BluesKing777 Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Just interested. How did you get to where you are now on acoustic guitar? How do you intend to progress? Teacher/s private or public, Friend, Relative, Sheet Music, TAB, CD, DVD, Ears or Other? Guess? I'm not sure what the 'Other' would be, but we can run across some rather strange types on the Gibson Forum... (Guitar can be quick to get going on, but easy to get bogged when trying to improve, so we might uncover the 'Crossroads' secret!) If you don't have a good story, make one up. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GotTheSilver Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I have to be the first to say it - I intend to get better by selling my soul at the crossroads!!! Seriously, I have taken lessons in the past. That does not really work for me now due to a lot of travel for work and having kids, so now I mainly learn from DVDs and books. Not the best way, but I get along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratch47 Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I won my first guitar in a poker game in Danang RSV in 1971. It was a Goya as I recall and a friend who could actually play spent time with me showing me the basic chords etc. when opportunity allowed. I played at it off and on for several years and finally sold it to a friend (who still has that danged ole thing). In 1974, my wife bought me an Epiphone 12 string guitar for my birthday and I picked up where I left off picking those same ole cowboy chords for a couple of years. The guitar then sat in it's case under the bed/in the closet for many years before I got interested again in 2007. Next thing you know I have gits in the closets, under the bed, in the office at work and just about any other place I was able to based on the advice of friends who knew the best hiding spots... With 17 stashed away, you'd think I could play better than I actually can. Eventually sold most except the ones I'm in love with... Never took lessons; I should have, and may yet, because I love singing/songwriting. I'm an old dog, but possibly capable of learning new tricks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McDuff Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 My dad would play when I was a child and it always intrigued me. After a false start in the sixth grade which left me disinterested in it for several years my father lost interest in playing. So there was this guitar sitting in my home that no one was playing and I had to much time on my hands. So I picked it up and tried to play it. I can't say I remember how I learned the basic chords but I taught myself for about a year and a half then I started looking into buying my own guitar (which is what brought me here) and ended up with my little Seagull. I tried a couple open mics which didn't see my boo'ed but I wasn't really happy with how they went. At the start of this summer I began learning with a private teacher and am progressing much more quickly (I wish I had begun sooner) and recently announced my major as music in college (so I am coming up on three years of playing) and plan to stay in my current college for two years to complete my basic credits on the cheap (in addition to other music classes whenever I have a free slot and in the summer. After that I hope to attend Puget sound for the remaining two years and then I'll try and figure out how to pay back student loans with a bachelors in music; but that is a problem for the future me. For right now I love music and I am gonna pursue it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I was a little kid I was a huge rock'n'pop fan My blessed grandma bought me a smaller steel-string for Christmas It hang on the wall I took it down I learned the Love Like a Man theme by Ten Years After Then learned Black Night – Deep Purple Saw a bigger boy play chords and sing folk-songs on a full-scale western His left hand fingers did the hammer-trick Totally blew my mind Got a Spanish guitar Copied his style Took 3 or 4 lessons on a school in the afternoon only to decide never to mix class and guitar Got my first western (also for X-mas) Sat mesmerized for hours, , , , especially by the metal tuners and the black pick-guard. Watched ~ played ~ watched ~ played Favorite chord was E-major I took it on 13th/14thfret, bashed it hard and saw stars Managed Donovan and House of The Rising Sun – some Dylan then Hey Jude Though now handling barres, knew I wasn't a guitarist Knew I could perform songs So I played songs. . . . - and eventually joined The Forum My first real steel. - the dear Landola Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Hell, I have been to the Crossroads - not the one ceated for the tourists in Clarksdale but the one where Highway 1 meets Highway 8 in Rosedale. Old Scratch was a no show. When I was a kid I wanted a guitar in the worst way. Finally on maybe my 9th birthday a friend of the family gave me an old Martin archtop they had sitting in the closet and showed me my first chords. After that I learned by listening to records - at first Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie then moving onto Skip James and Son House. After I saw the Beatles on the Sullivan Show I was all about rock & roll. I used to sit there and drop the needle over one spot in the record over and over again. I also asked questions of every guitar player I ran into you know - will you show how you played this or that. These days about the only conscious thing I do to "improve" my playing is to keep trying to new ways to play chords in different tunings. I want to be able to play a 7th chord as many different ways as possible in as many tunings as possible. But I no longer worry about my limitations or correcting some of the numerous bad habits I have accumulated as they have become as much a part of my style as the things that I do well. Maybe I am just too lazy, old and ornery to change Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 It all started with MTV Unplugged in early 90's. Then I had a really, really long break, some 15 years. Inspiration to get back was Mrs EA who encouraged me to start playing