele who seems way cool, into metal and goes slow enough that even an old broad like me can catch on to what he's doing.

Now, he teaches most of the whole song and I'm only learning the main riff at this time, so I brought my little recorder and "taped" several loops of it in order to be able to listen to it in my practice room.  Man, what a help it's been.  I've been able to get the rhythm better and figure out fingering to get me ahead.

Which brings me back to practice time. 

Have I mentioned that John wants me to perform onstage at the Windjammer in the Autumn Showcase? 

I may not have.  I don't want anyone to get their hopes up.  A funnier comedy show, I cannot imagine. 

I told him "no way" right off the bat, but of course, he blew smoke up my . . . (ahem) butt till I started to consider it.  The song--Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode."  I've got the blues part down, no problem, but that first riff--while it's not the hardest thing I've ever tackled--it's sure not the easiest either. 

Huh.  I think I just thought of something that might make it a little easier.  I'll have to try it out later. 

But I digress.

So this week, I've started putting in some extra practice time.  I've had to in order to get this Van Halen song.  And in the meantime I've been working on "Johnny B. Goode" as well.  Guess what?  Yes, I'm getting it a little better too.

I'm not saying I'm definitely going onstage at the showcase, but if I step up my practice time and then decide to, it will only be my nerves screwing up my fingers. 

Horses and Harmonics

Souvenir guitar from
Virginia Beach

John introduced me to the pentatonic scale--Gm and A (or is it Am?) to be specific.  This takes a good deal of coordination just to play it as in "scale exercises," nevermind trying to improvise a lead phrase of my own.  So one night during practice, my husband asks, "What's  that you're playing?  It sounds like 'My Girl.'"  Yes, that's right.  The Temptations song from 1964.  I was like, "What?"  I couldn't think of anything I'd practiced that sounded like "My Girl."  I kept trying to hear it, but as far as I could tell, it wasn't there.  I asked John about it at my next lesson and he showed me the phrase I was listening for.  Okay, maybe I could see how they were related.  And now I can play it for my husband.  He's my biggest supporter.  (:grin:)

I continued (and continue) to practice "Funk 49" and scales.  Then John added in harmonics and the galloping horse sound, as in the beginning of Heart's "Barracuda."  Admit it, you can hear it in your head right now!  He was pleased that I even knew what he meant by "harmonics" and I think he's been pleased with my execution of them, but the galloping horse sound was a bit more difficult for me to master.

Now, I know all you real guitar players out there are probably laughing out loud at my clumsiness, and I felt like an idiot trying to get my small, heavy pick to do this.  I thought, Hmm . . . maybe I need a more flexible pick.  I looked through my pick dish and found a nice, medium Fender pick that I've had forever and  -- voila! -- there it was!  Yea!  John told me I'd have to use one pick or the other, though.  I couldn't be changing picks out to suit the song.  I'm back to a heavy pick, but it's larger than the original one.  Hahaha!!  You should've seen the look on his face when I reached into my pocket for the other pick. 

The next stop on the harmonics train was the first few bars of "Roundabout" by Yes.  It's mostly recognizable when I play it and I'm proud of the harmonics work but, as usual, my rhythm execution leaves much to be desired. (sigh)

We all know what the musician says when asked how to get to Carnegie Hall . . .

Next up:  New chords, "Purple Haze" and "Melissa."

The Year of Guitar Continues

Conner's picture in the frame
Gayle gave me.

OMG!  I knew it had been a long time since I blogged, but sheesh!  Two months?!  It’s actually been a pretty productive year so far.  Not in writing, of course, but in other things.  I did submit “Douglas Decides” to The Petigru Review, but I haven’t heard whether or not they accepted it.  They extended the deadline after I rushed to get it in on time, but that’s okay.  I needed the push.

And it's not like there hasn't been anything else going on.  I'm still practicing "Funk 49" but haven't quite gotten it yet, so we've moved on to pentatonic scales, harmonics and lead exercises among other things.  John says I’m doing pretty well.  I think I’m doing okay as long as I practice, which I mostly do.  I talked to Joey (brother-in-law and Conner's dad) recently and I guess he finally went back to lessons, which he’d been going to sporadically at best.  It seems John is teaching us the same thing right now and Joe was like, “Yeah, but I’ve been taking lessons a year longer than you have!”  Hey.  What can I say?

For my birthday in April I got a bunch of really cool guitar-related stuff.  My friend, Gayle gave me that great picture frame (shown above) and I finally put Conner's picture in it.  I thought about inserting my own picture, holding my guitar of course, but nobody really wants to see that, eh?  Hahaha!!

