Starting at the beginning and working my way forward. You were a lovely child, and had I met you in my youth I would have fallen in love with you. Let's go back there.
Thanks, David, and wouldn't it be great to go back to that time? And to fall in love and have a mad crush again?
Lovely child? I'm not sure my parents thought so. As my siblings all agreed, I was spared being the favorite child of either parent. They had that distinct honor and burden. I was willful and loudly opinionated, and as you can see, I still am! Substack is like a dream come true for someone like me!!!
Ellen, if you should continue your adventure into guitars, here's a little something for you: if you haven't been introduced to classical guitar, allow me to introduce you to Ana Vidovic, in this magnificent performance (as always) the camera allows close examination of her guitar and playing style allowing the observer to at least see the positions on the fretboard (you can count the frets to get a key) as well as experience the richness of sound and the musical link to modern rock and roll.
Thanks for sharing this very inspiring video. It's interesting the way she holds the guitar and engages with it. Joni also has a unique way of playing. I find that encouraging. Also that many are self-taught, and say you can do so much with three chords.
I'll be honest, watching someone trying to teach me how to play guitar just bores the hell out of me. Just give me the guitar and leave me alone! Understandable they want to help, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The guitar is one of the most difficult instruments to play and most people will drop out early and become collectors. There are no shortcuts. Proficient players work very hard at it and someone at the level of Ana Vidovic was raised for it, is a voluntary slave to her craft, embraces the music and has studied with masters (some of the greatest). Music is her all-encompassing passion and lifestyle. It is so for many professionals, since the bar is set high. For the rest of us it's best to think of it like chopsticks...if we're hungry enough, we'll figure out how to use them. Your ear is the guide. If you want music theory, there are very good sources. Playing with others is the fast track, that's why bands sound so good...accompaniment.
Finally, most contemporary music around the world is based on a finite number of notes and compiled of structured order (mathematically), that order took over two thousand years to establish and is not some random ethereal process. It is the emotion which gives life to music, the spaces between the notes, as stated by Endres Segovia, the father of modern guitar (and mentor to Ana Vidovic). I led you to her as one of history's great performers, for the experience, to let her play and allow us to enter that world without doing the work. No one in my experience does it with such apparent ease, an illusion that requires tremendous athletic ability.
One performer, a single instrument, that instrument made of wood and its projection only as good as the wood and the hand of its maker. Put it in the hands of a typical rock and roll electric player, and they are children starting from nothing.
She does make it look easy, but then you watch her hands and realize how adept and flexible they are.
I'm going to be one of those children starting from nothing, which I have to say appeals to me as music lights up different parts of the brain. I think it should be a very interesting experience being an absolute novice again and having to be patient with one's self.
Most hands are capable of great dexterity, it's the brain that controls the hands and the task is to get the brain talking to the hands, very frustrating in the first year or so. Most of us experience an epiphany around the second year of diligent practice. Target year one. There are no shortcuts here since the problem is physiological, and we all were there.
That's encouraging to know in those moments when I get frustrated and want to give up. Just keep on keeping on and eventually the hands and brain will start listening to one another.
I was planning to learn how to play by ear after I recently started reading a book on music theory made simple and it made my eyes cross and my brain go haywire. Literally, I could not understand it - it did not make sense to me, as if someone had devised a system designed to be confusing in order to limit it to intitiates in some mystical order.
Plus I don't want intermediation between myself and the instrument such that I'm not in the moment playing and listening but in my head thinking about notes. I won't enjoy it and stay with it, and I will definitely become one of those collectors you mention, if I have to read sheet music or learn music theory.
So yes, I'd like to be hungry enough to learn to use the chopsticks and enjoy it. But I'll test out some guitars and see if I find one that speaks to me. And I will want to play music that inspires me, as my guitar teacher when I was around 13 made me play a samba called La Cumparsita and it so turned me off playing music that I dropped out after two lessons. You don't give a kid that when they want to play the Beatles or Simon and Garfunkel, for crying out loud.
I'm also concerned about being able to learn how to use both hands at the same time doing different tasks. Never a strong point. But I'll learn.
You're going to be just fine, let the stubborn independent Ellen take charge. The immediate challenge is your first instrument. Get the one best suited for you and grow wings, the wrong one will torture you. A good luthier will get you through some of the mechanical issues (yes mechanical issues) that alone will propel you forward. A guitar store just wants to sell you a guitar, and they all sound good in the store. Here's a secret question to vet whoever you deal with: please demonstrate the intonation of the guitar (with a tuner). If they scratch their head or waffle, walk away.
