My New Toy

About a month ago I decided I was going to start playing guitar. In my younger days I played a little bit of bass, and know where all the notes are on a guitar neck, but wanted to actually learn the chords, and eventually be able to play something decently.

So, I went to my local Guitar Center, looking for a cheap starter guitar, and ended up finding a late 1960's or early 1970's Silvertone semi-hollow body guitar for $99.00. I was treated kind of like a thief when I bought it, because the original tag was $299.00, which would have been a rip off. It took two managers and a long conversation to decide they didn't have a choice but give it to me at that price.

I've changed the strings twice, once when I bought it, and last weekend. The original strings were horrible, and the D'Addario strings the store gave me were worse, they were so light they buzzed horribly on the very hot pickups on this thing.

I tried using the internet to find good info and exercises for learning to play, but found that no one (free) site was very good, and putting a logical learning program together was tough. So I broke down and bought a book. The Dummies Guide to Guitar is the one I chose (after two hourss and three latte's at Borders). It's turned out to be a good guide, which starts you with the chords, and putting them together, so you can get to some actual music instead of scale exercises.

I've gotten most of the easy major, minor and some of the 7th chords down, and due to the Ernie Ball Not Even Slinky strings I'm now using, have built up a good set of callouses on my fingers.

Now, after about 4 days where I won't be playing due to vacation, my next job is to start learning some songs. I've got a few in mind to play when the wife is visiting next month.