Jeff's co-worker, fellow West Virginian and our friend, Lisa loaded me up on guitar gifts!  The book to the left is Guitar Trivia by Michael Heatley.  Really fun book with a lot of information, not only about famous guitarists, but also about guitars and amps.  From this book I learned the difference between single coil pickups (like John's studio guitar) and humbuckers, like mine. This led to one lesson getting somewhat off-track as we discussed pickups.  In another lesson we discussed amps.

Lisa also gave me this book, Guitar Gods (Consulting Editor [whatever that means], Rusty Cutchin, with forward by Mick Taylor).  I haven't gotten into this one yet except to make sure Eric Johnson was well represented--which he is--as he was only mentioned once in Guitar Trivia.  But it looks really good and I know I'll enjoy it as well.  All of this plus Lisa went to the trouble of making a gift bag by taking a solid red (how did she know?) gift bag and glued pictures from guitar magazines on it.  I was like, "Oh my God!"  It was a really good birthday and I know I've forgotten some other things Lisa brought although she did turn me onto Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat beer which is really tasty stuff. 

Joe and Conner did not give me a guitar related birthday gift, but I found a cool SG mouse pad at Shem Creek Music and I tell myself that if Joe had been paying attention, that's what he would have gotten me.  I desperately needed a new mouse pad.  I'm glad I waited.

Actually, I've learned so much--or at least have covered so much material in the last couple of months, I'm going to split up the blog posts so that none of them are too long.  (Thanks to Dave Moulton for that advice!davesbikeblog.squarespace.com/ )

Girls Rock!

As usual, it's been a busy couple of weeks.  Went to two concerts, been dealing with this crazy, destructive dog, and learning a bunch of great new stuff on guitar.

Cool stage design at Prince concert
Get it?

 I went with a friend, my nephew and brother-in-law to see Prince and his crew at the North Charleston Coliseum on March 30th.  What a great show!  I had never been that big a Prince fan even though I know some of his music from the radio.  But there's no denying his showmanship.  Lalah Hathaway opened the show with her voice as smooth as silk and after a short intermission the Welcome 2 America tour got underway.  The Post and Courier said there were over 10,000 people there and I believe it.  Not only that, but nearly all of us were on our feet the entire time.  It was an expensive ticket, but well worth it!



Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi

 On April 5, Derek Trucks and his wife, Susan Tedeschi came to the Charleston Music Hall downtown.  Wow!  Another great concert albeit of a totally different type.  Derek works the slide on his Gibson as well as Duane Allman ever did--some say better.  And Susan, proving she has chops of her own on her turquoise Fender Strat, sang with a voice which was rich, rough and raw, whatever the song called for.  I was not expecting the band to consist of so many members, but the stage was full of veteran musicians who were also characters in their own right.  A full horn section really surprised me, as well as two drummers, a keyboard player and two backup singers.  All of them were crazy-good!  If any audience member left disappointed, it was their own fault.  Great show, great venue.

Girls Rock!
On to my own guitar adventures.  I was really excited when John gave me the intro to Boston's "More Than a Feeling."  I figured if I could do the intro to "Bristol Shores," I could do this one too.  And I have.  Thanks to some advice from the nephew.  I was having some trouble transitioning back to the beginning of the phrase and he told me not to move my third finger.  Oh!  Duh!  It made all the difference.

I also got Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion" which includes a "pull-off," a technique I'd never done before.  But it wasn't difficult and I mastered the first part easily.  The concept of the second one confounded me a little but I finally got it.  When I played it for John, though, I was way off on the rhythm.  Hahaha!!  Have I mentioned I have a rhythm problem?  Hahaha!  Yeah. I think I've got it down now.



My practice book

 I reorganized my practice book and made things a little easier to read.  I put a couple of songs on a single page since many of them are no more than a line or two of tab or chord names.  John saw "China Grove" underneath "Sweet Emotion."  He said, "Oh, China Grove . . ." and before he could saw anything more, I played it.  He was like, "Yeah!  That's just what I wanted to see."  Kind of a drill for finger coordination with power chords. 

This week, he was going to give me the intro to "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas. It includes bending which I'm anxious to learn.  But on the phone with my nephew the other night, he mentioned "Funk 49" by Joe Walsh--also one of my favorite riffs.  So I told John that Conner had suggested it.  Now, here's a technique to master.  And it may take me a while.  It's a two fingered "hammer-on."  O-o-kay.  Hahaha!!  And he played me a bunch of songs that use this technique. You may recall I have practiced the hammer-on with the "hip chords" and I've played one for years on Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," but to do it with two fingers--at the same time?  Well, let's just say, I'd better go practice.  Hahaha!! 

