One Year On

Learning the guitar is something some people always say they'd like to do and even go as far as buying one but it just sits in some closet gathering dust. The story goes that after heraing friend and musician Riley play beautifully I had made the decision that its lovely to hear but I'd love to be the one with the talent to place something. I purchase an electric/accoustic cutway guitar for under $500 as a starter not expecting to still be playing it a year down the track but I'd affirmed in my mind at time of purchase that I'd make a solid go of it and still going strong. Still without a single lesson, the internet has been the source of providing tips, music tabs and little tricks of the trade. I'm slowly getting better but I get so hung up about catching the song cleaning before moving on to new songs and realise I do need to upgrade the guitar. As good as it is, I've gone up a level now and require a guitar that can play cleaner with the ability to hold longer notes and sound better.

I still struggle with many chord songs, for while I can play all the chords easily enough, its quite hard to remember the timing(strumming sequence) and the sequence that each chord comes in and I often forget unless the sheet is in front of me. Plucking or Picking is something different, more tune, and its far easier to remember the sequence but much harder to play. Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton is a fair example that has a good mix or Metellica's Nothing Else matters which has a good balance of plucking and chords.

Still many songs I'd love to learn but its a slow going process teaching myself everything that I need to know but i'm getting there slowly. Like when i was in fiji, if theres a guitar around the fire place, I can now pick one up and get a sing along going (thank you Oasis).

Hopefully next year I'll be even better but I think 12 months ago I couldn't play a single thing.

Helpful tip it you want to learn the guitar and want a tune to play quick. learn the D G & C major chords and you can play pretty much any hootie and the blowfish song.

Reading tabs is that there are 6 strings
Starting from the bottom string (if right handed) E(1) B(2) G(3) D(4) A(5) E(6) (standard tuning) The bottom string is referred to as the first string as indicated above. when reading a tab it will show 6 long horizontal lines eg.

I------------------------------I (first string)
I------------------------------I (Second String)
I------------------------------I (Third String)
I------------------------------I (Fourth String)
I------------------------------I (Fifth String)
I------------------------------I (Sixth String)

When a number appears on any of the lines that denotes the 'fret' to place your finger on. Quickly a fret starts at the the furthest end of the guitar neck increasing the closer it gets to the guitars main body. So if a '2' appears on the 3rd string it means to hold down your finger on the third string at the second fret.

D G C
I--2---3-------I
I--3-------1---I
I--2-----------I
I----------2---I
I------2---3---I
I------3-------I

Above are the 3 Major chords C, G and D.

This is just a quick examply. for more google search for guitar chords and they will show the finger placements for each chord. I was recommended to start off with these 3 chords and work my way from there. I sat down the first night and worked "okay, this finger goes first fret second string, this finger goes on the second string of the fourth string and this..... and this...come on finger... goes on the third fret of the fifth string and STRUUUM. WHOA my first note/chord" Excited I continued learning just the C major chord getting my fingers to find teh position faster and faster then moving on to the G major chord then slowly moving between the C and G chords slowly getting faster and faster until I learnt and worked in the D chord as well. The I looked up some Hootie and the blowfish songs and found that before I knew it that in less than a few days I was playing my first song on the guitar. The excitement built up and I learnt more and more chords. After 3 months I'd made my first little tune just playing around and by that time I'd learnt a number of songs which sadly I've forgotten how to play certain parts as they dont get played much anymore as we move on to bigger and better songs.

So for all of you out there, if you've ever wanted to start the guitar and learn a few songs. Follow my tips of the 3 chords and take it from there... GOOD LUCK