Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
President Obama: Hypocrit or Evolved Thinker?
How does an idealistic, highly intelligent President come to do things that just a few years ago he spoke strongly against? Is this hypocrisy or just the normal “evolution” idealistic and principled people sometimes go through when confronted with another reality, one they didn’t know existed when they first formulated their principles?
The following is from Yahoo News:
FACT CHECK: How Obama's Libya claims fit the facts (from Yahoo News)By CALVIN WOODWARD and RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press, 3-29-11
OBAMA: Seeking to justify military intervention, the president said the U.S. has "an important strategic interest in preventing Gadhafi from overrunning those who oppose him. A massacre would have driven thousands of additional refugees across Libya's borders, putting enormous strains on the peaceful — yet fragile — transitions in Egypt and Tunisia." He added: "I am convinced that a failure to act in Libya would have carried a far greater price for America."
THE FACTS: Obama did not wait to make that case to Congress, despite his past statements that presidents should get congressional authorization before taking the country to war, absent a threat to the nation that cannot wait.
"The president does not have the power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation," he told The Boston Globe in 2007 in his presidential campaign. "History has shown us time and again ... that military action is most successful when it is authorized and supported by the legislative branch."
Obama's defense secretary, Robert Gates, said Sunday that the crisis in Libya "was not a vital national interest to the United States, but it was an interest."
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OBAMA: "Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different. And as president, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action."
THE FACTS: Mass violence against civilians has also been escalating elsewhere, without any U.S. military intervention anticipated.
More than 1 million people have fled the Ivory Coast, where the U.N. says forces loyal to the incumbent leader, Laurent Gbagbo, have used heavy weapons against the population and more than 460 killings have been confirmed of supporters of the internationally recognized president, Alassane Ouattara.
The Obama administration says Gbagbo and Gadhafi have both lost their legitimacy to rule. But only one is under attack from the U.S.
Presidents typically pick their fights according to the crisis and circumstances at hand, not any consistent doctrine about when to use force in one place and not another. They have been criticized for doing so — by Obama himself.
In his pre-presidential book "The Audacity of Hope," Obama said the U.S. will lack international legitimacy if it intervenes militarily "without a well-articulated strategy that the public supports and the world understands."
He questioned: "Why invade Iraq and not North Korea or Burma? Why intervene in Bosnia and not Darfur?"
Now, such questions are coming at him.
MY ideas:
What does Obama now know that he didn’t know when running for office? Probably a lot. But I would love to know just what “facts” changed his perspective on these issues and made him look like a hypocrite in the “Fact Check” above.
Four years ago Obama spoke out against the President going to war without Congressional approval. Now he does exactly that. Why? He said in his speech last night that he learned it took President Clinton a full year to get Congressional permission to intervene and stop the tens of thousands slaughtered in Bosnia, and he couldn’t wait that long again. Yet this article doesn’t mention that. Why?
OR- Did he learn that indeed the US went to war in Iraq over access to oil? I have yet to actually SEE any article from a respected news organization that makes that claim. You would think that, if that statement were true, some legitimate writer would have found the proof and written about it somewhere. I’ve searched and it just isn’t there. Just recently on Facebook I defended our country’s decision to go into Iraq after a group of British writers there accused us of doing it mainly for the OIL. Could Obama now believe our national interests include access to (Iraqi and now) Libyan oil? That, perhaps, without their oil our industries might fail to produce products? I do not know what Obama knows, but I sure wish I did. Then I might understand his apparent hypocrisy. What changes such a good man’s mind? He has got to now be privy to facts we simply are not allowed to know, facts that would change any thinking man’s mind.
Monday, February 7, 2011
TEACHING GUITAR and STUDIO IMPROVEMENTS
It's been quite a long time between posts here, so thought I would bring it up to date. In the past year I have finally fully retired from "school teaching"- but I teach guitar now. More about that later. I have found more time to concentrate on using my little music studio. Lately I researched budget sound absorbtion methods, found the materials (Owens-Corning 703 specialty fiberglass, etc.,) wrapped six multifrequency absorbtion panels with speaker grill cloth and hung them in strategic places- namely over the vocal recording microphone, over the drums, and placed one panel in the corner to absorb bass buildup there. They function just as well as their expensive brethern with wood frames, but at a LOT less cost. I'm proud of them.I've also added a good vocal recording microphone after fighting for over a year with my AKG C-3000 vocal mic and it's tendency to capture too much sibilence- or "ssss" sounds- in my recordings. My choice (for now) is the Kel Audio HM-2D pictured above. It has a strong midrange and is recommended for male singers, with a lot less tendency to capture the "breathiness" and sibilent "ssss" sounds of more sensitive vocal mics. The Kel only cost $200 direct from their Canadian factory, and it's not the quality of a Neumann U87 ($5000) but it will do until I can afford better.
I am now up to 12 songs recorded, edited, mixed, and posted on my band's web site- http://www.mikeandthewavemakers.com/. Feel free to listen and offer citiques of what you hear. I'm always interested in improving what I'm doing and know I am a real rookie when it comes to DAW recording techniques and mixing. I have a friend who has a professional music studio and who will probably remix all my material before he also "masters" it for reproduction into CDs for sale at a later date. So what you hear now will hopefully be greatly improved later!
About four months ago I decided to teach guitar. Best decision I've made this year! I spent many, many hours online researching teaching guitar, methods, problems, materials needed, etc. I bought two second hand bar stools (without arms to scratch guitars!), another music stand, and a guitar teaching "program" from a fella in England that seemed to do a good job in writing an all-inclusive program for learning guitar. I put a page on the band web site describing myself as just an average guitarist (I don't even read sheet music!), but with 35 years of public and private school teaching experience and 45 years guitar playing experience. I have no problem "connecting" with average students, ones that don't have serious attitude problems. I make over twice the money per hour than the "private" educational system I last worked for ever paid me, and I really enjoy teaching guitar! I have not advertised my guitar teaching except for a simple sign hung outside the studio, placed in my yard, but only visable from one direction on the road. I could remove some vegitation and increase the sign's visability, but really don't want that many more students anyway. I'm happy with 6 or 7 students and do not want to teach "full time!" I teach a few on Friday afternoon and a few more on Saturday and I'm done. Sweet!
If and when my students work their way up to "Intermediate" status, I'll steer them towards another teacher, one that might teach them more music theory than I teach, more advanced methods of play, etc. Right now I seem to have a bunch of "happy campers"- students that are engaged with practicing and playing guitar, and having fun while doing so. I've only found two drawbacks to teaching guitar: my fingers sometimes feel like sausages after a hard rehearsal with my band on Friday night, so teaching my first students on Saturday morning is, umm, interesting. And I can't make progress with a student that won't practice! I am a very goal-oriented teacher, always have been, and hate being forced into reteaching the previous lesson to a student that simply will not practice much at home. I had to threaten to quit teaching one little girl, a 10 year old with a sweet singing voice. I explained that she was wasting her mom's money and my time, in addition to slightly hurting my reputation as a guitar teacher (since she wasn't improving much.) She responded to my threat by practicing more, not enough to improve at the pace I think she could, but an improvemant over not practicing at all.
