meet and greet (part II)

Welcome to the asylum for the musically insane!

I've locked meet and greet one -- it's suffering some hiccups from the transfer to the new forum anyway. We'll continue the thread here.

Alright, so i'm not really new to this board but most people don't know my whole situation when it comes to guitar. I'm 17 right now, and I first picked up a guitar when I was 10... mostly because my brother played guitar and I wanted to be like him, haha. It actually wasn't my first instrument, around the same time I learned the trumpet through a program I took in school. When I first started playing guitar it was mostly punk rock music played with my acoustic guitar, which had horrible action and bad intonation problems (I still have it, I think I'm going to put in new tuners and turn it into a slide guitar), but I'm glad it had such high action because i feel like my fingers are super strong now. When I was 15 I started taking lessons and it improved my technique to no end, lessons also opened my ears to different bands like Zeppelin, Rush and SRV because my teacher was always encouraging me to listen to them. Nowadays I still take lessons and I am studying classical and jazz styles, I'm also working on my own vocal style and technique and hope to successfully do the whole singer/songwriter thing one of these days. Along with this, I've also played the drums for the past 3 years (ever since I started high school), I play it in class and get tips from the teacher (he is a jazz drummer, so I think that's good, lol). Not to brag or anything, I'm just quite proud of my musical background, and I think drummers get a bad rap for no reason. Anyways, even though I've played a few instruments, guitar will probably always remain my favorite.

My name is Kathryn, i'm 25 and I live in Cumbria, England, with my partner and our two year old son. Although my parents didn't play any instruments there was always a lot of music played in our house when we were kids, stuff like The beatles, Carol King, Simon and Garfunkel to name a few. My parents bought me a junior nylon string guitar when I was six to play at school but the keyboard proved more popular at the time and I gave up learning. Then at 14 I got in with the grunge crowd at school and dug out my old six string to find the neck had warped, gutted! I invested in a streel string and learned all the basics, had a few lessons then split up with my then boyfriend and grew out of playing.
I started playing again about six months ago and can't stop! My partner gives me that 'oh no, not that thing again' look everytime I pick it up, but I don't think I'm that bad. I tend to play the oldies most, Im addicted to the Guitarnoise lessons, although I like Foo fighters and Chilli peppers too. My 14 year old brother is learning bass so who know's what we might come up with! I just want to say how excellent, friendly and informative guitarnoise is, I think the lessons are great.

Hi, i am Cavan. i live in Michigan, USA. I am 14 and just got my first gutar. I am trying that "horse With No Name" lesson.

Welcome to the Madhouse, Cavan!

Hi!

I'm Elecktrablue. I'm a child of the 60's, and am still called a hippie chick by some. I began playing guitar when I was 13. My father taught all three of his daughters. Through the years, though, we all gave it up for one reason or another. My reason was my first husband who had a habit of losing his jobs on a fairly regular basis. My guitar went to the pawn shop and never came out again. My father passed away in 1997. After a while my oldest sister bought a classical guitar, thinking that she would teach herself, as sort of a tribute to our dad. About a year after she got the guitar she was diagnosed with cancer and only lived another six months. She died at age 49. Her sons gave the guitar to me. So here I am. A year and a half later. I still have her Lucero classical and I've added a Fender acoustic steel string, a Daisy Rock Retro H 12-string, and a Washburn 6-string electric and a couple of little half sized acoustic guitars (a Mexican Guitarres Paracho classical and a Dean steel string) to my collection. When I started to play again a lot of what my father had taught me started to come back. Friends who had never known me to play said that I was learning awfully fast, but they didn't realize that I already had about 10 years of playing under my belt, so what looked like accelerated learning was really just waking up my fingers and brain to do what they were trained to do all those years ago. I've still got a long way to go, though. But I think my Dad and my sister would be proud of the progress I've made so far.

Welcome to the Madhouse. That's a great Emmylou Harris quote. Love it.
There's a fair number of us retro-geezers hanging out here. You'll feel right at home.

Hi, everyone! I am 32 and just got my first guitar just over a week ago. This is something i always wanted to learn, actually i have always wanted to lear electric but was given an acoustic...LOL. Well, anyway, with kids and college...i am just now getting the time to learn. This is a great site, as i just finished college and started back to work, and havent gotten the first paycheck to pay for lessons or books yet :? actually looking to get an electric soon...i hope

Tiffany

Hey, I'm Brian, and i'm one of those very many 19-year old male college students who picked up guitar, in part to impress the ladies, and in part for a hobby.

