Amish Guitar

When slipping the guitar off over your head because of the strap, don't stick the headstock into the ceiling fan. It leaves a ding and your children will hear you swear.

There is still much to be said in the Key of G.

This week, learn something new. Pentatonic scales, a new finger picking pattern, a new chord higher up the neck. Whatever. Then write a poem about it. Neatness will count for 10% of your grade.

Don't assume your strap is going to stay on the endpin. Especially if you're playing someone else's guitar. Those are the guitars most likely to have the strap pop off and send the guitar crashing to the floor, bumping every conceivable hard surface on the way down.

Well, it's been a long week in the AmishGuitar household. I've been recovering from a nasty head and chest cold and have just realized I didn't post a guitar lesson for this month. I'm afraid, dear readers, that this week the lesson must give way to my pounding sinuses. One is either very clever or not clever at all when one is taking NyQuil.

I did get my Yamaha back from the luthier and the results are . . . adequate. He was able to adjust the neck angle with a truss rod adjustment. He lowered the saddle and tried to lower the nut but cutting the grooves. This, however, proved to be problematic since the nut just disintegrated when he took the file to the plastic. Luckily he had salvaged a nut from a Taylor that fit almost perfectly, so he did not have to construct a brand new nut from bone for me (that would have been $$$ I did not have). He did say that he would not be able to lower the saddle any more than it is now, so any future adjustments would mean a neck reset. That, of course, has already been ruled out as being too expensive for this instrument.

It plays well enough, I suppose. I do find that it is better at fingerpicking that strumming. Fingerpicking brings out the bell like tones, but strumming just sounds all muddled. The action is real easy now at the first few frets, so the kids have been having fun playing around with it.

I've not had much opportunity to play lately. That is, I haven't felt like playing. I haven't been to church for a month now, owing to many factors that are beyond the scope of this blog. Home has been hectic as my wife recovers from her illness (she's healing fine). Frankly, I feel too worn out by the end of the day to do anything but veg out. And then, of course, I've been sick these past few days.

No matter, this too shall pass. I do plan on being at church on Sunday and be in the praise team. That always seems to get my mojo going again.

There is nothing wrong with being a player who "only" knows the cowboy chords and a basic strum. If it brings you joy, enjoy it with pride. Life is too short to worry about what you "can't" do.

Yes, this is corny. But it doesn't hurt to remember it anyway.

It is best to not take guitar lessons from online sites that leave spam in the comments section of my blog. Not necessarily because they are scammers, but because spammers are the scum of the online world and should not be encouraged. Then again, it is probably no coincidence that scammers and spammers rhyme.

Songbooks are an expensive collection of songs you will never care to learn. Most are written to make it easy for a piano player. That's just the way it is. Try your local library.

Happiness is a guitar in tune.

Your non playing friends are not interested in the pros and cons of bone saddles and nuts.

Long hair and a cowboy hat does not make you a bad ass guitar player.

1. Record yourself playing.
2. Listen to the recording.
3. Pick your ego up off the floor.
4. Record yourself again...you're not as bad as you think you are.

When the vinyl covering to your case begins to pull up at the edge, a dab of superglue works. A curling iron does not .

Take some time to enjoy the holidays with friends and family, with or without the guitar. Merry Christmas!

When you find something difficult when practicing and you're getting frustrated, walk away for awhile. Maybe even a week. You'll find it easier when you return.

Love hurts. So do fingertips that lose their callouses. Keep playing!

Your children do want to hear you play. It's just uncool for them to admit it.

I've been making good on my goal and working on "Falling Slowly." It's a little maddening as it is a simple song that continues to elude me. I'm having trouble with the chord changes and have to think too much about where my fingers should land. I'm not yet able to make a smooth transition between the chords and keep time. But it's coming along.

I did find a youtuber (my Junior High English teacher just rolled over in her grave)who posted a lesson in how to play the song. He claims that it is exactly how Glen Hansard plays it. It's the closest thing I've been able to find, but I think Glen wraps his thumb around on the first fret to get an F on the 6th string and ring out that low bass during the finger picking part. The poster also talks about a Fsus2 chord. And the librarian in me just can't let it go without correcting it. The chord he describes-- xx3213 is Fadd9, not Fsus2. I know it's a bit of nit picking because both chords are created by adding a G. A true Fsus2 would have you suspend the third (A) and play the second (G) instead. Fadd9 is adding the 9th pitch above the root, but you leave all the other components of the triad alone. So, while the second and the ninth are both G, it's not quite the same thing. At least, that's how I understand it.

Nevertheless, the youtuber breaks the song down very well and teaches the mechanics simple enough for my 38 year old brain to understand it. Thanks tallie7487, whoever you are!

OK, theory lesson over. Now on to the vid:

Oil and water. Anchovies and chocolate. Cheetos and guitar playing.

For the spouse of a guitar player:

Yes picks get everywhere. I already told you that. But I still need to buy more.