That single step tells us a lot about that instrument, including problems.
Here are some target areas: you will have to decide between steel or nylon strings (not interchangeable). Nylon is much softer and easier to play, but means you have a classical guitar (see Ana Vidovic) with a wider neck. Steel strings are the standard for all other music genres, but they're going to be painful in the beginning as you build calluses. Look for American made guitars built before 1972, Gibson, Epiphone, Martin. After 1972 look Taylor, Martin, Guild. Ask for smaller bodied guitars joined at the twelfth fret. Specify medium-light strings. Verify intonation. Take notes here.
Acoustical guitars are made of wood and are fragile. They defy every rule of practical woodworking and wood moves with the weather. Recommend a solid spruce top, mahogany back and sides, rosewood or ebony finger board and minimal embellishment (cost) with quality tuning heads. Pre-1972 is where you'll find this at prices that should rival new. Unless you're shopping vintage. Smaller bodied guitars were less popular, but you'll find them in better condition, more robust, better fitting and their sound is under-rated.
I have cut and pasted your advice into a word document that I will highlight and take with me.
Thank you so much for this invaluable advice!
And also for the reassurance. The devil on my shoulder has been saying things like "Don't be ridiculous, you're too old to learn an instrument, no one wants to hear you play, blah blah blah," so it's great to have you encouraging me to do this.
Here's the crazy part, came across an old guitar in my luthier's shop, looked like a beater with re-finish (bad one) and all, just an ugly little thing. But when I played that guitar, it felt like we came from the same womb. $120 and I didn't buy it, but someone else did.
Just returning a good deed, since you are now production manager and getting me to embed video, and for reminding me of music and guitars. Get the best guitar you can possibly afford because your playing will only get better. Cheap guitars are a waste of money because as you improve, you'll think a better guitar will improve your playing whereas a good guitar will serve you all your career. And they become good friends.
Starting at the beginning and working my way forward. You were a lovely child, and had I met you in my youth I would have fallen in love with you. Let's go back there.
Thanks, David, and wouldn't it be great to go back to that time? And to fall in love and have a mad crush again?
Lovely child? I'm not sure my parents thought so. As my siblings all agreed, I was spared being the favorite child of either parent. They had that distinct honor and burden. I was willful and loudly opinionated, and as you can see, I still am! Substack is like a dream come true for someone like me!!!
We would have run away together.
Ellen, if you should continue your adventure into guitars, here's a little something for you: if you haven't been introduced to classical guitar, allow me to introduce you to Ana Vidovic, in this magnificent performance (as always) the camera allows close examination of her guitar and playing style allowing the observer to at least see the positions on the fretboard (you can count the frets to get a key) as well as experience the richness of sound and the musical link to modern rock and roll.
https://youtu.be/inBKFMB-yPg?si=rSMuzNIBX5J5nC5k
Thanks for sharing this very inspiring video. It's interesting the way she holds the guitar and engages with it. Joni also has a unique way of playing. I find that encouraging. Also that many are self-taught, and say you can do so much with three chords.
I watched this Rick Beato video on how to get good on the guitar fast (electric guitar) and felt overwhelmed -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1dS39Gq5bY
But then I watched this one on It's never too late, about his wild ride in the music business, and cheered up -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4EraezQ78I
But then I'm working on taxes today, which makes everything seem dire.
So I will go guitar shopping this week and expect I'll get enthusiastic again.
She does make it sound really rich and beautiful, and actually doable watching her hands.
I'll be honest, watching someone trying to teach me how to play guitar just bores the hell out of me. Just give me the guitar and leave me alone! Understandable they want to help, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The guitar is one of the most difficult instruments to play and most people will drop out early and become collectors. There are no shortcuts. Proficient players work very hard at it and someone at the level of Ana Vidovic was raised for it, is a voluntary slave to her craft, embraces the music and has studied with masters (some of the greatest). Music is her all-encompassing passion and lifestyle. It is so for many professionals, since the bar is set high. For the rest of us it's best to think of it like chopsticks...if we're hungry enough, we'll figure out how to use them. Your ear is the guide. If you want music theory, there are very good sources. Playing with others is the fast track, that's why bands sound so good...accompaniment.