again, buying my first Gibson, forming a band and now regular guitar lessons plus playing a little every day ... and of course the Gibson forum ! I have set my aims for next year which are learn fingerpciking, improvisation and original song composition. I still have a lot, lot of things to learn .... which is great :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 All in all, I would have to say that the best way to improve is to play with others every chance you get. I started off gathering up as much chutzpah as I could and going to the local folk music club gatherings. I then spent a few decades playing in both journeyman electric and acoustic bands. After that I found myself enjoying just sitting in with bands or backing singers. Not alot of pressure, tons of fun and still a great way to sometimes stretch out and try out something new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneS Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I got to where I am on the acoustic because of asparagus. Sort of. In 1964, my dad brought home from the music store, right next to his office, a brand new LG-1. It was for my brother, who apparently had expressed an interest and who went on to take several months' worth of lessons. (I was 7, he was 8. Also, it was winter, and I remember this relevant fact because dad had put the guitar in the trunk of the car. Which is how my whole family came to learn about finish crazing--we sat right there in the kitchen and watched it happen. Sometimes even now, when I run my hands across the lower bout of that guitar, my oldest friend, I recall that solemn evening.) My brother's teacher made a songbook, with chord charts, in which the songs were mimeographed (only some of you will even know that word!) onto colored sheets of paper, bound together with three brass clasps: Greensleeves (green page, too, dontcha know and--eek! the B7 chord!), Michele (on a blue page, the Bb chord--looked like a typo, but I didn't know the tune so I made one up), Down in the Valley (pink page--got good at this one, always liked the C chord. "Hear the wind blow, dear..." Only two chords and the truth there, but it was a start). The brother stopped lessons and was always good about letting me use "his" guitar. Until the day I saw him throw away the asparagus on his plate and then lie, bald-faced, about it to my mom. I was outraged (sitting there, with my own uneaten asparagus still staring at me) and spoke up. He got in trouble and then became (uncharacteristically) venegful--banned me from using his guitar for six months (a swift, if arbitrary, sentence for a little kid). But by then I had a habit to support, so I went (uncharacteristically) behind his back--maybe learned during those months most of what I now know?? I believe the sentence was commuted in time, but regardless--armed with only that songbook and some inner need, I learned what I could. I played for hours at a time, every day it seemed. And I remember the day my fingertips stopped hurting (callouses on baby hands), Remember noticing that I didn't have to stop strumming between chord changes anymore. Remember when practicing started to sound like music, like songs. I remember, too, my first bass run (practicing it for daysI); remember the "Aha!" when I could hear that G-C-D was the same as D-G-A and those were the same as C-F-G; remember figuring out that doing this made this sound (a 7th chord); doing this made that sound (a minor chord). Remember being my own teacher and a good student. Later, I discovered that I could learn songs I heard on the radio. (Every Sunday, the Chicago Sun-times published the words and chords to a popular song. Eye-opening, this was.) And much later, in high school and college, I found I could pretty easily work out any Johns Denver and Prine songs I wanted. (Paul Simon being beyond me. Even got the music for "Kathy's Song," but I think the book was wrong, so I never did learn to trust sheet music.) Never could sing, exactly, but had to do it anyway-else how would I know where, in the song, I was, right? Except for marathon "500 Miles" sessions with my two favorite cousins (my uncle got them each an LG-O in '67 or '68), guitar masses in junior high, two or three college-era coffee houses with friends, and the normal allotment of campfires for someone growing up in '70s, I played only for myself, in my room. So a couple of years ago, I was rather shocked to realize that even some of my closest friends didn't know I even had a guitar, much less could sort of play it. So the big "Oh, what the bloody hell?!?" at long last prevailed, and now there are open mics and a few small gigs. And there are old and new friends who know my secret, and they are kind to ask me to bring my guitar with me. And that's how I got to where I am on the acoustic. By all rights, with the time I've put in, I should be a much better player than I am--but when it comes to loving and needing it? Why, I'm about the best there is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I got to where I am on the acoustic because of asparagus. Anne, That's a great one. You're a wonderful storyteller as well as a talented songwriter and performer. Keep it up! Songwriting is about turning hopes, fears, and desires into words and music. Performing is about overcoming fears to get others to feel those same longings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Gads, I love all these stories! I grew up with guitars, but my first attempt to play one had me strumming between the tailpiece and the saddle...so I got a bunch of dead "plinks". Greatly discouraged me, so I didn't make any more attempts for years! In 1963 my family went on vacation in Canada. We drove up to Washington and stayed a few days with my cousins. They had a Fender Jazzmaster. I thought that was the coolest guitar ever, but neither one of them could much play it. After we left their house headed to Canada, I heard the Beatles on the radio....simply blew me away... I was not impressed with the music before them, (although, I like much of it now). When we got to Calgary, I saw a music store. I went in and they had an acoustic guitar for sale. If was $20 (Canadian). I