Another student is making just average progress, but enjoying it greatly. His father brings him and sits in my studio control room where he waits for the lesson to end. While sitting there he listens to almost everything that happens in the music playing room that adjoins it. He can even view much of the lesson, as there is an 8 foot window between the two rooms. After four or five months of doing this, he signed up for lessons too! I say this simply because here was an intelligent, observient fella that experienced his son enjoying music, knew exactly what he was getting himself into because he had witnessed every lesson, and he chose to start lessons too. Cool!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Three Songs Available for Downloading FOR FREE!
2-23-10
I have been struggling for the past four months with learning Cakewalk Sonar Producer Edition software for digital audio recording. Simply put, it is the single hardest thing I have studied since college, 40 years ago. I'm winning the battle, but it ain't easy. My band and I have recorded 3 songs as of now, and I have spent over 100 hours editing and polishing them for your pleasure. They are not our best material. I'm saving my best songs for when I really know what I'm doing.
When I first got Cakewalk's Sonar Producer Edition 8.0 software, I had to call their technical support almost every day for the first 3 weeks to help me solve problems, things I simply could not do with the music recording software. I have to admit those young men who answered my questions were great on almost every phone call. I had other sources of information: I bought Scott Garrigus's book, Sonar Power, and would look through its 800 pages for an answer; I have the Help file that comes with Sonar- extensive, but frustrating to use; I have the owner's manual that comes with the software, but it's a joke in its brevity!; I have an old friend with the same software, but get tired of pestering him with emails (http://www.brucebartlettrecording.com/) or simply couldn't wait for an answer in my email; and lastly I have the online forum of Sonar users, but those folks can be rough on a newbie like me. I opted for the 20 minute waits incurred with each phone call to technical support. I learned to just put the cell phone on speakerphone and set it down while I found odd jobs to do in the studio.
As of now, February, 2010, I have learned approximately half of what Sonar can even do. There's lots more to learn! This is one very deep and powerful program for audio recording!
But the three songs are up on our band's web site with upload buttons for the few that might want to put the songs on their computer or iPhone or any MP3 player. Head on over to http://www.mikeandthewavemakers.com/ , and when you've listened to the songs on the Audio Gallery page shoot me a short message telling me what ya think of this material and the message in the first two songs. I am usually very proud of my song lyrics compared to the mostly junk lyrics I hear on the radio these days. I am only an average singer and an average guitarist, but I think I write good songs. Not great songs like Billy Joel or John Prine, just good songs. But I will get better, I promise!
Thanks-
Mike
I have been struggling for the past four months with learning Cakewalk Sonar Producer Edition software for digital audio recording. Simply put, it is the single hardest thing I have studied since college, 40 years ago. I'm winning the battle, but it ain't easy. My band and I have recorded 3 songs as of now, and I have spent over 100 hours editing and polishing them for your pleasure. They are not our best material. I'm saving my best songs for when I really know what I'm doing.
When I first got Cakewalk's Sonar Producer Edition 8.0 software, I had to call their technical support almost every day for the first 3 weeks to help me solve problems, things I simply could not do with the music recording software. I have to admit those young men who answered my questions were great on almost every phone call. I had other sources of information: I bought Scott Garrigus's book, Sonar Power, and would look through its 800 pages for an answer; I have the Help file that comes with Sonar- extensive, but frustrating to use; I have the owner's manual that comes with the software, but it's a joke in its brevity!; I have an old friend with the same software, but get tired of pestering him with emails (http://www.brucebartlettrecording.com/) or simply couldn't wait for an answer in my email; and lastly I have the online forum of Sonar users, but those folks can be rough on a newbie like me. I opted for the 20 minute waits incurred with each phone call to technical support. I learned to just put the cell phone on speakerphone and set it down while I found odd jobs to do in the studio.
As of now, February, 2010, I have learned approximately half of what Sonar can even do. There's lots more to learn! This is one very deep and powerful program for audio recording!
But the three songs are up on our band's web site with upload buttons for the few that might want to put the songs on their computer or iPhone or any MP3 player. Head on over to http://www.mikeandthewavemakers.com/ , and when you've listened to the songs on the Audio Gallery page shoot me a short message telling me what ya think of this material and the message in the first two songs. I am usually very proud of my song lyrics compared to the mostly junk lyrics I hear on the radio these days. I am only an average singer and an average guitarist, but I think I write good songs. Not great songs like Billy Joel or John Prine, just good songs. But I will get better, I promise!
Thanks-
Mike
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Mike and The Wavemakers: A Long Overdue UPDATE!
Ya, everybody has excuses. Fact is, I've been busy putting together my little music studio, writing songs in it, rehearsing with Debbie, then playing bass for some pals in downtown New Bern. In fact, the bass playing strengthened my left hand to the point that it started feeling normal again, after 2 years of numbness and weakness. Even the muscle twitching in it has almost stopped! The combinations of time, chiropractic adjustments, and playing bass had pretty much healed me.It was time to start a new band, but a band with a major difference: All my life I have had to play OTHER PEOPLE'S SONGS- called "covers" in the business. I tried to choose covers I liked, and I would throw in a couple of my songs just to guage audience reactions to them. I decided this time I wasn't getting any younger and it was time to put together a band NOT dedicated to making money, NOT playing covers. It was time to have a band play my songs and hope a few people liked what they heard.
Ask any true musician: this was a major decision. Most musicians are in sore need of income. They have a wife and kids needing that mortgage payment every month. I am mostly retired now and feel I can get by on less paying gigs and therefore less money. But I needed fellow musicians who believed the same way AND who believed in my music!
One night six months ago a guitarist, a drummer, and myself on bass were playing at a downtown music venue in New Bern. After the guitarist finished his set of songs, and since so few people were watching, I asked him if I could play his guitar some. "Sure," he said. I didn't know if I could pull it off or not. I hadn't played in front of anyone on guitar in two years. But after the first song ended, I knew I could do it. The bass player was doing just fine over there to my right, and the drummer was good-to-go. So I launched into a couple of my original songs. They felt good as well. Hmmmm. I was starting to get ideas. I finished a few more songs and we took a break. The manager came over and offered us a job playing there on the spot. He liked what he'd just heard. So did I.
I turned to the bass player, Randy, and said, "Are you interested in playing bass in a new band I'm puttin' together?"
Randy said, "Sure!"
The drummer was eager to play too. We started rehearsing with Debbie on keyboard the next week, Sunday nights from 7 until 10 pm. It went on that way for 3 months, adding more and more songs.