Oh, I'll get it eventually.  I got the power chords and the barre chords (well, just the E-shaped ones so far) and I'll get this too.  It's amazing how many new tricks this old broad can learn.  Having too much fun along the way!

"There's a whole lotta things I never done, I ain't never had too much fun!"   --Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen



Strings and Things

Gosh, yes, it's been over two weeks since my last post. Boring, busy life intrudes.  But I've been thinking about guitar-related items to post and this cloudy, rainy day seems the perfect time.

Despite my better judgement (and my own advice) I changed the strings on the Tetomas acoustic.  Yeah, I know I said I wouldn't do it.  I know I said I'd leave it to the professionals, but (shrug) eh, whaddaya gonna do?  It was almost a challenge I couldn't resist.  Besides, I had the strings.

The first thing I did was inspect the pawnshop Fender and see what I did wrong.  I knew I'd wound one side wrong and John said I needed to have more string winds around the posts.  I made a diagram:

Making the diagram, I got the fundamentals pretty well entrenched in my brain and I went for it.  I removed the old strings and polished up the wood as well as I could.  It's an old, scratched up guitar but it looks better for the effort.  The neck in particular.  It was nasty-dirty! 

I started with the 1st string, what I call "e."  I wasn't sure how much slack to leave, exactly, in order to have enough for winding around the posts so it was purely trial and error.  Mostly error, I'm sure.

Do overs


At first, I didn't think I'd left enough so I took it apart and started over, and on a few I knew I had too much.  I'd have to take it apart and start over again.  It got to be pretty funny, actually.  That's one good thing about being able to laugh at yourself.  This isn't a life or death situation. 

Of course, the more I took the strings off, the curlier they got and more unmanageable they became.  Patience and humility were my friends in this project.  Eventually, I got them all installed.  Some have more wound around the posts and some have less, but I think they at least all have enough. 

Before trimming

The large-wound bass strings, D, A, and E definitely have the most string wound around the posts.  Honestly, it's comical.  Hahaha!!  Eh.  (Shrug)  Whatever. 

Tuning

So now comes the tuning.  I'm not too bad at tuning since I have a keyboard which I can use for reference.  The trouble I've always had with tuning is breaking the "G" string.  It's ridiculous.  I've got a couple of packages of strings that are missing the "G" because of breakage.  Duh.

I've discussed this with John and he showed me how to stretch the strings while tightening them up during the re-stringing process.  As the slack becomes less, you push the strings to the side with your fingers, not too much--don't pull the pegs out-- but enough that tension is evident.  Do this often during the process and breaking a string while tuning shouldn't be an issue. 

For lessons, John tunes my guitar to match his using a Korg electronic tuner.  Turns out, either my husband or my brother gave me one exactly like it years ago, but I was never very confident using it.  After seeing John utilize it, I've used it a little more, though I still prefer my ears and the keyboard. 

The way the Korg works is, one end of the cable is plugged into the guitar and the other end is plugged into the tuner.  As each string is struck, an indicator needle and lights tell how far off, or on, the note it is.  Since I've been using it the nights before my lessons, I've been pretty close to perfect when I get there.  It's a neat little gadget.



Plug-in end of the Korg electronic tuner

So I got the Tetomas cleaned up, strings changed and tuned.  It plays pretty well, but it's a lot smaller than the pawnshop Fender, and for all the abuse the Fender took before it came to me, it has the better sound, by far.  

So there ya' have it.  I trimmed up the ends of the strings to about an inch/inch and a half, and it sure does look a lot nicer.   I haven't thought much about changing the strings on the electric.  Probably a good thing. 

By the way, I used strings that had been around here a while, but were still sealed up in their original plastic bag, so they were still good.  I'm not sure how I came to have so many full sets of strings--I guess one of the music stores was having a 3/$10.00 or a BOGO sale.  They are all D'Addarios.  There is one set of Martin acoustic strings--missing the "G" of course.

 



From China Grove to Bristol Shore

Yeah, I didn't post last week.  I was a little discouraged, trying to make "Sunshine" fluid.  John gave me the rest of the song so I could play the whole thing, but I wasn't confident I was getting it. 

He also gave me a choice on what new song to learn.  He said, "Eric Johnson or Van Halen?"  Just hearing EJ's name makes me smile and I think I said, "Whaddaya mean?" but who the heck knows?  Anyway, he picked out the intro to "Bristol Shore" and I was grinning like a lunatic.  I told him I definitely wanted to learn that kind of thing--that it was one of the original goals I set for myself. 

