Conference napalm::guitar

    >So I was wondering... does anyone know of any good teachers in either
    >the Tewksbury, MA or the Ithaca, NY area?  I'm going back to school in
    
    Can't really help you as regards a teacher in your area, Rob (I'm
    several thousand miles away!), but your note is hardly the first of its
    kind in this conference so I'd recommend that you take a look at the
    following just for starters:
    
    1412, 1671, 1697, 1901, 2373, 2807
    
    And there's probably a whole lot of others.
    
    More later,
    
    		Dom 

    Thanks for the list of other notes to look at.  I'd looked through a
    few of them, but I hadn't noticed the others.  Thanks. :)  I bet
    there's a lot of useful information in there, despite the age of the
    notes.
    
    Rob

    I can't offer a specific name, but I can at least offer some hope.
    Ithaca is (or at least used to be) a real hotbed of folk music
    activity.  So I'd be pretty suprised if you don't find it pretty
    easy to find a teacher there who can help you with what you want
    to do.
    
    Paul

    OK,
    
    You've got an acoustic guitar, and want to play folk and rock.
    
    A few of recommendations:
    
        1) Start with basic rhythm guitar that you can sing along
    	   with.
    
        2) Learn a few basic chords.  You can play tons of
    	   songs with just G, C, D, and Em.
    
        3) Practice switching between chords.
    
        4) Find some song books.  Pick songs with few chords
    	   and few chord changes (e.g., Proud Mary, or any
    	   one of a number of folk songs).  Use very basic
    	   strum patterns.
    
    This approach gets you to the point that you can play at least 
    something in a (hopefully) fairly short time, helping to minimize 
    your frustration.
    
    Another recommendation: find a friend who can play.
    
    Good Luck!
    Jim

    Re.3
    
    Yeah, Ithaca's still a hotbed for folk music.  And for music, in
    general.  My problem's been that I'm vehicularly challenged (no car),
    and I haven't really seen any ads for guitar instruction.  But maybe
    I've been looking in the wrong places.  I still haven't gone into
    Ithaca Guitar Works.  I've been afraid that I'll be tempted to buy
    something. ;)  Maybe I can go in there.  If they don't teach there, I
    bet they know places that do.
    
    Re .4
    
    Thanks for the 4 easy steps. :)  I got a Grateful Dead songbook for
    Workingman's Dead and American Beauty when I got the guitar.  And I
    learned a few chords from a small book I got.  Just E, Em, G, and C.  I
    sorta know D, Dm, A, and A7.  But the chord book isn't particularly
    good.  Can anyone recommend a good beginner's book?
    
    I also got a music theory book, but that was confusing, especially when
    I couldn't even get the basics down.  So I'll look at that later.  I'll
    have to look for easier songs with the chords I know in them.  A lot of
    the ones I've found want F and I can't seem to get my fingers to do
    that right now. ;)  Or I couldn't when I was trying.  I got so
    frustrated that I've stopped for a while.  I didn't want to form any
    bad habits.  I tend to do that and they're hard to get rid of.
    
    Thanks for the suggestions so far. :)  I'll definitely pick up my
    guitar again and start practicing.  Remembering chords and learning
    them better and learning to switch between them.  That was a toughie.
    
    Rob

re: .5

    A lot of
    the ones I've found want F and I can't seem to get my fingers to do
    that right now.

F is a very difficult chord for a beginner.  Everyone has trouble with
it when first starting out.  Don't be discouraged by that.  What you 
might want to do at first is just play the four high strings of the F 
chord instead of trying to do all six.

-Hal

    
    I'd say from the description of your current abilities that
    you should consider hooking up with a guy known as /prc and
    see if you can't secure an international recording and
    endorsement deal... :-) :-)
    
    (lots of winks winks and no offense of any kind intended to
     the base noter who probably has no idea about this inside
     joke...)
    
    -b

    RE: F
    
    Or, change the key.  If its your basic I-IV-V type song
    ("Hang on Sloopy", "Twist and Shout", etc.):
    
    	    Key of C   Key of D   Key of G  Key of A
    
    I		C	  D 	     G	       A 
    IV		F  	  G	     C	       D
    V		G 	  A	     D	       E
    
    And adding the VI chord gives you about a thousand more
    songs from the fifties and early sixties:
    
    VI		Am	  Bm	     Em	       F#m
    
    	(Ok, so Bm and F#m are barre chords, but the rest
    	have good open chord fingerings)
    
    Jim
    

    >  (lots of winks winks and no offense of any kind intended to
    >   the base noter who probably has no idea about this inside
    >   joke..)
    
    Well, I may not have any idea about the inside joke, but it still
    sounded pretty funny to me! ;)
    
    And thanks to Hal in .6 for the suggestion on playing F.  It was so
    frustrating to not be able to do it and have so many songs calling for
    it.  Hopefully this will help me learn to do it.  I was beginning to
    think that I had to be supernatural to get my fingers to do that.
    
    I think a lot of my frustration comes from impatience.  I want to be
    able to play something that sounds remotely like music right away. 
    It's a bad tendency, I know.
    
    Rob

re: .9

>    I think a lot of my frustration comes from impatience.  

Unfortunately, building up finger strength, callouses, and coordination
just plain takes time.

-Hal

    
>    I think a lot of my frustration comes from impatience.  
    
    	A lot of men suffer from this.
    
    	Oh, IMPATIENCE.  Sorry.
    
    
    
    	And I could never get "F" to work, either.  So I refused to play
    	any song with an "F" in it.  Problem solved!!
    

http://harmony-central.mit.edu/Guitar/Lessons/


I found it easier to follow and understand
than most instruction/theory books.

-Paul

    Thanks for the URL for the guitar lessons.  I'll have to check it out
    when I get home (after watching my new Sarah McLachlan video *purr*). 
    I'm sure it's a lot better than the skimpy little book I've got.
    
    And I'll have to start thinking about refusing to use "F". ;)
    
    One of these days, I'm sure my coordination and finger strength will
    improve.  After all, I can type like a madman.  Just gotta keep
    practicing... and not expecting too much right away.  One of the things
    that I've always wondered about is what I SHOULD expect.  How quickly
    should this go.  What should my pace be.  Or do I determine that
    myself?
    
    Rob

    Use light gauge strings in place of finger strength; then gradually
    use heavier strings as your fingers get used to the strange motions
    you need to do. For electrics, use a set that starts with .008, for
    acoustics, use a set that starts with .010. Your tone will be poor,
    but at this point that's the least of your problems :-)

ok... look,  from where your starting at, it's  REAL  simple...

go into any music store, in any town, and ask about lessons...

These are a 'just to get started' lessons,,  here
just about any "teacher" can help...

The better teachers earn their salt after the fist 6 months
to a year....  By then, you could be well enough on your
way to cut your own path...  your ear will eventually be trained
enough so that you can start to learn songs off the stereo...
(Cd, tape, album, Radio... what ever...)  technique takes time,
and you'll just have to work through it..


Other than that, the only other peice of advice I can
offer is:  if you're gonna be a serious student, you'll
end up teaching yourself a lot more than you'll realzie..

Biggest negative to the curve is frustration...

Go find a tutor, and simply get started....

/r