Amish Guitar

Found an article by a Paul Humphries called Don't give in-You're never too old at Guitarnoise.com. I don't know anything about the author, but his story sure sounds familiar. I knew there were other people like me out there--people who picked up the guitar later in life.

As hard as I find it to make music with my guitar... well not hard but it ain't easy... writing songs are even harder. I don't have a real knack for lyrics or for melody. Still, I enjoy what I do write and I've posted some lyrics on this blog. I find myself always writing in 4 line stanzas with an AA BB rhyming scheme. I just don't know how to break that barrier. Well, actually, I do, but it involves practicing my writing skills as much or more than my playing skills. I'll continue to write as I'm inspired and bore the masses of blog readers that descend on my pages each and every day. :)

There are occasions when I write something that strikes a fancy. Sometimes it takes 15 years to find out that I've done so. Alkelda the Gleeful has just posted something I wrote while in college. It's not a song by any means, but... well... you just have to go there and read it yourself. She tells the story much better than I do. While there, look around. Among the gems of poems and narratives and personal musings, you will find songs and entries on guitars.

If anyone has taken the time to read back through my posts, they will remember that I had put this blog on hiatus last December. I just didn't think I had anything to write. It seemed that all I did was moan about this, that or the other. And, I shared some personal hurt I took when sharing my music with a friend. I said at the time I wish I could find someone who was blogging about the same things I wanted to, but did it better. I had given up.

Well, fast forward a couple months, a broken leg, a few surgeries and plenty of time to play. On a lark I googled the words guitar and musings. What I found is a great blog called, tada! Guitar Musings. It's written by Larry who, in all appearance, is just a regular guy striving learn and grow with his guitar skills.

I dropped Larry an email thanking him for writing on this subject. He was kind enough to reply. In turn, I mentioned Amish Guitar. I didn't think much of it, but he took the time to check it out. He sent me another kind email and gave me a link to ProBlogger.

Well, between reading tips on ProBlogger and being inspired by Guitar Musings, I found myself enjoying my playing more AND wanting to write about it, warts and all. Larry's posts showed me that I can write about my limitations but still be positive. My blog will most likely always be more on the personal side, a little bit rough and unpolished, and some of my emotions on my sleeve, but I'm writing again and having fun doing it.

Check out the links.

And, thanks Larry.

Over the holiday weekend I spent some time going through our church hymnal. I was trying to work out melodies and even some chords here and there. I got a itch at one point to play I Bind My Heart This Tide. I was feeling rather melancholy that afternoon and this hymn is written in D minor--perfect for my mood. The melody, harmonies and the lyrics are rather powerful and I just needed to play it.

I did a quick search via google and clicked on one of the first hits which happened to be a blog. There I found the chords and lyrics, albeit in A minor. No biggie and not a hassle to transpose using the Nashville system. Anyway, I got to reading the author's blog and realize it was a fellow English major and alumna from my days in college. I read through much of her writings and decided to drop her a note. I wasn't sure if she'd remember me since, though we had several classes together, we didn't really get to know each other. But she did, at least the name even if she couldn't put a face to it.

To cut a long story short, I'd like to introduce Alkelda the Gleeful at Saints and Spinners. She is a professional storyteller in Seattle and posts many creative stories that are a delight to read. She also posts occasionally about her personal life and what not. But the best part is that she also picked up the guitar in, shall we say, later young adulthood(?), and posts about her trials and achievements with her instrument. She also likes to write songs and transpose familiar songs which she posts with accompanying chords. So, while she doesn't write a guitar blog per se, it is certainly worth your time to check it out.

Next week, how a guy somewhere in Colorado encouraged me to start blogging again--even though he didn't realize it.