Re: Real beginner
- From: "JimT" <jthread@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:51:28 -0500
"John" <none@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:z9ydnaE0N4BruqbRnZ2dnUVZ8nudnZ2d@xxxxxxxxx
ed s wrote:
On Jul 10, 6:22 am, "John" <n...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hmm.... the title of this group is alt.guitar.beginner but you all
seem frighteningly advanced to me :-)
I, on the other hand, am a beginner in the truest sense of the word -
52-years old, completely tone deaf, can't hold a tune to save my
life and fingers like sausages. I'd never even held a guitar in my
hands at all, not ever in my life, until ten days ago when I was the
winning bidder on an Ebay auction - the princely sum of 25 quid
(that's GBP sterling for anyone outside the UK) got me an Encore
Strat, 10W practice amp, lead, stand, strap and headphones!! Oh, and
I also got a Marshal MG30DFX for decent money as well.
Had my very first ever guitar lesson on Wednesday and it's going to
be a weekly thing with lots of practice between the lessons - finger
ends are a bit tender :-)
Anyway, what I'm finding most difficult at the moment is coming off
a string cleanly. I can hold the string down, get the note I want,
but then as I release the string it sounds the open note. Is that
just something that I'll learn not to do as I get better or is it
down to the guitar not being a very good one? I don't want to spend
a lot of money at this stage in case I don't take to it and give up.
Cheers,
John
We all start somewhere - I started guitar at age 50 now 58... enjoy it
and welcome to the club. ed s
Well, I go away for a day and come back to this lot. What a can of worms I
seem to have opened up!!
There's too many people for me to reply to individually so let me just say
this:
Thanks to all who gave possible reasons and solutions to my problem of not
being able to come off a string cleanly, and to those who offered words of
welcome and encouragement - even, I suppose, Lumpy, because I can see his
point and agree with him. To a degree.
It seems that in Lumpy's world, if you work hard enough, anyone can
achieve anything. In the real world however, it doesn't work like that.
When I was a kid I wanted to be a doctor. I worked as hard as I could but
didn't get the required grades. No shame in that; I just wasn't bright
enough to be a doctor so I became an electrician instead - and I love the
job. I still have a very keen interest in the human body and its workings
and I've been to night school doing qualifications in human biology and
physiology, just for my own interest and enjoyment, but I know and accept
that I could not have been, and never will be, a doctor.
Having looked at Lumpy's website, I see he's a performer so he has to have
that attitude and he has to instill that attitude into his students
because he wants them to be performers too, whereas I don't particularly
want to be a performer. I don't see myself writing my own songs/tunes and
I don't see myself performing on a stage anywhere either. Just playing
round the fire will do me for now.
Deciding out of the blue to buy a guitar is my mid-life crisis I think.
Some guys get fast cars or big motorbikes, but I got a guitar and because
I've come into the world of guitars that way, I would obviously be lying
if I said that I have a fire and a passion burning in my belly, because I
don't. If I was fiery and passionate about learning guitar I'd have done
it as a teenager or even earlier, rather than waiting until I'm 52.
Right now, I see it as "just another hobby" that I'd like to get into and
learn more about. Oh, I'm under no illusion that things will just
'happen'. I know that I'll have to work hard and put the practice hours
in, and I'm more than willing to do that - but in 6 months time, will it
be a chore or will the first tiny flames of that fire and passion be
growing? Who knows?
You all have valid points but one thing I will say is that it's a bit
off-putting to have someone like Lumpy breathing fire and brimstone and
being so forceful when someone is an absolute brand-new beginner, and not
what I'd expect from a group titled alt.guitar.BEGINNER :-)
John
I apologise for stoking the fire. It's a guilty pleasure. <g>
Don't be put off. Lumpy is a fixture around here. He rubs some of us the
wrong way at times but it sure is boring when he's gone. I've often wondered
what this group would be like if it was comprised of people that considered
themselves beginners (there are lots of us) but that is not going to happen.
You seem like a nice enough chap and, IMHO, your comments are appreciated.
Jim
.
- References:
- Real beginner
- From: John
- Re: Real beginner
- From: ed s
- Re: Real beginner
- From: John
- Real beginner
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