Where My Guitarists At?

My husband said he felt the Telecaster had a thinner neck and when he watched me play, said I was much smoother, plus my acoustic is a thicc boy lol
Sounds like you've found 'the one' (aside from your hubby of course!). 😉

I'm really enjoying things. I originally started because our youngest enjoyed me playing around on my husband's electric and then I just decided I'm gonna buckle down and actually learn this year.

I'm double jointed, so sometimes if I press too hard, my joints collapse and I accidentally mute strings, so I've had to learn to be very aware of my fingers and keeping them arched.
You'll get the hang of things. Keep at it.
For the record, the first ever song I learned to play on bass in full was AC/DC's Highway to Hell. 😀
 
Sounds like you've found 'the one' (aside from your hubby of course!). 😉


You'll get the hang of things. Keep at it.
For the record, the first ever song I learned to play on bass in full was AC/DC's Highway to Hell. 😀
LOL, nice! 😀 Techichally my first song was Happy Birthday to You, for my son's birthday, followed by Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Not complicated, but it really helped bolster my confidence, you know?

Yes, my hubs is SUPER supportive in pretty much everything I do, ehehe.

I'm plugging away at Horse With No Name, and honestly, having a lot of fun learning. We have Rocksmith, which is cool because I can plug in the electric and do the lessons on there.
 
Accountability time for me today: Chords are lots easier than I realized and strumming is really, really hard for me instead hahaha. It actually feels so much more daunting than the chords, even when I watch videos on it lol

I always pause if I have more than one up strum in a row, because it breaks my rhythm of DUDU. My brain and hand buffer like "another up strum? But... we're already up?" hand.exe has stopped responding lol

On the upside, while that's very much frustrating for me, my chord transitions are getting a lot smoother!

And no matter how much I suck, my youngest head bangs along lol 😀
 
I try to play very quietly as my house is basically cardboard and I dont want to disturb the neighbours, so my strums are only with my thumb, rather than using a pick or whole hand. I know its not correct, but I dont have many issues with the strum patterns when its just the thumb to control rather than a whole arm. Muscle memory is a thing, so Im sure it will get easier for you.

I was never even going to attempt barre chords, I was going to get that little capo thing if I did continue to play. I tried to make one at home and failed ha, so if I do pick it up again down the line, I will just buy one. I picked the guitar up last night and my tuner thing is out of batteries. I'm bad enough without it being out of tune too!

Its great you have a fan club! Would love to keep hearing about your progress 😀
 
Last edited:
I try to play very quietly as my house is basically cardboard and I dont want to disturb the neighbours, so my strums are only with my thumb, rather than using a pick or whole hand. I know its not correct, but I dont have many issues with the strum patterns when its just the thumb to control rather than a whole arm. Muscle memory is a thing, so Im sure it will get easier for you.

I was never even going to attempt barre chords, I was going to get that little capo thing if I did continue to play. I tried to make one at home and failed ha, so if I do pick it up again down the line, I will just buy one. I picked the guitar up last night and my tuner thing is out of batteries. I'm bad enough without it being out of tune too!

Its great you have a fan club! Would love to keep hearing about your progress 😀
You can get a tuner app for your phone! I have the Fender one! 🙂

You can absolutely strum without a pick! You don't have to use one if you don't want to on acoustics, really. 🙂

I started doing the Justin Guitar fee online program. Tonight I learned the D and A chords. I'm not perfect, but my hands are getting the shapes fairly quickly and the amount of chords I know is growing.

My little girl loooooves it and my son keeps telling me how nice my music sounds lol

Still working on strumming - but that's a battle you whittle down bit by bit lol.
 
I haven't played in well over a year now... I've been really busy the past few years and the guitar got a bit neglected as a result. I'm not very good anyway, just able to play some chords from youtube video tutorials, but I had a lot of fun with it and would like to pick it back up when I get a chance.
 
I haven't played in well over a year now... I've been really busy the past few years and the guitar got a bit neglected as a result. I'm not very good anyway, just able to play some chords from youtube video tutorials, but I had a lot of fun with it and would like to pick it back up when I get a chance.
I feel you... I only just really started learning. Life happens. I love Justin Guitar - the free course has been really helpful for me! And you're probably better than you think 🙂
 
My husband got me a little gift and it showed up today- a Squier Telecaster.

Looking forward to plugging this baby in and running through some chords!
Congrats! Nice guitar you got there!
Well, what can I say. I'm pretty much the guitar nerd. I have one Spanish-classic guitar, eight electric guitars, one bass, three amps... no acoustic guitar though...
Playing guitar -no matter if good or bad- is like meditation for me. When I get the "flow" playing, I can be hours and hours playing. It's just like being in another dimension. I started at 21 playing guitar and never got tired of it since then. However, I cannot read music. Pitty. I know it's useful, but I'm self-taught.

