I Love Playing the Guitar

Snowy: Cat Rocker, Guitar Extraordinaire

2010-01-27T20:13:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you but I didn't think cats were all that interested in the guitar.
Just recently Snowy, my cat has decided that every time we play guitar she wants to be there with us.
She comes in and smooches around us and usually ends up in her bed and just listens.
The other night she decided that she wanted to get up close and personal.

Now I am not the best guitar player in the world or even in our little town, but Snowy made it even harder for me to play that night.
As you can see by the photos she was right there with me.
She has since told her brother about it and I think he's interested too.

So watch out there may be 2 new stars on the horizon.
They have asked me to get them a copy of Jamorama they reckon that its the best out there.

I Love Pink Floyd

2010-01-20T16:31:00.000-08:00

I just love playing guitar and even more so when playing a great Pink Floyd song.

Last night we played for about an hour and managed to get in 3 great Pink Floyd songs, Learning To Fly, Wish You Were Here and Time.

I really love the start to Wish You Were Here, it is such an easy little riff, but it sounds so good and the start to Time is pretty neat too, just a few notes, but again really good.

Lots of barre chords, which I really like, they still don't sound perfect but they are definitely getting better.

My callouses are getting tougher, I must admit that at first I was a bit lazy about pushing down hard on the strings because it hurt, but if you want it to sound good you have to push hard, damn it. But as the callouses get tougher it does get easier and less painful.

This is a great way to kick start your guitar playing Jamorama.

What's the difference between a guitar and a tuna fish?
A - You can tune a guitar but you can't tuna fish.

Sounding Better Every Day

2010-01-13T19:43:00.000-08:00

Well I have been practicing, practicing, practicing just like my teacher told me and I think it's actually working. I still have some muted notes but in general the chords are sounding a lot better.

If you are having any sort of problems or just like to read about guitar this is worth checking out.
I am becoming more confident every day. I feel like playing the guitar has actually built up my self esteem.

I really like my guitars. I have an acoustic guitar which is mid size, the full size ones are just too big for me, it has a cut out and is very nice to look at. My other guitar is an electric, it is electric blue and very rock'n'roll, I love it, I have a guitar shoulder strap that I find is really good to use, keeps the guitar in place and I use a plectrum.

I have a collection of plectrums, there are so many of them, but I have a few favourites, the kids have bought some for me as gifts.

Plunk Plunk

2010-01-12T02:15:00.000-08:00

I hate that sound plunk, plunk.
Come on all you guitar players you know what I mean, when you are not holding that damn string down hard enough and you try to play a note.
I am practicing so hard to stop that but to no avail.
Now my darling teacher has told me his trick, just practice, practice, practice. Damn I was hoping there was an easier way.

So he said to hold the chord and strum and if you hear a dead note you have to practice holding that string down harder until it rings clear.
Well to date I have really sore fingers and still some muffled notes, but I am getting there and I will I am determined to play properly and clearly.

I Love Playing The Guitar

2010-01-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

Well I have been playing the guitar for about 20 something years and I get so much enjoyment out of it.
I bought my first guitar (using my Dad's guidance) in a small music shop in regional Victoria. The guy gave me a carry bag and plectrums and a basic beginners book in the deal.

Then I got it home and didn't know what to do with it, I tried to teach myself, got a few chords happening, but had no idea about tuning the guitar. So I gave in and got some lessons, man that was so embarrassing I had to sit across from this really young guy in a small quiet room and play. At that stage my playing sounded like a cat being stood on. Anyway I did that for a while and did eventually learn a few tunes and how to hammer on and hammer off, how to pick out the notes of a tune and lots of chords.

Anyway that got a bit expensive so I stopped for quite a long time.
Few years later I bought a use at home program that was posted out to me, no video or DVD to show me, just notes in a small book and some chord cards. That was pretty useless.

Then I met this fantastic man, who later became my husband, who taught me how to really play.
He has taught me barre chords, open chords, suspended chords, strumming techniques and we play to CD's.
He tried to get me to pick out the chords in a song, I got a couple but still learning.
We play a lot now and have a great time.