February22012
Calluses, grooves that really don’t go away anymore, and peeling fingertips. I love it all.

Calluses, grooves that really don’t go away anymore, and peeling fingertips. I love it all.

fingers guitar progress 

February12012
You know that chuga-chuga sound Mr. Cash here did with his guitar that was always so cool? I’ve learned how to do it. My guitar player self respect just did a +10

You know that chuga-chuga sound Mr. Cash here did with his guitar that was always so cool? I’ve learned how to do it. My guitar player self respect just did a +10
January272012
the C major. It sounds awful and feels worse. The human hand isn’t made to bend this way.

the C major. It sounds awful and feels worse. The human hand isn’t made to bend this way.
January262012

What Playing Does

Just a week and a half into this experience has taught me a few  things.

 Playing guitar at any level is a challenge. The guitar is a complicated, unforgiving instrument. The concentration and skill required to play at a professional level seems almost impossible right now. What baffles me is how guys like Hendrix or SRV performed and entertained while blitzed out of their minds. They weren’t doing a three chord strum. They played insanely complicated compositions at a master level. How?!? I feel dumb if I have a cup of coffee and blow a simple A major. 

I can see how the guitar and music can become a serious habit or addiction in its own right. The need to pick it up and play it can be strange sometimes. You know there are other things you need to do. Tasks around the house to be completed. But look at it just sitting there. Saying “hey, don’t you want to knock out that cord you’ve been working on? Come on over.   Plaaaaaaaay meeeeeeeee”.

Allison (my wife for those that don’t know) has been great about it. She indulges my terrible attempts to play even the simplest songs. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before I drive everyone in the house to guitar murder. Stay tuned.

January242012

Yeah, this is the first song I’m learning. What? I  already know like, 5 of the chords! Plus it is far and away the greatest power ballad in hair metal history. 
5AM

9 days.

That’s how long I’ve been playing.

I’m really, really impatient for things to move faster. I see and feel the calluses on my fingertips forming. I see my fingers finding the chords quicker. I can see how things go to actually form a song, or at least a tiny part of a song. 

Even though I see all the pieces lying there, I can’t quite fit them together. I think this is where the advantage of having an instructor comes in. Right now things just feel scattered. I can’t figure out if I should be concentrating on adding more chords to my repertoire, or work on perfecting the ones I know (6!). I hope I don’t need a teacher because that might be too expensive to even think about.

Oh yeah, tonight I got the first song request from my wife. Extreme’s ’Hole Hearted’.

Nuno  Bettencourt is blindingly awesome. The guy is pigeon holed for ‘More Than Words’, but you can tell he learned his craft from the Eddie Van Halen school of shredding. 

Weird fact: he’s also Rihanna’s tour guitarist. 

That’s him in the video on a reunion tour he did with Extreme a couple of years ago. Yeah dude, I’d never wear a shirt either.

Nuno Extreme Progress hero 

January232012

It’s the most ludicrous looking guitar I could find. I want it.

Yesterday (Beatles) (by Joesf)
January172012
This is Lauren Clark. She’s a reporter at THV. She’s petite, but has a big voice and a big personality. She’s also a bit of a guitar player. Watching her strum and whisper the lyrics to ‘Dixieland Delight’ was fun. She’s got slender fingers that seem perfect for the instrument. I still don’t understand how big dudes with big hands can play the thing.  Good progress today I think. I’ve just about got A to D down. It feels really mundane to established players I’m sure, but this is how progress is measured. In small doses. My fingers hurt less. My timing is better. Also, I have at least one fan out there who says there definitely should be more videos of me playing. So Monika Rued, you got it! ALL LOW QUALITY VIDEO ALL THE TIME!

This is Lauren Clark. She’s a reporter at THV. She’s petite, but has a big voice and a big personality. She’s also a bit of a guitar player. Watching her strum and whisper the lyrics to ‘Dixieland Delight’ was fun. She’s got slender fingers that seem perfect for the instrument. I still don’t understand how big dudes with big hands can play the thing. 

Good progress today I think. I’ve just about got A to D down. It feels really mundane to established players I’m sure, but this is how progress is measured. In small doses. My fingers hurt less. My timing is better.

Also, I have at least one fan out there who says there definitely should be more videos of me playing. So Monika Rued, you got it! ALL LOW QUALITY VIDEO ALL THE TIME!

work guitar player lauren clark 

January162012
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]

My struggles to play a decent A chord are compounded by the fact my fingertips feel like ground beef. And going from A to D? Forget it.
7PM
Here’s what happens when you bring a guitar to workplace filled with actual musicians. They see the guitar just kind of sitting there. Unplayed. Unloved. And that must be remedied. It MUST be played and held and loved. Ed Buckner (Arkansas’ Weatherman if you didn’t know), picked up the guitar and showed me in 5 minutes what I’d spent all weekend trying to figure out. Namely the fingering (don’t laugh, that’s what it’s called) of the A major chord.  I’d spent three days shredding my fingertips on that chord, and he smoothed the road out for me in a matter of seconds. I see the value of musicians hanging out with each other. Exchanging ideas, thoughts, arguments. It’s how stuff gets figured out.  Then again I had another musician friend tell me they are at their most creative when they’re alone. I suppose that’s the sort of thing I’ll figure out for myself. 

Here’s what happens when you bring a guitar to workplace filled with actual musicians. They see the guitar just kind of sitting there. Unplayed. Unloved. And that must be remedied. It MUST be played and held and loved.

Ed Buckner (Arkansas’ Weatherman if you didn’t know), picked up the guitar and showed me in 5 minutes what I’d spent all weekend trying to figure out. Namely the fingering (don’t laugh, that’s what it’s called) of the A major chord. 

I’d spent three days shredding my fingertips on that chord, and he smoothed the road out for me in a matter of seconds. I see the value of musicians hanging out with each other. Exchanging ideas, thoughts, arguments. It’s how stuff gets figured out. 

Then again I had another musician friend tell me they are at their most creative when they’re alone. I suppose that’s the sort of thing I’ll figure out for myself. 

chord guitar work ed buckner 

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