And what about Van Halen?  He played VH's cover of "You Really Got Me" which looked more like what I'd been practicing, with the power chords and all, so I chose that.  It looked like I could do it, with enough practice, and he tried to show me how to palm-mute.  He makes it look so easy.

Nephew Conner Fersner
showing off the wah-wah
we bought him

Then on Sunday, we had the opportunity to hear our nephew, Conner, play.  Oh my God!  He is so good!  He made all those songs just . . . flow.  And he made it all look so effortless.  He said, "Here, get Dad's guitar Aunt Mary O.  We can play together."  I was like, "Are you out of your mind?!"  I'm nowhere near his level, and now I can understand why his dad, Joe, is somewhat discouraged with his own lessons.  Man!  That kid's good.

So I was a little down walking into my lesson on Monday.  But as has been the case after all of my lessons, I was grinnin' like crazy upon leaving.  John said I wasn't doing too badly--I was actually doing pretty well.  He reminded me that Conner's been taking lessons from him for a long time--four or five years.  'Course then, I had to laugh--how good did I expect to be in a month and a half?  Hahaha!!

For this next lesson, I'll have two weeks of practice because I'm not going to make it next week.  On top of practicing the songs I've been doing, and the techniques involved, John also gave me the Doobie Brother's "China Grove."  I'm having a lot of fun with that. It's got that string-dulling, chunka-chunka sound I like so much.  I saw Conner do it on Sunday and I was envious of his skill.  (I shouldn't be envious.  I'll never catch up to him, but I sure am proud of him!)

With the extra practice time I'll have before my next lesson, I asked John about "Bristol Shore" and he showed me.  I was so psyched!  I came home and listened to the song and then started to work.  Gosh, I can't believe it, but I'm really doing it!  Not only that, but you can even recognize "China Grove."  That makes me happy!  Chunka-chunka!

Clapton Need Not Worry

Guess what?  John says my rhythm isn't as bad as I think--I just need to practice the one-TWO-three-FOUR count a little more.  I pointed out that not all songs go like that and he agreed but said it was handy when playing with someone else.  Okay.  I'll go with that.

I took the electric guitar with me this week and it was a lot of fun.  After he listened to me play Smoke on the Water, Iron Man and the "hip" chords with hammer-ons (from which the rhythm discussion ensued), I asked him which kind of chords to use with Hotel California and he told me what I had already figured out.  The musician needs to know how to make each chord in all its different forms in order for the song to flow.  Makes sense to me.  Fortunately, I'm not starting from scratch.  Unfortunately, it'll be a while before I master it.

This week's lesson is Cream's Sunshine of Your Love.  It doesn't seem too hard so far, but I'll admit I've only practiced a couple of nights.

Wednesday night I went to writers group at the Barnes & Noble in West Ashley.  Man, what a fun group that is.  Most of the time.  One of the great things about it is the leader, David Moulton, is a singer/songwriter and sometimes he brings his guitar to sing us one his songs.  Lately, a musician friend of his has been coming and bringing his guitar and that's what happened this week.  He sang us two of his songs and along with the lyrics, I was interested in his guitar playing technique.  He finger-picked, which is something I want to learn, and he wore three (or four?) finger picks on his right hand. 

I was not in the right seat to see very well, but it's cool to watch someone do this.  I still don't get it though.  I think I need to study my theory more in order to figure out which strings to pick to make it sound good.  Oh!  And then I have to remember what I just did, when I do make something sound decent, eh?  Hahaha!!

Anyway, I'm making progress.  I hope to get together with my nephew, Conner, sometime and see what I can learn from him.  Just having more than a half hour at a time to play with someone would be helpful. 

In the meantime, Eric Clapton's job and reputation are safe.  Hahaha!!

Old fingers, new tricks

Just when frustration takes over and I think, there's no way I can do this, my fingers surprise me and stretch--or stay put--or whatever I ask them to do in practice.  This week it's bar (or barre) chords.

On Monday, I was excited to show off my "hip chord" skills to John so, of course, he added a "hammer-on" to the mix.  Oh, and my rhythm still stinks, by the way, so instead of his being able to play along with me (or the other way around) he's just going to have to listen to what I came up with.  Thank goodness he's got a great sense of humor and is not a stickler for perfection.  He even comes up with spontaneous riffs for me to work on.  The least I can do is practice diligently.

Which is what I've been doing.  We're working on the E based bar chord this week and he pulled out the Proud Mary riff for me.  Hahaha!!  And how come I can do it in his studio, but when I get home, it sounds like a four-year old banging on the strings?  (Still laughing at myself.)