I've been playing for little over a year now, I started not-so-seriously on acoustic, took some lessons over last summer, learned precisely jack (the guy was one of those old, washed-up guitar players who was teaching lessons to make rent, we sympathized on musical interests but not on where I was going with it). The combination of high gauge strings on my acoustic coupled with the frustrations of ridiculously high action and a teacher that really, REALLY wanted me to learn how to play "Greensleaves" before he could teach me "Purple Haze" did NOT go over well.

Then, after fooling around a bit first semester of Freshman year, I decided to take lessons through my school, and improved GREATLY, thanks to my teacher Eric, a guy who graduated 2 years before I did, understood exactly where I wanted to go with guitar (I'm a good writer and a decent singer, but what I REALLY want to do is play Lead more than anything), and is helping me get there, one lesson at a time. (Shameless plug alert - If any of you guys are in the New York area, and have a chance to see The Alternate Routes at The Bitter End or any of the clubs in the are, DO IT, Eric's a great guitarist, and their style is very pleasant, ear-pleasing jazz-pop-rocks)

This summer, I made the switch over to electric (Epi Les Paul, Marshall 30 watt amp, thank you to my summer job for funding that), and have progressed at an even faster rate. My favorite artists are all the old rockers and bluesmen, i.e. Clapton, Moore, SRV, Jimi, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, T-Bone Walker, a little bit of Page, with a little bit of new school rock thrown in for good measure (Hetfield + Hammett, Malmsteen, Petrucci, Morello, and Jade Puget). My goal, however, is to reach a level of fusion between hard bluesy rock and moderated straight-forward lead shred, with a touch of neoclassical style.

In other words, I want to sound like what would happen if Randy Rhoads was brought back from the dead and had Slash's babies.

Bit of a tall order, but I think i'll be up to it. Nice meetin' y'all! :D

Glad you found the right teacher. Having a good teacher makes all the difference in the world. Enjoy the musical madhouse!

Hello all. I've been learning guitar for the last 4 months on a Westfield acoustic I brought to Afghanistan for something to do in the evenings. Most of the stuff I'm learning is from the internet, and I'm really grateful to GN for offering good quality, constructive lessons. I was able to jam with two friends (both in bands) when I went home last month, which was a real buzz. Just 12-bar blues and turnarounds, but great whatever.

My enthusiasm for learning has caught on here, and three colleagues have brought their guitars out in the last two weeks, so I'm arranging that we practice a couple of songs for a Christmas revue in December. Fingers crossed!

Welcome to the Musical Madhouse!

Sounds like you and your friends will have a great time getting ready for the Christmas show. It's a lot of fun to play with other guitarists. Have fun!

i am 38 and a lover of music… i owned a stereo when i was quite young and i upgraded my equipment frequently… my album collection is large and i even spent time dj'ing for my university's station… i took guitar when i was 9 and because i had little patience, i gave it up after a year at the disappointment of my teacher… he said that i was picking it up rather quickly… i always regretted not having stayed with it… wanting to make up for lost time (if that's possible) i bought an alvarez aj60sc about a year back (i absolutely love it)… i thought that there was no better way to kickstart my journey than to jump in, head first… with the help from a great friend (and a member of these boards [geetar66]) i have been relearning the instrument… i typically piggyback off of his lessons though i am in dire need of a more personal and structured instructor and lesson plan… so any suggestions for a beginner in the Philadelphia area, i am all ears (is there a more appropriate forum for a question like this)… i also find that time for practice is precious and few… a long commute to work, long hours at the desk and two little ones at home, makes it difficult to find that time… i am a quick study and have never had a problem with tasks requiring muscle-memory so i am excited to learn and broaden my musical experience, a little more

suggestions and comments are welcomed and appreciated

I'm 22 and have been playing music since I was about 9. First it was flute, then piano, then drums, then bass, now guitar.

I started off with a casual interest in guitar during high school, which led into a more serious interest early on in college, which led into playing for church, playing at parties, and joining a serious band in my hometown for a while. Now I'm mostly bandless and working on getting something started with another immensely talented musician that I ran into recently. We are both dedicated and (in my estimation) fairly talented, and now are hunting for that magical 3rd member.

I think I have a fairly strong "feel", I play with quite a bit of emotion, but I'm definitely lacking the knowledge and technique I need to feel like I have a truly strong grasp of the instrument.

Misc:
-I tinkered with Luthiery enough to understand what goes into building a solidbody electric guitar and what affects it's particular sound properties.

-I am a Les Paul-a-holic. I only own one at this moment, but I'm so thrilled with the sound and feel, I'm investigating the possibility of owning many many more. Maybe making a clone at some point.

-I'm starting to give people beginner guitar lessons, not only because I enjoy teaching, but because eventually I want to make it my full time job, and I want to start accumulating experience.