Loraine
Forum Replies Created
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Welcome back @Esther d
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@sycolyst I tend to have a lot of high E on my upstrokes to. There’s nothing really wrong with it. Balancing out strumming is difficult between the down and upstrokes. Loosen your grip on the pick, and make sure you turn your wrist to angle down for downstrums and up for upstrums. This will force the pick to angle in the direction you’re strumming and not meet so much resistance against the strings. It simply takes time and practice. I used to warptch YouTube videos of other musicians strumming to see how they were holding the pick and their wrist.
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@buffalo-gal I wrote a response, but I receive the pink wall of hell, which means it wouldn’t post, but you should have received an email with the message.
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@BarbaraM Welcome to TAC. Like so many others, yours coming back to something that you began loving when you were younger. I think that’s awesome. A few things, the first of which is to be kind to yourself and approach guitar with a patience like no other. It’s not an easy instrument to learn, and it does take, practice, strength, agility, and endurance, and these all come with time, but they will come if you keep with it. You’re comparing yourself to a young or younger self. We learn much differently and more easily when we’re younger, and you haven’t kept up with it, it’s like anything else. You lose the knowledge and skills. Also, we’re much more lithe and flexible when we’re younger than as we age. Try to enjoy the small wins, and not focus as much in what you’re struggling with. If everything were easy, we wouldn’t be challenged to improve. Baby steps.. share your small wins on the forums. You might help someone else struggling too.
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@stevieblues I received an email with your message, even though it didn’t show up here. I’m guessing you got the pink screen of hell that supposedly doesn’t really exist – haha.
stevieblues mentioned you in a discussion:
Lights of Santa Fe, Eliza Gilkyson
Great job @Loraine! You’ve made a lot of progress on your guitar journey. Keep up the good work!
Thank you Stevie for such a kind compliment! It’s much appreciated.
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@the-old-coach I’ll definitely miss you in the TAC forums Mark. You’re a great friend. I’ve learned so much from your own ramblings and songs, and I admire you’re creativity and ability to tell a story in lyrical form that speaks to my soul and so many others. You have a true gift. Continue to explore and apply what you’ve learned. This isn’t really goodbye for us, because I know I’ll see you in another forum we’re both active in, but TAC holds a special place in my heart. I still learn from the dailies, and I love helping the newer person and seeing them grow and progress in their own journeys, and I love being helped myself with the knowledge that so many others bring to the table.
Stay well my friend, and I’ll see you yonder!
Loraine
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@miller-cindy-cgmail-com Welcome to TAC. I agree with @Moose408 that the Friday lesson is the complete composition as taught by Tony. It’s his interpretation of the song. I also agree that Ultimate-guitar.com will be the easiest place to get the chords and the lyrics to songs. The songs are transposed by others from watching and listening to an artist play the songs. There are other places to obtain chord and tab sheets, but Ultimate Guitar probably the most popular.
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@g32turbo Welcome to the TAC community. Sorry to hear you’ve had system issues. I didn’t experience it this weekend, but I may not have been trying to get on the site at the same time as you. Over the past few years, I’ve had error messages a few times, like Amy type of IT site. I’m not sure what, when, why it occurs. My suggestion is to contact Support if it continues. They can let you know if there is a known issue or suggest a workaround. To contact Support, click on the Support link,at the bottom left. When it opens, start a new chat. If Victoria is unavailable, she’ll get back to you fairly quickly.
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Thanks @albert_d
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@SherryH I truly appreciate the kind words and your critique and for noticing improvement in my playing. I put a lot of effort into it this past year. It was really wierd – last year I was going to meetup with a few other guitar geeks down in Florida for a 3 day jam. There was a list of songs submitted that others thought would be good songs to jame with or learn. I didn’t know how to play any of the songs, and they were above my play level, or so I thought. I immersed myself in only practicing those songs for a few weeks, and I was able to somewhat play during the jams.
The most miraculous thing happened though. All of a sudden, I was able to pick up songs rather quickly, and chord transitions became much smoother, my chord library grew, almost effortlessly, and I was able to put vocals to songs rather easily. I don’t know what made the difference, but I haven’t stopped since. I pick up a few new songs in a typical week, and I add the, to my growing arsenal of songs, and ai practice them over and over. As for vocals, I took a few vocal lessons and found I have a wide range of octaves and notes. I just had to relearn to use my vocal chords that had become atrophied over the last several years of being a virtual lock-in with my mother who had dementia and not really getting out and exercising my vocal chords through social interaction. I never even knew that was a possibility. I know my voice had become very monotone and low over the years. Now I know why.
Long story short, don’t sell yourself short before the miracle happens.
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@SherryH It is a great song, isn’t it. Sometimes it takes putting a song to the side for a while and revisiting it at a later time, and you may be surprised that it comes easier the second or third go around. I find fingerstyle so much more difficult than strumming. It doesn’t help that I have essential tremors and it makes it difficult to do. My fingers don’t cooperate. I’m envious of those that can do it so effortlessly. Don’t give up on it if it’s a song you love. It just may take a while to get under your belt
As for perseverance, the acoustic is something I’ve loved and wanted to play for a long time. I had a parent that always said I wasn’t very good at things, but they’re not around anymore to influence me. Playing the guitar has not come easily to me, but I put myself out there a while ago that I was going to show the good and the bad, and it has helped me get better. I’ll never be a great player, but I’m enjoying the ride and having fun. That’s all that matters. To those that shame others, shame on them. We’re all in this together and to support each other and boost each other on our journeys.
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Thanks @Fret_Nothing ! I love this song, and it came fairly naturally, and I say fairly, because the strum pattern was based in feel and I just let it flow. The chord transitions are getting better. It’s a fun song to play!
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@Al.E Thanks so much Al. Really appreciate it
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@buffalo-gal There are differences in neck widths and lengths and sizes of guitars, and what one finds comfortable and easier to play is a personal choice. Why not try different neck widths out at your local shop to determine what is a comfortable width for you. I have fairly small hands, but I have all size necks and really don’t have a personal favorite. I’m able to play them both. The larger width allows for strings to be wider apart and somewhat easier for fingerpicking. Another option is to consider a classical guitar. It has a wider neck and the strings are set wider apart and tends to be easier to play, and they sound pretty good, and you can find a mid level Cordoba or another brand at a reasonable price. Another easy to play guitar is the Taylor GS Mini. I have a GS Mini Koa that I love to play. Sweetwater has a fantastic customer care team. Call the rep (name and number on website) there, and they can help guide you and answer any questions.
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Thanks so much @Philb !