I posted my frustration on Facebook and pleaded for advice from all those musician "friends" I have out there.  The one response I got was from Mike C., a Marshall friend who was one of my original inspirations to play guitar in the first place.  He recommended that I switch from the acoustic to the electric, and bar chords might get easier.  I did, and they have.  Thanks, Mike!    

So anyway, the first problem I had was keeping my E fingers in the E formation as I worked my way up the neck.  'Course the major problem was keeping my #1 finger across the strings.  Very little in life comes easily.  Ta-a-a-ke a deep breath.  Try again. 

I worked out some drills for myself--do some scales using just the bar with #1, and then do them with the chord.  Put them together and I'm getting better. Not nearly perfect, or even good, but better.  Now my complaint is there's not enough room for both the 3 and 4 fingers inside the 12th fret.  And I don't have fat little fingers.  In fact, my fingers are about the only non-chubby parts of me.  Whatever.  I'll keep working on it. 

Yesterday I found a book I bought at Barnes & Noble . . . God only knows when . . . called Total Guitar by Terry Burrows (1998, Carlton Books Limited) whose author notes on the dust jacket flap include the following:  "He is an eclectic musician responsible for over 40 commercial releases since the mid-1980's, in a bewildering variety of styles and guises."  I looked it over when I brought it home, but there was so much I didn't understand.  I checked it out yesterday and it was like a light bulb went off over my head.  Oh-h-h, now I get it. 

And I'm looking forward to my lesson next week when I walk in with my electric guitar.  I mean, John teaches me on his electric.  My favorite music to listen to comes from electric guitars.  Why haven't I taken it before now?  Eh, (shrug) who knows?

Look out, John, here I come!

A Big Oops and "Hip" Chords

No wonder my rhythm is so bad.  Apparently I can't count.  Even though my last post was titled "Lesson Number Three," it was actually lesson number two.  It was post number three.  I'll try to keep better count of which is which from now on.  Oy.

It normally takes me a day or two to digest my lesson before I blog about it and this week is no exception.  I am late however, because of the Super Bowl.  Well . . . a Super Bowl party and the way I felt on Monday morning--d'oh!  I would not have been the optimum student on Monday and John was gracious enough to reschedule me for Wednesday.  Thanks, dude.

I got a little frustrated during practice last week, which is not the point of taking these lessons.  My fingers stretched out nicely but I started stressing about little things like not resting my fingers on the pick guard while strumming the two-string songs and trying to control my fingers better on Smoke on the Water.  When I voiced my concerns, John settled me down and didn't make a big deal of either issue. 

I also needed to work on my chord changes.  Now, keep in mind I learned these chords back in the Dark Ages (i.e. before Van Halen) and the popular music in Huntington, West Virginia during that time was what one would call "Country Rock" or "Southern Rock."  Some of the bands I'm talking about were Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, early Eagles, 38 Special, Charlie Daniels--you get the picture.  I learned to make basic chords with traditional fingering.  So when John said he would show me the "hip" way to make C, G and E minor, I was all for it!

A self-taught guitarist learns to make chord changes the fastest way they can, and I'm sure there are others who have done a better job of it than I ever did.  I was already making a G, in certain circumstances, using my 2, 3 and 4 fingers, so I guess John figured I could handle what he was getting ready to show me.  Starting with the G in that configuration, move finger 2 to the 5th string for C, and use finger 1 on the same string in the fret above for E minor.

What a revelation!  This has made all the difference, especially the change between C and G.  I mean, I finally got the fluidity I've needed between the intro and the verses of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.  Wheeeeee . . . ! E minor has never been a big deal to me, but even that's easier in songs like Violent Femmes' Blister in the Sun and Green Day's Good Riddance.

For this week's neck work I have Black Sabbath's Iron Man riff, which I'm doing all right with, though I still have to work on that visual problem I had last week.  John also gave me chords for the Eagles' Hotel California, for which (so far) I'm finding traditional fingering might be the best.  We'll see about that.  My brother-in-law is supposed to be working on this song too, but I just may be able to pass him up if I work hard enough.

I'm psyched again--no more stress!  This is supposed to be fun and that's what it's gonna be. 

Last Friday the North Mississippi All Stars opened up for Robert Plant and his Band of Joy at the Performing Arts Center.  Man, the NMAS rock the blues and I'm not kiddin'!  For being just one guitar and a drummer onstage, their sound was amazing. 

I was prepared to hear the more folksy, country sound of Robert Plant and Band of Joy, so I wasn't as surprised as some people seemed to be.  Plant's signature voice hasn't lost a step. His  harmonies with Patty Griffin and the rest of the band were rich and full, and Buddy Miller's guitar work seemed effortless as he switched from rock to country, folk to bluegrass to gospel.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss more songs from Plant's solo career as well as Zeppelin, but this incarnation presented an opportunity I'm glad I didn't miss.