Finally, most contemporary music around the world is based on a finite number of notes and compiled of structured order (mathematically), that order took over two thousand years to establish and is not some random ethereal process. It is the emotion which gives life to music, the spaces between the notes, as stated by Endres Segovia, the father of modern guitar (and mentor to Ana Vidovic). I led you to her as one of history's great performers, for the experience, to let her play and allow us to enter that world without doing the work. No one in my experience does it with such apparent ease, an illusion that requires tremendous athletic ability.
One performer, a single instrument, that instrument made of wood and its projection only as good as the wood and the hand of its maker. Put it in the hands of a typical rock and roll electric player, and they are children starting from nothing.
She does make it look easy, but then you watch her hands and realize how adept and flexible they are.
I'm going to be one of those children starting from nothing, which I have to say appeals to me as music lights up different parts of the brain. I think it should be a very interesting experience being an absolute novice again and having to be patient with one's self.
Most hands are capable of great dexterity, it's the brain that controls the hands and the task is to get the brain talking to the hands, very frustrating in the first year or so. Most of us experience an epiphany around the second year of diligent practice. Target year one. There are no shortcuts here since the problem is physiological, and we all were there.
That's encouraging to know in those moments when I get frustrated and want to give up. Just keep on keeping on and eventually the hands and brain will start listening to one another.
I was planning to learn how to play by ear after I recently started reading a book on music theory made simple and it made my eyes cross and my brain go haywire. Literally, I could not understand it - it did not make sense to me, as if someone had devised a system designed to be confusing in order to limit it to intitiates in some mystical order.
Plus I don't want intermediation between myself and the instrument such that I'm not in the moment playing and listening but in my head thinking about notes. I won't enjoy it and stay with it, and I will definitely become one of those collectors you mention, if I have to read sheet music or learn music theory.
So yes, I'd like to be hungry enough to learn to use the chopsticks and enjoy it. But I'll test out some guitars and see if I find one that speaks to me. And I will want to play music that inspires me, as my guitar teacher when I was around 13 made me play a samba called La Cumparsita and it so turned me off playing music that I dropped out after two lessons. You don't give a kid that when they want to play the Beatles or Simon and Garfunkel, for crying out loud.
I'm also concerned about being able to learn how to use both hands at the same time doing different tasks. Never a strong point. But I'll learn.
You're going to be just fine, let the stubborn independent Ellen take charge. The immediate challenge is your first instrument. Get the one best suited for you and grow wings, the wrong one will torture you. A good luthier will get you through some of the mechanical issues (yes mechanical issues) that alone will propel you forward. A guitar store just wants to sell you a guitar, and they all sound good in the store. Here's a secret question to vet whoever you deal with: please demonstrate the intonation of the guitar (with a tuner). If they scratch their head or waffle, walk away.
That single step tells us a lot about that instrument, including problems.
Here are some target areas: you will have to decide between steel or nylon strings (not interchangeable). Nylon is much softer and easier to play, but means you have a classical guitar (see Ana Vidovic) with a wider neck. Steel strings are the standard for all other music genres, but they're going to be painful in the beginning as you build calluses. Look for American made guitars built before 1972, Gibson, Epiphone, Martin. After 1972 look Taylor, Martin, Guild. Ask for smaller bodied guitars joined at the twelfth fret. Specify medium-light strings. Verify intonation. Take notes here.
Acoustical guitars are made of wood and are fragile. They defy every rule of practical woodworking and wood moves with the weather. Recommend a solid spruce top, mahogany back and sides, rosewood or ebony finger board and minimal embellishment (cost) with quality tuning heads. Pre-1972 is where you'll find this at prices that should rival new. Unless you're shopping vintage. Smaller bodied guitars were less popular, but you'll find them in better condition, more robust, better fitting and their sound is under-rated.
And be prepared for the sticker shock.
Again, soooooo helpful!
I have cut and pasted your advice into a word document that I will highlight and take with me.
Thank you so much for this invaluable advice!
And also for the reassurance. The devil on my shoulder has been saying things like "Don't be ridiculous, you're too old to learn an instrument, no one wants to hear you play, blah blah blah," so it's great to have you encouraging me to do this.
Here's the crazy part, came across an old guitar in my luthier's shop, looked like a beater with re-finish (bad one) and all, just an ugly little thing. But when I played that guitar, it felt like we came from the same womb. $120 and I didn't buy it, but someone else did.
Just returning a good deed, since you are now production manager and getting me to embed video, and for reminding me of music and guitars. Get the best guitar you can possibly afford because your playing will only get better. Cheap guitars are a waste of money because as you improve, you'll think a better guitar will improve your playing whereas a good guitar will serve you all your career. And they become good friends.