gave the guy $20 (US), and he gave me the guitar plus $1 in change! I could only play one note at a time 'cause I didn't know any chords....secretly wishing I could play a chord! My parents asked me if I'd like lessons, and I said "yes", so I took lessons for several years. We started a band in 1965. Started in the garage, and quickly learned several songs.... Got our first paying gig at a pizza place, and by that time we were off and running. Played for a few years, 2-3 times a week plus 2 nights practice. Got better and better...playing on a constant basis, plus still taking lessons. All in all, I would have to say that the best way to improve is to play with others every chance you get. I started off gathering up as much chutzpah as I could and going to the local folk music club gatherings. I then spent a few decades playing in both journeyman electric and acoustic bands. After that I found myself enjoying just sitting in with bands or backing singers. Not alot of pressure, tons of fun and still a great way to sometimes stretch out and try out something new. So I fully agree with Zombwoof... playing with others, (not one "other" but several "others"), is the best way to improve. I plan on playing 'til my hands give out, (at my age that's a realistic condition), or 'til I die, (also an eminent possibility). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted November 30, 2011 Author Share Posted November 30, 2011 Fantastic stories! Please, oh please, everybody keep them stories coming. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambler Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Well, to play guitar (as opposed to messing with guitar), it was having the chance to get some pre-gig lessons with Paul Geremia right at the time I was getting interested in country blues. From that lead, took advice where I could get it: dvds, tabs,workshops (Frank Fotusky, Ernie Hawkins). It's all good, but there's no substitute for face to face interaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Grasshopper, the path will be revealed to you, and THEN you will understand that YOU are the path itself!!!!! When you can snatch this capo from my hand..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Grasshopper, the path will be revealed to you, and THEN you will understand that YOU are the path itself!!!!! When you can snatch this capo from my hand..... HAHAHAHA...... Yanno.... "Grasshopper" died in a "Sex Accident!! On a related note: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daryl M Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 It started when I was 14 with my Mom's Gibson ES-125, the 3 chords she showed me, and a Willie Nelson songbook with the chords over the lyrics. Years later, my son learned watching the tutorials on YouTube. All roads lead to the same sweet place... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drathbun Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 When I was 12, I expressed an interest in playing the guitar. For Christmas that year I received a: Baritone Ukelele and a Mel Bay Chord Book I was NOT pleased. I tried to play the thing but it was like getting an accordion instead of a harmonica! So I asked Santa AGAIN for a GUITAR! I specified... six strings and sounds like GUITAR! So the next Christmas, I got a note from Santa that said "go look under your parents bed". I raced up to their room and pulled the gift from under the bed and it was a: Smashed Kay Archtop I was NOT pleased. I remember kneeling on the floor in their bedroom with this pile of sh*t in front of me and nearly crying. The archtop only had three strings and even when I put strings on it, it was unplayable. I had a friend in school (I was 14 by now) and he had an electric guitar and amp that he said he'd sell me for $10. This was 1970. I borrowed the money from my Dad (with interest I'm sure) and paid him off with my paper route. I bought the guitar. It was a 1963 Hofner 172(i) in white naugahyde! I was VERY pleased! I learned to play the guitar from songbooks that my mother had for her piano/organ. Most of them had the chord diagrams along with the chord names above the standard notation. I also listened to my stereo with headphones. I had two pair of headphones, one came from the stereo and one from the guitar amp, so I could play along with the record. I'd wear the two pairs like a figure 8; with one ear of the stereo on one side and one ear from the amp on the other side. I must have impressed my parents with my tenacity to play the guitar, because for my birthday in April of 1971, my mother bought my a brand new Yamaha FG140 acoustic guitar trading in the old Kay archtop (probably had to pay them to take it). I was VERY VERY pleased! I played that guitar much more than the electric and basically learned how to play on it over the next few years. I discovered that this guitar was a chick magnet. Not a single girl was interested in me until I strapped on that Yamaha acoustic. A few verses of "Father and Son" and I had girls at my feet. It was a strong motivator to learn to play the thing well. High School Band 1976 With help from friends, and forming a high school rock band, I learned fingerstyle (Moonshadow) and hammer on / pull offs (Over the Hills and Far Away). I never took a guitar lesson in my life. I can read piano music in standard notation, because I studied music (piano, trombone and euphonium) in band class in high school. But I never related "music class" with my guitar work. They were separate worlds. I never knew about guitar tabs until many years later. The internet and guitar tabs expanded my repertoire enormously and taught me the "correct" way to play some songs I had played incorrectly for years. I don't have my old Hofner or my old Yamaha, although I bought a '68 Yamaha FG150 and restored it (neck reset, refret) and bought a '61 Hofner 172(i) and restored it. '68 Yamaha FG150 '61 Hofner 172(i) I've been watching eBay for a broken old Kay archtop that I might repair and keep on the wall for nostalgia sake. Sorry for all the photos, I love telling stories visually! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneS Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Sorry for all the photos, I love telling stories visually! :) Great story--a baritone uke and a smashed up ol' Kay. Priceless... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasAK Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 I started when I was 14. I hung around with some guys who were rockers. I finally got a cheap Kay electric guitar and a small amp. I learned a lot from my friends and took a few lessons. A couple of years later I decided I wanted to play bass and that is where I stayed until I quit playing out in the late 70’s. I took lessons off and on until I found a good instructor. He was a graduate of the conservatory in Cincinnati. I took lesson for bass, but he put me on the guitar. He, correctly, said I needed to learn a rhythm instrument first. I bought a es 335 that had a broken head and got it fixed. From there I was playing bass in bands and learning jazz on my 335.I was learning a lot. In my early to mid twenties I quit the gigging scene. Sold my bass and guitar and got an acoustic, a j160. I continued lessons until I left for college. Then I went off to college, seminary, marriage, kids, and ministry and my j160 sat in the corner. Thirty some years later, two years ago, I worked out a deal with my j160 and got a j45. Now I am at a cross roads. I am now comfortable playing again and need to get down to hard work again if I am going to progress and improve, but it takes work and time! If I were to say which road to go I would say: 1. Start off in the classical or jazz format for the first 2 or 3 years and make whatever switch later 2. Get ready for hard work, it can be frustrating and teddies, but it is necessary 3. Find someone you can learn from and put yourself under his tutorship. 4. Play with people and to recordings. It develops your ear and timing. 5. Have fun playing. chasAK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drathbun Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Great story--a baritone uke and a smashed up ol' Kay. Priceless... I think you just named my next band Anne! "Smashed Up Kay" LOL ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Doug, loved your story...but.... what the heck were your parents thinking? I learned at an early age that ANYTHING my parents bought me would be "on the cheap". I REFUSED to even let my mother buy my underware from the time I was about 12. My folks were great money managers, and didn't have much anyway...and had to spread it out over a family of 7, (plus whatever strays were there). When I was 16 I had to buy "the family car".... I bought it...made payments..... but couldn't use it at night 'cause my sister used it to go to college...and during the day, if my mother needed it, she'd take it. I really only got to use it on the weekends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drathbun Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Doug, loved your story...but.... what the heck were your parents thinking? I learned at an early age that ANYTHING my parents bought me would be "on the cheap". I REFUSED to even let my mother buy my underware from the time I was about 12. My folks were great money managers, and didn't have much anyway...and had to spread it out over a family of 7, (plus whatever strays were there). When I was 16 I had to buy "the family car".... I bought it...made payments..... but couldn't use it at night 'cause my sister used it to go to college...and during the day, if my mother needed it, she'd take it. I really only got to use it on the weekends. Well Rob, I think they were thinking "let's see if he continues with the instrument". No sense throwing away good money on a new guitar if he just puts it aside after a couple of months. I'm sure they were also thinking that starting my on four strings with a ukelele is how you progress to six strings... then 12! So the uke was training wheels. I know my Mom still thinks that I got the basics of how to play the guitar from the violin lessons I had when I was in grade 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry K Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 There was a similar discussion a couple years ago: Experience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duende Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 My mum's family live in Liverpool - and on a visit to my Uncle and Aunts, my uncle Eric first showed me his electro acoustic guitar, I thought it was amazing!!! - even the sound of running my thumb across the open strings gave me a buzz. My Uncle Eric below with an excited me :) I was 13 when I got my first guitar, a cheap nylon string guitar which, was followed shortly afterwards by a Sunn Strat copy (a really nice guitar given the low cost). I taught myself for 18 months learning scales/licks etc but mostly was only interested in improvising and writing pieces; another Uncle lent me a tape of Narcisco Yepes playing Bach! I was completely blown away!! At the same time I was very much into Ozzy Osbourne (and loved Randy Rhoads), so these two things coincided to make me want to learn classical guitar. LOL - Originally I was just going to do it for a year or so; to open my mind and learn how to read music etc, but I became more and more engrossed with it - it also lead me also to the piano which I begun at about 14. I liked instruments that could do everything! I have had lessons from eight different classical guitar teachers, various lessons from composers on orchestration technique etc...and I don't see myself finished by a long shot! I subscribe to Guitar Techniques and go through the lessons once a month, I am informally learning from people here and on youtube daily and up until 6 months ago was having coaching from concert guitarist Carlos Bonell. I am studying jazz progressions and experimenting with different way of composition at the moment. I am going to study for a new qualification next year in Jazz electric playing so I'll be looking for a teacher for a few lessons probably again! Like Milo says, the day you stop learning is the day they may as well bag you up LOL - keep on fighting the good fight Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.