A Busy Week and Lesson Number Three

B-Dub

It's been a busy week which promises to stay that way, rain or no rain.  Monday is guitar lesson day and I got a late start for Mount Pleasant, but I made it on time.  More about that later.

Tuesday I cooked.  Yeah, I know that's generally Jeff's thing, but I like to cook sometimes and I'd been craving lasagna.  Being on Weight Watchers I wanted to make a healthy version and figure out the "points" so I could know what I was eating and how to count it.  I even made the lasagna noodles from scratch.  It was a lot of fun and it turned out great, but it pretty much took all day.

Wednesday, B-Dub had the first injection of his heartworm treatment and he was sick all morning.  So of course I had to worry all day.  By afternoon he was feeling better but I've been advised to keep him drugged and inactive.  That's not going over very well.  Yesterday the drugs did their job, but by this morning he's metabolizing them faster and he's looking at me like, "Okay.  Let's go.  What the heck?  Why aren't we out in the neighborhood by now?!  I've got scents to sniff, for crying out loud--let's go!!!"  I'm not sure I'm going to survive three weeks of this.

So today I'm finally getting a chance to write about my lesson.  I must've done okay on last week's practice 'cause we didn't linger over it.  John first showed me some blues and I was thrilled.  Wow!  I can really do this!  I mean, it's still only A, D and E, but it's definitely a basic blues riff.  Yeah, I'm grinnin'.

Next he started talking about music theory--half steps and whole steps--and when I told him I'd had some piano lessons as a kid, he was pleased.  Now I just need to translate the keyboard to the fretboard.  And I'm making progress.  The riff is the intro of Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water and I've seen little kids do it at a couple of Conner's recitals.  Gosh, I wish I could figure out a way to do a drawing here.  At this point, let's suffice it to say my old fingers don't want to go that way.  Hahaha!!

At first it was physically painful; wrist twisting, finger stretching, hand cramping pain.  But as with all stretching, eventually it happens.  Now, I'm not saying I'm all the way there yet, but I can tell I will get there if I don't give up.  I told Jeff I thought I was gonna have to split practice into two, thirty minute sessions, but I haven't had time for that, and it was probably a good thing I didn't.

Monday night I had a devil of a time.  My problem was I visually kept track of the wrong finger.  I should have been watching the position of my number one finger (the index finger) but instead tracked the number three finger (the ring finger) because that was the one being stretched to its limits and I had a hard time getting and keeping it on the correct string.  Oy!  That visual really threw me off, but being a technician instead of a musician my brain needed some way to make the connection.

Tuesday night, after spending all day in the kitchen, I was bone tired.  On the other hand, I was also exhilarated because Jeff loved the lasagna and it was fun making the noodles.  So instead of blowing off guitar practice, I ignored my back pain and did it.  I didn't feel like I made any progress, but I guess I did, even though it must have been incremental.

Last night, I could tell I was moving forward.  My fingers stretched out enough for me to realize I could pick them up to move them up and down the neck instead of sliding them, which wasn't working so well.  And I didn't have to press the strings so hard.  Definitely encouraging and I'm looking forward to today's practice.

I'm learning so much and I'm having a ball.  Sheesh!  What was I waiting for?  Thanks again to Conner and Joe for one of the greatest Christmas presents ever!  Not that I'm gonna stop at one month, but I just needed that push to get me started.

Oh!  One more thing, on Sunday night I changed the strings on the Fender, which I've been using for lessons.  Hahaha!!!  It's been a lot of years since I changed strings and I knew, at the very least, I'd wound one side incorrectly.  John, in his kindness, confirmed that error, and went on to show me the other mistakes I'd made.  Thankfully those mistakes haven't rendered the guitar unplayable, but I'll probably have a professional do it next time.

Stay tuned!  

First Lesson



How about these hipster glasses?

 I had my first lesson with John Smith yesterday morning.  Man!  I knew I didn't know much, but my eyes were opened to a whole new world of guitar playing.  Now let's see if I can put those things into practice.

I played (and sang, much to the chagrin of both of us, probably) "Shanty" by Jonathon Edwards, that fun 70's-era song that's about . . . a-hem . . . well, we'll just leave it at the title and author for now.  The point is, it's pretty easy, but it includes a couple of chords, one of which I just recently learned to do efficiently and the other I haven't.  Plus it gave him some idea of my lack of rhythm.