We soon auditioned another drummer and were nicely impressed with his skills. His name is Tom, and he has added greatly to our overall sound. He's rock steady, yet quite sensitive to tempo changes and styles. He runs a Presbitarian church campground nearby, and he can be trusted in Debbie's bathroom. We had a few more rehearsals, all successful, and added a few more songs. Now we were ready to call ourselves a band. But what name would we choose?
I swear, one of the most tormenting, frustrating things a band can do is to choose a name! This is especially hard to do in modern times, what with access to the internet and easy availability of knowledge of bands that already have the names you desire for your band!!! I mean, come on! What band wants to try and take over a name of an existing band that already has two albums out and is sucessfully playing? So the long hunt for a band name began. I've had to do it before. It ain't fun writing down possible names, researching them for hours, only to find they are an established band. This time I narrowed it down to around six vetted names and presented them to the group at a rehearsal. I told them to just think on it. Some names had more potential than others. The following week we unanimously decided to call ourselves Mike and The Wavemakers.
I made the difficult decision to throw-in the "Mike" part simply because I was the band's leader and singer and songwriter. The last was the most important. I feel I have to start promoting my songs soon, before I have to quit music from old age (or my hand acting up again!) I have to get those songs out there to be heard. I want folks to ask, "And who is this 'Mike'?" Hope it doesn't sound egotistical to you. It's logical to me. I wrestled with the idea a long time before doing it. I am acutely aware of my limitations in singing and playing guitar. But those limitations simply don't exist when it comes to my songwriting. I'm no Billy Joel, John Prine, or Jimmy Buffett, but I can write a pretty good tune. And I'll only get better, I promise!
Thus it was that Mike and The Wavemakers was born. Check us out at http://www.mikeandthewavemakers.com/
Thanks. Until next time-
Mike
Friday, February 13, 2009
VINTAGE HOFNER 500/1 "BEATLE" BASS GUITAR FOR SALE
I have a vintage (1983) Hofner 500/1 "Beatle" bass guitar for sale. This is a beautiful instrument in the RARE natural finish and it is in excellent condition, with no checking, no cracks, no deep scratches, and all original parts!
I traveled over 5 hours from my home in Virginia down to Sand Hills, NC, to look at and purchase this beauty. It was well worth it! The 500/1 Hofner bass was made famous by Paul McCartney of the Beatles when he chose it to play with the band.
The instrument is hand made in West Germany. BUT the unfinished body and neck, plus all the hardware were sold as a KIT! The owner was responsible for finishing and assembling the bass, made easier by having a bolt-on neck. I think the first owner hired a professional to do the finishing work, as it is flawless.
This was probably the only year in which Hofner sold this kit, making this a rare find indeed! I had to do some pretty intensive research to find a dealer who actually sold these kits. Many Hofner collectors have never even heard of this kit Hofner, and I have proven to them that it is all original Hofner and not a copy. In brief, I emailed Hofner USA about information on a Hofner 500/1 with a decal on the headstock and a metal neckplate on the back. The General Manager of Hofner responded that he never heard of such a Hofner. I next went to Elderly Instruments and did the same, with the same results. Next, I went and emailed Gruhn Guitars, and George Gruhn said to write Carl Grefenstette, owner of Pittsburgh Guitars, an expert on Hofners. Carl immediately recognized the photos of my Hofner I sent him and wrote me a letter of authentication (LOA) that goes with the bass. It wasn't easy proving that I have an original and very rare Hofner!!
Apparently my research came to the attention of some Hofner collectors in England who have an extensive website of Hofners and company history. They emailed me asking for permission to use the photos I put up of my Hofner, saying it was a very rare Hofner and photos of that model did not exist. I think they, like me, were glad to have proof that such a model actually DID exist! The photos are here on their website: www.vintagehofner.co.uk/gallery/bass/bas72.html
It is very light weight, is shaped like a large violin, and has its famous acoustical properties- a sound that can only be described as a blend of an upright acoustic bass and an electric bass guitar. This tone is perhaps best used in playing lighter rock, Christian, bluegrass, folk music, or for players with shorter fingers. I tend to play mostly a harder rock and blues music style, already own a 1966 Fender Jazz bass, and thus do not need this one. Plus, I need the money to buy professional recording equipment. Otherwise, I wouldn't sell any vintage instrument.
The one real advantage of owning a collectible vintage instrument is that it will certainly increase in value over time. A new instrument will lose value for many years before it (if ever) begins to slowly climb in its value. This Hofner is rare and valuable already. Add to that its beautiful natural finish and you have an even more valuable guitar! It is absolutely stock, original parts, and nice hardshell case in very good condition.
I did remove the slightly warped "mother of toilet seat" pickguard because I wanted to show off its gorgeous natural finish, but the pickguard is in the case waiting for its next owner to reinstall it. The strings are high enough above the body of the bass that I didn't have to worry about a player digging his pick into the wood.
The only real flaw in this instrument is a discoloration on both sides of the neck just below the headstock. This was the result of my using a cheap utility room "U" shaped hanger to hang the bass on the wall of my music room years ago. The hanger was coated in rubber and the rubber reacted with the finish on the neck. It's not easily noticed, being up very high near the headstock, but it does slightly hurt the value, I realize. I have never checked, but assume a decent luthier could easily refinish this small area for a low price if near perfection is desired.
I have lots of photos of this Hofner bass over at my Multiply site: http://www.bricescreek.multiply.com/ Please take a look and read the ton of comments I wrote about the Hofner. Then do your homework and research Hofner 500/1 "Beatle" kit basses with original parts and original case on different sites like eBay. Try and find one in this natural finish. They are very rare! I can attest that finding a KIT Hofner is almost impossible. Then, if you are serious about knowing more, please call Mike at 252-474-3990. Thanks for looking.
Asking price is $2000. I will consider most offers.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Learn to Play Guitar
Topics Covered:
- Hobbies - Their Value
- Make Music Your Hobby
- Making the Big Decision: Guitar Or Keyboard ?
- ( Or Drums or Bass? )
- Deciding Between an Acoustic and an Electric First Guitar
- Finding Your First Guitar
- Starting Out
- Practicing
I'm a believer that almost everyone should learn to play a musical instrument. Doing so has added much to my life and my enjoyment of life, not to mention my understanding of the music around me and my appreciation for it. There is a body of scientific evidence that playing an instrument challenges the brain much in the same manner as doing puzzles, etc., and consequently improves brain function long into adulthood and old age. Don't know about you, but I need all the brain enhancement I can get!
Furthermore, if you sing along, the evidence is that you get about the same exercise as a swimmer would. Now, I'm not so sure about that statement's validity, but I know I sure sweat hard when playing and singing hard at a microphone, almost as much as most drummers with whom I've performed, and those dudes can work up a good sweat doing a one hour set of songs.
I've also noticed I do not sweat nearly as much if I'm not singing, only playing guitar. Heck, I've even worn sweatbands on my head while performing, especially after I saw Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits) do it in front of thousands of screaming fans.
