So, 1 week ago today, I got my very first Guitar. At age 35 (well, 34 and 11/12, but who's counting?).
I'm starting with the free course available on JustinGuitar.com - I have no idea if his stuff is any good, but I'm certainly learning a fair bit from it. And, if anyone out there in the blogosphere has a better free course I could be looking at, I'd love to hear about it. I've got 3 chords down, (D, A, and E for those who care) and can transition between them in a semi-reasonable way. I have to think about it, but I can do it.
I watch a course a day, and do the exercises in the morning before work, then again after I get home at night - it seems to be working for me at this point. Probably spending an hour or so a day doing it - enough that my fingers are tender, but not hurting, all the time now.
"Easy songs for stage 1" is tomorrow - so, apparently, I've learned juuust enough of the fundamentals to be able to make something approaching "music". That's good. I think the cat is afraid when I play - it sounds somewhat like I'm beating one of her cousins with the instrument, rather than practicing.
One problem I'm having is that I'm right handed - and you have to do all the complicated stuff (at least, at this level) with your left. I keep looking at my hand and telling it to be smarter - I'm seeing some progress, but not as much as I'd like. And at some point, I will need to be able to do this stuff without looking down - just let my hand do it without being bent over like a crab. Hopefully, this won't be a problem.
Tuner: First I downloaded the Gibson L&M Guitar app for the iPhone - but it was kind of a pain in the ass. I then found a really good one - TyroTuner. Visual, simple, clear, concise - it's pretty awesome. Highly recommended.
Fingers: Tender. They don't hurt, exactly, but I certainly know SOMETHING is going on with them.
Strings: 1 week in, so they're still in pretty good shape. Although I did see a hunk of my skin on the e string today. Ick. Kleenex cleaned the string, but it's still got a bit of a squick factor.
Songs I can play: None. :( Although apparently I have the chords for Johnny B Goode (with the exception of the opening solo - yeah, that's right, I can't do the cool part), so that's good.
Overall: Pretty damn good. I have a loooong way to go before I can sit around a fire and play a few songs for friends, but that will come in time.
