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(@iron-feliks)
Posts: 5
Active Member
Topic starter
 

Hi I'm James from the lovely state of Arkansas. I'm 28, for a few more weeks anyway. I was given a Squier Strat for my 15th birthday, white on black with a maple fingerboard, and it gave me chills to look at at the time, and it still looks cool to me today. My parents being cheap they gave me a 50 page book on guitar theory, and told me I'd get an amp when after I worked my way through it, and they'd go in for lessons when I finished volume two. Well I maybe got to page 13, but I still got an amp, my best friend's dad co-signed for store credit on a forty dollar d-cell powered pocket amp, he died not long after that. Looking back I realized why I wanted a guitar, I wanted to be cool, I wanted to get chicks, and I wanted to be David Pirner from Soul Asylum. I'm not too proud to admit all that, I was a confused teenager who only thought he knew how things worked. Now I'm older and I'm wise enough to be myself, but it's has still bugged me that I never did take the time to learn to play.

Now I'm creeping up on my thirtieth birthday, which means I will have had a guitar for almost half my life, and I haven't the foggiest clue as to how to make music come out of it. I refuse to let it get to that point. So last week I pulled it out from behind a book case, downloaded a piece of software that uses the microphone as a tuner, put her in tune, and jury rigged her to my PC speakers. Then I found this site, and I've been practicing about an hour a day since. As soon as my fingertips are in shape will start some lessons. I've even set a goal for myself, next year at my annual birthday camping trip, I wanna play a four song set in front of the camp fire, and maybe do some pickin' and grin'n too.

So if I might be afforded a few questions that might have already been asked I'd like to ask a short few.

1. Have any of the other later starters worn their fingernails long (well long for a dude anyway)? The pads on my fingertips tapers farther out and then up to where my fingernail was trimmed, this is from years of wearing them about an eighth to a quarter of an inch. So it seem like the pads are really wide on the strings and tend to mute their neighbors, unless I really concentrate. I know I'll be able to adjust somewhat, I was just wondering if this will get worse before it gets better.

2. I hope at some point in the next year, if I can keep to it, to buy a second hand acoustic. I would prefer a nice one that could play nice rock n roll tunes, and play country just as well, no nylon strings. I would also prefer it not to have a huge body. Since I am going the second hand route, I would like to get quite a few options as to what to look for. So I was hoping I might get some direction from the folks around here.

Glad to find this great resource,

James

P.S. I don't want to be David Pirner anymore,
P.P.S I'd rather be Roger Clyne 8)

"Sometimes I slumber on a bed of roses, sometimes I crash in the weeds, one day a bowl full of cherries, one night I'm suckin' on lemons and spittin' out the seeds." -- Roger Clyne

 
Posted : 28/03/2008 11:49 am
(@susan-palmer)
Posts: 14
Eminent Member
 

Hi James,

I'm glad you found Guitar Noise - You are in the right place!

I have taught many "late-starters" as you call them, and it is not uncommon for people (especially men) to encounter the fingernail issue you describe when they first start playing. I don't think it has much to do with your fingernail, but more likely the pad of the finger itself. As you practice more, your finger pads will develop callouses, and that will give them a harder, more defined surface to cover the desired note, without touching the other strings.

I would encourage you to practice technique exercises that give all your fingers tips a good workout and help to bring those callouses on a little faster. I have posted a very basic one, which I call the 1-2-3-4 exercise, towwards the beginning of a free lesson video I posted on youtube. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RAJY2cAxn0 The more you play, the easier it will get, and you just have to have patience until those callouses grow.

Good luck and have fun!

Susan Palmer
Guitar Instructor at Seattle University
Author of The Guitar Lesson Companion
Free Lessons and More at: http://www.leadcatpress.com

 
Posted : 28/03/2008 4:29 pm
(@twistedlefty)
Posts: 4113
Famed Member
 

Welcome to GN!

#4491....

 
Posted : 01/04/2008 12:11 pm
(@blueline)
Posts: 1704
Noble Member
 

G'day James. Welcome to GN

Teamwork- A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.

 
Posted : 02/04/2008 2:55 pm
(@scrybe)
Posts: 2241
Famed Member
 

Hey James, Welcome to GN! :D

For an acoustic guitar recommendation, I got an Ibanez EW20WNE a few months back which I love...for the price its a solid build, easy to play, and its electro-acoustic (with built-in tuner), convenient for playing out or plugging generally. They're around £200+ in the UK, not sure about elsewhere, but I've been seriously impressed with the quality of Ibanez acoustics recently, so you might wanna try some if that's not too out of your price range (they may do cheaper ones, I'm not too sure).

hth

Ra Er Ga.

Ninjazz have SuperChops.

http://www.blipfoto.com/Scrybe

 
Posted : 06/04/2008 10:27 pm
(@katmetal)
Posts: 726
Prominent Member
 

Welcome aboard, enjoy your stay! :)

 
Posted : 06/04/2008 11:16 pm
(@rahul)
Posts: 2736
Famed Member
 

My suggestion is also to go for a acoustic guitar.

Good Luck and Welcome to GN !

 
Posted : 19/04/2008 6:08 am
(@rob77)
Posts: 136
Estimable Member
 

Hey dude & welcome. Don't say thirty like it's old! :)
Make sure you're using the tips of your fingers, (not the big flat fingerprint part) maybe this helps?

"Who says you can't 'dive bomb' a bigsby?!"

 
Posted : 22/04/2008 2:28 am
(@elecktrablue)
Posts: 4338
Famed Member
 

Welcome to Guitar Noise, James! We look forward to seeing you around the forums! :D

..· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ .·´
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´ -:¦:- Elecktrablue -:¦:-

"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"

 
Posted : 22/04/2008 2:56 am