I said I played. …never said I was good, though.
Friar´s latest blog… A Single Person’s Open Letter of Apology to Parents

But then it fell by the wayside…I’ve been doing other things since then (painting, and now writing).

Guitar still sits there, collecting dust. (One of these days, I should pick it up again, I keep telling myself).

Fake trumpets? Now that’s scary. Though I guess if you go to the effort, you can fake just about anything.

Friar, James,

For now I suppose we’ll follow the teacher’s lead on what books to get. How’s this for modern, though: I’m in love with the Rock On Good People vids put out free on YouTube by Next Level Guitar. (They do pay stuff that looks awesome at their own site, too.)

Not sure, other than reading music (which yes yes I do think is essential, shh), why use a book when instruction this great is out there.

Friar, my fave Renaissance man, I had no idea you also play guitar. Is there anything you can’t do?

Later,

Kelly

There’s a whole series of beginner guitar books out there (circa 1950′s-60′s) by Mel Bay.

From first-hand experience, do not (repeat DO NOT) waste your money on them. They suck.

They’re tend to only teach individual-note songs and are lousy at chords and fingerpicking. And the only lame-ass songs they have are in the Public Domain. Like “Old Grey Goose” and “Blue Tailed Fly”. (ARGH)

There are WAY better books out there, that will have your kid strumming real songs, and having fun a lot quicker. (Shoot, I had gotten rid of them, I forget what the titles are…).

But just stay away from Mel Bay.

My gosh, the scams that abound from the fake-trumpet manufacturers!! It’s astonishing. Truly. And NEVER EVER fall for the eBay scams that are there as well; lots of the Teacher Approved ads are total junk.

There’s a brass-only store in my state; that’s where we eventually got my kids’ trumpets. That was lots of fun as well.

And everything else, special order only… how the heck would I know if I can’t see them or hear them? You get the problem.

I think I’ve got the right guitar in my sights now, just have to have The Kid give it a strum. Then we’ll both laugh heartily, since we have no idea what to listen for when a beginner strums her first guitar, and plunk down the $$$.

Life is a learning process, just like MCE.

Until later,

Kelly

Guitars ranging from $1599 to $4500?

OUCH!!!

Sheesh, even the low-end, is pretty high-end.

You can get a decent beginner’s one for $300. Possibly less.

Stay away from that store.

Thanks very much, what a nice compliment!

The Kid is following in my footsteps. Two things I always wanted to play were drums and guitar. I got clarinet and sax. *sigh* She’s given me a hard time about drums for a while, but unless I add a soundproof wing on to the apartment… nope.

So when she got into the idea of acoustic guitar earlier this year, I decided to wait, see if she was still thinking about it in the fall and then go for it. Here we go…

Looking at a Seagull S6. Seems like a mid-range (well, the upper range is huuuuge, but you know what I mean) instrument that will carry her until her allowance lets her buy something better… or until she abandons it and Mama decides to learn, finally… hehehe.

Anyway, I love analyzing shops when I’m not getting paid to. (Potential clients: I also love doing this when I’m paid to…) Right in the first store, when things started to go funky, I could feel a post coming on. I started paying closer attention to everything, but usually it doesn’t go that perfectly. The other two stores just fell into line with such contrasting Experiences I couldn’t NOT write a post!

Sort of like the 3 Mad Hatters.

Regards,

Kelly