Everyone needs a hobby. Too many (men, usually) retire from a lifelong career to find life can be boring. Many seem to die soon after retirement, I've noticed. You can only mow the yard so many times a week.
So I recommend every man and woman, boy and girl - find a hobby. And being the "practical male" that I am, I recommend you choose a hobby whereby you can potentially make some spare change.
Woodworking is a great hobby for that. So is music.
And "spare change" it is! I've always said music is a great hobby and a lousy profession. Case in point: My son, age 33, has his college degree and his day job. But his one true love is drumming, ever since I taught him basic drumming on a full kit at age five. Playing drums gave him a fulfillment that school, playing tennis, work, and even girlfriends couldn't give him. The kid is good, damn good. He even moved to the "live music capitol" of America (Austin, Texas) so he could thrive in his "night job" of playing with a band. He finally teamed up with some talented musicians (of which there are plenty in Austin) and their resultant music is more than commendable, it's very good! And what is the payoff after two years of playing with these talented fellas, solo and group rehearsals, investing heavily in equipment, etc.? They play for FREE most times. Some nights they might come home with 25$ each for their work. Some gigs actually require the band PAY to PLAY, in order to get the exposure in front of the audience. This practice of a band having to actually pay money to be allowed to play was started in L.A. years ago because of the sheer number of bands clawing for the chance to play music . The practice is spreading, I fear. With music, it's not usually what you know, but who you know in the business that might propel your band to the next level. It's usually all a matter of luck or timing, not talent. Sad, but true. Talent helps though, no doubt. Music's a great hobby, but a frustrating profession. So take it up as a hobby, and if it turns into more than that, it's gravy.
I've tried learning keyboard (synthesizer/piano) and it is harder to learn, in my opinion. If you think you might really be a songwriter, then keyboard is probably the better choice, what with all the beautiful tones, emulations of real pianos, organs, strings, etc. that a good synthesizer can deliver at a modest cost. You can now-a-days do anything - ANY sound you want! - on a good synthesizer, except for the human voice. And Stevie Wonder does even that on his $150,000 Synclaviar! With the addition of a sequencer, a synthesizer can play every instrument needed on an album! Real pianos may have ONE good sound, but they simply weigh a ton, and they are slowly disappearing for that reason. Songwriters should seriously consider learning to play a synth, one with semi- or fully weighted keys, tons of computor memory, a sequencer, and a lot of backing by the company and third party suppliers. You can get a used Korg O1W FD for $200 on eBay, but do your musical purchase research for most instruments and amplifiers on HarmonyCentral.com. It has tons of user reviews.
So why choose guitar to learn? As I said, it's easier to sound proficient on guitar, easier to learn the basics. I tried the adult beginner piano book, and after 3 months of boring drills and scales gave it up. But, back in 1965 at age 15, with an old Sears and Robuck Silvertone guitar and a $7.50 Beatles songbook, plus 4 weeks of practice, back in my bedroom (with my door firmly shut by my father!)- I managed to learn almost every song in that book. I was on my way to a lifetime of "pickin' and
grinnin'."
I'll get slammed for sure if I don't mention learning drums or bass guitar as choices. I've played both for over 25 years, and can summarize each easily:
In my experince, drums are the easiest instrument to learn, or at least learn well enough to quickly get started in playing an instrument. You can be playing drums in a week, IF YOU CAN REALLY LISTEN TO THE MUSIC- THE DRUMS, AND IF YOU CAN DANCE. Seriously, if you can't dance a little, sit down. Drumming is basically dancing with your hands. Then you add your feet. It's just easy to listen and copy a facsimile of what another drummer is doing on a song, especially if you stick with it. Drums are easy to learn if you can dance a little.
But you can't easily write a song on drums. They have their limitations. Not a whole lot of melody in drumming. What you hear with drums is what you get.
Drums are LOUD! (Do I hear a "Duh!"?) Even moderate volume drum practice can bother family, roommates, and of course neighbors so much, it has to be the foremost reason to not choose drumming as a hobby. If you live out in the country with nothing but cows around you, like I did when I got my first drum set, go for it!
Drums just feel good when you play. Drumming can be excellent exercise IF you're playing at live playing volume levels. I've broken a sweat many-a-time playing along with Bob Segar and the Silver Bullet Band. Try keeping up with them for 45 minutes straight!
But drums take up a lot of real estate in your house and your car. They're harder and take longer to set up, if you play out much. The drummer in a band is inevitably the hardest worker in the band, the first to arrive and the last to leave.
Bass guitar is fun too, with the added bonus of hearing a perhaps more melodic rather than mostly percussive sound in your music. But bass is hard to practice alone, at least to me. If you choose bass, you'll force yourself to play with other musicians faster than most any other instrument, because of that problem of difficult practices alone. Of course they make little black band-in-a-boxes now, like the Boss JS-5 JamStation, that you can play along with in hundreds of styles of music for around $300. I'd say something like that might cure those bass blues. Check it out. Some newer bass amps might have a similar device built into the amp, like some guitar amps have.
You'll need a decent bass guitar. Again, I recommend getting a vintage bass that will increase in value, unlike a new bass that depreciates quickly. Next best choice is almost any fair price on something like a Fender P Bass or a Fender Jazz Bass from Musician's Friend.com or any other reputable dealer. Basses are simply not as delicately built as six strings are, and luckily you can just order a bass from a reputible dealer, sight unseen usually, and it will turn out fine. I wouldn't order a six string guitar sight unseen. I'd want to check it out first.
In summary:
Seems bands are always looking for bass players, so I guess they are more in demand. Drummers, it seems, are everywhere. Mainly, I want to write songs, and you just can't do that on drums or bass. Here I have to mention that I once saw on T.V. a bass player competition of some sort that blew my mind. The contestants played Chopin and Bethovan sonattas on 5 and 6 string basses with such talent and beauty I was amazed. It turns out that quality bass, and perhaps any instrument, is what you make of it, what you make it do, what you coax out of it, and what you put into it.
THE FIRST GUITAR
So, what does it take to get started on guitar?
A decent guitar and motivation to learn how to play it. That's all. Here is how to go about it:
Find a decent guitar by deciding first how much you can afford. If you are serious about learning guitar and have the bucks, I recommend a vintage guitar, a collectable with years of playing on it and a "good vibe"- a feeling of being loved in its wood. A collectable vintage guitar will actually INCREASE in value each day you own it. So, if you outlay $400 to $700 for this instrument, you also just made an investment that will acrue value over time. If you buy almost any new instrument, it will decrease in value the moment you walk out that store's door with it. It's now a used instrument, just like buying a car. Choosing a vintage guitar is a topic beyond the scope of this piece, so I won't try to cover it here. But I will tell you to do your research on the topic before parting with your hard-earned dollars. There are fake vintage guitars out there. Always bring a real guitar "expert"- someone who has been playing for years- with you when you go to look at guitars.