He asked if I'd ever played what he called "partial chords."  I had never heard of them.  Then he said, "power chords" and I thought I knew what he was talking about.  Turns out I didn't know that either.  So he set me out on four or five of those that are giving the callous on my index, or number one finger, a run for its money.  Good thing I had built it up somewhat beforehand. 

He gave me "Wild Thing" to practice A, D and E in this partial form, which one would think would be easier because they don't involve all three fingers.  But no-o-o-o.  Hahaha!!  I think his seven year old students have an easier time with this because they've never learned any other method.  Okay, I'm an old fart.  So sue me.  I also got AC/DC's "TNT" to practice using those three chords plus G.

For rhythm practice he gave me Bob Dylan's "Wagon Wheel" most recently done by Old Crow Medicine Show.  I looked it up on YouTube and thought, "Wow!  That song has both kinds of music; country and western."  As most of you know--not my thing.  But, it will give me valuable practice with both my rhythm and something else he wants me to work on--my fingers placed on the strings correctly, all at once, instead of one at a time, regardless of how perfectly adequate I think it may be.  Hahaha!!  John said he'd found that to be pretty common in folks who were mostly "self taught."  I definitely don't feel like the only one who's had to relearn "form."

What I found during practice yesterday evening was that placing those fingers on all three strings at once is not as easy as it sounds.  Especially after thirty-five years (off and on) of finding the strings individually.  I laughed and laughed when I realized my chord changes chomped down like an alligator in my attempts to do this correctly.  I'm sure "you had to be there" but trust me--it was pretty hilarious. 

I'm not giving up after one hour of practice.  Even I know I can only go up from here.  I may not have it down perfectly for a while, but I'll keep plugging away.  And for those of you out there who play guitar--watch out!  I plan to pick your brains whenever I see you.  I need all the help I can get! 

 

Gettin' Ready to Rock!

"Gettin' Ready to Rock!"

Hahaha!!  Well, I have been practicing about an hour a day and, I must say, my callouses are coming back nicely.  They're visible to the human eye. 

The instructor, John Smith, and I finally stopped playing phone tag and connected yesterday afternoon.  I scheduled my first lesson for next Monday, January 24th, at 11:00 a.m.  I'm really excited now!

I thought today I'd talk about my guitars.  I've been practicing on all three of the playable ones and each one has its pros and cons.  Of course the easiest one--the one with the best action is the electric.  Jeff bought it for me shortly after the attack on the Twin Towers in September, 2001.  I had been fooling around on a Peavey solid body that weighed a good twenty-five, thirty pounds.  Man, that thing was heavy! It belonged to our neighbor, Tom, who was kind enough to loan it to me.

We were fortunate enough to have a new Sam Ash music store open on Lee Road in Orlando not too far down I-4 from our home in Seminole County.  That place is awesome!  It brings a smile to my face even now.  It's like a huge toy store for musicians.  I forget now what we had originally gone there for, but we always looked at the electric guitars.  I never really thought I'd have one of my own,  and that day, for whatever reason, Jeff said, "I think we oughta buy you an electric guitar."



Gibson Epiphone SG

 My jaw literally dropped which was followed by the grin of a lifetime which lasted about a month.  Hahaha!!  We picked out a red, Gibson Epiphone SG, a small Peavey amp (please don't ask for specs, I have no idea--it's small) and a hard carrying case.  I'm tellin' you, I was a grinnin' fool!

As you can see, I'm not adept at amp operation.  Jeff, who worked sound for events and football games while he was at Clemson, tried to show me some things about it, but I didn't really get it.  He would have to set it up for me whenever I wanted the music amplified.  I like distortion.  :)  Hahaha!! 

The first song I played was The Star Spangled Banner  which I had been practicing already on the neighbor's hefty Peavey after 9/11.  I played the song tentatively following a few beers at Halloween; better, but not great after fireworks in the cul-de-sac on New Year's Eve, but by the time we came to South Carolina for Independence Day at my mother-in-law's house on Folly Beach, I was ready.  Jeff and our friend, Will, snaked the extension cord out the walkover and I played a slow, but flawless National Anthem. 

Unfortunately, the brisk wind came at us from offshore so the people on the beach couldn't hear it.  Hahaha!!  And then my mother-in-law told us to turn it down.  Hahahaha!!  (Shrug)  It wasn't Jimi Hendrix (or anywhere near) but I was glad I was able to do it.

One of my goals with John Smith is to learn how to operate my amp and be comfortable with it.