My not asked advice for beginners: at first, it can be very hard. That's fine. You just keep playing and playing. And then the day you least expect it, some magic happens and you find yourself playing comfortable and thinking "hey that's not bad at all". So keep rockin!
 
HowiMetdaSlayer
HowiMetdaSlayer
Guitar geek sounds tad better
Congrats! Nice guitar you got there!
Well, what can I say. I'm pretty much the guitar nerd. I have one Spanish-classic guitar, eight electric guitars, one bass, three amps... no acoustic guitar though...
Playing guitar -no matter if good or bad- is like meditation for me. When I get the "flow" playing, I can be hours and hours playing. It's just like being in another dimension. I started at 21 playing guitar and never got tired of it since then. However, I cannot read music. Pitty. I know it's useful, but I'm self-taught.

My not asked advice for beginners: at first, it can be very hard. That's fine. You just keep playing and playing. And then the day you least expect it, some magic happens and you find yourself playing comfortable and thinking "hey that's not bad at all". So keep rockin!
Thank you! It's quite fun to play, though my acoustic remains my daily practice guitar. 🙂 I just really started applying myself to learning this year at 41 XD Never too old to learn, right?

I find that I just get sucked into it, even just messing around and strumming randomly - time flies. And there's defiitely been moments the magic happens and I surprise myself.

I had a moment when the D7 chord infuriated me but now it's so easy, lol. I've even managed Bm and F on occasion.
 
Wow! Big congrats to you...and your hubby!
Excellent first...err....second guitar. I take it that your husband plays as well? Too cool. Looks just like the one I have. I wish my wife had some musical background or even an little interest in what I do. she's always like "yeah yeah".!! Believe me, the more you learn the more you will WANT to learn. It's an never ending cycle.

Just too cool. Congrats again!! 🎸
 
Wow! Big congrats to you...and your hubby!
Excellent first...err....second guitar. I take it that your husband plays as well? Too cool. Looks just like the one I have. I wish my wife had some musical background or even an little interest in what I do. she's always like "yeah yeah".!! Believe me, the more you learn the more you will WANT to learn. It's an never ending cycle.

Just too cool. Congrats again!! 🎸
Yes, my husband plays! So does our son, sometimes lol. My husband has like 3 or 4 electric guitars lol. I'm learning chords and strumming but now I find myself wanting to learn to read sheet music eventually, since I'm fairly decent at tabs, even if I can't play anything past Happy Birthday To You and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star juuuuust yet.

Strumming is frustrating yet attempting to learn barres is... not. LOL Up strums are my Achilles' heel - my fingers always seem to catch on the string and I have to make a conscious effort to actually strum upwards after strumming down, while down strums are very intuitive.
I've been able to do Bm and F several times through short practice sessions. Finger placement is solid except for the index finger, which I figure just means working to press it cleanly across the frets. I find myself not so much angry but curious when I fail. It's like a puzzle to solve and very rewarding when I figure stuff out!
 
Thank you! It's quite fun to play, though my acoustic remains my daily practice guitar. 🙂 I just really started applying myself to learning this year at 41 XD Never too old to learn, right?

I find that I just get sucked into it, even just messing around and strumming randomly - time flies. And there's defiitely been moments the magic happens and I surprise myself.

I had a moment when the D7 chord infuriated me but now it's so easy, lol. I've even managed Bm and F on occasion.
Those are definitely the moments. When you get that incredible flow and you feel like the guitar is as natural to you as your own arms. I got no words to describe it, and I know for a fact that I'm not very good playing. I don't need to be good. 🙂
 
Those are definitely the moments. When you get that incredible flow and you feel like the guitar is as natural to you as your own arms. I got no words to describe it, and I know for a fact that I'm not very good playing. I don't need to be good. 🙂
Yup! My kids enjoy my playing, and I'm enjoying learning, and that's all that matters. My husband's commented on several occasions that my chords sound much better, and that my strumming's getting better too. It helps to have that kind of feedback 😀
 
I just thought about alternative tunings:

DADGAD is a good alternative tuning for beginners. Very used in folk and acoustic guitar-friendly.

If you really want to learn to play guitar properly, you eventually have to learn standard tuning. But as an escape for those frustrating moments of practice, sometimes it can be a relief just to play easy with DAGDAD tuning. Almost everything you play, even at random, sounds nice 😀

This guy is just amazing, btw:
 
Back
Top Bottom