If, like most, you want to get started on guitar as cheaply as possible, then your best bet is a used, inexpensive guitar, the cheapest being one stored in YOUR Uncle Bill's attic. Check with family to see if they want to keep that dusty guitar in the family and will consider giving it to you.
Next, I recommend friends or acquaintenances with used guitars. They may have bought one, tried taking lessons on it, and given up. Now it's used and priced accordingly, usually around 50% of what the owner paid. That's how I got my second guitar, stored under a friend's bed. I still have that 1967 $40 Harmony guitar, and love it more than any other I have owned.
Like most cheap guitars at that time, it came with no way of adjusting the neck for playability, and when the years of my abuse took its toll and the neck bowed so much the steel strings became unplayable, I put nylon strings on it. It has a wonderful, soft, warm tone and is so easy to play with no finger pain that I recommend anyone frustrated with finger pain from playing switch to nylon strings, unless they can endure the pain until they build up callouses on their fingertips. I know the guitar wasn't "designed" for nylon strings. I don't care. Sure the spacing between the strings is narrower than the standard "classical" guitar, but I find that a benifit, not a detriment! It's more like the spacing on the rest of my standard guitars.
I heard a fellow guitar player at my weekly jam session say recently that he got three decent guitars that week from pawn shops, all available because of the downturn in the national/worldwide economy. If you've got the cash to spare, now is a good time to shop your local pawn shops, it seems.
One more point. IF you think you might be "playing out"- in a room larger than your living room, or on a professional or semipro level, GET AN ACOUSTIC/ELECTRIC GUITAR. These guitars can be plugged into an amplifier or PA system with ease and produce great sound, but they don't have to be plugged in to work just fine. I much prefer the plugged in sound of my Martin accoustic/electric to the sound of my near vintage Martin D-35 with a microphone on it. An acoustic/electric will only cost a few dollars more than the same guitar without the electronics, so strongly consider this option. Some even have a guitar tuner built into the electronics. Now you're actually saving money because I strongly recommend you get a guitar tuner with the purchase of your guitar. The old days of tuning with a pitchfork tuner or pitchpipe are done, thank goodness! A $20 digital tuner will help you sound so much better on guitar that it will actually increase your practice and playing time over playing on an out-of-tune guitar. Get a tuner.
Why do I recommend getting an acoustic guitar over getting an electric guitar? On the first night of owning my first electric guitar (a 1964 Fender Stratocaster) I actually tried to give it away to a friend going out my front door. He was probably leaving because of my awful sounding playing. I was playing through a used 1965 Fender SuperReverb amp that I still own, and playing with no effects, other than a little reverb. I could fairly play an accoustic, but my electric playing sure couldn't prove it: It sounded horrible! Every mistake was amplified and louder than "to what I'd become accustumed", the acoustic guitar. In my opinion, it is much EASIER to hide mistakes with an accoustic, if for no other reason than at least you are not amplifying bad sounds! Fortunately, my friend knew I had had a couple beers and refused my offer, thinking it "was the alcohol talking." No, it was my sheer exasperation and shock at sounding so poorly. I now know a local guitar teacher that prefers his new students start on an electric guitar. Why? Because it is easier to play most electrics; the strings are usually set down lower. AND many modern, even inexpensive, small amplifiers come with lots of effects built into the amp! This can have the sound modified nicely with chorus, reverb, and subtle distortion to the point that a beginner can sound pretty good. He has a good point there.
It didn't used to be this way. Back in the day, just 30 years ago in the '80's, you got a cheap amp, as big as you could afford, then you bought 3 or 4 effect "stomp boxes" to plug into it to get your sound, up to sometimes 20 effects! I switched when the technology did and went with the newer, "all-in one stompbox"- the ubiquitous Digitech RP1. This added up quickly in extra expense. Plus I've lately given up using it because of the NOISE it adds to my guitar signal. I like a cleaner sound. Thus I developed my attitude about starting with a simple acoustic guitar. Times have changed, and maybe I need to change with them.
You decide then based on the volume you might need (but know that my Martin acoustic/electric can keep up with all but the loudest electric guitars) or the image you may prefer to convey (as electric players are viewed with scorn by some bluegrass, gospel, and even some country purists,) and obviously consider the musical style you prefer. Again, bring a true guitar player with you to help you pick out your guitar! He or she will check the guitar's neck for straightness, the string height above the fret board for playability, and the overall versitility and usefulness of the instrument. If it's an expensive guitar, then the tone of the sound will become important. One rule I've learned: a good electric guitar will sound good unplugged as well as plugged in. There's no need to plug in every electric guitar you have a passing interest in. Just play it unplugged and if it sounds really good that way, just wait until you plug it in! That's how I bought my '81 Gibson Les Paul Heritage guitar. I played 30 Les Pauls at a huge guitar dealer show, and I never plugged one in. The one I chose was the dealer's private instrument, used in his band playing days. And the action of the neck is incredible! It's a keeper.
While you're at it, go ahead and get a case for your guitar. I didn't and had to wrap my guitar in blankets, etc. whenever it left the house. It got scratched and beatup some. Find a case commersurate with the value of the guitar you place in it, and use it a lot. Either it's in the case when not being played, or hung it on the wall (out of direct sunlight- especially if it's an Ovation!) using a guitar hanger from the music store. Do NOT use garden/ garage tool hangers with a rubber coating making contact with your guitar. It WILL come off on the guitar I found.
Keep good guitars away from kids and not so good pets. Always unplug any electric or acoustic/electric before hanging it. I tripped over a guitar cord once and pulled my friend's Stratocaster right off the wall to the floor. Never again!
Now that you've found your guitar, it's time to decide just how to go about learning to play it.
You have a few choices:
#1 Take private lessons. They range from $40 per half hour down to $10 per hour around here. The $40 per half hour rate is at a local music store that has 4 or 5 small classrooms within its walls. The $10 per hour rate is for a fella that just opened a very small music store in a rural town 30 miles away from here. He needs the money more. There are poor, average, and excellent teachers, so ask lots of guitar students for their recommendations! Most teachers will want you to learn scales, it seems, no matter what instrument you want to learn. A few will teach you actual songs, thus motivating you more. It all depends on the teacher. An advantage of having a teacher and a set schedule is that you will practice more, knowing you will be "judged" soon by that teacher before he or she allows you to progress further. Most people don't like wasting their money, so they practice. Another advantage is that a good teacher will keep you from learning something that later has to be unlearned- bad habits. I used to make a G chord by using my thumb. That took two years to unlearn! Another reason for getting a teacher is that a good teacher will teach you how to practice by yourself so that you utilize you time wisely. It's easy to "wander" away from actual practice when you're having fun.
#2 Learn from a correspondance course over the internet. I know this is available now, as I have looked into it a little. The system I found was for around $50 a month. I have a LOT more to learn about this system before I will recommend it. They say you can send them sound clips of your playing, but it all sounds too "distant" for my tastes.
