I am one lazy blogger ...

Ok, I admit it. I am a lazy blogger. I have been playing my guitar some, but not enough. I will have to make a commitment to play more again instead of maybe once a week, and actually blog about it. Now the hard part, doing just that ...

Play, play, play … to toughen up those fingers

I can’t believe it has been so long since I posted to this blog. Yes I am playing the guitar, almost every day. I have found that this is the best way to get those fingers toughened up. Mine are really getting there, I can play for quite a while now before they just can’t take it any more.

I am working on about 10 songs now that I can play and sing to my wife. Of course my voice ain’t that good, and my playing has a way to go, but I have only been playing since February.

I will try to keep up with the blog more so ya all can learn from my learning and maybe it will help someone.

Gary

Fingers are starting to toughen up...

With work and things that life throws at me, sometimes I find it hard to make time to play my guitars. However, the past two weeks I have been finding a lot of time to play, and my fingers are really starting to get a callouses on them, whick makes it easier to play more. It also makes it easier to practice the songs I am learning on y acoustic guitar (harder to hold those strings down than on an electric guitar). The only problem I have with that is when I am at work typing it sometimes feels a little strange.

Later,
Gary

Check out Gary's Guitar and Musicians Outlet Store for your music needs!!

A 'Star Spangled" Fourth of Jul

Well, I just had to do it. I went online and got a tab of Jimi Hendrix's version of the 'Star Spangled Banner' and modified it so I could play it (I had to take out all the real fancy stuff I can't do yet). I played it for my wife on the 4th of July and she cracked up! While of course my version isn't as good as the Hendrix original, it was loud (I used a setting on my G-dec that sounded almost like the Hendrix version) and you could tell what it was. It was fun learning it, and playing it.

Don't forget to check out check out Gary's Guitar and Musicians Outlet Store for your music needs!!

Later,
Gary

Has it really been that long?

Man, I can’t believe it has been so long since I thought about blogging!! I have been busy with work and all the normal stuff a ‘50’ish man has to do, and I have been practicing the three songs I am working on; 'Broken Down Cowboy Like Me' and 'Deja Vu (All Over Again)', and Europa (Earth's Cry, Heaven's Smile), by Carlos Santana.

Rather than try to learn other songs I have been trying to get as good as I can on these songs. I am making good progress and may start searching for something new in the next week or so.

I will try to blog more often!!

Later,

Gary

A quick update...

I have been busy practicing on my new songs. I can see some real progress in all of them. Next week I am on vacation from work and will be hanging around the house, so I should have lot's of practice time, and time to write this guitar blog as well. In the meantime anyone have any comments? Is there anyone else out there learning the guitar that wants to chime in? I would love to hear from you!!

Gotta go,

Gary

Be sure to check out Gary's Guitar and Musicians Outlet Store for your music needs!!

I've been busy working on three new songs!!

While I have not been blogging, I have been busy working on three different songs on the guitar. Two of them are John Fogerty songs, 'Broken Down Cowboy Like Me' and 'Deja Vu (All Over Again)'. I have actually played and sung both of these songs for my wife, and she was quite surprised at the progress I have made playing the guitar in the past couple of months. Of course while my voice will not improve much, I'm sure my playing will improve as I continue to work on these songs.

I guess seeing John Fogerty at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival kind of influenced my decision to learn a couple of his songs, and the fact that they use chords I can actually play helps as well.

All the practice I have been doing on chords has really come in handy for these songs, and I am able to switch between chords pretty good and make the changes needed to sing and play the songs. While I have a long way to go on both songs I am quite pleased with the progress I have made. A couple months ago I would not have been able to play and sing a song, so I guess I am getting somewhere in my quest to play the guitar.

The other song I'm playing is Europa (Earth's Cry, Heaven's Smile), by Carlos Santana. The first time I heard it I knew I had to try and play it. Of course I will never be able to play it like Santana, but the other night I was practicing it and my wife came in the room and was able to tell which song I was playing and asked how long I had been working on the song. There are places in the song where Santana plays notes all over the fret board very quickly, and I just cannot do that very well yet. So for now I will have to play a slightly modified version until I learn to play better.

One thing that I found kind of amusing was that there is a part of "Europa' where you need to have a different sound than the rest of the song, so I have actually gotten to a point where I kind of need the 4-Button Footswitch for my G-Dec 30 amplifier. I never thought I would have the need for that.

Fender ULT-4 4-Button Footswitch for G-Dec 30 and B-Dec 30 Standard 4-button footswitch:. Mode select. Start/stop of backing tracks and phrase samples. Program select. Tuner select with 1/4" jack.

I actually made a recording of me playing and singing 'Broken Down Cowboy' just so I could see the difference between how I play it now, and how I will do playing it a few months from now (no I will not torture any of you by posting a link to me singing and playing). That should be interesting.

In the meantime, be sure to check out Gary's Guitar and Musicians Outlet Store for your music needs!!