Tetomas

 I also play an old Tetomas acoustic which I got for free from another neighbor, Marty, before he and his family moved.  I want to say it's my favorite because it's smaller than the other acoustic, a Fender, but I'm not getting the sound out of it that I get with the Fender.  Go figure.  The neck's a little narrower, so it's easier to reach across and it's got good action.  Sometimes I get ukelele sounds out of it and I'm not happy with that.  I trimmed my nails.  Hopefully that helps.

I think I'll take the Fender to my first lesson.  It's bigger and the action is just slightly not-as-good as the Tetomas.  It's really helped in the rebuilding of the callouses though.  And the sound is so much fuller.  I got it from a pawn shop in Fern Park.  There was a rattlesnake rattle inside it which I didn't notice till I'd bought it.  Someone told me that's a common tool for bluegrass musicians.  (Shrug)  What the heck did I know?  I took it out.  That was good practice for when I drop my picks inside it.  Talk about aggravating!



Pawnshop Fender

 Something else I didn't notice was a small crack in the neck.  I took it down to the guys at Lyrical Lumber, a guitar repair shop in Maitland, and they fixed me right up.  All these guitars hold a tune incredibly well.  Even my nephew has been impressed.

And so I've been practicing.  Mostly three-chord songs; a lot of John Prine--C, G, D, A with a little Em slipped in for good measure.  I have trouble with the F in That's the Way That the World Goes Round, but on a good day I've mostly got Dear Abby, Please Don't Bury Me, and Illegal Smile.  Hahaha!  Those crazy '70s, eh?  Even Jeff says I do a pretty good Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd--including the picked part.

There are a bunch of others I practice.  But I'm not kidding myself.  I stink!  I need these lessons.  Not for any kind of professional aspirations.  That's insane.  I would like to be able to pick up a guitar at a party, though, and have some fun with it.  And just be able to play for myself.  I find it to be a real stress reliever.  Especially when I screw up and start laughing at myself.  And that's a lot.

Besides the operation of my amp, here are the goals I have written down for my lessons:

• Picking
• Rhythm (as in, I need some)
• Blues progressions
• Bar chords

Six days.  Ready or not.  Gonna be fun!

Year of Guitar

Eric Johnson and Me

Okay, I've decided this blog has sat idle long enough.  And I need something to keep me writing since my fiction muse has gone on an extended vacation.

What I'm most excited about, here in the beginning of 2011, is that my sweet nephew and brother-in-law gave me guitar lessons for Christmas!! My teacher will be the same man who teaches both of them, John Smith at Music Unlimited in Mt. Pleasant.  I haven't scheduled my first lesson yet, but I'm getting reacquainted with my guitars and rebuilding my callouses.  They're coming along nicely, I must say.  I'm very excited!

I began my on-again/off-again relationship with the guitar when I was at Marshall University, way "back in the day" when I started hanging out with musicians.  Through them, I developed a love of live music that is still with me. 

I can't say exactly when my personal music tastes changed from the pop music of my youth to more guitar driven music, but I clearly remember delaying a road trip so I could listen, one last time before we left, to Duane Allman playing "Jessica" on Brothers and Sisters.  Eric Clapton's "Layla" captivated me for not only the guitar, but also that great piano ending.  I did have four years of piano from fourth to eighth grade.  I was never very good at it.

My musician friends helped me get a fairly decent guitar--certainly one good enough for my feeble talents and I learned several chords from them.  I got pretty good at some of the chord changes and 3-chord songs.  I seemed to have better rhythm with the guitar than I did on the piano.

But in 1990 (I know that's a lifetime ago to some people) I became somewhat obsessed with guitar music.  That was the year of Joe Satriani's Surfing with the Alien and Eric Johnson's Ah Via Musicom.  Not only were they released, but they got actual airplay on FM radio!  Thank you to the powers-that-be!  This music was like nothing I'd ever heard before and it I knew I'd been waiting for it my whole life.  Without lyrics, it spoke to me.  It soothed and calmed me.  It defies my description even today.

John Smith, my teacher, has done an incredible job with my nephew, Conner.  He started taking lessons at . . . I think age ten.  Five years in and he rocks!!  I'm so proud of him!  Now, his father is taking lessons from John and soon I will be too.  John also taught the late Wesley Burlingham who, at a party a few years ago inspired me to pick my guitar back up and learn some more on my own. 

(Sigh)  Gosh.  Wesley is so sorely missed.

But I know he'll be right there with me as I begin this adventure in guitar to which I'm so looking forward!  And I hope some of you will follow along as well.  I'm sure there will be successes just as I'm sure there will be struggles.  But I bet I'll have a good time no matter what. 

It's a good thing I can laugh at myself, 'cause there's bound to be a lot of that!