#3 Teach yourself. Ya, that's what I did. I can't say it's the preferred method, but it was the cheapest by far. Here's how I did it: Go out and get a "fakebook"- a songbook collection- of your favorite music. It will cost now around $25-30 for the songbook. Make sure there are pictures of the actual cords you will be playing and not just the cords' names (letters) above the lyrics. Your guitar playing buddy can look at the cords and determine if they are too hard for a beginner. If not, and you like the music, and you have a copy of most of the songs in the songbook so you can listen and learn from listening, get it. You'll enjoy playing the songs you like.
#3 Have a friend teach you. Even a beginner can teach another beginner. Plus it's a lot more fun than playing alone. The key to making progress is to make it a regular, weekly get-together with a new song added each time.
The best learning experience I ever had on guitar was back around 1972 when my neighbor and buddy, Bruce, would come over with his six string electric, plug into my amp and play bass on the top four strings while I practiced my interminably bad lead solos over and over to his patient bass playing. This went on for months. What a guy! I owed him bigtime! Before I moved away I found an old Fender Mustang Bass guitar, bought it and gave it to him. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him it was his. He still plays it today. Bruce is a geuius audio sound engineer that worked for 26 years for a certain major audio/ microphone company before they let him go in this recent economic turmoil. He is the author of 8 audio recording textbooks, one of which is in daily use in many classrooms in U.S. universities. He's written over 800 articles on audio recording techniques! He helped develop and design Garth Brook's headset microphone, yet they "had to let him go." The lack of loyalty to dedicated and talented employees by their companies is appalling. Sorry I'm off topic, but I'm not paid for this. I get to rant a little.
Approximate Costs:
----------------Low end------- High end
simple, used guitar free-up to $100---- $300
new vintage guitar $300 ----$1,000 and up!
new acoustic electric $300---- $700 and up
guitar tuner $20 ---- $80
guitar case $25 ---- $200
fakebook/songbook $25 ---- $40
couple guitar picks $1
used amplifier $100 ---- $300
new amp w/effects $250 ---- $600 and up
The Bottom Line:
So you can get started for around 170$ for a used guitar, a case, tuner, songbook, and a couple guitar picks. You don't need a strap. Standing is for performers. Any armless chair or stool will do for sitting and playing. In general, you get what you pay for. Not always. Just ask the guy that was given his grandaddy's old Gibson J45 guitar!
Have fun and you'll practice more. This generally has the effect of making you improve. (Do I hear another "Duh!"?) Next you'll get the inevitable compilment anyone who improves should get and obviously, you'll play more. The cycle begins. You get it. It feeds off itself.
Kind of like reading books. You learn more vocabulary as you read more, thus you comprehend more of what you read, causing you to enjoy it more, so you read more, and on and on. Get your cycle started soon, and start playing.
- Hobbies - Their Value
- Make Music Your Hobby
- Making the Big Decision: Guitar Or Keyboard ?
- ( Or Drums or Bass? )
- Deciding Between an Acoustic and an Electric First Guitar
- Finding Your First Guitar
- Starting Out
- Practicing
I'm a believer that almost everyone should learn to play a musical instrument. Doing so has added much to my life and my enjoyment of life, not to mention my understanding of the music around me and my appreciation for it. There is a body of scientific evidence that playing an instrument challenges the brain much in the same manner as doing puzzles, etc., and consequently improves brain function long into adulthood and old age. Don't know about you, but I need all the brain enhancement I can get!
Furthermore, if you sing along, the evidence is that you get about the same exercise as a swimmer would. Now, I'm not so sure about that statement's validity, but I know I sure sweat hard when playing and singing hard at a microphone, almost as much as most drummers with whom I've performed, and those dudes can work up a good sweat doing a one hour set of songs.
I've also noticed I do not sweat nearly as much if I'm not singing, only playing guitar. Heck, I've even worn sweatbands on my head while performing, especially after I saw Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits) do it in front of thousands of screaming fans.
Everyone needs a hobby. Too many (men, usually) retire from a lifelong career to find life can be boring. Many seem to die soon after retirement, I've noticed. You can only mow the yard so many times a week.
So I recommend every man and woman, boy and girl - find a hobby. And being the "practical male" that I am, I recommend you choose a hobby whereby you can potentially make some spare change.
Woodworking is a great hobby for that. So is music.
And "spare change" it is! I've always said music is a great hobby and a lousy profession. Case in point: My son, age 33, has his college degree and his day job. But his one true love is drumming, ever since I taught him basic drumming on a full kit at age five. Playing drums gave him a fulfillment that school, playing tennis, work, and even girlfriends couldn't give him. The kid is good, damn good. He even moved to the "live music capitol" of America (Austin, Texas) so he could thrive in his "night job" of playing with a band. He finally teamed up with some talented musicians (of which there are plenty in Austin) and their resultant music is more than commendable, it's very good! And what is the payoff after two years of playing with these talented fellas, solo and group rehearsals, investing heavily in equipment, etc.? They play for FREE most times. Some nights they might come home with 25$ each for their work. Some gigs actually require the band PAY to PLAY, in order to get the exposure in front of the audience. This practice of a band having to actually pay money to be allowed to play was started in L.A. years ago because of the sheer number of bands clawing for the chance to play music . The practice is spreading, I fear. With music, it's not usually what you know, but who you know in the business that might propel your band to the next level. It's usually all a matter of luck or timing, not talent. Sad, but true. Talent helps though, no doubt. Music's a great hobby, but a frustrating profession. So take it up as a hobby, and if it turns into more than that, it's gravy.
I've tried learning keyboard (synthesizer/piano) and it is harder to learn, in my opinion. If you think you might really be a songwriter, then keyboard is probably the better choice, what with all the beautiful tones, emulations of real pianos, organs, strings, etc. that a good synthesizer can deliver at a modest cost. You can now-a-days do anything - ANY sound you want! - on a good synthesizer, except for the human voice. And Stevie Wonder does even that on his $150,000 Synclaviar! With the addition of a sequencer, a synthesizer can play every instrument needed on an album! Real pianos may have ONE good sound, but they simply weigh a ton, and they are slowly disappearing for that reason. Songwriters should seriously consider learning to play a synth, one with semi- or fully weighted keys, tons of computor memory, a sequencer, and a lot of backing by the company and third party suppliers. You can get a used Korg O1W FD for $200 on eBay, but do your musical purchase research for most instruments and amplifiers on HarmonyCentral.com. It has tons of user reviews.
So why choose guitar to learn? As I said, it's easier to sound proficient on guitar, easier to learn the basics. I tried the adult beginner piano book, and after 3 months of boring drills and scales gave it up. But, back in 1965 at age 15, with an old Sears and Robuck Silvertone guitar and a $7.50 Beatles songbook, plus 4 weeks of practice, back in my bedroom (with my door firmly shut by my father!)- I managed to learn almost every song in that book. I was on my way to a lifetime of "pickin' and
grinnin'."
