I'm sleeping with my guitar instructor. We've been married for 13 years, so the student-teacher dynamic is probably okay. (Probably.)
Today was my first guitar lesson. The point of this blog is to track my progress. I haven't blogged since my LiveJournal days (circa 2005), back when the guitar instructor and I were only dating, and he read way, way back in that sucker to learn about me/make sure he wasn't dating a psychopath. Odd to be firing up another permanent journal record, but documentation is important when tracking goals; impossible without documentation, really.
We spent New Year's Eve/Day in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Charming former mining town with lots of art galleries and an old opera house. Great masonry work and unique preservation efforts. A lot of people care about Mineral Point, and it shows. I asked him to bring his guitar so I could sing along. I fancy myself a decent singer, but I've never been the complete package: I always have to sing along to someone else playing an instrument. It's worked out fine thus far because I much prefer a cappella music anyway. But I've decided that "fine" isn't acceptable anymore; I should really be able to accompany myself, and with something porch-ready for impromptu performances. So here we are, learning guitar at age 38.9.
I'm a Day One guitar player, but not a Day One musician, and figured I could probably bust out a few chords like gangbusters. (Is my British slang correct?) The guitar instructor said "Not so fast" in his plaid pajamas, asking me if I even knew how to hold a guitar, or a pick, or the names of the strings, or where to push down by the frets, or how to tune, or really anything for that matter, but I do not know anything. I just know how to sing. Soon I was singing again, to CCR's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" while he played, but refocused to start my own guitar work. It's just so nice to sing, isn't it? You don't need anything but yourself.
He showed me the C chord, but determined my up and down strumming needed practicing before continuing. At home, I queued up a YouTube series called "How to Play the Guitar in 21 Days". Two minutes in, I determined that guitar players need to be more serious about technique standards. Googling "how to hold a guitar pick" will bring results like "The BEST way to hold a guitar pick!" and "ALL the ways to hold a guitar pick" as well as "How NOT to hold a guitar pick". Shouldn't there be one way to hold a guitar pick? This is fundamental, Day 1 + absolutely every day after stuff.
Frustration bloomed.
I learned an A major chord. It sounded alright. I learned an E major chord. It sounded very thumpy and upsettingly non-resonant, like the sound was just stuck in the neck. I tried curling my fingers to "hold the egg" as best as I could, but it was still very thumpy, like a getting kicked in the gut while shouting, a sudden interruption in sound. "Even the pressed strings should ring as nicely as an open string, yes?" I asked my guitar instructor. He stood behind me and watched. "You're going to have to cut your nails nice and short for better fret contact."
This was not discussed in the glorious morning of a new decade.
But I went upstairs to trim. I also plunged the toilet, since that needed doing, too. I came back downstairs, immediately irritated to hear the guitar instructor strumming an E major chord with no thumpy, cut-off sound. He then gave me a physics lesson on why the string make a pitch in the first place. Definitely showing off. I tried to play a bit more, but my fingers started locking in place, and my fingertips were too denty and sore to be productive. "They will callous in a week or so," the guitar instructor told me, which also wasn't discussed during cozy PJ time when he "believed in me". He patted my leg and informed me that no one's Eric Clapton in one day. That was decent of him.
Chords: A major and E major
Practice Time: 2.5 hours
Today was my first guitar lesson. The point of this blog is to track my progress. I haven't blogged since my LiveJournal days (circa 2005), back when the guitar instructor and I were only dating, and he read way, way back in that sucker to learn about me/make sure he wasn't dating a psychopath. Odd to be firing up another permanent journal record, but documentation is important when tracking goals; impossible without documentation, really.
We spent New Year's Eve/Day in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Charming former mining town with lots of art galleries and an old opera house. Great masonry work and unique preservation efforts. A lot of people care about Mineral Point, and it shows. I asked him to bring his guitar so I could sing along. I fancy myself a decent singer, but I've never been the complete package: I always have to sing along to someone else playing an instrument. It's worked out fine thus far because I much prefer a cappella music anyway. But I've decided that "fine" isn't acceptable anymore; I should really be able to accompany myself, and with something porch-ready for impromptu performances. So here we are, learning guitar at age 38.9.
I'm a Day One guitar player, but not a Day One musician, and figured I could probably bust out a few chords like gangbusters. (Is my British slang correct?) The guitar instructor said "Not so fast" in his plaid pajamas, asking me if I even knew how to hold a guitar, or a pick, or the names of the strings, or where to push down by the frets, or how to tune, or really anything for that matter, but I do not know anything. I just know how to sing. Soon I was singing again, to CCR's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" while he played, but refocused to start my own guitar work. It's just so nice to sing, isn't it? You don't need anything but yourself.
He showed me the C chord, but determined my up and down strumming needed practicing before continuing. At home, I queued up a YouTube series called "How to Play the Guitar in 21 Days". Two minutes in, I determined that guitar players need to be more serious about technique standards. Googling "how to hold a guitar pick" will bring results like "The BEST way to hold a guitar pick!" and "ALL the ways to hold a guitar pick" as well as "How NOT to hold a guitar pick". Shouldn't there be one way to hold a guitar pick? This is fundamental, Day 1 + absolutely every day after stuff.
Frustration bloomed.
I learned an A major chord. It sounded alright. I learned an E major chord. It sounded very thumpy and upsettingly non-resonant, like the sound was just stuck in the neck. I tried curling my fingers to "hold the egg" as best as I could, but it was still very thumpy, like a getting kicked in the gut while shouting, a sudden interruption in sound. "Even the pressed strings should ring as nicely as an open string, yes?" I asked my guitar instructor. He stood behind me and watched. "You're going to have to cut your nails nice and short for better fret contact."
This was not discussed in the glorious morning of a new decade.
But I went upstairs to trim. I also plunged the toilet, since that needed doing, too. I came back downstairs, immediately irritated to hear the guitar instructor strumming an E major chord with no thumpy, cut-off sound. He then gave me a physics lesson on why the string make a pitch in the first place. Definitely showing off. I tried to play a bit more, but my fingers started locking in place, and my fingertips were too denty and sore to be productive. "They will callous in a week or so," the guitar instructor told me, which also wasn't discussed during cozy PJ time when he "believed in me". He patted my leg and informed me that no one's Eric Clapton in one day. That was decent of him.
Chords: A major and E major
Practice Time: 2.5 hours
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