I'll get slammed for sure if I don't mention learning drums or bass guitar as choices. I've played both for over 25 years, and can summarize each easily:
In my experince, drums are the easiest instrument to learn, or at least learn well enough to quickly get started in playing an instrument. You can be playing drums in a week, IF YOU CAN REALLY LISTEN TO THE MUSIC- THE DRUMS, AND IF YOU CAN DANCE. Seriously, if you can't dance a little, sit down. Drumming is basically dancing with your hands. Then you add your feet. It's just easy to listen and copy a facsimile of what another drummer is doing on a song, especially if you stick with it. Drums are easy to learn if you can dance a little.
But you can't easily write a song on drums. They have their limitations. Not a whole lot of melody in drumming. What you hear with drums is what you get.
Drums are LOUD! (Do I hear a "Duh!"?) Even moderate volume drum practice can bother family, roommates, and of course neighbors so much, it has to be the foremost reason to not choose drumming as a hobby. If you live out in the country with nothing but cows around you, like I did when I got my first drum set, go for it!
Drums just feel good when you play. Drumming can be excellent exercise IF you're playing at live playing volume levels. I've broken a sweat many-a-time playing along with Bob Segar and the Silver Bullet Band. Try keeping up with them for 45 minutes straight!
But drums take up a lot of real estate in your house and your car. They're harder and take longer to set up, if you play out much. The drummer in a band is inevitably the hardest worker in the band, the first to arrive and the last to leave.
Bass guitar is fun too, with the added bonus of hearing a perhaps more melodic rather than mostly percussive sound in your music. But bass is hard to practice alone, at least to me. If you choose bass, you'll force yourself to play with other musicians faster than most any other instrument, because of that problem of difficult practices alone. Of course they make little black band-in-a-boxes now, like the Boss JS-5 JamStation, that you can play along with in hundreds of styles of music for around $300. I'd say something like that might cure those bass blues. Check it out. Some newer bass amps might have a similar device built into the amp, like some guitar amps have.
You'll need a decent bass guitar. Again, I recommend getting a vintage bass that will increase in value, unlike a new bass that depreciates quickly. Next best choice is almost any fair price on something like a Fender P Bass or a Fender Jazz Bass from Musician's Friend.com or any other reputable dealer. Basses are simply not as delicately built as six strings are, and luckily you can just order a bass from a reputible dealer, sight unseen usually, and it will turn out fine. I wouldn't order a six string guitar sight unseen. I'd want to check it out first.
In summary:
Seems bands are always looking for bass players, so I guess they are more in demand. Drummers, it seems, are everywhere. Mainly, I want to write songs, and you just can't do that on drums or bass. Here I have to mention that I once saw on T.V. a bass player competition of some sort that blew my mind. The contestants played Chopin and Bethovan sonattas on 5 and 6 string basses with such talent and beauty I was amazed. It turns out that quality bass, and perhaps any instrument, is what you make of it, what you make it do, what you coax out of it, and what you put into it.
THE FIRST GUITAR
So, what does it take to get started on guitar?
A decent guitar and motivation to learn how to play it. That's all. Here is how to go about it:
Find a decent guitar by deciding first how much you can afford. If you are serious about learning guitar and have the bucks, I recommend a vintage guitar, a collectable with years of playing on it and a "good vibe"- a feeling of being loved in its wood. A collectable vintage guitar will actually INCREASE in value each day you own it. So, if you outlay $400 to $700 for this instrument, you also just made an investment that will acrue value over time. If you buy almost any new instrument, it will decrease in value the moment you walk out that store's door with it. It's now a used instrument, just like buying a car. Choosing a vintage guitar is a topic beyond the scope of this piece, so I won't try to cover it here. But I will tell you to do your research on the topic before parting with your hard-earned dollars. There are fake vintage guitars out there. Always bring a real guitar "expert"- someone who has been playing for years- with you when you go to look at guitars.
If, like most, you want to get started on guitar as cheaply as possible, then your best bet is a used, inexpensive guitar, the cheapest being one stored in YOUR Uncle Bill's attic. Check with family to see if they want to keep that dusty guitar in the family and will consider giving it to you.
Next, I recommend friends or acquaintenances with used guitars. They may have bought one, tried taking lessons on it, and given up. Now it's used and priced accordingly, usually around 50% of what the owner paid. That's how I got my second guitar, stored under a friend's bed. I still have that 1967 $40 Harmony guitar, and love it more than any other I have owned.
Like most cheap guitars at that time, it came with no way of adjusting the neck for playability, and when the years of my abuse took its toll and the neck bowed so much the steel strings became unplayable, I put nylon strings on it. It has a wonderful, soft, warm tone and is so easy to play with no finger pain that I recommend anyone frustrated with finger pain from playing switch to nylon strings, unless they can endure the pain until they build up callouses on their fingertips. I know the guitar wasn't "designed" for nylon strings. I don't care. Sure the spacing between the strings is narrower than the standard "classical" guitar, but I find that a benifit, not a detriment! It's more like the spacing on the rest of my standard guitars.
I heard a fellow guitar player at my weekly jam session say recently that he got three decent guitars that week from pawn shops, all available because of the downturn in the national/worldwide economy. If you've got the cash to spare, now is a good time to shop your local pawn shops, it seems.
One more point. IF you think you might be "playing out"- in a room larger than your living room, or on a professional or semipro level, GET AN ACOUSTIC/ELECTRIC GUITAR. These guitars can be plugged into an amplifier or PA system with ease and produce great sound, but they don't have to be plugged in to work just fine. I much prefer the plugged in sound of my Martin accoustic/electric to the sound of my near vintage Martin D-35 with a microphone on it. An acoustic/electric will only cost a few dollars more than the same guitar without the electronics, so strongly consider this option. Some even have a guitar tuner built into the electronics. Now you're actually saving money because I strongly recommend you get a guitar tuner with the purchase of your guitar. The old days of tuning with a pitchfork tuner or pitchpipe are done, thank goodness! A $20 digital tuner will help you sound so much better on guitar that it will actually increase your practice and playing time over playing on an out-of-tune guitar. Get a tuner.
Why do I recommend getting an acoustic guitar over getting an electric guitar? On the first night of owning my first electric guitar (a 1964 Fender Stratocaster) I actually tried to give it away to a friend going out my front door. He was probably leaving because of my awful sounding playing. I was playing through a used 1965 Fender SuperReverb amp that I still own, and playing with no effects, other than a little reverb. I could fairly play an accoustic, but my electric playing sure couldn't prove it: It sounded horrible! Every mistake was amplified and louder than "to what I'd become accustumed", the acoustic guitar. In my opinion, it is much EASIER to hide mistakes with an accoustic, if for no other reason than at least you are not amplifying bad sounds! Fortunately, my friend knew I had had a couple beers and refused my offer, thinking it "was the alcohol talking." No, it was my sheer exasperation and shock at sounding so poorly. I now know a local guitar teacher that prefers his new students start on an electric guitar. Why? Because it is easier to play most electrics; the strings are usually set down lower. AND many modern, even inexpensive, small amplifiers come with lots of effects built into the amp! This can have the sound modified nicely with chorus, reverb, and subtle distortion to the point that a beginner can sound pretty good. He has a good point there.
It didn't used to be this way. Back in the day, just 30 years ago in the '80's, you got a cheap amp, as big as you could afford, then you bought 3 or 4 effect "stomp boxes" to plug into it to get your sound, up to sometimes 20 effects! I switched when the technology did and went with the newer, "all-in one stompbox"- the ubiquitous Digitech RP1. This added up quickly in extra expense. Plus I've lately given up using it because of the NOISE it adds to my guitar signal. I like a cleaner sound. Thus I developed my attitude about starting with a simple acoustic guitar. Times have changed, and maybe I need to change with them.
You decide then based on the volume you might need (but know that my Martin acoustic/electric can keep up with all but the loudest electric guitars) or the image you may prefer to convey (as electric players are viewed with scorn by some bluegrass, gospel, and even some country purists,) and obviously consider the musical style you prefer. Again, bring a true guitar player with you to help you pick out your guitar! He or she will check the guitar's neck for straightness, the string height above the fret board for playability, and the overall versitility and usefulness of the instrument. If it's an expensive guitar, then the tone of the sound will become important. One rule I've learned: a good electric guitar will sound good unplugged as well as plugged in. There's no need to plug in every electric guitar you have a passing interest in. Just play it unplugged and if it sounds really good that way, just wait until you plug it in! That's how I bought my '81 Gibson Les Paul Heritage guitar. I played 30 Les Pauls at a huge guitar dealer show, and I never plugged one in. The one I chose was the dealer's private instrument, used in his band playing days. And the action of the neck is incredible! It's a keeper.
While you're at it, go ahead and get a case for your guitar. I didn't and had to wrap my guitar in blankets, etc. whenever it left the house. It got scratched and beatup some. Find a case commersurate with the value of the guitar you place in it, and use it a lot. Either it's in the case when not being played, or hung it on the wall (out of direct sunlight- especially if it's an Ovation!) using a guitar hanger from the music store. Do NOT use garden/ garage tool hangers with a rubber coating making contact with your guitar. It WILL come off on the guitar I found.
Keep good guitars away from kids and not so good pets. Always unplug any electric or acoustic/electric before hanging it. I tripped over a guitar cord once and pulled my friend's Stratocaster right off the wall to the floor. Never again!
Now that you've found your guitar, it's time to decide just how to go about learning to play it.
You have a few choices:
#1 Take private lessons. They range from $40 per half hour down to $10 per hour around here. The $40 per half hour rate is at a local music store that has 4 or 5 small classrooms within its walls. The $10 per hour rate is for a fella that just opened a very small music store in a rural town 30 miles away from here. He needs the money more. There are poor, average, and excellent teachers, so ask lots of guitar students for their recommendations! Most teachers will want you to learn scales, it seems, no matter what instrument you want to learn. A few will teach you actual songs, thus motivating you more. It all depends on the teacher. An advantage of having a teacher and a set schedule is that you will practice more, knowing you will be "judged" soon by that teacher before he or she allows you to progress further. Most people don't like wasting their money, so they practice. Another advantage is that a good teacher will keep you from learning something that later has to be unlearned- bad habits. I used to make a G chord by using my thumb. That took two years to unlearn! Another reason for getting a teacher is that a good teacher will teach you how to practice by yourself so that you utilize you time wisely. It's easy to "wander" away from actual practice when you're having fun.
#2 Learn from a correspondance course over the internet. I know this is available now, as I have looked into it a little. The system I found was for around $50 a month. I have a LOT more to learn about this system before I will recommend it. They say you can send them sound clips of your playing, but it all sounds too "distant" for my tastes.
#3 Teach yourself. Ya, that's what I did. I can't say it's the preferred method, but it was the cheapest by far. Here's how I did it: Go out and get a "fakebook"- a songbook collection- of your favorite music. It will cost now around $25-30 for the songbook. Make sure there are pictures of the actual cords you will be playing and not just the cords' names (letters) above the lyrics. Your guitar playing buddy can look at the cords and determine if they are too hard for a beginner. If not, and you like the music, and you have a copy of most of the songs in the songbook so you can listen and learn from listening, get it. You'll enjoy playing the songs you like.
#3 Have a friend teach you. Even a beginner can teach another beginner. Plus it's a lot more fun than playing alone. The key to making progress is to make it a regular, weekly get-together with a new song added each time.
The best learning experience I ever had on guitar was back around 1972 when my neighbor and buddy, Bruce, would come over with his six string electric, plug into my amp and play bass on the top four strings while I practiced my interminably bad lead solos over and over to his patient bass playing. This went on for months. What a guy! I owed him bigtime! Before I moved away I found an old Fender Mustang Bass guitar, bought it and gave it to him. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him it was his. He still plays it today. Bruce is a geuius audio sound engineer that worked for 26 years for a certain major audio/ microphone company before they let him go in this recent economic turmoil. He is the author of 8 audio recording textbooks, one of which is in daily use in many classrooms in U.S. universities. He's written over 800 articles on audio recording techniques! He helped develop and design Garth Brook's headset microphone, yet they "had to let him go." The lack of loyalty to dedicated and talented employees by their companies is appalling. Sorry I'm off topic, but I'm not paid for this. I get to rant a little.
Approximate Costs:
----------------Low end------- High end
simple, used guitar free-up to $100---- $300
new vintage guitar $300 ----$1,000 and up!
new acoustic electric $300---- $700 and up
guitar tuner $20 ---- $80
guitar case $25 ---- $200
fakebook/songbook $25 ---- $40
couple guitar picks $1
used amplifier $100 ---- $300
new amp w/effects $250 ---- $600 and up
The Bottom Line:
So you can get started for around 170$ for a used guitar, a case, tuner, songbook, and a couple guitar picks. You don't need a strap. Standing is for performers. Any armless chair or stool will do for sitting and playing. In general, you get what you pay for. Not always. Just ask the guy that was given his grandaddy's old Gibson J45 guitar!
Have fun and you'll practice more. This generally has the effect of making you improve. (Do I hear another "Duh!"?) Next you'll get the inevitable compilment anyone who improves should get and obviously, you'll play more. The cycle begins. You get it. It feeds off itself.
Kind of like reading books. You learn more vocabulary as you read more, thus you comprehend more of what you read, causing you to enjoy it more, so you read more, and on and on. Get your cycle started soon, and start playing.
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